So last November after a nice result at Gaelcon I suggested to the group a small League in Dublin thinking that we would get it done by Christmas, wow was I wrong on that. Because of various scheduling problems it took almost 4 months to get to the point were we had a clear winner. However before we get to that, let me explain the set-up we went for.
Each player who wanted in had to chose a Faction, if they choice a standard IS faction they HAD to field a full Lance of 4 units, though the units themselves could be any Total Warfare legal units. Players who wanted Clans had to field a full Star of 5 and for any weirdos who wanted Comstar/WoB they had to put 6 units on the board. In all cases the era was set as 3085 and only Total Warfare kit was allowed.
In order to give players options, everyone had a max BV of 8,000 points but could adjust pilots as they wished. The units they chose had to be available to their faction per the MUL and RAT tables (No Davion players with Daishi Prometheus please). Then to make it more attractive, anyone with an Omni could field any Configuration they wished as long as they didn't exceed the original BV limit or change ANY of their pilots. (essentially this meant for maximum flexibility you had to pay for the most expensive version of an Omni even if you didn't always field it.
Lastly, duplicate units were allowed, I've never understood or liked, the idea of "You can only have one!" The exception being unique units.
After a bit of to-and-fro we got eight players with the following options.
Brian F. Kenny- Free Worlds League
Warhammer -7M (x4)
Brian Carter- Clan Jade Falcon
Kraken
Hunchback IIC
Hellhound
Vixen
Baboon
Keith O'Sullivan- Capellan Confederation
Striker-2C
Stalker-5M
Vindicator-3L
Catapult-C1b
Lorcan Nagle- Draconis Combine
Skulker- C3M
Hatamoto-Chi-28T
Warhammer- 8K
Wolverine- 8C
Mark Hall- Federated Suns
Awesome-9Q
Falconer-9R
Penetrator-4D
Watchman-4M
Michelle Haward - Draconis Combine
Dragon Fire -3F
No-Dachi -2KO
Venom-9KA
Panther-13K
Peter Crowley - Clan Hells Horses
Mad Cat
Ryoken
Gnome LRM (x3)
Troy Donohue - Mercenary
Awesome-9Q (x4)
So that was the forces, the matches themselves were a straight up knock-down-drag-out face off but we decided on a little something when it came to terrain. The maps were randomly rolled from the tables in TW but instead of one person rolling two dice, we had each player roll one dice and added the results, this way no one player could argue that they had been shafted by the terrain roll, both players were equally responsible. If both players objected to the terrain they could re-roll once but the second roll was binding. So how did it all go?
Overall it went great, a few things became obvious early on, firstly I wasn't going to win a damn thing as in my first 4 matches I got hammered by bad dice while my Warhammers legs seemed to be magnetic as every one of my opponents seemed to exploit the weak leg armour there or found the ammo bin. I rapidly realised that while a homogenous lance can work, the Warhammer-7M variant doesn't. After a particularly bad match I conceded my remaining rounds and focused on refereeing.
The Mercenary force of 4 Awesomes looked tough to beat but had displayed some weakness that would be exploited later on by the Davions and others but the surprising force proved to be the Hells Horses. I don't know what sick minded individual came up with the Gnome LRM but all I can say is "What were you thinking??? That thing is insane" While the Madcat and Ryoken were a solid combo and did their share the massed LRM fire from the Gnomes devastated all before them.
The use of a standard Kraken by the Falcons was surprising at first but proved a real pest, particularly as the cannons refused to jam until game 4, meanwhile Lorcan's use of a cheap C3M vehicle to offset the cost of the C3 network proved very effective. Time and again he would hide the Skulker at the back of the field while the mechs advanced and only once was it actually engaged.
In the end, with the bulk of the games fought it was obvious who was coming up on top and with Real World commitments messing up matches I called a halt once the top positions were decided, so without further ado, the results.
First PlacePeter Crowley - Clan Hells Horses
Second PlaceTroy Donohue - Mercenary
Third PlaceThis one was jointly taken by,
Lorcan Nagle - Draconis Combine
Mark Hall - Federated Suns
Fourth PlaceBrian Carter - Clan Jade Falcon
Fifth PlaceMichelle Haward - Draconis Combine
Sixth PlaceKeith O'Sullivan - Capellan Confederation
Seventh PlaceBrian F. Kenny - Free Worlds League
Hopefully later on in the year I will use these rankings for another competition, either a Solaris 7 or Trial of Bloodright depending on what the players would prefer.
Some of the highlights.