Special today: a guest-post by Sam Snell - "Wasp" on the Battletech forums (That's Sam on the left at GENCON 2007). This is his account of the Battletech events he played in this year. This was originally written for our mutual friend Leonard, who had to miss GENCON this year on account of National Guard duty in Afghanistan. We miss you Leonard, and thanks for your service!
So with no further ado, here's Sam ...
Here is what I wrote up on the CBT forums from what I played in.
The Canon event was based on the Battle of Dieron where the WoB have to fight off both the Dracs and Ghost Bears. Day 1 the Bears were fighting the WoB in a city on one table and on the other the Dracs had to invade a WoB base and have some DEST troopers stop artillery which was firing at the city board. The good news is that the Dracs got the DEST troopers in and stopped the artillery, unfortunately, they took way too much damage and it was a WoB victory. On the GB table the WoB artillery took out some WoB friends and the GBs ran the board for a GB victory. That unfortunately would be the best the good guys would do.
On the second day the Dracs and the GB had to get into a WoB base and take control of it. Each table was half of the base. It was a blood bath on both tables. From the reinforced position in the base the WoB was able to take on all comers with only leaving to take out stragglers. The problem was that the Dracs were also supposed to attack the GB as well as the WoB. The Dracs were wiped out. Another resounding WoB victory on both tables.
The third day the WoB had to run for their dropships (which were in a crater) to get off planet with the Ghostbears chasing them. The first half of the day was chasing the WoBs to edge of the crater. The second half of the day was chasing the WoB from the edge of the crater to the dropships. On one table the dropships left with only one or two mechs and on the other table they lifted with a few more mechs than that. The idea was to save the dropships (or so I believe since I was a GB). Since the DS got away and the GB took some much damage, it was a WoB win.
The 25th Trial of Bloodright was a little disappointing for me, but it was my choice of mech that led to that. I tried to go lighter and faster and my Shadowcat could not stand up to the power of a NightGyr. Well, that and I couldn't hit with my heavy large. Overall, however, it looked like most people enjoyed themselves and had fun. There was definitely interest generated by
having Camospec painted minis as prizes.
I had an absolute blast with the open. The choices available to the players in the first round (the player made force, of which only 4 people took advantage) were 3025 mechs. In my match I had a Crusader and P-hawk vs a Warhammer and P-hawk on one standard battletech map. It was a tough fight, my opponent concentrated on my crusader and finially put it down in the last round. Since my opponent's p-hawk was closest I concentrated fire on it, but couldn't bring it down. I did manage to have my p-hawk behind the Warhammer for most of the time and ran it up to 17+ heat. On the final turn I was able to blow the SRM ammo.
The second round were pairings chosen for the players. It was a clan light mech challenge and I use a Jenner IIC 3 and 4 versus a Koshi and Piranha on one map. In a very close fight I killed the piranha, got one Jenner legged and lost a torso and had no weapons in the other Jenner. I ended up being able to kick the Koshi dead.
The final round was pure brutality in IS assault mechs on one map. I had the Ultra 20 Victor and AC20 Sunder variant versus the Awesome9Q and Longbow NAIS with precision ammo. By the third turn it was down to range 2 or less the Victor received most of the fire and was knocked down and then had the head stomped in by the Awesome. In the same round the Longbow took 2 SRMs and got KO'd and fell taking a third hit. The next round the sunder legged the awesome and moved around next him so the Awesome couldn't hit him. The Longbow rolled and woke up stood and then managed to get 2 LAC hits on the head criting the cockpit and SRM 4. A brutal fight, but lots of fun. As it was mentioned in the Canon Games, lots of "Top Shelf Killing." I am sorry I don't remember the name of the Open winner.
MechCorps said...