Howdy Mechwarriors and welcome to what is… kind of a tournament report? Peri, Connor, Lynn, our friend Tentacle and myself went on out to Kentucky to participate in Brawl in the Bluegrass and it was an astounding time! A day of good games, fun opponents, some familiar faces and great competition awaited us! Great thanks to all who took part in setting it up and everyone who said hello while we were there!

Now, as I’m sure as you can tell from the title this is not my tournament report. This is everything from before the actual tournament! Our drive out, the group trip to IWM, and the Trial of Bloodright that I definitely did not forget was an option and only signed up for day of because there was still a spot open.

That’d be short sighted and not particularly thoughtful now wouldn’t it? I’m not those things, I’m definitely very good at remembering things and never forget to sign up for parts of events that I want to do.

Definitely not.

The Drive

The drive was astounding. Any time I get to drive through ol’ Appalachia is a good time in my books. I adore the mountains and never want for much more than a nice time spent tooling through their vast and vibrant valleys, soaring peaks, and grand saddles.

The Beauty of this Country is truly breathtaking, Credit: Peri

Virginia is, as always, beautiful. I mean just look at that sight. Sprawling hills and woodlines as far as the eye can see with the gentle yet ancient caps of more mountains in the distance. What more could a man ask for in this life than to wake up to that kind of view every morn’?

West Virginia was full of even higher highs and lower lows as we continued our roll west into Kentucky. Mountains without tops, abandoned towns left to be reclaimed by the wilderness, and the ever present roll of rivers babbling under bridges and at the roadside.

God and the stars know we spent this drive talking, laughing, and having a great time as we explored ideas around game systems, lore, life, and the things we wanted to do with our own systems and world. Before long we threw on a podcast by the name of ‘A Closer Look’ featuring Nate Fisher and Will Sennett. If you’ve not listened to it, which you probably haven’t, then you absolutely should as it is a wonderful listen and incredibly funny. We’ve been quoting it ever since and its jokes have yet to get old.

Now, Kentucky… Kentucky is just as pretty as the rest, at least during the day. Unfortunately we drove through in the evening. In a rainy, torrential, no good, very bad, evening. Deadstop traffic, a fair clip of driving already behind us, and a lot of sleepy dragging down our eyelids we pulled in for a pitstop in a small Kentuckyian passover town at 10 PM. It was here we were granted with the glorious succor that helps to sustain all who travel long and terrible journeys:

Taco Bell’s many delicious foods. Long may it restore our soul and nourish our body. May the holy lady of ground beef, sodium, mixed light veggies, and delectable cheese forever guide the traveler of the American Highway system safely to their destinations.

Amen.

Iron Wind Metals and the Trial of Tudor’s Biscuit World

As we’ve shown before a part of every trip we take is stopping by the local biscuit breakfast joint such that we may see how they are. Here in Kentucky we’ve got a new place! ‘Tudor’s Biscuit World’. So, how does Biscuit World stack up against the glory of the Carolinas’ Biscuitville? Does a bigger geographic location in your name make you better at making biscuits? Worse? A little to the left? Well…

God I love biscuit sandwiches, Credit: Liberty

It was certainly acceptable, pretty great if I’m honest but certainly still behind my beloved Biscuitville. God willing one will appear in my hometown and my drive to work will be forcibly shifted to include its majesty in my routine.

So, what about IWM? Well it’s a fascinating place and I spent way more than I should have picking up all manner of ‘Mechs, parts for ‘Mechs, and random shit I probably didn’t need. Also doing some archeology!

Did you know that they put the dates for when each mold was made on the side? Well guess what, my beloved Marshal’s molds were minted a mere few months after I was born!

It’s a match made in heaven now ain’t it?

ANyhow, I came home with a few Anubises, an Arcas, Warlord parts to finish the ones I bought, a tide of misc. bits for all of my conversions I’ve been working on, an Awesome 9Q for the Marshalry, a Mad Cat MK II, a primitive Emperor, parts to make a fucked up and evil project phoenix Marauder…

Oh yeah, and enough Marshals to square out my collection to be a full company.

I also might have a problem… and a secondary problem. They actually didn’t have enough Marshal arms. Just enough torsos. So I got all the actual Marshal arms I could and then started plugging around to find every random arm that looked roughly correct so I could have my best run at it. God knows these are gonna be some real weirdos.

This should be fun to build.

So, with the trip to IWM done we drove on back to Kentucky and hit up the hotel just in time for the Trial of Bloodright! What’s that, you ask? Well, dear reader, I didn’t know either. This is because I forgot to sign up for it.

Good thing they had an open slot still.

The Trial of Bloodright

So, what is a Trial of Bloodright? Well, in the lore sense it is a Clan trial in which many warriors from the same bloodline fight to determine who will next earn their bloodname. For this purpose today it’s a 5 round draft elimination tournament of 1v1 fights. As you progress and win your matches you get to steal the opposing force’s mechs and add them to your stable while they bear the shame of their failings and go build their recently acquired little metal dudes. We also have a point of edge for each round so as to flatten out the randomness curve and represent the presence of exceptionally experienced pilots. In each round the participants roll off to determine the Hunter, the one who will choose the ‘Mechs that are on the field, and the Hunted, the one who will determine the map and the conditions for the fight. For round one, to account for the fact that the Hunted doesn’t actually get a choice, the Hunted has 2 edge points.

I, naturally after having been the ‘5 minutes before start time final entry’ guy, am picking last. My choice is between a Thor J and a Crossbow W. Well, sorta last. Someone didn’t show up for the event so the actual last one to make their ‘Mech choice was Jason Hansa!

Between the two given options, chose the Thor J. While it’s not my favorite chassis to work with it is certainly a better one than a Crossbow. To make everything an even playing field the TO had set up all of the pilots in the units to flatten out a nice 3000, ish, BV flat line.

Thor (Summoner). Credit: Rockfish

For those who don’t remember the Thor review lets go over what a J is one more time. A 70 ton heavy with a 5/8/5 movement profile that is clad in 84% armor. Weapons wise I’ve got a HAG/40, a Light Active Probe, and a pair of Improved Medium Heavy lasers to fire off with and the heat management to do it all while jumping and still be fine.

Not what I’d want to take but certainly a fine enough machine to try and get some use out of. Love a HAG/40 when it spins up and works right.

Now, what name are we actually after? Well, simple. This year the Raven Alliance has come to town and intends to put on a good show for the people of Kentucky as the best of their best vie for the Blood Name of:

McKenna

Well, and me. Still not sure how I got here…

Round 1: A Buzzard Amongst the Ravens

My first round I get paired into an Ebon Jaguar D and lose the roll off, ending up as the Hunter. So, with only one ‘Mech to choose from the opponent gets his extra point of edge and I end up picking our Map and our condition.

With a HAG/40 in my hands I decided to choose the condition that would require a breach check made for every location that took a hit. On a 12 it would be breached and pop, breaking all the components within.I’m hoping that bathing my opponent in HAG/40 shots will give me plenty of chances to actually manage a breach.

Unfortunately I only get to fire it twice.

After 2 turns of him ducking and weaving through cover he gets close enough and within two turns of hard contact he pops the armor open on that arm, shutting down the HAG. Unfortunately this is quite annoying and leaves me with not but a pair of iHMLs. We get into a protracted slap fest with his UAC/10s biting good chunks of armor off of me while I flail at him with all I’ve got.

And then, after god knows how many rounds it finally happens: I breach his CT.

Well, that’s one way to finish out a fight.

I have added a far more usable Ebon Jaguar D to my stable and with it I have found a path to advance in this strange strange carnival of Clan culture!

Round 2: Bigger Guns Bigger Boats

Going into Round 2 I get pitted into the player who took down our friend Connor! He’s actually a reader and a very cool guy! If ever he’s around my way I’d love to play a normal pickup game with him! This time around I’m the hunter, thank you Goonhammer Dice I gave the TO as a thank you for running the tourney, and decided to pit my Ebon Jaguar D into his, read ‘the one he stole from Connor’, Gargoyle D. The other option was a Whammer IIC 2 and I’ll be honest, I didn’t want that smoke. He chooses a clear day as the condition and so we set to work beating each other half to death!

The fight was a good time and one that, even picking the lesser of two evils, I would have to play right to get through. So I did. With the Gargoyle and Ebon Jag having the same movement profiles I did everything in my power to do exactly one thing: Stay in a spot where he could only get one arm on me.

Simply don't let them shoot you! Credit: Liberty

By round 7 his gargoyle was legged and near dead to CT destruction. I kept on hammering until he went the rest of the way to dead and finished out the round taking my choice of his rides home. So, here’s the hard part: I have 4 ‘Mechs after this round and as such have to choose which one to leave behind to get down to 3.

Ebon Jag post fight, Credit: Liberty

Christ alive did we beat on each other, Credit: Liberty

And here we are, leaving the Thor J behind in the box. So the count in the stable stands at an Ebon Jaguar D, a Warhammer IIC 2, and a Gargoyle D. I’ll be honest this Gargoyle seems cursed as every man who has piloted it has lost, I will do everything in my power NOT  to drive this thing in this Trial. On we go to the next round and the next opponent!

Round 3: Friends in Low Places

Round 3 I get paired into Brad, the man who runs the Atlantic City Open! I’ve been wanting to go to that one since last year but, unfortunately, the dates haven’t been lining up. Hopefully next year!

I am once again the Hunter, again, Goonhammer dice just be movin’ like that, and as such choose to pit my Warhammer IIC 2 against his Loki MK.II C. Brad, for his part, picks a map to allow him a good covered path at me and chooses a condition that makes it such that my PPCs are a tad inaccurate. It’s not the best matchup I could take but I’m hoping that by controlling the range with our equivalent speeds and his lighter armor I can hammer his ‘Mech apart before he can actually get close enough to bathe me in HE ATM hell, even with the PPC nerf.

It’s a fight that starts with Brad doing a good job keeping my eyes off of him as he attempts to close the distance. The first good shot I get on him slams both PPCs into the right side torso, opening it up and taking a shitload of damage in return that leaves one of my legs on one point of armor remaining. The Next salvo shears the Loki’s side torso off and 12s the left arm off. That Loki is now 1 ATM12, a pile of heat, and a standing kill order for the next turn.

The scariest game of keep away you ever did saw, Credit: Liberty

Round starts and I move to get guns off, hammering the fire on. All of it lands and the Loki gets beaten in half by the damage flow crashing 30 damage into the damaged CT and coring the ‘mech out completely. I ditch the cursed Gargoyle, and my worryingly squishy Ebon Jaguar for the Loki and an Omen.

Round 4: The Foggy Foggy Dew

This wasn’t the most interesting of fights, but is still somewhat funny nevertheless. I am the Hunter again, by the grace of the Goonhammer dice once again, and pit my Warhammer IIC into my opponent’s Grizzly. They choose an atmospheric condition that, once again, nerfs my PPCs.

Very rude that people keep doing that. I’m just a little guy, why would you do this to me? We spend 8 turns flinging cross map shots at each other on bads, his one gauss rifle and backup guns to my two ERPPCs and LRM-15s. We both end up using our edge in this, burning off head shots and doing our best to stay in the fight a bit longer. This is a full 8 turns of long range ‘fuck you’ violence that almost ends with him attempting to disengage, believing he had done more damage to me than I had to him, which was the tiebreaker condition, but he sticks around for one more turn which proves his undoing as I hammer him to the floor again.

How can you get me when I'm waaaaaaaay back here? Credit: Liberty

I win once again and elect not to take any of his ‘Mechs home with me. I head into the final match packing my coveted Warhammer IIC 2, the Omen, and the Loki MK II C.

Round 5

So. Final round of a Trial of Bloodright that I didn’t remember was happening until the day of and here I am smack in the middle of it.

As the Hunted.

My opponent chooses to hunt my Omen with his White Raven. This is a nasty machine, 75 tons of clan lasers, pulse and otherwise, augmented by a TC that’s clad in ferro-lam that jumps like a banshee. So what did I choose as my environmental condition? Simple: Heavy Fog on the river base map electing to start on the side of the base.

So, what does the Heavy Fog condition do? Well, makes lasers fire with a +1 which hurts him more than me as the Omen has an LB-10 and an ATM-12 to get work done with. It also makes it so that ground movement costs +1 to enter any given hex and demands a PSR for every jump made. I’m hoping to reduce the effect of his many lasers and force him to not jump so he has as low TMM as I can get on him.

The fight is decidedly in my favor as I trundle into the base and set up for his approach, waiting for him to get at me and exchanging mid range fire as he comes. We deal some alright damage to each other with mine being mildly blunted by his ferro-lam.

Then it finally happens: He jumps into the base.

In an attempt to close the distance on me he leaps into the base, touching down hard right next to me. I turn and hammer everything into him, and I mean everything. It all lands and savages armor off of him, oh yeah, and the LB-10 clips him in the head. The critical goes through as a double crit and he burns his edge to force me to reroll, which results in a 5. Next round he gets up and scampers off where I can’t quite get him before jumping back in…

And failing the PSR again.

Luckily for him he’s somewhere I still can’t get at as he was setting up for a good maneuver run on me. Getting up he pushes in and we get to beating on each other. For 2 turns in a row my Omen doesn’t miss. I bury an ATM HE cluster into his head, ending the round and winning the Trial.

THERE YOU ARE!!! TIME FOR THE TWO SHOE BEATING, Credit: Liberty

Man this Omen thing is fuckin’ sick.

Forever Feared Shall Be the Name: Liberty McKenna

I have won this tournament and as such Star Colonel Liberty McKenna is born. The Force Marshal’s gonna be real confused about how this happened, and I mean so am I. I’m quite pleased with both the Omen and the Warhammer IIC 2, I’ve always been an Assault Pilot at heart and it always makes me happy to have a story for why the guy in charge of a force is driving what he’s driving.

Got a Certifricate and everything, Credit: Liberty McKenna

Now, I’ve gotta get a force for ol’ Star Colonel Me here and… oh well wouldn’t you know it I’ve got one right here on the top shelf! Cobbled together from the scraps I had sitting around in the ‘find a clan for these’ pile I’ve got a full cluster all ready and raring to go! Including an Overlord C!

Something something 'A Box of Scraps', Credit: Liberty

What about a ride? Well, I started work on that immediately too!

Liberty McKenna's Command Omen, Credit: Liberty

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. See if you can guess what Galaxy I’ve decided on based on that tape job! Look forward to seeing these guys at a tournament somewhere down the line!

Final Thoughts

This was a blast, and the tournament that comes after the following day should be too! Now, to quote a, then very annoyed, Peri: ‘Even when list construction is taken from you and you don’t even know you’re about to be in a tournament, Liberty continues to simply kill people’.

(I asked the TO, by the way, and they said this one still counts as a tournament, Peri's griping aside. :P )

I love the Apalachians, I love Battletech, and I love the community that surrounds this wonderful game. Going to events like these are often the highlight of my months and I wouldn’t trade them, even with complaints or gripes, for the world. Keep being fun, Battletech Community, the world needs more of it.

All the ‘mech reviews, the pretty plastic and the shiny mathrocks aren’t worth a damn if you don’t use them to have fun with friends! So go grab a drink, a good pack of snacks, your favorite game partner(s), a box of funny ‘mechs, a cozy spot, and a fun map then get to making some good memories, at home or at a tournament!

Until next time! Fair weather, good seas and happy gamin’! Go tear shit up out there and have fun!

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