Force Manual: Kurita

 Hey Folks, Good to see you all again, hope the midweek is treating you all well.  This is the second of our reviews of their Force Manual Series. Today, we’ve got Force Manual: Kurita, and the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery*.  If you’re coming to BattleTech from another war game, you’re familiar with your army book, or codex, or player’s guide for your faction.  

The Force Manual is the BattleTech version of that book.  Force Manuals are a replacement for an older product (The Combat Manual, of which two were produced) and bring a lot of information to the player’s hands.  Let’s dive in and see what we see, all right?

Contents

This book is laid out in four key sections, with a piece of BattleTech fiction to open things off.  Test of Honour is a display of the character of the DCMS and the neo samurai that compose it.  It also sets a grim tone for the nature of war in the BattleTech setting.  Geoff Swift has done a fantastic job with this book (as he did with Force Manual: Davion).  If you have read the previous Force Manual, you will see a connection between the two pieces of fiction.

Realm of the Dragon

The first section of the book covers a brief history of the Draconis Combine up to the aftermath of Operation Bulldog.  This is focused on the military aspects of House Kurita (which makes sense in the context of the rest of the book), but touches briefly on other topics. There are at least three other books that cover much more in depth topical explorations of Draconis Combine History (The criminally underrated Handbook: House Kurita, Field Manual :Draconis Combine, and the original Draconis Combine book from the earliest days of the setting) which i would recommend for a die hard fan.  However, Realm of the Dragon gives you a starting point for understanding the DCMS and what they’re about.  

Kurita Combat Commands

The core of the Book and contains some of the most storied units in the DCMS (Sword of Light, Genoysha, Legion of Vega to name a few) and the rank and file Militia and training units that comprise the DCMS around the end of the fourth Succession War through Operation Bulldog.  This does mean it’s an incomplete list (as this omits the Fed Com Civil War Era, the Jihad Era, The Dark Age Era, and the Ilcian Era) but it is contextually complete for the eras it covers.

As a bonus, it also contains the complete Combat Command breakdown for the Free Rasalhague Republic.  Originally the Rasalhague district of the Draconis Combine, the FRR became an independent state during the aftermath of the War of 3039 and the Clan Invasion.  This book contains the rules to play the Kungsarme (and includes the greatest uniform of all time.).

Dracula Uniform 

Each Command is broken down by its constituent Regiments (in the case of the Brigades) and smaller units (Sorenson’s Sabres) are highlighted when necessary.  Each Unit Brief contains a unit’s Experience and Technical rating, Its constituent Components, its Special Command Abilities, and any other Special Rules it may have. It will also give a brief history of the Unit, and any special characters or ‘mechs they have access to (And which era they’re available in).     

If you are a fan of the Draconis Combine, you will find a unit you want to play in this section.  (if you’re not a fan of the Draconis Combine, you still might find a project for something).  This gives you enough information to be able to put together a unit using the combat command and its special rules. 

BattleTech has always been very good about making your miniatures feel like “Your guys” and this book carries on that tradition.  Provided you stay within the guidelines, you can run a Company sized command (12 units) that is your company of the larger command.  (These rules work best building at company size, if you need a bigger unit, i would suggest building multiple companies).  

Note: The DCMS units have more interesting paint schemes and Unit insignias on the whole than their Davion counterparts.  

Rules Addendum

The first two sections of this book are a combination of setup and decoration.  This is absolutely the delivery.  It’s the actual core of Force Construction. It also has new options for Kurita specific armies including Special Pilot Abilities, unique Pilots and specific Force abilities.  The most impressive part of this section (to me) are the pre constructed lances.  

Most of the Lance formations are from Campaign Operations and Alpha Strike, (You can find their page references in Force Manual: Kurita) but there are some new ones featured in this book.  Each Lance has a default configuration (4 units with their Battle Values and Point Values listed) by era.  This means you can grab those four mechs and go.  Also listed are appropriate alternates (with BV, PV and role) for that lance by the era.  

This makes tailoring your lances easy to do and gives you as a player a much narrower range of choices to try and manage.  BattleTech has literally thousands of units scattered across the timeline and various factions, and a concise snapshot of what’s readily available in a given era for that style of lance is a fantastic tool for new and old players alike.  

This section also contains the step by step process of building a Force.  This is for both Alpha Strike and BattleTech, and is lifted from the aforementioned rulebooks for ease of reference. We’ll be looking at this in more depth over the coming weeks as we show you how to construct a force.  

Also included is a Technical Readout of iconic Kurita Mechs, with brief explanations of those units and where they fit into the AFFS .  

Genoysha Battlemaster

Night Stalkers Phoenix Hawk

Samurai and Ronin

This is the final secession of the book and contains a brief visual recognition guide of famous DCMS units and their color schemes (The Kungsarme are also included at the end).  Every Command in the book has at least one example of that color scheme.  The painters who did these were on their A game.  There’s also a painting tutorial for the Sword of Light for the new painter.  

Record Sheets

The Book finally ends with a record sheet collection of all the Unique Mechs listed in the book as well as the Company Building sheet for Force Construction.  The book clocks in at a tight 131 pages (plus the Record Sheets)

Overall Thoughts

The Good 

I can see the bones of the old Combat Manuals that this book is built on.  It has a lot to recommend it to players fir these eras.  The book is a very solid piece of writing and contains everything that a new player needs to start building their Kurita  force.  Even experienced players can draw inspiration from the color guide and combat commands described within.  

It does have a couple of issues for me.  

The Bad

Like Force Manual: Davion, this book only covers eras through the late clan invasion, and is missing details for later conflicts.  Players can use the book as a guide for those eras, but unit selections for lances will require adjusting.  

The more concerning issue I have is that since each of these books will presumably contain unique special pilot abilities and other specific rules, a player who wants to be up on everything will need to collect the whole set.  

The Verdict

As a tool and resource for the player, it’s a 5 star out of the park home run.  The limitations it has for eras drops it a little bit, but this is very much a solid 4.5 stars out of 5.  If you play Kurita forces (or just want to understand a little bit more about the way they play) you really need this book on your shelf.  

You can get this book now from the Catalyst Game Lab Online Store here.  You can also get yourself a copy at your local game store, and we hope you support your locals.  That’s it for this review. I have one more little thing to finish up with a House Davion unit, but then I'm going to do a couple of Kurita commands as Force Building exercises.  Catch you later on in the week Friends.