I probably would have pulled chocks a turn or two before you intended us to, based on what Jeff said you gave him...
Well, it started off with 12 Davion mechs chasing down 4 Liao mechs.
Davion:
Enforcer III, Jaegermech III, Raptor, Argus, Osiris Shadowhawk, Blackhawk KU, Caesar, Centurion, Stealth, Uziel and Dervish.
Liao starting force:
Sunder, Avatar, Ti T'sang and Gladiator
Liao hidden units:
Marauder, Cataphract, Raven, Sha Yu, P.Hawk, Huron Warrior, Anubis, Archer
So yeah, there are some big threats there on the Liao side, but Davion had an overwhelming tonnage advantage at first. Then around turn 4 the Archer, Cataphract Sha Yu and Anubis were revealed. A couple turns after that the rest of the Liao mechs made their appearance.
The context of the fight was the Capellans had been raiding Davion facilities for a while. Their true purpose was to try and draw out a Davion unit and destroy it. The lance of the Sunder, Avatar, Ti'Tsang and Gladiator were the bait.
I took a chance with the Raptor and ran it to try and get in position to try and run down the Avatar with the Centurion. Jeff got lucky with the Gladiator and hit it with an AC20 despite needing 10s to hit. The only lucky break the Davion got was the Caesar hitting the Marauder in the head with the gauss. The Stealth alphaed into the back of the Avatar (who had its LT-rear armor stripped) needing 6s to hit and missed with every shot.
I knew the rules for mines are too powerful; but I wanted to use them to show people who were unfamiliar with them just how unbalanced and dangerous they were. In the campaign, I modify the rules for mines to where if they detonate, you roll on the cluster chart and then the mines automatically degrade by that amount. Because I think its stupid that an 20 point minefield can do more than 20 points of damage in the course of a game and that the rules have all 20 points from a non-command detonated set of mines deal damage. Yes once a minefield is discovered, you know its there, but then it forces the opponent to either go out of his way to avoid them or take the chance at running through them.
Again, I wanted to use the mines as a teaching opportunity.