Kyle Katarn's Tale, Mission 3

Mission 3: The Blood Moon

By Abel G. Peña and Jason Fry

In this article, we continue a series of connected scenarios for the Star Wars Miniatures Game. To play these scenarios, you must have the Star Wars Miniatures: Rebel Storm starter set, Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm, and possibly one or more Rebel Storm booster packs.

These missions recreate incidents from Kyle Katarn's journey from Imperial cadet to Rebel roughneck to Jedi Knight poised between the light and dark sides of the Force, a wrenching personal drama that played out against the backdrop of the Galactic Civil War and its aftermath. In Mission 1, Kyle led stormtroopers on a raid on a Rebel comm center on asteroid AX-456. In Mission 2, Kyle infiltrated an Imperial research station to steal schematics for the Death Star. Now, Mission 3 finds him sent to blow the reactor of an Imperial mining facility on a moon in the Gromas system. Little did he know that the Blood Moon would mark his first encounter with one of the Dark Troopers.

Mission 3: The Blood Moon

The retrieval of the Death Star plans was only Kyle Katarn's first dangerous mission for the Rebel Alliance. Soon after the battle station's destruction at Yavin, Mon Mothma tapped Kyle to investigate the devastation of a Rebel base on Talay at the hands of a powerful, heretofore-unknown Imperial force. Kyle followed hints of the Empire's Dark Trooper Project to Anoat and from there to Fest in the Atrivis sector, where he discovered a sample of phrik, an alloy used in the construction of extremely strong, lightweight armor.

From there, the trail led Kyle and Jan Ors to Gromas, a backwater system on the outer edge of the Mid Rim in the Perkell sector. Kyle's mission was tough enough: blow the reactor of an Imperial mining facility. Little did he know that the Blood Moon would mark his first encounter with one of General Rom Mohc's droid soldiers. The rumors were true; the Dark Troopers were all too real.

"The Blood Moon" recreates Kyle's mission to destroy the mining facility on Gromas. Use the Death Star map from Rebel Storm to represent the Gromas facility. The map is considered "fixed" -- units may not leave the edges and the Turbolifts are for arrivals only (see Special Scenario Rules below).

Rebel Setup

The Rebel force consists entirely of Kyle Katarn.

Kyle begins anywhere in the Hangar Bay. Ignore the shuttle at the beginning of the scenario; the Moldy Crow has dropped Kyle off and taken off again.

Rebel Victory Conditions

The Rebel player wins by accomplishing the following goal.

Chain Reaction: The Rebel player must destroy the reactor coupling and defeat the Phase I Dark Trooper to win the scenario. If the Rebel player destroys the coupling and escapes but doesn't defeat the Dark Trooper, the scenario is a draw.

Imperial Setup

The Imperial force consists of stormtroopers and an Imperial officer, totaling 34 points, with a further 46 points of characters as reinforcements, for a total of 80 points. If the Imperial player chooses not to use the suggested forces listed below, he can build a 72-point force of his own, but it must include the Phase I Dark Trooper (Destroyer Droid).

The Imperial officer and two stormtroopers must set up in the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room and cannot move from that room until the door is opened with the blue key. The other two stormtroopers may set up anywhere on the eastern half of the map outside the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room.

Imperial Victory Conditions

The Imperial player wins by accomplishing the goal below:

Neutralize the Invader: If Kyle is defeated, the Imperial player wins the scenario. If Kyle escapes but the Dark Trooper is not defeated, the scenario is a draw.

Special Scenario Rules

The following special rules are in effect for this mission:

Fusion Cutter: An Imperial technician has carelessly left a powerful mining tool in the northwesternmost square in the Hangar Bay. The character who picks it up (by moving over it) gets +10 damage with ranged attacks for the duration of the scenario. (See Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm, page 86.)

Get the Blue Key: Place the damaged R5 unit tile on the Imperial symbol in the Security Sector. This represents the blue key required to open the door to the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room. Kyle may pick up the blue key simply by moving over it.

Locked!: The doors to the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room may only be opened by a character with the blue key.

Get the Charges: Once the blue key is obtained, place the damaged R5 unit tile on the console in the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room. This represents the explosive charges required to destroy the reactor coupling. Kyle may pick up the explosive charges simply by moving over the R5 unit tile.

Medpacs: Place two medpac tiles in the northeast and northwest corners of the Ion Cannon Battery Control Room.

Initiate Meltdown: Once Kyle has the charges, he must start and end a turn on a control square in the Tractor Beam Reactor Coupling. This destroys the reactor coupling, starting a chain reaction that will destroy the mining facility within hours, and automatically summons the Moldy Crow. The ship arrives 2 rounds after Kyle's summons and occupies the space indicated by the Imperial Shuttle, instantly defeating any Imperial character already in one of those spaces. (Until the ship arrives, these spaces should be considered empty, with characters allowed to move through them.) The Moldy Crow may not use its guns in this scenario.

Imperial Reinforcements: Reinforcements arrive in two waves for the Imperial player. When the explosive charges are picked up, two Probe Droids appear at the eastern edge of the map in the southern passageway. When the explosive charges are set, a Phase I Dark Trooper appears at the southern edge of the map in the western passageway.

A New Evil: The Phase I Dark Trooper uses the Destroyer Droid's stats, except it has the Melee Attack special ability, meaning it can only attack adjacent characters, and it does not assume Wheel Form, though it can move up to 18 squares if it does not attack.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.