Crackerb0x's Adepticon BTCC AS Tournament Experience

[Crackerb0x]

First of all, hats off to the Demo Team, especially MetalEd and AnejoDave for pulling off this first tournament. I'd been looking forward to it for months. It was super cool playing Alpha Strike at a higher level that I haven't felt like I'm able to with most of my community here in Indianapolis, and meeting other players and experiencing other peoples' lists was so cool.

Centurian99 went and put in his AAR, and I wanted to put in my experience, especially since I was in his.

As a quick recap, force construction was 400 PV, era and faction constrained. You had to field a full formation at the beginning of the game in order to get the bonuses with it, and players were allowed to assign 1 unit SPAs as described in AS:CE for every 12 units they took (2 if they had more than 12). Max of 16 units, only one unit of skill 1, two of skill 2. Aero, IndustrialMechs, Support Vees, Unique, and Solaris 7, and off-board artillery units were outright banned. No SCAs.

Optional rules used were Multiple Damage Rolls, ECCM, Forced Withdrawal, Optional Special Abilities, and Alternate Munitions (no Thunder munitions), BSP (6 points, one of each type allowed only), and Forced Withdrawal.

Every round had a game worth 100 Points. 40 Points from kills (PV/5 for crippled. X2 if destroyed) and 60 Points from the primary objective. The maps were 4'x4' and had a variety of hills, buildings, and lakes.

You were to bring two lists, one for when you are the Attacker in a scenario and one for the Defender.

Raven Alliance - IlClan Era
ATTACKER LIST (11 units) - I always took Maneuvering Ace SPA on all units in my Recon Star
- Recon Star -
War Crow B (3) - Assigned SPAs Normally: Weapon Specialist
Mad Dog E (4)
Nova L (4)
Gossamer VTOL (4)
Gossamer VTOL (4)
Mist Lynx A (4)

- Command Star -
Nova Cat Prime (4) - Tactical Genius
Loki Mk II B (4) - Combat Intuition
Devil (4) - Antagonizer
Devil (4) - Antagonizer
Storm Crow F (4)


DEFENDER LIST
- Recon Star - I always took Maneuvering Ace SPA on all units in my Recon Star
War Crow B (3)
Mist Lynx A (5)
Mad Dog E (3) - Assigned SPAs Normally: Long Range Master, Sandblaster
Mad Dog E (3) - Assigned SPAs Normally: Long Range Master, Sandblaster
Satyr Protomech (4) x 5

- Command Star -
Nova Cat Prime (4) - Tactical Genius
Loki Mk II B (4) - Combat Intuition
Howler (4) - Antagonizer
Howler (4) - Antagonizer
Naga Prime (4)

ROUND 1 - King of the Hill - I played as Attacker
You control the hill if you have the most units within 6" of the objective marker. Each turn you control the hill is 10 points.

My opponent, Dominic, was new to the game, but competent at AS basics and needed refreshers on some stuff. I faced against an Annihilator C that i think was Skill 1, Daishi S, a Vulture, a Mad Cat, a couple points of Elementals, a Locust IIC and some Adders. I claimed the hill early with the Devils, and as my slower mechs moved up, nothing was really able to get them off the hill. The Dire Wolf and Annihilator weren't really able to engage well because of the amount of LOS breaking cover between them and the objective. Eventually the Gossamers got behind the Annihilator and applied a lot of pressure on it when it started getting close to shooting. Since I had solidly claimed the Hill with my heavier mechs, I used one of Devils to Antagonize the Annihilator, Dire Wolf, and Vulture and the other to harass and occupy the Adders and Mad cat that were still a problem.

It was only 3 turns between chatting about game rules and getting set up, so I only got 70 points. Dominic was a gracious partner and great to play against.

[MyndkryM]

Love these AARs

[Crackerb0x]

ROUND 2 - Breakthrough - I played as Defender
Scoring was 20 points for each unit crippled/killed as defender and you couldn't score normal points for crippled killed units until objective was met. The Attacker scored 20 points for each unit that left my home edge.

My second game, I played against the 3025 Black Widow company as detailed in the Tales of the Black Widow book, modified by skill.

The Satyrs spread out over the first turn to make a net of spotters for the Naga, but as it turned out, all the Widow Mechs tried to come through one side of the field. I used my Loki and Naga for AoE shenanigans to soften up the Stingers and Wasp that moved up together while a Widow Phoenix Hawk acted as a Forward Observer for two Archers with Blood Stalker who had it out for my Vultures. This is when I really got a bit peeved at how Multiple Damage Rolls interacts with AoE attacks, since I was doing inconsistent damage with my Naga and Loki's Long Tom Canon, which I was really hoping for good use out of for scenarios like this.

The Mad Dogs using Long Range Master and Sandblaster were extremely good at staying far back and laying down hurt against stuff that had a harder time returning fire. I got 100 points killing attackers and a Howler brought down Natasha in her Warhammer and also then a Crusader in turn 4, which was a lot of fun for everyone at just how ridiculous it was.

[Crackerb0x]

ROUND 3 - Take and Hold - I played as Defender
Scoring is 10 points for each objective held during the End Phase. Each player places an objective during set up 8" from the side board edge and 10" from the center line.

After my first two games, I was tied or in first place and my ego was sufficiently fed. That was about to change. You can read about the other side of the game here.

Once again, I spread out my Satyrs to be a spotter net, but Will was the most methodical player I had ever played against. y third game I played my hardest Alpha Strike opponent ever. He brought a Scorpion Empire force with vees and BA supporting a Battle Star with a Flashman, and a War Hawk, a Stormcrow B, a Cauldron Born. He had a second War Hawk in the support Star with an Epona, Svandovit, Undine BA, and Corona BA. Every movement was followed with double checking that his units were 2" or more apart to prevent my AoE shenanigans from getting him and after I moved my Vulture Es into some woods that overlooked most of the field, he always checked that they were never able to shoot any of his stuff. 

We placed our objectives behind big buildings that were 10 CF, but directly hid them from each other and made it difficult to remove enemies from their objective.

His units were very precise in what they wanted to engage and when and almost never left himself open. I was sloppier and it made it so that I did decent amounts of damage, but also never crippled or killed anything except for the squad of Undines. I also surprised him by bringing down the building his objective was hiding behind with the Naga and Vulture Es and used the Howlers to try and keep him from focusing his fire with Antagonizer later in the game.

The way he tells it, if we'd gotten more turns, he would have lost units fast, but I was losing them faster. I lost badly. I got 24 points to 78.

[Crackerb0x]

ROUND 4 - Stand Up Fight - I played Attacker
Scoring was kills only. PV/5 for crippled units. x2 if the unit is destroyed.

I played against Jeff, one of the guys who runs the MechWarrior pods at GenCon (from what I understood). He was a great sport, but not nearly as competitive as my last opponent. He faced me with Otomo, a Light Battle Lance made up of Spiders and a Locust, a Fire Lance of an Awesome and 2 Masakari, and a Grasshopper (I think) and some other kind of lance of 3 Dragons, and another Grasshopper.

I don't know if I was just in a different head space after my last fight, or if I was tired or what, but I made a lot of bad decisions in my positioning. In the center of the board were a bunch of hills, trees, and buildings that provided a lot of cover, but also limited sightlines out of it, and that's where I had set up. The Dragons and Grasshoppers took a beating, but were always able to rotate out before they were crippled. Holy Crap those succession wars Era Dragons and Grasshoppers were tough. I killed a Locust that whole game and I lost my Loki Mk II B, a Gossamer, and both Howlers.

[Crackerb0x]

Finally, I finished 13th/28. It was super cool seeing Alpha Strike played on this kind of level in a way that I don't get to experience often, at home in Indianapolis, let alone at this scale of players. I wound up not being a fan of the Multiple Damage Rolls rules, which I totally overlooked beforehand and it felt like it made it that much harder to kill things, and I was disappointed with decisions that I made that ultimately lead to my placing. I'm glad for the experience, glad for the deflating of my ego, and hope to play again at GenCon.

[MyndkryM]

Thanks for sharing. Does anyone have a link to the rules that were used?

[Crackerb0x]

Thanks for sharing. Does anyone have a link to the rules that were used?

Here is a link to the packet

EDIT: Fixed link

[MyndkryM]

Link doesn't seem to be working for me

[Charistoph]

Here is a link to the packet

Hmm, you've got some extra bits in your link.  It should look like this.

[Charlie Tango]

Thank you for coming and playing in the AS BTCC Tournament.  I ran the Total Warfare version of the Tournament on Saturday, and we really appreciate everyone who turned out for either one or both of the tourneys.

I worked closely with AnejoDave in some of the planning phases, and we would be glad to hear any feedback you might have!

[Centurian99]

That was a great game.

When I figured out how much effective long-ranged shooting you had, I figured my only chance was to do everything I could to minimize incoming fire until I could get my stuff in range.  With my attacker list I basically had no ability to shoot at long range, and was depending on rapidly closing the distance instead.

I really do think if we'd gone more turns you would have won.  You'd taken losses but you outranged me, and whole bunches of my stuff was just about to get crippled.  I could only take down your protos because you had to rush them forward so I could shoot them at short range, and the need to score early made you push them forward to try and score on my obejective instead of dealing with my harassers in your backfield.

Would love for a rematch sometime without the clock.  And I 100% picked up a Naga from the Bitz Guy and is at the top of my list to paint because of our game.

[MyndkryM]

Thank you very much.

[AnejoDave]

Here is a link to the packet

EDIT: Fixed link

This packed WILL be updated.  I'd expect big updates in May.

[AnejoDave]

Thanks for the feedback, and I'd love to hear more from others

A big question: Did anyone pay attention to "Game is over once a player scores 100 points" rule in each scenario?

Topics that are in discussion for updates
MDR
Rounds to 2 hours
skill-based SPA
Adding formation rules that remove the 'fluff' of Formation Comp, as well as being explicit about what constitutes a 'formation' when it comes to unit type per faction
List validation
Updates to points/Scenarios

Overall, there's a lot more moving parts than folks are used to dealing with and I'd like to find a way to reduce pre and post game complexity. 
thoughts here:
SPAs are set in stone per Event
BSPs are set in stone per event
change scoring

[Colt Ward]

Is there a link for the TW rule set?

[Crackerb0x]

A big question: Did anyone pay attention to "Game is over once a player scores 100 points" rule in each scenario?

Only time this was applicable to me was my second game, so it didn't come up.

Topics that are in discussion for updates
MDR
Rounds to 2 hours
skill-based SPA
Adding formation rules that remove the 'fluff' of Formation Comp, as well as being explicit about what constitutes a 'formation' when it comes to unit type per faction
List validation
Updates to points/Scenarios

Good stuff. I really felt like the games that I had that drug on were because of players that just ... didn't play Alpha Strike often. I'm of two minds on this because there's the part of me that's happy that people were interested in the tournament, but I had at least one game that was slowed waaaaay down by my opponent just not knowing the rules to use his forces (I had to explain how Mechanized Infantry worked to him) and then how his BSPs worked.

Overall, there's a lot more moving parts than folks are used to dealing with and I'd like to find a way to reduce pre and post game complexity. 
thoughts here:
SPAs are set in stone per Event
BSPs are set in stone per event
change scoring

Man, this would be some changes to how some Formations in general work, Rules as Written, right? Like assigning SPAs via the Recon Lance or Assault Lance are done at the beginning of the game, I believe RAW.

Same with BSPs. I think there's some growing pains to be done here, but what my experience is is that people who play the game repeatedly get into a rhythm of "this is what's expected of me, so I'm going to do X."

I'd be disappointed if rules were added just to make things easier for players, if this is supposed to be a high-level play format, but if its to help with post-game cleanup, it's definitely understandable.

I know on the score sheets, we had to list SPAs that were assigned during the game, which was added record keeping. I was wondering what the point of this was, unless it was only to keep players honest about what they were doing, because in the scheme of things, it seemed like an extra step in reporting that didn't really have any ROI.

[Centurian99]

A big question: Did anyone pay attention to "Game is over once a player scores 100 points" rule in each scenario?

I forgot in game 2, but that wouldn't have changed the outcome.  In game 4, we both hit 100 the same turn, but time was up so it didn't matter.

Topics that are in discussion for updates
MDR
Rounds to 2 hours
skill-based SPA
Adding formation rules that remove the 'fluff' of Formation Comp, as well as being explicit about what constitutes a 'formation' when it comes to unit type per faction
List validation
Updates to points/Scenarios

Well, for what it's worth...

• MDR = multiple damage rolls?  I liked it.  It didn't seem to slow things down to any appreciable extent and it introduced an nice element of randomness and variability, without compromising the all or nothing aspect of AS attacking (which I see as a feature and not a bug)
• 2 hour rounds would have been a great dea. I think the 100 point rule would have had more effect with 2 hr games.
• Skill based SPA worked fine, although i had some difficulty figuring out how that worked.
• Formation rules worked fine.  The issues were more in the ambiguous wording of some of them.
• List validation: heres the easy way to do it.  1) require that lists be submitted in advance.
  2) post all lists online and crowdsource legality review.  3) profit!
• like i said in my AAR, after you mentioned that the scenarios were designed for classic battletech, the mission design made more sense.

Overall, there's a lot more moving parts than folks are used to dealing with and I'd like to find a way to reduce pre and post game complexity. 
thoughts here:
SPAs are set in stone per Event
BSPs are set in stone per event
change scoring

BSPs being set in stone isn't the worst idea, nor is setting formation SPAs (which is what I think you were referring to) at least for the ones that are "assign SPAs at start of game."  Not sure how that work for things like the Fire Lance where you can explicitly switch from turn to turn.

Scoring - hard to discuss in a vacuum.  It worked, even if it was a bit awkward to figure out scores on the fly sometimes.  Having "kill things" be an objective in each game probably skewed things a bit. 

[MyndkryM]

Is there a link for the TW rule set?

The document I downloaded had both rules for TW and AS

[AnejoDave]

I know on the score sheets, we had to list SPAs that were assigned during the game, which was added record keeping. I was wondering what the point of this was, unless it was only to keep players honest about what they were doing, because in the scheme of things, it seemed like an extra step in reporting that didn't really have any ROI.

Yea, its about keeping players honest at the table.

Overall complexity reduction is about making it a bit more accessible, but also reducing issues stemming from complexity during the event.