Oh, what a day was had...
The bad news is that due to car troubles, Bosefius ended up not making it after all. He was very much missed, and since he'd been printing the sheets and bringing maps we had to improvise on a few things. Fortunately, Paul was a dynamo and had things up and running literally before I'd even been able to get my badge ready. Kudos to the Dutchman for saving the day- he's an all right kind of guy.
I'll do an in-depth writeup this week later on, but a few highlights:
+The guys on Deadliest Catch would even have run like hell from the swarm of Crabs that came boiling out of a corner of the map early on- and by the end of the day most were still snapping their claws and launching large lasers at our intrepid hunters. At one point they had one of my DC locals on the ground and totally surrounded- how he escaped is beyond me. Stupid Crabs.
+The Kodiak is cursed. Or at least, for THIS game it was. Two times the angry bear made the field (once in the original flavor, and once under my direct command in the Kodiak-3 version with the LB-20X duo). Both times it died from head destruction. The final turn of the game featured all six weapons missing when needing 6's (even with the computer!)... and yet, the Atlas it fought simply shrugged it's shoulders and delivered an AC-20 to the face... the only damage the bear had taken so far in the game. Nice salvage, if this had been a campaign game!
+Ever met Slade's kid, Gannon? Nice kid, takes after his dad. Enthusiastic for the game, that's for sure- not too many people can slam down a dice cup like he can. That said, I hope to never be on the receiving end of one of his Battlemasters again. His first shot of the game was a Gauss rifle blast that neatly amputated the leg right off of Redshirt's Pack Hunter 3- one of his fellow hunters. And that was just the beginning of his wild rampage through the battlefield. Say what you will about Slade- and it sure is fun to do so- but his son's a hell of a Mechwarrior!
+Berserker C3? Who would have thought someone would invest points in a 100-ton, TSM/hatchet hauling behemoth like that? Shocker. My dear better half found out that the Mech existed when it came roaring out of the Dropship late in the game, ran right up behind her Warhammer IIC-1, and cleaved into the rear right torso with one massive 40-point hassan-chop. Impolite!
+Ever used a Toro? You should. One of the animals I ran was a Toro, mostly so I could use the freshly-painted miniature. That is one nasty little monster of a light Mech. Quite impressed- how did the Taurians spend a few hundred years getting bullied by the FedSuns when they had a ride like this around? It took on a Penetrator and gave as good as it got, sparred with Gannon's Battlemaster and lived to tell the tale, and it finally took getting caught between an Enforcer III and a Falconer to end it's day. Great ride.
+Noonan (his handle on these forums, not his real name) had a rough end to the game. That Enforcer I just mentioned? He decided to go Falconer-hunting to end the day. Thrice did he pull a double-shot from the Ultra-20 into the Falconer's rear, and thrice did he miss, never needing better than 8s. He's a good Battletech player, but apparently a lousy pickpocket.
More to come, but it was a wild day, for sure. I want to thank everyone that made it out to Historicon to roll dice with me, it was a fantastic crowd and they were very understanding and helpful about the chaotic start to the day. Thank you to everyone involved again, especially Paul, and we'll see you all at the Sixth Annual CommandoThon next summer, coming to you LIVE from... er... actually, who's turn is it to host next year? Let's just say Baltimore for now and we'll figure it out later.
