The Nishr Campaign involved armed clashes between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire on the Outer Rim planet named Nishr.
The Alliance took notice of Nishr in 0 ABY following the violent suppression of a Nish uprising—a people with limited technology—by Imperial forces, an event known as the Nishr Suppression. Initially, a Pathfinder platoon was dispatched for reconnaissance, but within three weeks, reinforcements arrived, forming a larger SpecForce combat unit, the Nishr Taskforce, led by Major Fisk Csino.
While the official objective was to bolster local Nish resistance, the true aim was to compel the Empire to allocate a disproportionate number of troops to Nishr. This would weaken Imperial Army presence in other parts of the Sector, creating opportunities for exploitation by the local Alliance Sector Force.
The Nishr Taskforce, a company-sized unit, heavily relied on swift, mobile armor, including a platoon each of repulsorlift tanks, scout cars, troop transports, and speeder bikes. They faced a significantly larger Imperial Army garrison under Major General Vin Kollis, recently reinforced to a regiment of infantry: comprised of two battalions of standard infantry, one battalion of assault infantry, and one repulsorlift battalion equipped with troopers and transports.
The composition of the Imperial garrison suggests the presence of a Corps HQ, a typical planetary occupation deployment, which included a wing of TIE/LN starfighters, some of which were TIE/gt ground-attack variants, a full company of security troops, a small number of stormtroopers, and armored walkers like AT-ATs and AT-STs. The garrison's main stronghold was defended by heavy weaponry, indicating the use of a prefabricated garrison base.
During the initial Rebel landing, X-wing starfighters provided aerial support, destroying the entire Imperial fighter wing, which would have posed the greatest threat to the Rebel armor's mobility. However, the Rebels failed to secure widespread support from the Nish, who were fearful of Imperial retaliation due to the earlier Suppression. Consequently, the mission's stated goal of backing a Nish uprising was never realized.
Nevertheless, the Rebels found some local allies and utilized a series of strikes by these Nish resistance fighters to lure the Imperials away from their fortified positions. This culminated in a large-scale ambush that decimated most of the Imperial repulsorlift battalion, which constituted the garrison's primary mobile force. Deprived of this mobility, the Imperials were left with only dismounted infantry and slow-moving heavy armor. While the Imperial armor possessed superior firepower, it lacked the agility to effectively engage the fast-moving Rebel vehicles, and the garrison's infantry was no match for the firepower of the light tanks and armored cars.
Lacking mobile forces and air support, the Imperials were forced to relinquish territorial control of the planet to the Rebels. Kollis withdrew his forces to the uplands surrounding their garrison base, positioning troops to defend the passes and requesting reinforcements. Major Csino, recognizing his inability to overwhelm the garrison's defenses, requested an Infiltrator unit to attack the base. However, neither command could afford to commit the necessary troops to decisively conclude the campaign.
The Empire's refusal to escalate the conflict on Nishr represented a failure of the Rebels' strategic objective, at least in the short term. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, there is no evidence that their presence sparked a widespread Nish uprising, despite their nominal control over most of the planet. Rebel bases remained distant from Nish population centers, and Alliance sources later admitted that the mission's planning was incomplete. However, by this point, the taskforce was fully engaged in the campaign, and the Imperials had been forced into defensive positions.
A stalemate ensued on the ground. Rebel records indicate that Csino's forces maintained pressure by launching nighttime raids to weaken the Imperial perimeter defenses, and in Operation Shadowplay, Rebel Sector Command simulated the deployment of an Infiltrator team, leading the Imperials to believe that the taskforce had acquired the capability to directly assault their defenses. However, it is worth noting that a valuable SpecForce taskforce, equipped with significant heavy equipment, had become entangled in a relatively prolonged and conventional surface campaign.
Available sources do not reveal the subsequent developments of the campaign.
The Nishr Campaign was developed for the Star Wars RPG by West End Games, and as such, the scenario's conclusion is left unresolved.
-
Related categories: