Well that's Gaelcon done for another year and from a Battletech Standpoint, we had a pretty good time.
The plan this year was to simply raise the profile of Battletech overall and with the release this year of the Introductory Box Set we took that as our starting point. Saturday and Sunday we ran a series of one off demonstration games using just the contents of the box. Myself and Lorcan_Nagle put together our usual impressive display of product at one end of the table as well as a rather nice Diorama he had made depicting the battle between Phelan's Star and the Comguard on Tukkayid.
Fenris dodging fire.
Thor takes to the air
We introduced a couple of people using the Intro rules and simplified mech sheets as well as running a couple of skirmish games set in the Succession Wars. Overall response was good with several people saying they would probably get the Box Set at the first opportunity and for once, nobody said "Oh Battletech, isn't that dead?".
Day two we did much the same but introduced Clan tech and moved things along to the Invasion while showing how the same mini has different versions with the 3050 upgrades of the same models. We started out with Clan versus Succession Wars era mechs and then later on introduced the upgraded versions. The first match had a Thor Prime taking on a short light lance from the Draconis Combine.
Sadly things did not go well when the Panther went down to a straight ERPPC shot to the ammo bin leaving the Jenner and Spider to try and take down the Clanner.
Unfortunately that didn't work out too well, the Jenner pushed his heat curve to try and punish the Thor which was really more on its armour then manouvering to survive and in the process, shut down. The Thor being vicious ran around behind it and put the ERPPC straight into it's back.
This left the Spider to face the big heavy all alone.
Despite a pretty hopeless situation the Spider made the Clanner work for it, a last ditch Charge attempt almost paying off.
Sadly the Charge missed and the inevitable finally occurred.
After that massacre a Combine Loki/Thor pairing tried to repeat the performance against a Steiner heavy lance but that had a radically different outcome.
Face off.
Not all the Steiner mechs are the big guys but don't under estimate that Commando.
Things get vicious quick but this time the Spheroids have the weight.
Which sadly didn't last long when the Zeus gets Headcapped with a PPC leaving the Banshee, Grasshopper and Commando in a bit of a pickle.
In the end the Inner Sphere carries the day with the final kill shots being administered by the plucky Commando.
Also we ran an RPG scenario for AToW. The scenario was one I had taken some liberties with and centered on a Special Forces team trying to infiltrate Fortress Dieron and liberate Hohiro Kurita from the WoB's in 3069. I decided to make the team a remnant of the SLDF, a Fury Team struggling to get back to Tukkayid to find out what had happened to their colleagues that were recruited by the DCMS and had a DEST Liason officer (hey, sue me, all the stuff in Hotspots was spun by the media anyway so I felt it was plausible).
The whole thing was pretty smooth, I simplified the Charater sheets to make them easier for the first timers and by the end one player enjoyed it so much he went looking for a copy of A Time of War off the traders afterwards.
Finally the Quickstrike game we ran on Monday can best be described as carnage but was well worth it. It was linked to the RPG session the day before and was a chase scenario as the resistance, after picking up Hohiro, made a run for the Dropship. The WoB's gave chase with a full 4 Level IIs that slammed into a full DCMS company that fought desperately to hold them back while units of the Eridani Light Horse and Black Watch remnants made a run for the ship only to have to fight their way past units of Hannibals Hermits mercenaries who were trying to cut them off.
The Dropship waits with it's engines ticking over.
The Resistance gathers.
This is going to be a looooong walk.
Pursuers and Flankers.
Things started with the Black Watch remnants (the red mechs) heading straight for the Dropship with the companion Eridani Light Horse lance (Desert Camo) accompanying them while the DCMS company (Grey) tried to slow the members of the WoB 8th Division in pursuit.
Things got brutal quickly with not many units going down but lots of damage being passed around. The DCMS tried to focus on the WoB faster elements to try and give the Prince his best chance of escape.
Although the WoB knew Hohiro was in a Wolverine the fact that there were 4 Wolverines on the table meant it turned into a shell game as the Hermits showed up on the flanks and started to ambush the fleeing mechs.
As the WoB continued their pursuit the DCMS held the line, giving only the smallest amount of ground.
While the Watch struggle to blow through the Hermits.
The DCMS and WoBs enter the area we christened 'The Valley of Death.'
Finally the Watch managed to get past the blocking Hermits and not a moment too soon as the DCMS finally succumb to the WoBs brutal assault, less then a lance remains to fall back.
As they approach the Dropship but before they can come under it's guns another two lances of Hermits attack again from the flanks. They finally manage to bring down the Wolverine carrying Hohiro forcing a desperate last minute transfer to the last surviving DCMS mech, a Grand Dragon.
Fortunately the Grand Dragon had the speed to outrun the remaining pursuers, who wisely decided they where not being pain enough to die under a dropships guns although the Grand Dragon was the only mech from the resistance to survive. all the rest fell.
Overall, this was a good convention, only question is, what to do for the next one.
