Battle Report: The Battle of Arcadia Prime

The Eldar Craftworld Yriel-Dyann launched its surprise attack on the Arcadia Prime Starbase. The Eldar plan was to attack the Starbase and destroy as many ships as possible before the Imperial forces could respond. Doing so would leave the planet vulnerable to invasion.


Eldar Forces: Tyrant
Imperial Forces: Darkwing
Special Rules: To represent the relative inactivity of the Imperial forces, the Imperial forces only have 7 active escort ships. The remainder are docked or holding station by the starbase. Inactive vessels have no active shields, and cannot move, shoot, or launch ordnance. At the beginning of each turn, roll a D6 for each vessel and add the number of the turn. On a 7+ the vessel activates that turn. Once activated, a vessel's shields become active, and it may shoot and launch ordnance. On the turn of activation, a ship may only move up to half its full speed. On turns after that, it may move at full speed. The starbase starts the game inactive, and rolls a D6 to activate in the same way as a vessel, but it only needs a 6+. The starbase has 12 damage points, 4 defense turrets, 2 lances, and 2 launch bays, with 4 squadrons (2 squadrons of Furies, 2 squadrons of Starhawks). The Eldar are allowed to enter from any table edge, and they have the first turn.

The Fleets

Imperial Arcadian Forces		Points
	Mars Class Battlecruiser (CAV-1 Arcadia)	270
	Lunar Class Cruiser (CA-13 Sirius)	180
	Tyrant Class Cruiser (CA-20 Procyon)	185
	Gothic Class Cruiser (CA-21 Achernar)	180
	6 Firestorm Class Frigates (FFL-1 Andromeda, FFL-9 Bootes, FFL-14 Canis Major, FFL-16 Capricornus, FFL-17 Carina, FFL-18 Cassiopeia)	240
	8 Cobra Class Destroyers (DDG-1 Ceres, DDG-9 Metis, DDG-17 Thetis,DDG-23 Thalia, DDG-26 Proserpina, DDG-27 Euterpe, DDG-28 Bellona, DDG-29 Amphitrite)	240
	Total Points:	1295

Eldar Pirate Forces		Points
	Eclipse Class Cruiser (Entaro'adun)	250
	Shadow Class Cruiser (Khaine's Touch)	210
	2 Hellebore Class Frigates	150
	3 Aconite Class Frigates	195
	6 Nightshade Class Destroyers	240
	3 Hemlock Class Destroyers	120
	Total Points:	1165

Turn 1
The Eldar fleet launched its attack in a two pronged assault. The Khaine's Touch led a force of Hemlocks and Nightshades from one direction while the Entaro'adun attacked from the other direction, escorted by Aconites and Hellebores.  The Entaro'adun drew first blood, firing upon the ships at dock with its pulsar lance and destroying the Firestorm Class Frigate Cassiopeia. The other Eldar vessels launched salvos of torpedoes at the silent starbase.

In response to the Cassiopeia exploding in a flash of light, alarms sounded throughout the starbase as its crew ran to their battle stations. The Tyrant Class Cruiser Sirius, holding station near where the Cassiopeia had just exploded, activated its shields, its drives flaring as it struggled to get underway.
The Thetis, a Cobra Class Destroyer, activated as well, pulling out of the docks and heading towards the approaching Hellebores. It fired a salvo of torpedoes at the Hellebores, destroying the Aio'sal, and gaining the first kill for the Arcadian Navy.

A pair of frigates on patrol, the Capricornus and Canis Major, opened fire on the Entaro'adun, and the Sirius turned hard to port, following up with a full broadside at close range. The Entaro'adun shuddered under the blasts and was nearly destroyed. The Arcadian frigate Carina succumbed to a torpedo shot, and the Sirius took several hits from Eagle bombers from the Entaro'adun.

Turn 2

The Entaro'adun, attempting to pull away from the Sirius, was further damaged by a secondary explosion and exploded violently. Its Aconite escorts fired upon the Sirius, damaging her and starting fires aboard, while the the Sirius returned fire and destroyed one of the Aconites.

The Khaine's Touch and its escorts opened fire upon the other patrol squadron, destroyed the frigates Andromeda and Bootes, and the destroyer Bellona. The waves of torpedoes launched at the starbase itself hit its main power generator, causing all systems to shut down and nearly destroying it completely. The starbase was nothing more than a huge hunk of metal. Other torpedoes hit the docked destroyers Ceres and Metis, destroying both of them.

Turn 3
The starbase destroyed, the six Nightshades fired wave upon wave of torpedoes upon the still inactive cruisers. Three hit the Arcadia, one hit the Procyon, and two hit the Achernar. The Procyon and Achernar then managed to get operational and pulled away from their berths. The Arcadia, however, was still inactive, and a follow-up wave of torpedoes hit her, setting her on fire. Seconds later, her main plasma drives went supercritical and exploded, destroying the ship.

In the meantime, the Khaine's Touch and the Hemlocks continued their attack on the escort vessels, destroying the Euterpe and Amphitrite.
The Procyon, firing its bow torpedoes, destroyed one of the Nightshades, while one of the Aconites attacking the Sirius succumbed to the explosions and was destroyed.

Turn 4
The last Aconite Class Frigate opened fire on the Sirius, and finally the Sirius succumbed to her wounds and went adrift out of control, blazing from multiple fires.

By now, most of the surviving Arcadian ships were operational, as the destroyers Thalia and Proserpina pulled away from the burning starbase. The Proserpina launched its torpedoes and destroyed one of the Hemlocks. Starhawk Bombers launched from the starbase at the start of the battle swarmed around the Khaine's Touch. Unable to defend itself from the small craft, the Khaine's Touch exploded.
Turn 5
With both of their cruisers destroyed, the remaining Eldar forces disengaged. One Hemlock destroyer didn't make it away from the pursuing Cobra destroyers, but the rest of the Eldar escaped. The attack was mostly a success, as the Arcadia Prime Starbase was all but destroyed, along with the Arcadian's only complete battlecruiser, the Arcadia. The loss of the two cruisers Entaro'adun and the Khaine's Touch, however was a cruel blow, and made the Eldar victory a bittersweet one at best.

January 11, 2002