Printed in November of last year, this first Battletech Aces campaign (Scouring Sands) is set in the iLClan era (the latest one added to the timeline). Since the Jade Falcons wanted to take Terra before any other clan, especially Clan Wolf, they sent all their best mechs and aerospace unit that could fit in a dropship and jumpship. That left the remnants to act as garrison units.
An offshoot of the Jade Falcons, the Alyina Mercantile League, has hired some mercenaries to invade Appolakkia and take it for themselves. It is under this setting that the campaign takes place...but really its an excuse to play a solo or cooperative series of Battletech Alpha Strike games where you have to make decisions before and after each scenario.
I played two campaigns, with different friends, and it was a blast. We've also used the cards for one shot scenarios in different eras and with different factions as the antagonist/bot opponent. This also was a blast, but is limited to 450 points a side as it gats a little cumbersome with more than that.
As seen above, you get a lot in a $90 CDN box. The river/canyon, bridge, and hill terrain has come in handy for other games, but the river/canyon terrain can be hard to slot together. The models are different variants of previously made mechs and adds two new mechs: Thunderbolt IIC and Rifleman C. There are also a pair of new tanks, the Fulcrum, although this one can be used by many factions including inner sphere ones.
Below are the paint schemes I used for my Jade Falcons and Fulcrums. They are also the paint schemes I used for the rest of the Falcons and generic vehicles.
Below are the terrain pieces along with a Thunderbolt IIC for scale. Pretty cool, right!
Before starting the campaign it is vitally important to read the rulebook, which had examples and run-throughs of how the Aces and commander cards work. The campaign book has 21 scenarios. Because of the decisions you will make after each scenario, it will often give choices as to what scenario you will play next. This will mean some scenarios will not be played, but the next time you play this campaign you can choose different paths.
Here is an example of how a scenario is laid out. On the left you have a short fiction preamble, briefing, reconnaissance, waypoint setup, and player force or how many points they can spend on units from their invading force. On the right there is the setup map (with details to the right), objectives, and special rules.
Below are the Player Force Roster and Sortie Log. I HIGHLY recommend scanning it and printing a copy or making a photocopy. Two copies of the sortie logs are required for the campaign.
Below is the Campaign Log. I also recommend scanning then printing or photocopying.
Here you have the Aces decks for the various roles units can have, like Sniper, Juggernaut, and Strikers to name a few. There are six of each role for randomness of which one is used each turn. Also the Jade Falcon Mechwarrior and Star Captain cards offer changing focuses of the opponent because they alter depending on the results of the turn. The two combined offer many different ways the automated opponent reacts to the player(s). These cards can be used for other factions and eras.
As with all Alpha Strike products there are cards available.
There are edge cards that named pilots can purchase for use during a sortie. Each one usually requires edge points, which pilots can also spend experience to increase. The edge points can also be used to reroll a critical roll on the pilot's unit as well as increasing a die roll by one to achieve another hit. The chit markers are at the top and have two sides, one solid and one transparent, because they can sometimes be refreshed or another one added to a pilot's pool during a sortie. Below are the pilot cards which I also HIGHLY recommend are scanned and printed or photocopied so the campaign can be played again and again.
Lastly there is a turn board and initiative/round marker, both of which are double sided. Objective and movement markers, double sided are used depending on the scenario, as well as double sided unit markers: infantry, elementals, emplacements, and transports. Finally are the markers with letters used for each scenario. The question mark is for when they are randomly deposited on areas of the map, indicated in the Sortie page.
Even after playing this twice there is still several replays I would like to try solo and with others. I just need to paint up my Wolf's Dragoons and Patchwork Guild Mercenary factions first.
Also, this November, there will be the Snowblind campaign box (Rasalhague Dominion civil war) and Wrath and Reprisal (Capellan Confederation attacking the Duchy of Andurien) out sometime next year. After that, there will be an earlier era campaign involving the Raven Alliance and Federated Suns. Each box will have different commander decks and role cards to use in regular Alpha Strike games solo or cooperatively. I'm looking forward to these.
By the way, lead designer Josh Derksen first designed the magnificent solo/cooperative Heroes of Aturi Cluster campaign for X-Wing (my short blog post about it is here), Star Trek Alliance solo/cooperative, and Snap Ship Tactics among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment