Author Topic: The Kessel Run (AS Report)  (Read 2192 times)

Son of Kerenski

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The Kessel Run (AS Report)
« on: 03 June 2017, 02:16:14 »
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)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.  :(
« Last Edit: 03 June 2017, 06:15:17 by Son of Kerenski »

SC_Dave

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Re: The Kessel Run (AS Report)
« Reply #1 on: 24 June 2017, 20:11:59 »
I have located the record sheets for the Imperial side and it was worse for them than as recalled by Son of Kerenski. A grand total of 2 Lyran mechs survived the battle, a Battlemaster hanging on by 1 structure point (with half movement and a weapon hit) and an untouched Zeus.

The scenario outline in Combat Manual: Kurita states, "If using terrain, the game table should be divided equally between open terrain on one half and rolling hills on the other.
If using hex maps, arrange two maps with their long edges touching; one should be open terrain, while the other should include rolling hills.
The Defender chooses one long edge of the playing surface as their home edge; the Attacker’s home edge is the opposite edge."

With the generally poor gunnery skills of the Lyran forces I figured their best chance was to set up the "wall of steel" going stationary behind partial cover in the hills to maximise the chances of scoring hits.

The strategy didn't work out very well though. Even with concentrated fire the difficulty of scoring hits at range meant that the opposition mechs were usually damaged rather than destroyed. The damaged Kurita mechs then simply moved into the woods where they became very difficult, if not impossible, to hit and finish off. (For anyone attempting this scenario for themselves, the Lyran forces might have a better chance if the "open terrain" has no woods at all.

The force was not with Darth Victor on this day. On entering the battlefield he manoeuvred into a position that could have been a one hit kill with a physical attack on a Locust. The required to-hit number being a 7 - but it was not to be. He then rampaged across the battlefield using his "speed demon" ability but couldn't get that big autocannon to connect with anything.

Son of Kerenski

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Re: The Kessel Run (AS Report)
« Reply #2 on: 27 June 2017, 02:14:24 »
Thanks for your input Dave. Yes the odds were stacked against you in that game.

I feel the renforcements come way too late for this scenario too. 6 turns is an eternity when youve got 16 elite mechs chewing the crap out of 12 green ones... even if they are all assaults. That vet lance should be turning up by turn 3 not turn 6.