Combat Manual: Kurita
Howdy Game Fans, Zardoz back with another book
review for Battletech. This time we’re
going to cover the next book in the Combat Manual series, Kurita. CM: Kurita covers the state of the Draconic
Combine Mustered Soldiery (DCMS) during the late succession wars/early clan
invasion eras. It shares the primary
layout of the previous entry in the combat manual series and follows that game
plan. So, by the numbers, let’s break
down each section of the book.
The opening short fiction of the book, “Test of Honor” describes the outlook and
personality that characterizes the typical DCMS soldier of the era, and gives
the reader a starting point for how this military thinks and feels during this
era. This short fiction occupies pages 5
through 9 of the document, and the 10th page cuts to a wonderful
piece of art depicting the new Hatamato-Chi
battlemechs (this piece of art was the cover for the Field Manual: Draconis
Combine from way back).
Realm of the Dragon starts on page 11, and this
section covers very briefly the history of the Draconic Combine up to the
book’s current era, the early clan invasion.
This section goes very briefly over the culture and historic
perspectives that shape the Combine’s military and social philosophies. Readers interested in a much deeper
investigation into this section can look up the Handbook: House Kurita, which
is a much more in-depth description of the Combine, its history, and its
politics. Realm of the Dragon concludes
on page 26 with an iconic picture of a House Kurita Dragon stomping the head off of an Enforcer battlemech.
The House Kurita combat commands section that starts
on page 27 is what most Alpha Strike players are looking for. It breaks down the organizational
nomenclature used by House Kurita units and goes into detail on several of the
flagship units of the DCMS. Highlights
include The Sword of Light brigade, the District regulars for Dieron, Galedon,
Benjamin, Pesht, Rasalhague, Alshain, and the Genyosha. It also includes other formations that serve
as either auxiliaries or special purpose formations like the Night Stalkers and
the Ghosts.
Where this book differs from the Mercenaries book is
that it gives an overall description of the regulars and highlights a few
exemplary units within each formation.
It also gives regimental colors for all units within the larger
organizational framework, and usually gives a special pilot/mech combination or
an iconic mission. Because the DCMS
formations are usually much larger than most of the mercenary formations
described in combat manual: Mercenaries, they don’t get as much individual
screen time as the mercenary units.
They don’t seem slighted however, because the regulars get the feel of
the large, sector wide military formations that are expected to guard the
realm.
Also as a treat for the Free Rasalhague Republic (FRR)
fans out there, starting on page 66, the FRR Kungsarme is laid out with a
complete force listing for the newly born realm. Created by a combination of political
pressure, some back room dealings, and a box load of shiny things for the
Combine, The Free Rasalhague Republic was a newly created state sitting on the
border between the Draconis Combine and the Federated Commonwealth. I do hope that nothing bad happens to them
during the 3050s. The FRR component of
the combat commands section ends on page 71.
Page 72 gets its own special mention, because it
features the same art as the cover of the book. It features a House Kurita Wolverine front and center in the middle
of blowing the ever-living hell out of a downed enemy ‘mech. I’m sure a more keen eyed observer than I am
can identify the unit, but since it’s green, I’m betting it’s a house Davion
‘mech. In the background we also have a
shiny red Locust and a shiny red Phoenix Hawk. I admit I am really jamming on the new
battlemech designs and can’t wait to see what other new models are around.
The Rules Addendum that starts on page 73 gets into
the nuts and bolts of army construction, which is one thing anyone who is
looking to play Alpha Strike wants to have.
It starts very simply and has a four step process for getting your army
design on the road.
First, pick a point value. This is fairly straightforward, and players
who have any experience with other miniature wargames should be familiar. For the new folks, what this step means is
that you are allocating a specific point value for the size of game you want to
play. This will shape a couple of things,
primarily the number of units that are fielded on both sides and overall the
length of the game. A game with more
units will take longer to play than a game with less, and it will take some
time to dial in how big of a game you, as a player, are comfortable playing. For a starting player, I recommend aiming for
500 or so points and building a company (12 units) to play around with.
Second, pick an era from those listed (the book
offers two, but the Master Unit List has more options covering different time
periods). This affects what units are
available for force construction and shapes the overall technology level
available to you as a player. For example, a late succession war era company of
the Dieron Regulars will have very different equipment than a company of the
Dieron Regulars from the Jihad era. If
you’re playing a historically accurate game, you and your opponent should
probably choose units from the same era, but that’s between you and your
opponent.
Third, pick a faction. This should be straightforward, pick the
faction you like the most. If you are
holding Combat Manual: Kurita in your hands, I have a guess to what faction you
are playing, but I have been wrong before.
Fourth, pick a combat command. Again, this is straightforward if you have
the Combat Manual for the faction you want to play, but the only books out
currently are Mercenaries and Kurita, so you may have to check out some other
books to identify combat commands for your faction. Specific combat commands have access to
special rules of their own and in some cases modify the availability of resources
and unit types.
From that point, you spend your points to construct
your army and organize your units into their sub commands (if you took the
advice to build a company, you’ll need to build 3 lances of 4 combat units,
probably battlemechs).
That seems like a lot of work for your first game of
Alpha Strike doesn’t it? I agree it can
be a little daunting, but the writers of Combat Manual: Kurita have your back
and provide several example lances that are both iconic of House Kurita
formations for the era, and are grouped and ready to go for you. Remember to grab units from the same era when
quick starting.
Also included in the force construction section are
four special new lance types that are unique to House Kurita formations. House Kurita adds the Berserker Lance (a
dedicated melee unit), the anti-‘mech infantry lance, an Order Lance (a highly
trained Lance of Battlemechs composed of identical units), and the Horde Lance.
The Horde Lance runs between 5 and 10 units, all of whom must be size 1 (light
battlemechs), and have a damage cap of 2 at any range (including special
abilities and concerns). For running
this swarm of light units, the player gets a special ability called swarm,
which allows the controlling player of one of the lights to switch targets
between legal units.
The Horde formation is a quirky, and probably needs
some testing, but it’s a throwback to one of the original books for Battletech,
where Captain Ravannion espoused his Horde theory to overwhelm larger
battlemechs with superior numbers of smaller units. The battle is described in the unit entry for
the Blackjack battlemech in one of
the original technical readouts. The
battle didn’t end well for the horde, as the Blackjack is a ‘mech designed for
long range shooting and deals just enough damage to crack a light ‘mech at a
distance.
The section ends with a group of special
mechwarriors that you can add to an existing formation (so long as it contains
no other unique mechwarriors). You can
use these mechwarriors to spice up a formation you are building, or add a ‘mech
that you normally wouldn’t think of adding to a group.
Page 93 starts the technical readout section of this
book, and it’s got some fan favorites.
The battlemechs detailed are the Wasp,
the Phoenix Hawk, the Wolverine, and the Battlemaster. Each ‘mech has
a two page spread, with a brief write up of the unit. Its typical deployment,
possible variants, and notable pilots are described (including an Alpha strike
brief for the pilot in his ‘mech). The
opposite page is a full page art shot of the battlemech in formation
appropriate colors. The Sword of Light Wasp is very cool, and I like the Night
Stalkers Phoenix Hawk and the Legion
of Vega Wolverine, but personally,
the prettiest unit in the bunch is the Genyosha Battlemaster.
Page 102 starts the parade of colors, and shows off
the unit color schemes for dozens of DCMS formations (and Ronin
pretenders). Page 106 shows off
something new, a painting guide for a Sword of Light regimental colors for a
shiny little Marauder that I haven’t ever seen before. I’m hoping its plastic, and it’s coming to a
store near us soon.
Pages 108 and 109 show off miniatures in action and
showcase some excellent shots of units that have been converted by hobbyists
and mid action battle sequences. My
particular favorite is the prototype gauss rifle on the Hunchback that keeps
falling over.
The book closes out with the availability list for
the Late Succession Wars and the Early Clan Invasion, a plug for the Master
Unit List (which I recommend highly for anybody who wants to look at alternate
eras and see what neat things are hiding out there), and a regimental breakdown
chart for mischief making generals. Also
included is the company level breakdown sheet which most players will be using
as an army list for game play.
My overall thoughts on this product are good. I like the treatment that the DCMS receives
in this book, and it shows the interesting dichotomy of forces available to the
DCMS Commander. You are spoilt for
choices on whether you want to run the flagship sword of light brigade, the
plucky Legion of Vega, the somber Night Stalkers, or the newly made FRR Kungsarme. Each one of these forces is described in
enough detail to play Alpha Strike, and each force should probably play
differently. The specifics that are
detailed are appropriately detailed, and the things that are best covered by
broad strokes are adequately covered.
The book gives you a first impression of what the Draconis Combine is
like without overwhelming you with too much information.
It’s currently available online at:
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