Jack of Harts

I have to hand it to WNRP for putting on a good tournament. The basic rules set makes games generally equal and fast. 80-minute games with time to setup between them allows us to easily get 4 games in an 8-hour period with time to eat and relax. Note that since we had 18 players in 1v1 matches, that made 9 games at once, or 36 unique games in that 8-hour time period. Do not underestimate just how impressive an achievement that is.

The army building rules are good, with many provisions aimed at rules lawyers. Even people like me who like to use the maths to tweak out every point and parcel are held to a hard limit, especially when certain tactics are shown to be TOO effective. WNRP are not afraid to plug holes in the rules. This keeps things fun for people who show up with the unit they put together because they liked the looks of the minis. I heartily approve of this idea, as I like seeing new players.

The terrain sets Andrew put together can easily support the 18 people we had playing, while each battlefield looks visually different and unique. I will note that the pictures of my battles show four entirely different fields of battle, with terrain types that feature different special rules for each. Bringing in the setup rules where the players take turns placing the terrain however they want, it helps to make each battle feel like a new experience.

We also had a good home at the old Fantasy Flight Games center. They are close to food, have food there, and have plenty of tables we could spread around on. Other than the one game of Warhammer that setup in the middle of the zone Andrew reserved for us, we had an entire side of the gaming area we could run back and forth over. The organizers could easily point us to the exact table and map the tournament software selected for us, which allowed us to quickly move to our next fight and place our armies without confusion. It made for a fun, fast, and organized event that I was happy to attend.

The third battle of the day was King of the Hill, and I elected to bring all of my BattleMechs and a Marauder BattleArmor unit to the ball. It was time to stand up with all my big guns and make the enemy cry.

The crying started on turn one when the enemy moved VTOLs and BattleArmor in for a swift turn one capture of the hill. My advancing BattleMechs and BattleArmor destroyed one VTOL and both enemy BattleArmor in a pitched firefight that cost me my BattleArmor. His last remaining VTOL managed to earn the enemy one point though.

My BattleMechs advanced into the hill on turn two, while my Uziel jumped behind the enemy Mad Cat to shoot it in the back. The surviving enemy VTOL and fast heavy physical BattleMech attacked me in the hill while the enemy Kodiak and Mad Cat harassed me from medium range. There was a lot of missing weapons fire and no losses on either side, though I had the most tonnage in the hill and got the point.

Turn three saw the enemy Kodiak charge into the hill and face down my Warhammer IIC. Weapons fire converged from all angles and both BattleMechs died on the hill, along with the sole surviving VTOL. Once again, I had tonnage and got the point.

The enemy Mad Cat moved into the hill on turn four and his two BattleMechs faced down my four for an epic final battle of supremacy. I focused fire on the Mad Cat, while they spread their fire across my Javelin and Shadow Hawk IIC. The Mad Cat died, as did my two lighter BattleMechs, but the Warhammer and Uziel had the tonnage advantage over his last remaining BattleMech. I got a third point.

The game ended on turn five with his last BattleMech getting in close to engage my Uziel. I don’t think either BattleMech died, even with my Warhammer firing on the enemy, but I did get the point and brought the game to an end in my favor. It was the only game of the night where I destroyed more of the enemy force than what I lost.

Turn one is where I won the game in this case. He got a point, but I slaughtered his BattleArmor and VTOLs. They were never a major force again after that, and in a BattleMech on BattleMech duel, my forces had the definite advantage.