UK Nationals

[elite130]

Yup I beat you Limey's to it. ;D

I hope you guys have good fun and good luck and post your results here first

Regards
Elite130

[tjpandv]

Just got back from the UK Nats - got knocked out in the semis, so probably finished 4th. Sorry I won't be joining you in Indy but many thanks for all the support, advice and encouragement over the past few weeks. I'm off to bed now, but I'll post more on the event tomorrow.

A bloke called Mark Ursell won with a Davion FP army. Wayne Mac (last year's winner) was runner up. Mark is ranked as the UK No 1 and is a realy nice bloke, so I'm really pleased for him.

The top 4 armies went something like this:

1st - Mark Ursell (UK No 1)

2 x Davion Kelswa
2 x Davion Bishops
2 x Davion TTLs
3 x Davion Ravager
2 x Davion ?? BA
Davion Shamash
Davion FP (re-roll)

2nd - Wayne Mac (2005 UK Champion)

Kuro Ha + Tomark + Brawling
ROTS Violator + ?? pilot + brawling
2 x JF Sylphs

3rd - Stu Bleything (2004 UK runner-up)

Black Rose + Fernali
3 x JF Sylph
JF Saxon + JF Gnome BA

4th - Phil Clare (2004 UK Champion)

Jack + LE Julz + BAP
WH R10
Merc Kelswa
4 x WH CBA
Merc FP

Apologies to Elite - I went for the safer option of Jack which did me proud - I lost the semi in a blur of tiredness - left Jack with the chance of being dropped by a Kelswa it was !!) and then pushed my Kelswa to finish off Mark's TTLs and rolled 3 x 1s (this rolling 3 1s thing at critical moments is getting a bit tiresome!).

Only 20 attended but the standard of play was higher than last year.

Tom finished 9th but got a place in the top 8 play-off when No8 dropped out.

More tales of derring doo and some battle reports tomorrow/next few days.

We were also given our "New Guy Night" sets - the 2 mechs look fantastic and you get a really cool play map to use with a summary of the rules on the outside!

Also, rumour is that Solaris is out next year as a stand-alone product.

Cheers for now.

Phil C

[baw]

You did well. We were hoping to see you at Worlds! but there is always next year

You are lucky getting the New Guy Night set already!

[tjpandv]

Just thought I'd put up a couple of battle reports from the constructed rounds. My day went like this:

Round 1 - versus Yami Shiro plus WH Mjolnir+Kelly. Played Caverns. A really SLOW player - he had 4 pieces in his army and was taking up to 4 minutes a turn. I asked him to speed up twice (I was 15 points behind with Merc FP). In the end, I got his Mjolnir and that was that. The BMs had a word with him at the end. He was a nice enough bloke - but I'd fallen for the "I don't play much" routine in Paris and had had enough. Worst thing was (and I explained this to him) was that I was rushing my moves to make up for his speed. Ended up 2-2 with me winning on VC2 (didn't have enough time to get enough VC3s, but would have had the game gone at normal speed). Never mind, not a disaster.

Round 2 - having played Caverns, the last thing I wanted to meet was a Shiro. So, out of my opponent's container pops Kaminari+IT+Ryohara along with the SC Sylph, DF Shocktroopers and the Line of Fire SA. He gets player 2 and places an H blocking in the middle of the table. Luckily, this puts him in drop range of the Kelswa which is already 8 inches up the board inside the R10. My Merc FP cancels Ryohara, Jack uses BAP and marked for the kill and Kaminari takes 5 AP. He misses the return shot on the Kelswa (was I glad I chose the Merc over the WH one - not just on this occassion, but in virtually every game). I rinse and repeat and Kaminari now has 10 damage. Got my mission, so it was 4-0.

Round 3 - up against Mark Ursell's double Kelswa drop army. Start out well enough, using Jack to lower his Kelswa's defence and taking it out of the game. I go for the same tactic on his second - miss on a 9 and as Jack is now exposed and within 6 inches of the Kelswa, he takes 5 and some more from some infantry. His TTLs also cause me problems (doing 2 all the way). I end up being pushed into a corner and loose first Jack and then my Kelswa. A game I could have, and perhaps shoulf have won, but ended up loosing 0-4.

So, I needed to win game 3 to get to the last 8...

Round 4 - up against 2 HK Solis and Kuro Ha. I play Crags. The Solis move up within drop range (they can't run, so they have to get near me). I hit one for 5. He then assaults my Kelswa and fails and shuts down. I capture it with the CBA. He assaults Jack for 1 (he knew he had agility but despeartion was setting in). Jack gives him 1 damage in return and a click of heat - Kuro Ha shuts down and is captured before it re-starts. He has 1 Soli left which has taken no damage. I now need my Kelswa and 2 non-captor CBAs to protect my captured mechs (a "funnel" of blocking terrain does the rest). No VC1 as yet to either player and my opponent uses his Soli to get VC3. I kill his Combat Techs (13 pts). Time was running out, and my opponent then launched into the side of the Kelswa and started to damage it. I broke it away, he cooled and the Soli took another shot from the Kelswa (only 1 damage, no AP at this point). In the last 5 minutes, my opponent left the Kelswa behind, and went after Jack. When time was called, one of his clubmates asked him why he didn't kill an 18 point CBA and run away? I think he was kicking himself, much of my army was wounded and had he been in "tournament mode" rather than "club mode", he would have seen the chance, and taken it.

Never mind, I get 3 wins and finish 4th. I had decided to change my army from a CNC Nova Cat +TTLs to the Jack/Kelswa combo at the last minute. I think it paid off. The Shiros would have been BIG problems and my next game would have been over from Turn 1...

Round 5 - Up against the best player from my own club who'd brought Phelan Ward, 2 BR Solis and a RHD Sylph. Peter had a struggle to get 3 wins and I was dreading this as I'd already played Crags. We both played PD (I did have Urban left, but I saw that Peter hadn't yet played Barrens, so I needed to see that off). I had 2 pieces of blocking my side, Peter had 2 water on his. My turn 1 and I roll a 6. Phelan Ward locks up Jack - Peter is over the moon but after the first few turns, he sees that Jack is staying tight with the Kelswa (which started outside the transport and was in a inter-locking formation with the R10 and the CBA) and ignoring Phelan. I left the rear arc of the R10 open, but turned 2 CBA inwards to cover it. A couple of turns later, the trap is sprung as in charges Soli number 1 and hits, followed shortly by Soli number 2 - R10 is dead. Jack uses BAP and marked for Death, Kelswa puts 5 on a Soli, CBA puts 1 more and that's that, scratch 1 mech.

At this point Peter assaults Jack, fails to declare secondary weapon (the one with pulse), Jack takes 2 damage (rather than 7..!) but the 1 heat shuts him down. Peter rolls for his heat and also shuts down. Jack re-starts next turn, Phelan doesn't...Phelan takes 2 from Jack next turn. Phelan still has pulse and a high attack so I leg it - I'm able to use the CBA to base Phelan to stop him from assaulting Jack.

Meanwhile the Soli and the Sylph are trying to harass my other troops, they both pay for it and die. Once the Sylph and the Soli had gone, Peter couldn't win on VCs. I was happy to see Peter off (he'd made the semis last year).

As an aside, I was a bit narked at the start when one of the other players asked why I'd taken damage in HtH when Jack had Agility and Armour. Peter was listening in and said "does Jack have agility - I was going to charge him" I was not too pleased, that would have been Phelan served up on a plate.

Anyway, made it to the Semis, only to face Mark's Kelswas again. Once again, he got Player 2 and put down his H blocking. This time I was after the TTLs and placed another blocking clsoe by. turn 2, Jack moves in, Kelswa drops and a TTL is salvaged, the other damaged. Turn 3, I move Jack to"safety", my Kelswa pushes to finish off the TTLs and I roll three 1s. Kelswa takes 2. Next turn, I find out Jack isn't so safe and a Kelswa gets him (needed 13 but had a re-roll with his Davion FP). Jack runs for it, next Kelswa moves in. I then realise that Jack had lost evade in the first attack and own up to not making the heat roll - I do this retrospectively and Jack shuts down!!! There was no way I could have kept quiet and I think that declaring my mistake and going back to make the roll was the only thing I could have done. To be fair to Mark, he did ask me if I wanted to take the move back but that may have been a nice thing to do at a Club night, but not in a Nats semi. Game over from here as second Kelswa opens up and, with the help of some inf support, Jack disappers. I did manage to capture one of his tanks, but my CBA was overrun.

I'm writing this round up from a blurred memory. I was so tired at this point that I can't remember seeing those Kelswas move in - I think I was too fixed on the TTLs.

I'll try and put a write-up of the final in later on.

[baw]

Great detail. I tell you the games all become very fuzzy very quickly. It is best to write down as much as you can quickly and then try to get other people to try and help you remember

They sound like some good games.

[TrevortheAwesome]

Awesome. Very glad for the battle reports, and in better detail than you gave to those slobs over at 'Realms. Dual Kelswa-drops with hot dice is a hard combo to take on. I still maintain Jack was the right choice, of the two armies you and I talked about. The NC would have had a very difficult time with a lot of the stuff you faced.

I am a bit surprised you didn't go with the WH Kelswa...allows you to drop on other tanks while staying out of their ranges. Meh. To each his own.

Sounds like a series of great games. Glad you did well.

[tjpandv]

Trev, thanks for the feedback - like Baw said, its amazing how quickly your memory fades. At the time, I got by backside whooped - 2 days on and in my own mind, I feel like I should have won it!! Over the 2 days, I won 4 of my 4 draft games and 4 of my 6 constructed - hopefully that "sprint" into a decent ranking has begun

Overall, the Merc Kelswa got me to where I was - I would have lost a WH one as the Merc was able to withsdtand several attacks and hang in there. The range thing was mostly taken care of by the blocking and taking PCCs that kept the blocking where it was. I found that most players need blocking anyway, so even against Jack, they are reluctant to remove it/change it into something else.

Anyway, here is a report on the final. Hope you enjoy...

As a refresh, Mark's army was:

2 x HD Kelswas, 2 HD Bishops, 2 HD TTLs, HD Shamash, 5 HD Battle Armour, HD Faction Pride (re-roll).

Wayne played Kuro Ha + Tomark (Into the Breach), a ROTS Violator and a couple of Sylphs.

A few of us had become familiar with Mark's set up - the TTLs went in behind a pice of H blocking. Once the Bishop had deployed these, it was free to collect the second Kelswa which gave Mark 2 flying tank drops (one of which would have a 10IT attack thanks to FP).

Needless to say, it was a pretty cagey affair. I saw Kuro Ha take a hit from a Kelswa and I think Wayne's Sylphs were pushed back by the arty/Kelswa combo. Bottom line was that Mark was 15 points down on VC2 and was therefore loosing the game. A few more shots were traded, Wayne's Sylphs went in after the TTLs (and got a single VC3 in the process) and his Violator went for the inf formation (3 Ravagers and a couple of Angerona).

After the 3/4 point, Mark had lost a Ravager and a Shamash, Wayne had lost both Sylphs in the process. All the while, Mark's Kelswas were slowly pushing Wayne's 2 mechs into a corner of the table.

With 5 minutes left, Mark was 12 points ahead on VC1 but 3 points down on VC2 (thanks to Faction Pride)and 1 point down on VC3.

What to do, what to do?? We spoke to Wayne afterwards and he felt he was getting squeezed and the margin was too narrow -both his mechs had taken shots and weren't too mobile. Mark had left a Bishop on the ground that was within charge range of Kuro Ha. In she went and inflicted enough damage to kill the Bishop and therefore the Kelwsa. Wayne is now way ahead. The Violator then goes for the second Kelswa but fails to hit. This Kelswa can now draw a line of fire to Kuro Ha and, firing out of base, manages to hit her for 5 more. Kuro Ha is dead and Mark is now infront.

That was pretty much it. Time was up and Mark had won an excellent final.

[Zxqueb]

tjpandv,

Great battle report and a very interesting read!! It's a much stronger and more diverse top 4 than the Canadian Nationals. I know more than a few people who are going to be surprised that mechless took it.

@ trev,
I have to say, I side with tjpandv on the kelswa issue. The WH damage output and range are nice, but for my money, I'll gladly trade 1 damage and 2" for +3 defense and 2 targets.

[baw]

@ trev and Zxqueb I agree with Zxqueb. I would take the 2 targets and defense.

I keep looking at Mark's army and don' t think I could play it.. Even with 10 improved Targeting I don't think I could hit most things on the battle field I just don't roll that well! If there had been a Peacemaker or RHDM it might have spell some difficulty for that army but I guess that is what the TTL's are there for

[Zxqueb]

baw said:

Even with 10 improved Targeting I don't think I could hit most things on the battle field

Not to mention that True Grit really shuts this army down with no formation drop... though I suppose you could switch out the tank for the infantry if you see TG in play. But then you have a dropless 12" tank which is fairly useless.

Z

[elite130]

tjpandv said:

JApologies to Elite - I went for the safer option of Jack which did me proud - I lost the semi in a blur of tiredness - left Jack with the chance of being dropped by a Kelswa it was !!) and then pushed my Kelswa to finish off Mark's TTLs and rolled 3 x 1s (this rolling 3 1s thing at critical moments is getting a bit tiresome!).

Never apolozige for your own choices, I for one will always respect them. If I could I would have joined in your championship. Only then at the end we can say whose choices where wiser.

Ending the place you did means you did very well indeed.

I do hope you will stop rolling 3.

Regards
Elite130

[tjpandv]

The point about the tank having 10AV and a re-roll that requires an FP to work is well made. I struggled with Jack/Julz/Merc FP and eventually had to go for BAP to give me a shot at biggies.

A lot of tournies rely on the right match up. In round 4, Mark lost to Black Rose piloted by Fernali - guess 14 was too much.

In the quarters, he was up against a Shiro in a dust storm.

In the semis he faced my Jack with a 23 def.

In the final, he had to hit Kuro Ha and a ROTS Violator.

In the last 8, there was a RHD Kodiak around which would have given him a headache but overall, RHDMs were not that common. There was a Peacemaker, but it was poorly supported. Similarly, the Black Rose/Fernali combo that had already defeated him once fell in the other semi. In some ways, the opponents fell right for him but Mark is a fine player, I just hope he does decide to get over the Gencon.

[TrevortheAwesome]

Extra targets and defense are nice, sure. But a couple points --

-21 Decoy from range is ALMOST as good as a printed 24. Not quite, but almost.

-The main reason to have dual targets is so that you can target a baser and shoot at your REAL target with no modifiers. With Jack and M Pride, that becomes less of an issue, since you're making your shot that much easier anyway.

-The WH Kelswa is FOURTEEN POINTS cheaper. That's a pretty huge swing in my mind.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of love for the M Kelswa, but all things being equal, I'll take the WH one.

[baw]

Actually the main reason I have two targets is that I can shoot at something I don't think I will hit and pick on something I will hit

I really don't see 21 decoy being nearly as good as 24 Defense. Rats I couldn't find Kotch's charts... THe only one missing was the RCA and CCA one

Against ranged they are close (not close enough) and against CCA there is no comparison!

To each his own. I need to have that second target just to improve my chances of hitting something easy

[baw]

ok... I was looking at Kotch's old page not his new one

He has 37.5 or 61.7 (with IT) vs Merc Kelswa Ranged

or

55.6 or 80.4 (with IT) vs WH Kelswa ranged

74.5 or 89.5 (with IT) Close combat vs. WH Kelswa

This is assuming a 12 attack unit Which seem rather common today!