Battle of Tukayyid (Sourcebook Review

 Hey Game Fans, We’re back with a bit of a classic that we somehow missed during the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.  Today we’re going to review the updated Battle of Tukayyid Sourcebook.  Covering the monumental, era defining clash between Comstar’s Com Guards and the Invader Clans, Battle of Tukayyid covers the armies involved, updated mechs fielded by both sides, and a campaign that allows you and your friends to refight this epic conflict.  Let’s dig in and see what we can find.  

We’re also going to touch briefly on the Battle of Tukayyid Map Pack, and the Battle of Tukayyid Supplemental.  

Historical Context

Tukayyid was originally a scenario pack released by FASA Corporation in 1994.  Overseen by Bryan Nystul and primarily written by Jeffrey Layton, Tukayyid had 27 scenarios representing the overall flow of the battle against all 7 invader clans.  Scenarios are presented by which clan was engaged, though they are ordered numerically in  Chronological order.  This book features the overall campaign framework, and also features record sheets for 5 Comstar mechs and a single Clan mech.  

This book itself is a lot of fun, and I have fond memories of playing this campaign in college with friends.  However, this book is a little long in the tooth, and doesn’t use more modern CGL campaign rules. 

Enter, The Battle of Tukayyid, stage left.

Battle of Tukayyid 

Battle of Tukayyid is the modern update to this venerable scenario pack.  Built around Catalyst’s Chaos Campaign framework (included in the book) this sourcebook puts you in the driver’s seat of the entire battle.  Using the Chaos campaign, you can assign forces, and prepare your troops for battle along numerous “Tracks” representing different engagements along the campaign structure.  Within each campaign description are the victory conditions for both sides of the campaign and major battles for each.  

Each of the Clans is treated as their own campaign, and can be played start to finish without interacting with the others.  Each organization has an order of battle for players to draw forces from.  Also included is a Camospecs section featuring key unit art styles for the enterprising painter, and a mini TRO featuring Clanbuster variants of several Comstar machines, and TC versions of several Clan units.  

Also, this book is very, very pretty.  The Art Department at Catalyst knocked it out of the park on this book, and it shows.  The cover is one of my favorite pieces of Battletech Art since the Kickstarter Eras began.

The Battle of Tukayyid Supplemental adds expanded random terrain tables for the campaign, Random Assignment Tables for both sides of the battle, and the Strategic Battleforce campaign rules for fighting the campaign at that level. 

The Map Pack includes all 8 feature maps for the campaign and are essential to finish the campaign.  

Overall thoughts:  

Tukayyid is such a watershed moment for the BattleTech setting that doing it justice was going to take a lot of effort and very careful hands.  I think that this book did a fantastic job of taking the older scenario pack and updating and expanding it to something that looks and feels like Catalyst Game Labs.  The campaigns themselves are fun, and while they share the same core building blocks, they can play out a myriad of different ways, and that is the strength of this project.  

Battle of Tukayyid is essentially a Historical scenario pack in the BattleTech universe.  It presents an excellent array of What Ifs, key players, and an explanation of how the battle played out historically in the universe.  That said, it is a great resource for the historical fan, the gamer (as you can refight the entire campaign, battle for battle) and the painter.  This book features iconic units from across the entire battle, and that can strike the imagination like few things can.  

Rating:

4 Stars by itself.  With the maps and the Supplemental, 5 Stars.  

I encourage you to buy those locally from your FLGS, (ask them to order them if they don’t carry BattleTech, you might make a new friend), or you can order them from Catalyst here, (Main book), here, (Map Pack), and here (supplemental).  We’ll see you all again next week.