BattleTech: Alpha Strike - Hold the Line scenario

I am going to be running a game of Alpha Strike at the Recruits Convention in Lee's Summit, MO.  I wanted to have a test run of the scenario before I took it to the convention.

The scenario:  The Haematite Guard of the Free World’s League has made planet fall on a Draconis Combine planet.  The 2^nd Sword of Light was dispatched to bolster the planetary defenses, but by the time they arrived on planet, the Guard had decimated the defending forces.

The Director’s most precious niece, Yugi Kurita, was vacationing on the planet and went into hiding when the attacks started.  Now that it looks like the planet will be lost, the 2^nd Sword of Light has been given new orders.  They must hold off the attackers and prevent them from reaching the space port so that the young Yugi can be evacuated off world.  

Forces:  Both forces included 12 mechs.  The defenders have 25% more points than the attackers.  All mechs were 3025 era, using introductory rules only, with pilot skill of 2.  This is a con game so I want it to play quickly without having to reference lots of rules or answer lots of question about special rules.

Here is the table we played on.

Stardard terrain.  The plowed fields counted as rough.  We played with the attackers coming in on the short edge on the left.  After playing through the game, it was decided that forcing the attackers to go across the length of the table was a bit much.  I have adjusted the scenario and will have the attackers going the other way in the next game.

Deployment:  The defenders set up all their forces within 2" of the center line of the table.  The attacker set up 12" back from the defender deployment zone.

Some pictures from the game.

The game moved well and we finished it within about 2 hours 30 minutes.  Not bad.  The defenders held the line and only let a single mech cross the table.

I will be adjusting a few details to try to balance the game a bit more.  Primarily this will come from having the forces only needing to cross the 4 feet instead of 6 feet by changing the direction the battle moves.  I will also have one of the defending lances set up at the back of the table instead of the middle.

If you haven't played Alpha Strike, I encourage you to give it a try.  It is a simplified version of BattleTech with much less record keeping.  I think it still has the feel of BattleTech, but it allows larger games to be played in much less time.  You can play Lance vs Lance battles with Alpha Strike and they will take even less time.

Have you played Alpha Strike?  What did you think?