BATTLE SCENARIO: First Battle of Geonosis

Recently, I had re-watched Attack of the Clones.  During the battle at the end I kept wondering how the Tau could handle the situation in place of the Separatists.  Which is what inspired me to do this segment.

CIS Objective: Escape with as many ships and personnel as you can.

Enemy Assets:

• Flotilla of Acclamators and warships.
• Ground troops and armoured vehicles.
• Couple hundred Jedi.

Friendly Assets:

• Small flotilla of ships in orbit.
• At least a million battle droids of various types.
• Support of the native population.

 History:

• Upon hearing news of Kenobi's pending execution, Mace Windu took a group of Jedi to Geonosis while Yoda headed to Kamino.
• The Jedi attacked the stadium without word of their arrival reached anyone.  They proceeded to trap themselves in the arena surrounded by hordes of battledroids, and made no attempt to escape.
• A fleet of Acclamators broke through the screen of ships in orbit so quickly that by the time anyone received news of the arrival, troops were already moving into formation on the planet's surface and LAAT-gunships were attacking several airfields and hangar bays in the area.
• A tiny group of gunships (led by Yoda) saved the remaining Jedi at the arena.
• The battledroids responded by rushing en masse from the underground factories to try and stall the clones on the plains while the rest of the Separatist escape the planet.
• LAAT-gunships proceed to destroy much of the above ground infrastructure, enemy air units that do launch, armoured vehicles on the plains, and prevent more vehicles from reaching the battle.
• SPHA-T artillery guns destroy one of the Trade Federation core ships and a few of the Techno Union commerce vessels.
• Skywalker and Kenobi attempt to head off Dooku's escape.
• Despite both of them and Yoda fighting against him, Dooku still managed to get off the planet.
• The Grand Army of the Republic captures the planet of Geonosis and destroys the droid factories.

Could the Tau Empire succeed where the Separatist failed?

• First, we must define their assets.  The Geonosians would be replaced with Vespid, Kroot replacing the regular battledroids, and everything else being with Tau.  Fleet assets are replaced with Tau Il'Porrui (Emissary) Class Cruisers, Demiurg Bastion Class and Stronghold Class Commerce Vessels.
• Since the fleet assets are better equipped than in the original battle (not surprising considering the Separatist ships were converted freighters), the Acclamators would be delayed in reaching the surface. This gives time for a ship to give a warning to the ground forces.  Thus giving the Tau more time to evacuate their materiel from the planet.
• The Jedi in the arena would probably be all dead by the time reinforcements came, as well as the three prisoners.
• Because of the increased time for the Acclamators to land, the Tau would be able to engage the clonetroopers as they were disembarking.  The LAAT-gunships would also have a more difficult time in the air with planes already in the air.
• Eventually, the clones would take the planet; but while also sustaining more casualties and stopping fewer enemies from escaping.

Flip side: How would the Tau Empire fare in place of the Clone Army?

• First, we must define their assets.  Instead of the flotilla of Acclamators and other ships, the Tau Empire would have Or'es El'lauth (Custodian) Class Battleships and Emissary Class Cruisers.  Jedi are replaced by Ethereals, and the clones are replaced by Tau ground forces.
• Simply put, this battle can not happen.  The sequence or events requires that one party makes a journey from the center of the galaxy to the Outer Rim.  This trip would take a Tau 20 years.  The other trip is to the Halo Stars region of a satellite galaxy.  Something that would take at least a century.  By the time any Tau units show up at Geonosis, it would either be a Forge World or abandoned.

Conclusions: The Tau Empire would certainly succeed in place of the Separatist, thanks to the strength of their fleet.  In place of the Republic, they wouldn't even be able to get to the planet for a battle to occur.

I give the Tau Empire 1 out of 2 points for this scenario.