ScrapYard Armory

On Saturday evening at GenCon, the writers and owners of the BattleTech game set out to challenge BattleTech players.  Each participant was required to bring their favorite Battle/Omni ‘Mech to the game (without knowing what pilot skills would be).  The Masters of the game would do the same and do battle against the fans.

Piloting and Gunnery skilled were revealed to be based on tonnage alone.  Assaults were 4/5, Heavies were 3/4 and so on.

I did my best to keep tabs on what was happening during the game but it is hard when you have 41 units on the board.  I did my best while having some fun myself.  Each turn includes a picture of movement, a brief recap of notable events and deaths, and some interesting quotes that were heard over the rumble of dice and player conversation.

The Masters

Randall Bills

• Catapult CPLT-K4
• Stone Rhino
• BloodKite 2
• Banshee BNC-3S
• Phoenix Hawk PHX-7K

Tara “Yes His Wife” Bills

• Hatchetman HCT-6D
• Axman AXE-3S
• Nightsky ???-5S
• Ti-Tsang TSJ-9J
• Berzerker BZK-3C

Loren Coleman (assisted by Heather and Conner)

• Sagittaire SGT-8R
• Sagittaire SGT-8R
• Solitaire
• Solitaire
• BloodKite 2

Herb Beas

• Atlas AS7-K
• Guilittine GUL-5M
• Griffin GRF-5M
• Trebuchet TBT-5N
• Zeus ZEU-6S

Brent Evans (The Art Director)

• Timber Wolf A

The Fans

• No-Daichi NDA-2Ko
• Longbow LGB-13C
• Awesome AWS-8T
• King Crab KGC-0001
• Warhammer WHM-9D
• Banshee BNC-3S
• Warhawk C
• MadCat A
• No-Daichi NDA-2KO
• Kodiak 3
• Bane 3
• Turkina B
• Dragon Fire DGR-3F
• Marauder MAD-6L
• Warhammer WHM-8D
• Daishi W
• Penetrator PNT-6T
• Griffin “Sparky 2.0”
• Savage Coyote A
• Sunder SD1-O

Let The Games Begin

Setup

Each side lined up their minis basically where ever they fit on the edge of the board and faced across the battlefield at their likely targets.

Turn 1

Things started badly for the fans.  Most movement was straight ahead towards the enemy or setting up for sniping attacks.  Our poor Sunder was the first to fail a piloting check after weapons fire.

The Warhawk C on Loren Coleman’s side of the board lashed out at long range to hit the oncoming Master’s ‘Mechs.  Mr. Coleman seemed surprised at first when he confirmed that yes, Clan Large Pulse Lasers really do fire that far.

What does Stealth Armor do? – Herb Beas

Why do you even need the rulebook, the people who wrote it are all here! – Unidentified Demo Agent

Turn 2

The Sunder failed a few more piloting rolls and now on turn three has three pilot hits but is still awake and is participating in the carnage as best as can be expected up until a Clan ERPPC blows it’s head off.

Turn 3

At the onset of turn three, the fan’s Daishi pulls a Sunder and fails some piloting rolls of it’s own.

It’s the new Liao submunition.  It spreads ball bearings on the battlefield! – Loren Coleman

The Daishi is then promptly headcapped by an ERPPC but not before a UAC20 double shot cores through Tara Bill’s Nightsky.

What are your doing there, are you daffy? – Herb Beas

He was close and I had an axe! -Tara Bills

The fan’s fortune continues to turn when a Banshee owned by Randall Bills dies from a Heavy PPC to the face.

Turn 4

In the last turn of the battle, as the early morning fatigue began to set in a final all out rush was made by Tara Bill’s Axe patrol as well as Loren Coleman’s Solitaires.

In the middle, I walked my 13-C Longbow towards the advancing TSM horde.  Not only did I survive getting shot at by a Berzerker, Ti-Tsang, and AxMan, but I participated in gutting the Berzerker and kicked the Ti-Tsang’s legs out from under it.

Towards the right flank of the Fans, Herb’s Zeus was cored out by a Bane in stunning fashion.  Amazingly both the Kodiak and Atlas (Santa!) lived through the carnage and were ready for another turn to tear each other apart.

When the Stackpole rule goes off and I’m present and not Mike, the whole board explodes! -Herb Beas

You’re a Kodiak! -Herb Beas (surprised?)

I’m just as pleasant as I was a minute ago. -Unidentified Demo Agent

Just wait till Santa opens up… -Herb Beas

Sadly, as the hour grew late and energies waned, we decided to put an early morning end to the battle.  You mean it was ambitious to try to play out a 41 ‘Mech battle starting at 10:30PM?  I’d like to give a shout out to the Demo Agent running the event for doing a spectacular job.  I believe it was Mike Miller but I could be wrong.  He was wearing a tri-corner hat and was instrumental in keeping things moving and allowing us to get in the 4 turns we did.

In the end I think there was a good argument that the Masters were going to rout the Fan’s left flank. In the middle of the board the threat of TSM madness was nullified by concentrated firepower and a few lucky shots.  To the right flank, I believe we were holding our own and making good progress.  We had several untouched ‘Mechs that would have been a strong challenge to whatever forces would breakthrough on the left.

It was a blast to play against the Powers that Be.  It was great to just watch Randall Bills and Loren Coleman geek out talking about the positioning of the Solitaires, how long the enemy WarHawk would last, and when they were going to make their big push.  These guys really love this game and it is really refreshing to see them enjoy it at the level that the players do everytime they sit down to bash ‘Mechs for a few hours.