I have recently started playing Classic Battletech and Battletech: Alpha Strike down at Treefort Games in Fayetteville, Ga.
This past weekend, We played a huge battle replaying a historical event in Battletech History, the Battle for the Kerensky Blood Chapel.
A little background about Battletech Alpha Strike First,
For centuries, the armies of the Great Houses have fought to reclaim the glory of the fallen Star League, sending regiments of their elite MechWarriors into battle across hundreds of worlds as humanity slid inexorably toward a new Dark Age. The coming of the Clans – descendants of the lost Star League army – did little to stem the slaughter.
It only raised the stakes.
BattleTech: Alpha Strike is a fast-playing form of the BattleTech game of futuristic, armored combat. Developed for the modern tabletop miniatures wargamer, this book brings players the ability to wage war on land, sea, and air using the Quick-Strike game system in BattleTech: Strategic Operations. BattleTech: Alpha Strike, like its forerunner Quick-Strike, draws upon a hybridization of the BattleForce rules also available in Strategic Operations, together with the miniature game rules presented in that same volume which allow for hexless terrain play. BattleTech: Alpha Strike includes support for both hex-based and hexless game play.
In BattleTech: Alpha Strike, themed around the Clan Invasion, each BattleMech (or other game unit) is represented using a series of Unit Cards, which are highly abstracted derivations of the respective Record Sheet for each unit in "classic" BattleTech. (While BattleForce uses the same abstraction to group 'Mechs into lances, Stars, centuries, or level IIs, BattleTech: Alpha Strike should treat each 'Mech as an individual unit.)
As with "classic" BattleTech, a player's goal is to use his force to achieve his objectives, which generally involves the defeat or destruction of opposing forces. However, the game's use of BattleForce Unit Cards and rule options allow it to play at a much faster (though less intricately detailed) level of play than "classic" BT. Complete with sample armies and a ready-to-play campaign system, all you need besides this book are dice, miniatures, and tabletop terrain to fight for control over the Inner Sphere on land, sea, and air – one world at a time!
Battle for the Kerensky Blood Chapel.took place during the War of Reaving:
During the Jihad era, contact with the Clans in Kerensky Cluster was lost. Scant reports from Intel retrieved would reveal that the Clans in that distant realm of space are engaged in intense conflict. The conflict would leave the Invading Clans residing in the Inner Sphere cut off from all contact with their distant home.
A few days after that fateful Council meeting the Wolfs landed two harvest cluster at the Kerensky Blood Chapel. Within a few hours the watch operator erased all material of the great founder and its line with the goal to deny the other clans the access to them. Warriors from the clans react on their own and fight broke out for the legacy of the Kerensky. The event was the catalyst for the chaos which erupted. All other Inner Sphere based Clans retreat under fire back to their awaiting Dropship. Most get offworld. The riots and fights continued for several days because every clan called to annihilated the bloodnames of their enemies. Even civilians took up arms to defend the honor of their respective clans.The Battle we fought out was the attempt by all of the clans to wipe out the Wolves and take the Kerensky Blood Chapel. I played Clan Ghost Bear and it was a blast. Using the Alpha Strike Rules we played ten turns. The Wolves hung on till the end and won. It was a bloody fight.
The wall around the Chapel was custom made with replaceable section so that damaged walls and breaches could be placed when it was damaged, It was created by the local game club, the ASWA.
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