Greetings all...
As the Agent in charge of the Masters & Minions event this year at Gencon, as ticket sales have been opened, I hereby present the Official Rules for the event:
Where: Gen Con Indianapolis, Minis Hall, Catalyst Game Labs area
When: 9pm, Saturday, August 17, 2013
EVENT RULES:
Summary: Masters and Minions is a BattleTech event played at Gencon in which the members of the BattleTech community at large have the opportunity to sit down and play against the creative personnel responsible for the development and creation of the game (aka the Masters).
Event Structure: Masters and Minions is a series of lance-on-lance fights of the Stand-up Fight type of scenario, pitting two Masters (each controlling two ‘Mechs) against four players (controlling one ‘Mech each). Battles are played out until destruction or surrender of one side.
Participation: Masters and Minions is an event ticket-specific game at Gencon. When event sales are opened, a limited pool of tickets is made available based upon the expected number of Masters able to participate. The standard setup is 10 Masters versus 20 players, for a total of five lance-on-lance fights. This number may be adjusted upwards based upon Master availability, but will never be below the number of event tickets sold through Gencon.
Stand-By list: A stand-by list for participation in Masters and Minions will be opened by the Demo Agent in charge of the event or their designated representative one hour before the beginning of the event. Being on the Stand-By list does not guarantee you a spot in the game, these slots are only on an as-available basis. The list will be called for any available slots in the order of arrival of those signing up on the list, with one exception; players on the Stand-By list who have purchased the VIG (Very Important Gamer) attendee package through Gencon will be automatically placed at the top of the Stand-By list. If two or more of these individuals sign up for the Stand-By list, they will be given preference in order of the time they signed up. Individuals who get a slot into the game via the Stand-By list will have to pay the admission price in generic tickets equivalent to the cost of a full Event Ticket ($16).
Tickets: Masters and Minions is an Event ticket-specific event. Generics will *not* be accepted for access to Masters and Minions except in the case of individuals who obtain an available slot through the Stand-By list. The Demo Agent in charge of the event will begin accepting tickets from event ticket holders in five-minute increments beginning 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time. Only four tickets will be accepted in each five minute increment to allow for ticket holders to have their Record Sheets printed.
If an Event ticket holder wishes to be assigned to a game with another Event ticket holder, they must present their tickets together and inform the Agent in charge of their intention. For convenience of assignment to individual battles, groups may only consist of two or four individuals. Once a ticket holder has given his/her ticket to the Agent, they must proceed immediately to the Catalyst HQ Desk to have the Record Sheet for their chosen ‘Mech printed out. Event ticket holders have until fifteen minutes after the scheduled start of the event to present their ticket for admission; after that time, event slots will be assigned as delineated in the Stand-By list section above.
‘Mech Choices and Record Sheets: Players may select any ‘Mech for their use in Masters & Minions as long as it meets the following criteria:
1) The ‘Mech must be Tournament Legal, mounting no Advanced or Experimental level technology. The list of Tournament Legal equipment shall be considered to include technology made Tournament Legal by the listings in TRO: Prototypes.
2) There must be an available canon Record Sheet for the ‘Mech
Players are highly encouraged to have selected their ‘Mechs ahead of time, and if at all possible to know in what source (TRO, Scenario Pack, etc) the Record Sheet is drawn from to make it easier on the Catalyst HQ when it comes time to print units.
Record Sheets MUST be printed at the time of the event through the Catalyst HQ, no Record Sheets from other sources will be approved.
Piloting/Gunnery skills will be assigned to units by unit weight and technology base according to the following table:
Clan Pilot Gunnery
Assault 5 4
Heavy 4 3
Medium 3 2
Light 2 1
IS (SL tech)
Assault 4 3
Heavy 3 2
Medium 2 1
Light 1 0
IS (Succession Wars)
Assault 3 2
Heavy 2 1
Medium 1 0
Light 0 0
Miniatures: Players are welcome to (and even encouraged to) bring their own miniatures for their use in Masters and Minions. Players are expected to use official Iron Wind Metals/Ral Partha miniatures in this event if at all possible. In no case may a player use a miniature from the list designated as “Unseen”. Your use of your own minis is at your own risk; Catalyst Game Labs accepts NO responsibility for the unlikely event of any loss, damage, etc. of a player’s miniature during this event. Catalyst Agents will provide a wide selection of proxy miniatures for the use of players who do not wish to bring their own.
Player Battle Assignments: Assignments of players (or groups of players as delineated above under Tickets) to individual battles will be done by the Agent in charge by a random determination method. Player requests to play against specific pairs of Masters will not be able to be honored.
Mapsheets: Battles will be fought on two standard Battletech Mapsheets placed with their long sides touching. For each battle, the pair of Masters will select one map and the players will select one map from a set of tournament- approved mapsheets provided by the Catalyst Agent in charge.
Dice: A set of standard movement dice (white/walk, black/run red/jump) will be provided for each ‘Mech. Players will be permitted to use their own dice for rolling, with the following caveat:
Any dice sold by Catalyst Game Labs shall be legal for Catalyst tournaments and events. This includes the "Battlemaster" and Faction branded Battletech dice and Shadowrun dice previously sold by Catalyst Game Labs. The judges may choose to disallow ALL players dice and instead supply dice to all players. At the judge's discretion, the players must switch dice with one another at any time - this is not indicative of cheating, merely a precautionary measure.
As in previous tournament rule iterations, any other specialty dice (primarily dice which do not have facings consisting entirely of pips or numbers, but including other non-standard dice at the Organizer's discretion), including Armory brand faction dice and the Iron Die sold through but not by Catalyst, remain illegal for tournament use.
Game Play: Masters & Minions is played using standard Total Warfare tournament rules. No optional rules will be in effect. Any player or Master may ask for a rules ruling from the Demo Agent in charge of the game or their designated Agent assistant; the result of this type of rules ruling is considered final.
Prizes: At the conclusion of the Masters & Minions game, each player chooses one of the ‘Mechs they played against as their prize. These miniatures are painted to the Masters’ specifications by artists from Camospecs or by senior Catalyst Agents in the Master’s desired paint scheme. When it comes to making their choice of one unit to take home at the end of the game, a player who killed a particular ‘Mech has the first right of refusal on that ‘Mech. If the players are unable to decide amongst themselves who gets which, the Agent in charge will make the determination using a random method.
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If you have any questions, please contact me (Charlie Tango) by PM through these forums or post in this thread.
