Scenario: Lost Artifact

An experimental vessel with vital data to ship modifications was lost by the Imperium during an Ork raid in the Draco sector. A scouting fleet of yours has found this lost ship by chance and if the data on that ship could be retrieved it would give your fleet a great advantage on the wars to come for control of this sector. FORCES: There are no attackers and defenders in this scenario. Two fleets of 750 Points are racing to retrieve the data and escape before the other fleet is able to react. BATTLEZONE: The lost ship has drifted into Deep Space and each table will be pre-set by a GM prior to the game. The Experimental Ship will be placed in the center of the map surrounded by an asteroid field. FIRST TURN: Players each roll a dice. The player with the highest roll determines who takes the first turn. SPECIAL RULES: The Experimental Hulk is Immune to all damage and any effects that would otherwise remove it from the game. No player may attempt to ram the ship to stop itself during an All Ahead Full Move due to the risk of damaging the ship. Base Contact with the Experimental Hulk: Once a ship is in base contact with the Experimental Hulk it may no longer fire any of its weapons. It will however, count as being on BFI while in contact with the vessel. Once in base contact, ships no longer have to move and count as defenses while in contact with the vessel. To separate from the Hulk each ship may make a free turn and then move as normal. Searching the Experimental Hulk: During each players end phase, the controlling player may choose a single Capital Ship that is in base contact with the experimental hulk to search for the vital data. That ship must pass a leadership test on 3D6 to find the vital data. The ship may also subtract 1 from the roll for each turn (after the 1st) that it is in base contact with the experimental hulk. Stealing the Data: Players may steal the vital data from an enemy capital ship on a successful boarding action (Winning by 1 or more). Ships may also steal the data from a drifting hulk once in base contact on a normal leadership check. Disengaging with the Data: Due to the entire enemy fleet focusing on the ship with the vital data, no ship (including Necron vessels) may disengage once it has the data. The only way to claim the vital data is to escape from any table edge. GAME LENGTH: Game lasts 8 turns or until one player has disengaged with the lost vital data. VICTORY CONDITIONS: The player who escapes first with the Vital Data will be determined the victor. If neither player escapes with the data after 8 turns the player holding the data will be declared the victor. If neither player has the vital data after 8 turns, both players lose. RENOWN: An additional +1/-1 in addition to other modifiers for winning or losing this scenario. REWARDS: The player who escapes with the vital data may choose one of his Capital Ships or Escort Squadrons and roll for a random refit from their fleets refit table. The Capital Ship that escaped with the data also wins a free random crew skill.