We have played the last of our games for the campaign and the overall winner will be declared next week. Unfortunately, there will be no mega battle to end the campaign. From what I've heard, the scores are fairly even thanks to sportsmanship and painting scores, so fingers are crossed that I can grab some loot next Monday. I used the same list from last week, but gave all my Vypers
EML and equipped a Scatter Laser onto my Falcon Tank.
My final game was against Witch Hunters who used Leman Russ tanks as stand-ins for Exorcists. The mission we played was called "Fight to the Death." The objective was simple: destroy the enemy. However, this game had no turn limit. That's right. The game would not end until one player was completely eliminated...fun stuff. This mission forced me to take the first turn, divide my forces in two, and place one half in reserve, but it also allowed me to move units from reserve in from any table edge. I split my forces into the following groups: 1st group-Autarch, Jetbikes, Vypers; 2nd group-Fire Prism, Falcon, Serpent,
DAs, and Dragons. My tanks would deploy on the field while my jetbikes and vypers would swoop in from reserve on his table edge to surround his units and knock out his big guns.
Saim-Hann turn 1:
After my deployment, the Witch Hunters castled up behind the terrain in his corner. I failed to knock out his Rhinos in my shooting phase, but the Fire Prism's blast deviated onto the jump-pack sisters hiding behind his Rhinos and killed two
. All according to plan...
WH turn 1:
His Rhinos advanced and popped smoke. Exorcists unleashed their missilies and blew up my Fire Prism. Drat!
Saim-Hann turn 2:
Excellent...
Thanks to my Autarch's Master Strategist ability, two of my Vypers and one bike squad led by a Warlock zoomed in right behind his Exorcists while my tanks scooted away from his Rhinos.
My shooting phase, though, was less than spectacular. My vypers missed their shots against rear armor and the Rhino's smoke blocked my tank's shots. My jetbikes, though, knocked off the main weapon of an Exorcist.
In the assault phase they charged in and, thanks to her witchblade, the Warlock wrecked the Exorcist.
WH turn 2:
The Witch Hunters divided their forces to fight on two fronts.
The Exorcist I failed to disable turned around and destroyed one of my Vypers. That was all for his turn.
Saim-Hann turn 3:
The last Vyper and the Autarch's squad came in on this turn. I positioned the Vyper to get another chance at hitting his rear armor while my Autarch led a portion of the warhost to gang up on a squad of nuns who are all by themselves.
Once again, my vypers missed all their shots (next time, boys, next time...). The Warlock squad peeked around their cover and tried to snipe a Rhino with Cannons, but failed.
I should have fired my Dragons at the Rhino first, but I shot my Falcon tank instead and wrecked it. In response, he positioned his sisters just so that they were out of line of sight of my melta guns. *Sigh* lesson learned.
Not a game-changing mistake, though, as my Autarch and his squad were still able to charge in the assault phase. His laser lance killed four sisters, who failed to hurt my squad in return. Their morale broke and I chased them down. One less squad to worry about.
WH turn 3:
Oh, by the way, did I mention he had an assassin in his army? Well, it jumped out of the shadows this turn and scorched the brains of my Fire Dragons with its scary mind flamer. The survivor's morale broke and they ran 11" right off the table. Grrr. Meanwhile, he boxed in my bikes and vyper on the other side of the table. His shooting phase stunned a Vyper, immobilized the one that came in, and killed a lot of jetbikes. My Warlock's embolden power kept them in the fight for a little bit longer. The Seraphim (?) charged in and killed one bike and the Warlock failed to drop any of them. Embolden, though, came in handy again and the lone Warlock was able to bravely hold the line for a little while longer before being dragged down in close combat during my turn four.
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 4:
At this stage of the game both sides have taken heavy casualties and the outcome could have been in anyone's favor.
I turbo boosted my tanks to get better line of sight against his Exorcist next turn.
Shooting phase I killed the assassin with the Autarch's jetbike squad. The last, immobile Vyper tried for a Hail Mary shot against his Exorcist...but missed again.
Forgot to take a picture of this, but during his turn four the Seraphim shot at and immobilized my other Vyper. In the assault phase they charged and exploded it with krak grenades, but took two casualites from shrapnel! They took a morale test...but failed and ran off the board!
Victory in death!
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 5:
I moved my forces closer to get better shots at his tanks.
The Wave Serpent wrecked the Rhino near his Exorcist, but the rest of my forces failed to do any significant damage.
In his turn 5 he moved his remaining forces closer to mine, one squad on foot and the other in a Rhino.
The exorcist blew up my remaning Vyper, but that was all for his shooting.
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 6:
Because this mission would not end until one of us was completely destroyed, we automatically played on.
I scooted my bikes closer so my Autarch could get a shot with his Fusion gun while my tanks positioned to try to knock out his remaining Rhino.
My Falcon and Serpent failed to damage his last Rhino. Meanwhile my Autarch, although out of the melta bonus range, rolled a
for his penetration and exploded the Exorcist! I may lose this battle, but I'll walk away happy knowing that my Autarch got off that shot and put down that wretched tank.
Karma stepped in once again, though, and his remaining sisters shot their meltas at my tanks, exploding my Wave Serpent and shaking the Falcon Tank.
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 7:
Since I couldn't shoot my Falcon, I moved it flat out to hide behind the wrecakge of his Rhino in the top left of the photo.
My jetbikes popped up from cover and dropped two sisters in the shooting phase, then zipped back behind cover in the assault phase.
In response, he marched one squad of sisters closer to my bikes while the other loaded back into their Rhino and chased after my Falcon tank.
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 8:
At this point I was just plain tired and wanted the game to end. I could have had my jetbikes and Falcon Tank fly away from his forces and force him to chase me, but that would have dragged the game on for even longer. Besides, what kind of Autarch would I be if my grand strategy was to run away from my enemy? No. I decided to stop running and make a final stand; I would at least die with honor (and end the game before the store closes).
I flew my Falcon tank out from cover to try to knock out his Rhino and positioned my jetbikes for one final charge. I immobilized the Rhino and dropped one or two more sisters in shooting. Sensing that it would be the perfect death, the Autarch charged into the humans before him, outnumbered and outgunned. His Laser Lance would have killed two more sisters, but before the blows could strike home they used their Faith Points to deploy 3+ invuln saves that warded off the killing blows. In response, his
HQ killed three bikes with her power weapon and won combat. The Autarch and his squad passed their morale check and stayed in.
During his turn, the other squad of sisters jumped out of their Rhino and advanced. They used more of their Faith points to give themselves rending ammunition and immobilized my Falcon!
In close combat, all of the Guardians were killed but my Autarch held his ground for one more turn.
Saim-Hann/
WH turn 9, 10:
Dire Avengers jumped out and they, along with the Falcon, unloaded all of their guns into the squad of sisters, but only killed two or three. The sisters returned fire and killed four Avengers, who failed their morale check and ran away. In the assault phase the Autarch finally fell to the human's attacks.
In his turn ten the sisters mopped up the rest of my forces. Falcon Tank was destroyed by meltas and the other squad of victrorious sisters charged the fleeing Avengers and finished them off.
After ten long, bloody turns the Witch Hunters were victorious. Their victory, though, was a Phyrric one as all they had left were a handful of sisters and one immobilized tank. Although this was a long, exhausting game I had a lot of fun. The
WH player and I have fought many times before and we have a little friendly rivalry between each other. Next time we play, I plan to have the outcome be very different.
Thanks for reading!
1250
1000
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
2700pts
1000pts 
