Only a month or so after Carrie Fishers tragic passing, SC Dave and myself decided to play
The Kessel Run scenario from
Combat Manual: Kurita.Set on the planet Kessel, the rules are a little vague on specifics (a Green Company and a Veteran Lance for the Lyrans & and Elite force for the Kuritans – 16 mechs each side and 2 maps specified...Kuritans have 12 turns to exit at least 50% of their forces off the map or it counts as a loss) so heres what we worked with.
650 points total roughly- At least half of the Green Lyran Company must be Skill 5 (8 mechs). The other half can be Skill 4. One mech can be designated Skill 3 (commander)
All mechs in the Veteran Lance must be Skill 3.
Any mech from the Lyran and General Late Succession War – Renaissance (3020-3049) lists. Intro and Standard Only.
No more than 2 of the same mech
SPA's using Lance Building SPAs for the Veteran Lance only (AS Comp p150 onwards)
This side can place a variety of hills resembling the ROLLING HILLS Battletech map in its half of the Battlefield
650 points total roughly- Half of all Kuritan mechs must be Skill 2 (8 mechs). The rest can be Skill 3. One can be Skill 1 or 0 (Commander)
Any mech from the Kuritan and General Late Succession War – Renaissance (3020-3049) lists. Intro and Standard Only.
No more than 2 of the same mech
So they don't just run off the board easily, half of the Kuritan force can't be any faster than 10"
No more than 2 of the same mech
SPA's using Lance Building rules (AS Comp p150 onwards)
This side must use a few Light Wooded areas to best replicate the Open Terrain Battletech map in its half of the map.
The Kuritan were as follows
COMMAND LANCE
Atlas AS7-D 82PV SKILL 1 (General Leia Organa)
Awesome AWS-8Q 55PV SKILL 2 (Admiral Gial Ackbar)
Orion ON1-K 47PV SKILL 3 (General Crix Madine)
Catapult CPLT-K3 40PV SKILL 3 (Senator Mon Mothma)
ROGUE LANCE
Marauder MAD-2R 56PV SKILL 2 (Captain Cassian Andor)
Catapult CPLT-K2 55PV SKILL 2 (Jynn Erso)
Archer ARC-2R 47PV SKILL 3 (Chirit Imwe)
Crusader CRD-3K 41PV SKILL 3 (Baze Malbus)
HUNK-A-JUNK LANCE
Grand Dragon DRG-1G 43PV SKILL 2 (Captain Han Solo in the “Millenium Dragon”)
Wolverine WVR-6K 44PV SKILL 2 (1st Mate Chu Bacca)
Griffin GRF-1N 36PV SKILL 3 (Lando Calrissian)
Pheonix Hawk PXH-1K 32PV SKILL 3 (Nein Numb)
XWING LANCE
Jenner JR7-F 34PV SKILL 2 (Commander Luke Skywalker)
Jenner JR7-F 34PV SKILL 2 (Wedge Antillies)
Locust LCT-1E 18PV SKILL 3 (Biggs Darklighter)
Locust LCT-1E 18PV SKILL 3 (Jek Porkins)
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The Lyran Forces were as follows:
VETERAN LANCE
Victor VTR-9S 44PV SKILL 3 (DARTH VADER or “DARTH VICTOR” as he was lovingly referred to)
Warhammer WHM-6R 38PV SKILL 3 (IMPERIAL GUARD #1)
Quickdraw QKD-4G 36PV SKILL 3 (IMPERIAL GUARD #2)
Rifleman RFL-3N 31PV SKILL 3 (IMPERIAL GUARD #3)
GREEN COMPANY
Atlas AS7-D 62PV SKILL 3 (STORMTROOPER #1)
Atlas AS7-D 52PV SKILL 4 (STORMTROOPER #2)
Banshee BNC-3S 45PV SKILL 4 (STORMTROOPER #3)
Banshee BNC-3S 41PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #4)
BattleMaster BLR-1S 42PV SKILL 4 (STORMTROOPER #5)
BattleMaster BLR-1S 38PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #6)
Zeus ZEU-6T 31PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #7)
Zeus ZEU-6T 31PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #8)
Highlander HGN-733 46PV SKILL 4 (STORMTROOPER #9)
Awesome AWS-8Q 39PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #10)
Stalker STK-3F 42PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #11)
Stalker STK-3F 42PV SKILL 5 (STORMTROOPER #12)
On reflection of the battle, the game seemed a little lopsided in favour of the KURITANS even starting out in the open. The SPAs I had were very effective (Sniper for the ROGUE Lance especially, Cassian and Jyn were devestating with it). The map was somewhere from 54" to 60" long so it had to be a reasonable pace the KURITANS had to adopt if they wanted everyone off the enemy edge of the board. I also swapped a Mongoose out for a Jenner at the last minute which gave me slightly more PV in my side (apologies Dave!) but it didnt really make that much of a difference.
I lost all my pics unfortunately that I took of the battlefield and the action but it essentially boiled down to this:
The first 3-4 turns the KURITANS sat back in the little wooded cover they had and exchanged fire with the LYRANS taking out a couple of the nastier units without taking any losses.
Once there were a few less units to push through, the KURITANS moved en-masse toward the opponents edge. The Kuritans took several losses during turns 6-8 in the list below. The LYRANS also took a few more losses.
By the time the LYRAN Veteran lance showed up it was a little too late for them to have much effect on the enemy KURITANS.
The last 4 turns of the game saw majority of the KURITANS escape, taking a few more LYRAN mechs with them.The Kuritans managed to get 10 mechs off the field in Turn 12 (resulting in a win) with the following losses:
Atlas AS7-D 82PV SKILL 1 (General Leia Organa)
Orion ON1-K 47PV SKILL 3 (General Crix Madine)
Catapult CPLT-K3 40PV SKILL 3 (Senator Mon Mothma)
Wolverine WVR-6K 44PV SKILL 2 (1st Mate Chu Bacca)
Marauder MAD-2R 56PV SKILL 2 (Captain Cassian Andor)
Archer ARC-2R 47PV SKILL 3 (Chirit Imwe)As I dont have the record sheets for the Imperial side Im pretty sure they were down to about 5-8 mechs left:
I do remember Darth VICTOR died without hitting any units which was bitterly disappointing for poor old Dave. :(