AstroTO Game Two - Temple of Doom

Opponent: Andrew's Nidzilla:
Two shooty Hive Tyrannts w/ a Tyrant Guard each
Three shooty Carnifexes
Two even tougher heavy shooty Fexes
Two ripper swarms

The scenario involved pulling a random, hidden objective from a deck of cards. You could reveal your objective to gain a benefit, or hold on until the end, to gain battle points.

The third side in the middle of the board was an Imperial Inquisitor and retinue of various gun-toting bravos, torturing a prisoner in an energy-field protected temple in the middle of the table. They would shoot at anyone else.

My objective was to keep the Inquisitor alive.

The Tyranid horde went first and set up a phalanx of huge bugs on the board. I kept everything in reserve. The bugs advanced a bit. Trying to keep as much off as possible, I didn't use the Autarch's +1. Rolling a series of 5's and 6's, everybody showed up except the Autarch. Not thinking clearly, I revealed my objective prematurely and advanced everything up close; by revealing their objective the Eldar wouldn't get shot by the plasma cannons and other nasty stuff belonging to the Inquisitorial forces.



This of course was a grave error. Their enemy's plan plan revealed, the bugs threw everything they had at the Inquisitorial forces, taking down the field and wiping out the inhabitants of the temple.

The Eldar plan in ruins, and with no way to win, the Farseer summoned the Autarch to her presence next turn. To atone for so badly messing up the timing of the advance, the Autarch was ordered to turbo boost, alone, straight toward the temple, as the rest of the army advanced to the east and west. The ensuing Tyranid shooting phase left nothing but a greasy smear where the Autarch formerly hovered.

The Eldar concentrated on the Tyranid army general - a huge Hive Tyrant. A moral victory of sorts was achieved when the women of the Banshee Shrine took down the enemy general in a flurry of sword blows:



This particular Swordwind raiding force wasn't really equipped to go toe-to-toe with so many T6 and T7 creatures, and took it on the chin as the game wound down, the Farseer finally falling to concentrated firepower. As the game ended, Andrew revealed his objective to be the assassination of the Eldar general. Of course.

In retrospect, what I should have done was demonstrate strongly against the Inquisitor, sacrificing the Spiders in a futile attack on the Temple, to try and fool Andrew into thinking that our mission was to assassinate the Inquisitor.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Andrew played a great game and was a gentleman.

Result: Tyranid victory
Click here for Game Three.