Battle GroupDark Matter
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Fleet List
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Background In the North Eastern part of the galaxy, in the sector known by humans as the Ultima Segmentum, there lies a System named Panithius. This system was known for its not one, but three worlds of outstanding beauty, that circled the twin star. The worlds hold a perfect orbit with exactly the same distance between each planet. Unknown to anyone, these were, of course, Eldar worlds created before the fall. The worlds had developed into places of natural perfection, and the Eldar weren't the only ones aware of this. Both humans and Orks had settled a world each. And over many years they have warred with each other, detroying the beaty of the worlds. With another world available, who ever captured this would have an advantage over the other, and each force sent an armada to take control. The humans, not wanting to leave their planet undefended, sent but a few ships. The Orks, however, sent a huge fleet backed up by a huge hulk. With these numbers, it was clear who would capture the planet. So, rather than letting the Orks capture the planet, the Imperial fleet fired every available Ordanance at the planet, in a hope to render the planet useless. The planet was struck by thousands of gigantic missles. Ranging from virus bombs to high explosives to Vortex warheads. The planet groaned under the immense bombardment. The Orks, not wanting to lose the planet so early, tried to mount a defence. The hulk changed coarse to intercept the Imperial fleet. Unfortunantly it got struck several times. This usually wouldn't have done too much damage, but a lucky strike on the thruster array shut down the power to the engines. Caught still within the gravity well of the planet, the hulk began to descend towards the planet surface. Upon conact with the surface the hulk was completely obliterated, the power from its ancient warp engines dotted around the hulk was unleashed, and a hole in real space opened. With the effects of the Vortex missiles still hitting the surface, the hole grew to thousands of miles in diameter. With the fear of the planet being consumed, and themselves in turn, both fleets dissengaged, and fled back to their respective worlds. However, the hole in real/warp space stabilised. And sure enough, in a matter of hours, the forces of Chaos began spewing out. This world now belonged to Chaos! All this time the Eldar were not oblivious to what was going on. They had tried to remove both forces off the planets in the past. However, they did not have the numbers to defeat both foes. Instead they had resorted to letting both forces wipe each other out, and then strike when the enemy were at thier weakest. Their base of operations was a craftworld hidden within a nearby nebula. With ships of dark blue they naturally blended in to the surrounding gas cloud. Add to that the effect of their holofields, and they were near invisible whilst within the cloud. When the Farseers of the craft world had predicted the arrival of Chaos, they tried to warn both forces of what their actions would achieve. However, the Imperial did not trust the Eldar, and the Orks welcomed a new foe. There indeed seemed no way of changing what was to come, for the Farseers could predict the arrival of Chaos to the sector, but could not find the strand of possibilty leading to the initiation of events. Not until the lucky strike of torpedoes against the Ork hulk did it become clear how they would descend on this system. By then it was too late. With this background it gives me and my friends the opportunity to play the 3 way battles that we often do. I own the Eldar and Ork fleets, my cousin controls Chaos and my brother controls Imperial (including marine fleets recently sent to this system from nearby Baal, to try and stem the tide of Chaos). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Strategy The Prince Krandiantus, commands Vauls anger. With the princes rules of +2 to ship leadership, on top of the normal Eldar modifier, usually means the Void Stalker will have a leadership of 10. At worst 9. With these guaranteed high values, I always equip the ship with craft rather than torpedoes. With its side firing arcs, and increased range, this is a perfect ship to lead the forces of the Eldar. It is still extremely fragile, though, and must be used with the same care as cruisers. My usual tactic is to hold back, behind the cover of an asteroid field or other phenomona, and unleash as many bombers as possible. With the two Eclipse Cruisers also with launch bays releasing Eldar bombers, it usually forces the opponent to launch fighters. Thus you in turn will not really come under any bomber attacks yourself (offence is the best form of defence). A good tactic is to launch the odd fighter wing though. With their 4+ ability to stay after removing ordanance, you only need a few to reduce any threatening torps. The Shadow Cruiser, I find, can either be deadly or destroyed. This could be due to the fact I find myself throwing it in at the deep end, trying to bring its 12 firepower within range. If you can close on a ship with it, the combination of its firepower and torps, can cripple or even destroy enemy cruisers. Try to come in from the rear of the enemy cruiser and unleash everthing, before retreating from where you came. Escort squadron Dragons Wrath are my Jack of all trades squadron. They start the game deploying their S6 torp salvos straight into the enemies advance, from a distance. I try to keep them out of harms way for as long as possible, as its an expensive unit. If I take a casualty, then the cheaper Hemlock is first to go, which is exactly its role. If they run out of torps, then with their firepower of 3 and 4 Eldar lances, they can usually dish out 4-5 hits! If your lucky even more. Spirits Touch have one roll only. Sniping. They stay away from the enemy, and operate on their own using their speed as protection. They will roam the board until they find the perfect trajectory and target for their salvo, and fire. I try to get them to either complement other torp attacks, or drive enemy ships into the position I want them by blocking routes. Hunters Eye, as their name suggests, are my predator squadron. These patrol the perimeter ready to pounce on weak units seperated. They cant take any punishment really, so need to be used carefully. And make sure your going to win the combat you initiate otherwise they'll be in trouble. And finally Shadowy Presence. These are a bit of a back up unit. I try to keep them reasonably near to the cruisers. If anyone is getting close, I shut down the route of the enemy by launching torpedoes. They will then have to alter their attack vector, giving my cruisers more time to reposition out of harms way. Or they can run the risk of flying through the torps. If this happens, I will use the opportunity to attack them with the cruisers weapons as well. The combined effect of torps and pulsars can do a lot of damage! Of course, as with all Eldar ships, only attack if you're sure you have the odds in your favour. It doesn't take much to take you out, so dont let them have the opportunity. May the stars be stained red with the blood of the usurpers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Top of Page Date: 30/04/2002 Documented by: Shadow Hunter | ||||||||||||||||||||||