Showdown at Corticant - Veers attacks the Ynnari

With his plans for an offensive destroyed by the sudden southern rush by the Ynnari, general Veers quickly converged his forces on the Excavation Site now occupied by the eldar. With a titan, an enormous amount of artillery and support, the Imperium vowed to remove the eldar, or level the entire region with their firepower.

The advance on the site did not go as fast as Veers wanted however, as a combination of terrain and harassment from the eldar air force slowed the progress of the Novgorod Infantry. To counter this, Veers moved his super heavy battalion in a position to threaten the giant Vampire Hunters. The imperial behemoths were able to take one of the monstrous flyers down, at the cost of one of their own Shadowswords, and the Adeptus Mechanicus were instrumental in using techno warfare to confuse the aeldari communications traffic, nullifying the initial advantage held by the enemy in the air.

The eldar deployed multiple fast moving airborne units and bikes to constantly distract and pin down the Imperial forces. Although the Imperial Navy was on hand, the harlequin biked proved particularly difficult to deal with, and the all important Scion drop to cut the aeldari off from their supply was pinned down by aggressive attacks from the eldar air wing. Veers was never able to close this supply line, and over three days of heavy fighting, despite wearing the Aeldari down, they were unable to remove them from the Excavation Site.

By the fourth day, the action began to wane. The Imperial force had not been destroyed but was low on ammunition and simply couldn't keep up the bombardment. The eldar, battered and having lost their commander and several powerful war assets, were nonetheless still fully in control of the Excavation Site and the strategic prize of the necron device.