Disclaimer: I
was always intending to write a report for this years Mechwarrior Nationals. To this end, I
took notes on all my games and recorded who I played (a first). This report
was always intended to be "humorous", and explain why my dice hated
me again and why my luck is unexplainable!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prep!
Although I am very fond of Mechwarrior, I had not been able to play since last
years Nationals until about 10 weeks ago. My aim then, was to relearn the game. Upon
re-entering the game, I discovered the Twins. Two gorgeous Italian babes. I
was hooked. For the next few weeks I concentrated purely on Twin based builds.
The dice gods looked favourably on me and smiled for the first time in years. My
results, despite my lack of recent play experience, were astronomical,
including defeating Paul Stockley (also playing the Twins) and winning our
local MW Nats qualifier. However, the major problem here, was that everyone
was either trying to build better Twin builds or some form of counter Twin
army (not an easy task). Many of local
players were frustrated, as the Twins were obviously overpowered in any case,
and only two of us had them. Steve Merlo decided that there was only one way
to put an end to this dilemma. Due to the lack of local supply, he ordered his
missing Twin. The day it arrived, the Twins were nerfed beyond use. We now had
some 4 weeks to design new armies that didn't have to worry about the Twins.
The first week after the Twins were made redundant, the dice gods deserted me
and I was back to my average roll of 7 on 3d6, losing the bulk of my games,
while my opponents rolled on the opposite end of the spectrum.
We all
frantically redesigned and tested armies. Phealen Ward was one of
the early choices. However, it soon became apparent that it would not work for
me. If I played him, my opponent would never roll the 6 required. If my
opponent play him, I would always roll a 6 on the first turn.
No matter what I
built, I rolled so badly that I was annihilated before I could determine if
the actual army was any good. For me, Mechwarrior, had gone down hill since
the Twins were neutered. This streak continued right through to the last game
we could squeeze in before the Nationals. The only thing I proved with my
army, was that if I rolled bad, I lost and if my opponent rolled well I lost.
(You'd think I'd already knew that)!
Our local groups
armies were varies, with different themes. We (exclude me form this) all
tested armies to see how they worked, including Solitude. In hindsight, this
helped us a great deal at the Nats. Knowing what you opponents army is capable
of and its strength and weakness was invaluable. Unfortunately, my army design
was less than tested and I was sure I was doomed to failure. With the Thursday
before the nats being one of my few days off, I decided to concentrate on army
builds. I spent the whole day designing for "Capture the Flag" (A
nasty Twin combo), "Booster Event" and the 600 points unrestricted, so
I would have some competitive force when I failed to qualify for the top
16. My comrades though I was crazy, but I explained that I was trying to use
Murphy's Law against itself. I figured even if I did qualify my team mates
could play them if they didn't.
Team Vic
consists of, in no particular order: Paul Stockley,
Tristian Young, Colin Nicholls, Emil Zanttin, Steve Merlo and myself Joe
Italiano. (Pending spelling corrections).
I had organized
a holiday unit for all 6 players going to Brisbane. We all converged on
Friday, some tweaked armies other left it all in the lap of the Gods. I hunted
down a pack of Tim Tams. The local 711 equivalent had a small range of
groceries, however they had some 6 brands of Tim Tams that occupied half a
shelf of a small store. I choose the regular versions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Constructed Army
Affectionately
know as "I See You" my army was a spin off from my Nationals army
last year. I played Bounty Hunter with a Dragon's Fury/Spirit Cats alliance,
allowing me to shoot through walls. This years version did not have the draw
back of the 30 points worth of Situational Alliance, but was restricted to
just ballistic attacks going through walls. The army consisted of:
Ann071
"Jack" Night Stalker (Mercenary) 149
GS028 Kolchak,
Julie "Julz" LE (Mercenary) 33
Dom053 R10
Mechanized ICV (Wolf Hunters) 42
Dom077 Kelswa
Assault Tank (Wolf Hunters) 90
Ann031 Bishop
Transport VTOL (Clan Nova Cats) 39
FP016 Sniper
Team (Mercenary) 24
FP016 Sniper
Team (Mercenary) 24
AOD011 Towed
Gauss Rifle (Banson's Raiders) 19
FP020 Slyph
Battle Armour (Jade Falcon) 30
PC's: 11
Urban, 32 Caverns, 34 Perfect Day and M013 Pull Together
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The First Day - Mystery Round
We all arrived bright and early. During registration I modified my Name tag
and replace the body of the Mech with a pix of a Tim Tam. (My call sign is
biscuits.) Last year my tag had a pix of a Tim Tam in space!
Two of our group
had qualified for a first round bye, Paul Stockley and myself. Paul had
decided to take the bye for the first game of the Mystery round, I was as yet
undecided. While Matt "Darth Hunky" gave MW intro, he announced the
special prizes for the first critical miss rollers. (He was looking directly
at me at that point). My reputation for erratic die rolling had not faded.
That was the deciding hook. I forgo my optional round one bye and decided to
play, so I could score my "Critical Miss" prize.
Round 1:
My opponent is
Mark Sykes. I give my standard introduction. "My name is Joe. I am known
as biscuits. Would you like a Tim Tam?" Mark refused, something about
being allergic and it could kill him. I didn't think the Tim Tam was meant to
be a secret weapon. We were both playing cautiously as we were unfamiliar with
the weird combination of units and gear. Then SCORE ... I get a critical miss
prize. (Now a good thing?). This was soon followed by a Critical hit prize.
Perhaps the dice gods had not deserted me. We danced around each other, but I
was managing to score significant damage against his Blitz. It was on it last
click before salvage and now it was just a matter of time. TIME! huh, time was then called.
Neither of us had lost a unit, no one had VC3. Tie. We diced off for the win.
I won the roll. Current result: 1 win, zero points, zero VC3. This is exactly
the score I would have had, if I had taken the bye. No so bad, except now I am
likely to face one of the other Regional qualifiers who took the bye.
Round 2:
As I walk to my
assigned table, I see Paul Stockley (my fellow Melbourne Comrade and Bob Hook
hovering in the vicinity). They sit to face each other. I sit next to them
facing Saul Walls. I introduce myself, he refuses a Tim Tam, but Bob swoops in
for a chocolate treat. Is this a portent of things to come.? Saul was a young
lad who was obviously keen but inexperienced. He charged in, but the dice gods
favoured me. I killed his Ursa and won all 3 VCs. I took a moment to survey the
result next to me. Paul and Bob had a close game, but Bob came through in the
end. Current result: 2 wins, 3 VC's.
Round 3:
My final battle
for the day is Bob Hook. (We meet again). To date, I have not managed to
defeat Bob in any Nationals game we have played. Despite our previous
encounters, I introduce myself but he refuses a Tim Tam. We dance around each
other as he closes in on my DPZ. He attacks first with an assault from Blitz
which misses. This leaves him open, I counter with both Mechs. The die are erratic
for both of us. One hits and one misses. The 3-7 minute warning is called. He
has salvaged my Zibler Vehicle, but his Blitz is near dead. Since time is
short, I risk heat effects and push my Mechs. One hits and salvages his Mech. The
other misses. Both Mechs shut down, but I am currently winning VC2, no one has
VC1. My Mechs are healthy enough to survive a few turns of attacks from his
remaining forces. Two of his infantry base my Mech. I fail to restart. Bob
pushes his infantry to capture and the dice gods love him. 16. Just as he captures
my Blitz, time is called. Bob keeps his record intact. Current result: 2 wins,
3 VC's.
That concludes
the Mystery event portion of the event. The current ranking will have no
bearing on the next portion of event, which is the Vanguard Sealed Deck.
The current
rankings for the first portion of the Nationals are posted to 16th place, a
little later with the Team Vic players ranked as follows:
3rd Tristian Young 3
wins 7 VCs
5th Steven Merlo 3
wins 6 VCs
16th
Emil Zanettin 2 wins 5
VCs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The First Day - Domination Sealed Deck
Players only get
a short 15 minute break for lunch. Before most have had a chance to eat the
local fast food, the pairing are up. Historically, sealed has always been my
worst event. Primarily because I have always drawn poorly. Light or Medium
average Mechs, vehicles which are only good as drops, with no transports or
point combinations that always leave me short. I am hoping to win at least one
game to keep my final chances alive.
We are paired
and given 4 Domination boosters. Unlike past events, we keep what we open and
play the person directly opposite us. I open my boosters one at a time, a
light Mech followed by a medium Mech followed by a heavy Mech (yay) follow by
an unique. WHAT! History in the making. Not only a unique, but a good one.
Seka's Pride Vulture Mk IV. The Mech that was apparently designed for me. The
pilot special ability goes something along the lines of: <If you miss an
attack, put a token on the pilot card. When you next attack you may add the
tokens on your card to the attack roll>. We only have a short time to
record our entire pull and build our army. Time is very short, particularly since no one knows any of these units. The Vulture is an auto in, however that
doesn't leave me very many points. The only Mech that can fit is the light.
Try how I may, no combination of support will get me anywhere near 450 points.
The best I can do is 444, consisting of Seka's Pride and light Mech and a
VTOL.
Round 1:
My first battle
is against Harley Martin Farrell, a young lad who has come along with his Dad. (Nice
to see that). I introduce myself and he takes a Tim Tam. Harley is very green
but keen. He has a big Mech (a Thor I think), but does not know how to utilize
it well. I make short work of him scoring 3 VC's. We finish early and I
spend the remaining time of the round explaining how to best play his army.
Unfortunately, the long days begins to take its toll. He is very tired and
drops out. Current result: 1 wins,
3 VC's.
Round 2:
My second
opponent is my roommate from last year's Nationals, Heath
"Casperion". I introduce myself (he may have forgotten who I am?)
and refused a Tim Tam. Casperion was playing the Ultra Rare Unique Thor with
the "broken" gear that give him a range 24 attack, 3 damage, an
Anubis Mech and two infantry. I had to go on the offensive, having a lower
points build total. Heath destroyed my VTOL before it covered the midway point
of the field. He basically sat in his DPZ and shot at anything in range. I
continued my offensive while Heath tried to stay clear taking the occasional
shot. Although I hurt the Thor, the Anubis was causing problems. As time
ticked on, I sacrificed my light Mech to his Anubis and managed to kill his
Thor. Anticipating a kill soon, he salvaged my Seka's Pride. As I began to
congratulate him, he began to score, "You win VC 1, I win VC 2, so I
win". At that point it hit me. What about VC 3? I've been sitting in your
home zone attacking you scoring half a dozen VC 3. Heath's jaw dropped. That
was unexpected. My game, winning VC 1 & VC3. Current result: 2 wins, 5 VC's.
Round 3:
Final round of
the sealed, my opponent is
Mark Sykes again, from the Mystery round. I introduce myself again. I
offer him a Tim Tam (in case he got better since this morning) Mark refused.
Mark is playing 2 Thor's. For the only game in the sealed, I have a higher
build total, so I don't have to chase him down. We dance for a while and I
force him to come to me. I keep him away from the water. The Thor's are nasty
but don't have great heat dials. He is forced to come into assault range
(which is his base attack range), giving me the first shot. I assault with
Seka's Pride on his 11 attack, 21 Heavy Armour, 5 AP mech. I score a hit.
Although the Thor is damaged, it is still dangerous. I charge with the other Mech
and hit for 4 damage. The nastier Thor is badly damaged. Things go
downhill from there for him. Although he did manage to get his second Thor
into water with an assault on it last heat dial effect before shut down. He
would attack, shut down and then restart from the water cooling effect. He seriously
hurt my light Mech, which ran away and shut down in DPZ, out of his range. I
win all VC's. Current result: 3 wins, 8 VC's.
Day 1 of events
concludes. This is my personal best result ever thus far at this stage of the
competition. A decent sealed pull certainly makes a difference. The current ranking will have no
bearing on the next portion of event, which is the Constructed.
The current
rankings for the first day of the Nationals are posted to 8th place, as follows:
1st
Rupert Page 6 wins
17 VCs
2nd Bob
Hook 6
wins 9 VCs
3rd Steven Merlo
6 wins 14 VCs (Team Vic)
4th
Colin Toh
5 wins 11 VCs
5th Tristian Young
5 wins 11 VCs (Team Vic)
6th
Joseph Italiano 5 wins 10 VC's (Team
Vic)
7th
Daniel Saggey 5 wins 9 VCs
8th
Paul Stockley 5 wins 8 VCs
(Team Vic)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Second Day - Constructed
Round 1:
My opponent is
Wayne Hall. I introduce myself and offer a Tim Tam. He refuses. He is playing
the JF Black Rose with 4 FP Sylphs. Nasty stuff. Four dice DFA with base 11
attack and huge damage. I know this piece well. It is the core of my army for
the side event "booster". I play Caverns, with nerfs his DFA option.
I move forward and hide behind a blocking H block. He advances and parks his
force on the other side. He falls for "I See You". I formation drop
twice and shoot Black Rose with 6 AP. He remains in position and shoots back.
Misses. I push the formation and hit again. Black Rose is no more. At this
point he confesses he is not familiar with the set ... it shows. It is now
turn four, the game is pretty much sown up. It is just a matter of how long it
takes to kill the Sylphs. Having plenty of time, I pick off a few as he sits
in my DPZ and then move my infantry drop into his DPZ and drop them with my
Sylph, scoring 5 VC per turn. (That's what Towed Gaus Rifles are for, aren't
they?). Jack bases one of his Sylphs (I don't attack as
I don't want him dead yet) and give him free shots for a few turns. When I have
enough VC 3, I finish him off. Current result: 1 win, 3 VC's.
Round 2:
Next is Michael
Lewis. I introduce myself and offer a Tim Tam. He refuses. (Does anyone see a
pattern here?). Michael has a BR solitaire, tank drop and artillery. This
forces me to take the offensive. I miss judge his assault range and give him
two free shot on my infantry drop, instead of one, with both his solitaire and
tank drop. He wipes it out. Thing go
pretty much downhill from there. I consistently roll between 6-8 and miss
everything, unlike Michael that is rolling 13's+. I am down to literally no
functional units, except a Sylph. Even then, it only hits once and then misses
the pulse. I get wiped. Current result: 1 win, 3 VC's
Round 3:
I come up
against Kerry Hall, with the "Yellow" Rooster, Phelan Ward and 5
infantry including two artery infantry. I introduce myself and offer a Tim Tam. He refuses.
Phelan Ward seems to hate me, will it repeat itself in the Nationals. Turn 1,
I roll to be targeted by Phelan Ward ... a. .... six. (First roll of the game
again). He tags Jack. His plan is pretty straight forward. Tag the threat, run
away with Phelan and drop rocks! I move my forces to the centre of the field
to a H block. His arty is behind that beginning to drop rocks. I am not
worried about the Phelan/Jack match up. I have played against Phelan many
times before and the big draw back when he targets a Mech, is that the Mech
can still hurt infantry. I send Jack to base his arty infantry, nerfing them.
My drops set up and get protection from charges by choking the area and
preventing Mech bases from getting in. Jack then break as often as possible,
without moving, inflicting one point of damage each turn he is successful.
Kerry goes for VC 3 with Rooster. My Sylph, does likewise and also starts
damaging the infantry. Kerry uses both Mechs for VC 3. I eventually clean up
his infantry, he has VC 3 in the bag while he has 2 mobile Mechs. I send Jack
to take Phelan on, but Kerry runs away, content on taking VC3. I get VC 1 and
2. Current result: 2 wins, 5 VC's.
Round 4:
My last round of
constructed is against my first opponent of the tournament again, Harley
Martin Farrell, a young lad who has come along with his Dad. (Nice
to see that). I am a little surprised to see him at this stage of the
competition. He must be better than I thought. I introduce myself and he takes a Tim Tam.
Harley is playing the Solitude with 6 infantry support. I feel sorry for him.
I cancel his Sub Zero with perfect Day. Set up my blocking terrain and set up
my drops. He comes into the trap. I drop, formation fire. 6AP. He stay and
shoots back. Although he hits, he only does 2 damage to no real effect. Turn
3, I shoot again and Solitude is almost scrap. I spend most of the rest of the
game, picking off infantry and hunting down a crippled Solitude. I get a 3
VC's. Current result: 3 wins, 8 VC's. The game finished ahead of time and I
chat to his father. His father fills in me on his last game win. Although he
doesn't actually know what happens, he relates the events. "His opponent
rolled four dice and got 1,1,1 & 2. He seemed very upset." For a
second there, I am confused. 4 dice? Then it hits me, Black Rose with a DFA,
total miss. He must have played
Wayne Hall, who I faced in round 1. the dice gods hates someone else more than
me ??
At this stage I
am sure I have qualified. It is just a matter of how many other Team Vic made
it. A short time later we are given the qualifying
16. All 6 make it, Ranging from 2nd to 14th.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Second Day - The Finals
All that work on
those side event armies and no one to play them! - Murphy's Law! I am just
thrilled to have made the top 16. I just missed out last year.
Round 1
Preliminary Final:
My opponent is
Richard Shepherd. I introduce myself and offer a Tim Tam. He takes two! He is
playing with a King Crab (House Stiener), two Hadar Fast
Support Vehicle's and an infantry mini-gun cycle, with a Faction Pride for
heat. I check his army out, but I am so excited I neglect to notice he has
streaks. I am thinking, win this and you make top eight, so I play my Perfect
Day. He does likewise. I advance and set up my formation behind a H block. He
moves in. Turn two, I drop and fire
and roll 16, because I don't need it. 6AP hurts. He stays and shoots back,
doing minimal damage. Turn 3, I formation again, hit and leave his King Crab
as little more than a husk. Richard realizes there is very little he can do
from here and concedes. Current result: 1 win, 3 VC's.
At the end of
the round, 5 of the 6 Team Vic players get through to the final eight.
Round 2 Quarter
Final:
We hope for only
one Team Vic draw, but unfortunately we get two. I am paired up against Steve
Merlo. I introduce myself (in case he
forgot) and offer a Tim Tam. He takes one. We know each others army backwards.
PC condition is of little consequence. We dance for a short time getting into
position. We both have multiple drops and like blocking terrain. I try to get
into position for a shot through walls shot. Steve sees it coming and
advances, setting up his own drops for next turn and positioning his Mech for
a strike, while leaving it open to attack. From here, I can target anything,
but his 22 hardened armour mech with additional armour (up to -3 damage per
attack), is just to dangerous. If I don't get him with my one AP shot, I will
lose AP next turn. I formation fire and just hit with a 7 or 8, doing 6. His
mech is hurt, but still in it. He drops his formation and his tank cripples my
tank. I formation fire on his Mech again. He has lost hardened armour but
still has the Improved Myomer. His Myomer fails and he
rolls a "1" losing it altogether. I close combat assault to try to
finish him off and continue with my rolls of "7" and miss. We are
both rolling poorly, but my low rolls seem to be hitting anyway. I kill his
mech, he salvages mine and my tank. My Sylph takes out his transports which
literally incapicates his Towed Gauss Rifle formation. I finish off his tank
and retreat my salvaged unit to my DPZ as the time goes off. I congratulate
him for his win, when he tells me I won. I get VC 1 and hold on to VC 2
because all my salvaged units are at home. Current result:
2 win, 5 VC's. I advance. Tristian Young knocks out Emil Zanttin. We are down
to 3 Team Vic in the final 4.
Round 3
Semi-Final:
Another Team Vic
player, Tristian Young. I introduce myself
(tradition) and offer a Tim Tam.
He refuses.
Again, I know his army, he out ranges me and tend to destroy my terrain. I
regret playing Perfect Day on Round 1 now. We set up and play. As usual I go
second. Tristian infiltrates his ATV's. They base and get into my DPZ. My only
chance is to kill them quickly and get a drop on his Mech. The dice gods
laugh. I can not roll above a 7 for my first 3 attacks. I kill 2 ATV far too
slowly. My drops get based and can't move. I get electrocuted from range.
Although nothing is killed, he salvages my tank. When time is called, I have
VC 1 but lost 2 and 3. I congratulate Tristian and hope he goes on. Current result:
2 win, 6 VC's. (I have run out of paper to record results. I wonder if this is
why I lost?).
We all expect
Paul Stockley (Team Vic) to get though, but it seemed the dice gods hated him
that game and he is also knocked out. The final two only have one Team Vic.
Final:
Tristian is
playing Bruce Scott. Bruce has a BR Solitaire and small tank drop DF tokugawa with IT and
4 damage homing beacon and katana tormarks "kuro ha" with the
version of the pilot that allows you to run and CC assault I think and a True Grit Faction
Pride. The terrain suited Tristian. I smiled confidently that Tristian had it
and went off to chat with Team Vic. About five minutes later I was shocked to
see that Tristian had advanced. It turns out that Tristian hadn't noticed the
FP. Suffice to say, Tristian came second. (I'll Tristian tell this story).
Final placing
for Team Vic were:
2nd
Tristian Young
3rd
Joseph Italiano
4th
Paul Stockley
6th
Emil Zanttin
7th
Steve Merlo
=9th
Colin Nicholls
I don't actually
know the other placing, apart from Bruce Scott coming first. (Do us proud at
the Worlds Bruce, we are all behind you. Congratulations from us all).
Congratulations
to my fellow Team Vic players. Overall, we all did much better, including
Colin who jumped some 30 places in the rankings.
I would also
like to thank Croftminister, Kristel, Matt, Paul, Ray, Grant for all their
work and all the players at the Nationals for being great sports and providing
fun competition.
Looking forward
to the next major Mechwarrior event.
PS
Please forgive any spelling mistakes!