So Op BALL AND CHAIN finally worked and Tom and I got to go to the Event in Loughborough.
Only 9 players turned up - most had travelled 150 + miles. Disappointing numbers - but we did have the UK Champ (Mark) in there. Even an 11 o'clock start failed to entice the local student population
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Format was that we made up 3 teams of 3. Each round there were 3 pairs facing off aginst each other with an additional 3-way face-off.
Each Team was fighting for a piece of the planet - if you beat your opponent, you would take part of their territory off them and increase your own holding. There were also resouirce points for bidding to fight certain Teams, buying airstrikes or just plain and simple bribery..!
Round 1 and I got drawn to play in the 3-way (as Player 3). TEam 3 had won the right to lead the Mission and their player got to use a 750 point army. We had to play an "Open the Box" bidding game to see what points value our army was - in the end, we refused to accept Player 1's offers and went for what was in the envelope - we each got a 600 point force.
Player 1 brought a Shiro, CNC Maruader and a CNC Vixen
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Player 2 took 3 HL Long Toms and the Comstar Maruader + inf.
I took my Seka/Soli/TGR drop army.
With the arty a threat to us both, Player 1 went for them big style - the Shiro salvaged the first Long Tom on turn 1 and the second wasn't far behind. I moved my ATVs to within basing range of the arty with Seka in support. The Soli and the TGRs went for the Vixen that Player 1 was using to protect his left.
Players 1 and 2 heated up their mechs - 2 of the 3 Long Toms are taken out but the Shiro and Maruader both suffer at the hands of the Comstar Mech. My TGRs and Soli account for the Vixen.
Phase 2 of the battle sees my TGRs load up and make their way to support Seka. The Soli runs into Player 1's DZ and threatens the rear of his 2 big mechs.
Seka moves in to hit an arty piece and salvages it - the Comstar Maruader has killed the Shiro but has now taken damage and can't hit Seka. The Soli is charged by Player 1's damaged Marauder but it misses. The Soli salvages it.
The game ends with Player 1 down to a 2 CNC inf and a salvaged Marauder. Player 2 has a damaged Maruader and some inf. I've got my entire army left over so its a win for sneaky old me !!
Game 2 for me was a conventional face-off using two 750 point armies. I boosted Seka and the Soli by adding a TTL drop and a couple of CJF Sylphs. I was up against a Shiro, pair of CNC Vixens and Sparky with Frag missiles. My opponent puts all of his mechs in water - I move up Seka and the Bishop - BIG msitake - the Shiro assaults the Bishop with a crit hit. I'm then forced to drop the TGRs next turn and am only in range of one of the Vixens - his AMS on Sparky saves a point of damage. Seka moves alongside the TGRs. The Sylphs and ATVs are starting to move up the flanks but Sparky's Frage Missiles pose too much of a threat. The TGRs take hits from the Shiro but the 4 attacks on Seka all miss
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Seka now fires with 2 of the TGRs at the Vixen (which hasn't moved!) and the 3rd TRG fires on its own. The AMS saves 2 more damage but the Vixen is badly damaged. The Soli now runs into his DZ behind all 4 of his mechs.
The Soli draws the attention of the damged Vixen and Sparky but they both miss their CC assaults. With Sparky occupied, the ATVs move up and the TTLs deploy. The Shiro keeps missing Seka but the TGRs are finished off along with the Bishop. I'm almost 100 points down on VC1 and even more on VC2 thanks to True Grit.
I played this guys in the Nats and he was dangerously slow then. He hadn't changed and despite me asking him to speed up, time was ticking. It bacame a viscious circle. He was painfully slow so I rushed through my turns to make up time - he then procrastinated and pondered for another eon and then I whipped through my turn. With the 5 minute call gone, Sparky and the Vixen eat a POG from the TTLs and Sparky also takes 4 from the Soli - he withdraws Sparky and fails to break what's left of the Vixen. His Shiro moves out of Seka's range and assaults - needing a 26 to hit (I LOVE that mech... ;D). He misses but passes his heat rolls.
Desperation sets in - I get time to charge Seka into his Vixen and kill it. Seka shuts down and that is the last order of the game. He realised that had he played quicker, he would have had time to pound a shutdown Seka with his Shiro and remaining Vixen - no sympathy, I'm afraid.
Game 3 saw me back in the 3-way except that one of the other Teams had used their resource points (ie bribed the BMs) to ensure that I faced 2 of them. So it was 2 v 1 but the scenario (called "All the President's Men") was 200 points of inf only and "Player 4" was the BM with a security force of inf, some crowd bases and some News Teams. Idea was was to capture the President. You got VCs for killing your opponent (if it was flimed by a film crew) and lost VCs if you attacked the film crew. VC1 was from killing the Police/your opponent. A brilliant scenario that I lost (that 2 v 1 thing wasn't going to lead to anything else...) but the fun value was immense.
Turns out I'd over-pointed as I thought it was the inf from your "must contain a minimum of 200 points of inf" army and mine had 237 points worth. It just so happnes that 3 of my units were TGRs with no transport and no move, they actually did nothing all game (infact, they actually drove the President's entourage away from my DZ, so they did me no favours whatsoever). In effect, I was under the 200 mark in terms of effective troops. It also doesn't help when you only have 1 foot mode inf piece (Bayin Killer Clowns) with which to capture the President.
So, after a long day, a 5 round event was stopped after 3 rounds (time was up - I think Tom and I were the only players to bring pre-built armies). Somehow, our Team had won and we will be sent some WS LEs (hopefully prize support for all the events I can't get to!). The Fellowship was won by a young girl called Lucy who will get a Poseidon Ares.
Special mention to Tom who won all 3 of his games. Two against adults. One was a 750-750 match up and the other was his 750 against a 1000 point Ares force!!
Tom took the WH Thor/Jack+ Julz/Merc FP army and came away with over a 1000 points of VC 1-3 in each of his matches. The Thor shredded the Ares before it could get to him behind his blocking. At 600 points, its a squeeze, but at 750, there's room for a Kelswa drop and that
is nasty...
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I must make better use of Seka's mobility - a couple of times I just moved her rather that making use of the evade to run and threaten more targets. The TGR drop worked well and overall, the army is well-balanced. The Soli was great and did more damage that Seka (that 11 attack without the TGRs is poor).
A great day out, thanks to the BMs for putting the effort in - I didn't get to play in the scenario set inside a Drop Ship where misses served to heat up the Drop Ship forcing players to take time out to use their pieces as fire fighters or to watch the thing blow up.
). Or, is the SC/DF SA too powerful to ignore?).
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