Lost List: Grzelich Hellich's Company of Hunters

Hello battle brethren! It's come to my attention that Poland is using a different tournament score aggregator than BCP. Specifically tournament organizers are using ChampionHub WH40K, which I had not previously heard of. The upshot of this is Polish players whose lists deserve our notice aren't being reported by Meta Monday, who draw data from BCP and that other aggregator that French events use.

Thus, on the week of 1/27, when there were no lists of interest in Meta Monday, I missed Grelich Hellich's Company of Hunters that he played at BMCémonalia in Warsaw on the weekend of 1/25, which is a real shame because he went 4-0-1 with it and took 1st place out of a field of 51 players! You can see Grzelich's list on ChampionHub and below. 

Armored Core
Librarian in Phobos Armour - Warlord
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Ballistus Dreadnought
Ballistus Dreadnougnt
Ballistus Dreadnought
Gladiator Lancer
Gladiator Lancer
Infiltrator Squad
Invader ATV: gatling buggy
Invader ATV: gatling buggy
Invader ATV: gatling buggy
Repulsor Executioner
Repulsor Executioner
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Vindicator
Vindicator

There are some very interesting design considerations in this list. The first is that Grzelich didn't use any uniquely Dark Angels units, letting him exploit the improved Oath of Moment with it's +1 To Wound on the Oath target. The second is that he fully designed the list to exploit the Company of Hunter's very spicy detachment rule. He basically shoved multiples of all the best generic Space Marine shooting platforms without worrying too much about screening them, secure in the knowledge that all of them can freely Fall Back and shoot. I imagine he runs the Vindicators and the Ballisti out front to tank with their 2+ saves, while the Gladiators and RepExes delete things from a distance with their terrifying laser destroyers.

Grzelich's non-Vehicle elements are few, but chosen with care. He has the typical squad of Infiltrators, and he's chosen as his sole character a Phobos Librarian to attach to them, making them extra-immune to opponents' chicanery - they can't enter play within 12" of them, and thanks to the Libby can't shoot them from more than 12" away from them, so Grzelich will always have a turn to react to any incursions on his backfield. Also, the presence of the Librarian increases the squad's ability to deal with nuisance units that appear nearby. 

In addition, he has the Scout Squad for uppy-downy secondary scoring, and a minimum squad of Outriders and 3 ATVs to run around, nab objectives, riddle his opponents' tech pieces with bullets, and generally be a nuisance his opponent has to deal with. Grzelich chose to outfit his ATVs with the Onslaught gatling cannons instead of multimeltas, which I think was a good choice, as the bulk if his army is well-equipped to bring down Monsters and Vehicles, and the chaff-clearing potential is more important to him than a few more anti-armor shots.

Grzelich's unit choices pack a lot of their own rerolls To Hit, so he probably mostly uses Oath on things he's going to blast with his Vindicators. With improved Oath they'll be wounding everything in the game on 2+'s, so I can't imagine much survives a barrage from a pair of them. Without Azrael to grant extra CP, I'm sure he has to be pretty judicious with his CP expenditure. It probably mostly goes to Armour of Contempt, Grenades, Tank Shock, and maybe an occasional Command Reroll if he rolls low for shots from his demolisher cannons. It should be noted that the Outriders and ATVs have the Grenades keyword, so they can rapidly be put near targets he might want Mortal Wounds applied to. 

BMCémonalia used WTC scoring. As a reminder, 10-10 is a tie, with every point of deviation beyond that representing a 5-point difference in score, so 11-9 is a close win, 20-0 is a blowout win, and so on. 

Round 1 Grzelich crushed Necrons 18-2. 2nd round he dished out a similarly punishing 17-3  defeat to another Dark Angels army - this one a Stormlance. 3rd round he had a convincing 14-6 win against Thousand Sons. 4th round was his tie, 10-10 against Space Wolves. 5th round he cemented his 1st place finish with a devastating 20-0 win against another Space Wolf army, this one the typical Thunderwolf Stormlance. Way to go Grzelich!

In addition to congratulating Grzelich on his win, I'd also like to compliment his army's appearance. He chose a challenging aesthetic and executed it well, resulting in a distinctive and memorable army. It's a nice reminder to have fun with the hobby, and that just because the setting is Grimdark, doesn't mean our toy soldiers have to be.

That's what I have for you, battle brethren. I hope you enjoyed reading about an interesting take on the Company of Hunters and ccelebrate Grzelich's accomplishment. I look forward to seeing more success stories from him. If you enjoyed reading my work, hunt down that Follow button like it's evidence of Cypher's passing, and for some YouTube content like this check out Dank List Wargaming. Until next time brethren, may you paint beautiful models and have victorious games. For the Lion!