ScrapYard Armory

Cold Wars 2010 was held in Lancaster, PA this past weekend.  I was able to visit for two days this year and a full line up of games was on the schedule.  Many thanks go to Demo Agent “Speck” and his minions for the excellent games.

Much buzz was in the air over the venue shakeup for HMGS’s signature convention, Historicon.  Historicon will be hosted in Valley Forge, PA this year instead of Baltimore as originally planned.  I’ve never been to the Valley Forge venue but the BattleTech crew seems optimistic about the expected turn out.  I’ll be there ‘Mechs and terrain in tow as I’ll be running at least one game. So, come on out and see what I cook up!

Last Stand of the Davion Guards

The first game on Friday was a BattleForce game from the FedCom civil war.  With only four people at the table we moved through the turns quickly and completed the game to 100% destruction of one of the forces.  A great game!

Did the Davion Guards hold out or did the Robinson Rangers bust through the defensive line to attack the Davion flank?  I’ll have a complete battle report available shortly!

Red versus Blue

Capture the flag in the Solaris arenas.  Each side had two lances of BattleMechs in a long but narrow arena.  The goal was simple, capture the enemy flag and return it to your base.  I had a lot of fun playing this game despite the fact that my team ended up losing.  Inside of four hours we battled and raced across the arena and had a clear winner in the end.  I was pleasantly surprised by how fun this game was.  Maybe it was the map setup or the selection of units but the game just felt right.  It is absolutely something I’d like to do again and possibly create a few maps for in the future.

There are always things to improve.  Some of the faster MASC units may be an unbalancing influence but not something that can’t be countered.  I think it may have been unwise to leave a lone LongBow near our deployment zone to defend the flag.  Any ‘Mech with pulse weapons would have been a better choice.  At the very least we should not have left him so far forward.  The Mercury who stole our flag had a clear shot to race across the board and that was our fault for leaving the door open.

I’ll reiterate; It was a great game.  Look at the photos of the game below and take note of the layout.  I dare say, it almost looks like a concept paintball field (speedball not woodsball, if you don’t play paintball ask someone who does for the reference).

Clash on Labrea

The Ghost Bears fight it out against the Nova Cats for control of a supply depot.  Each side had two stars a piece and the fighting was furious.  Luck was not on the side of the Ghost Bears as they lost more than a few units to through armor criticals and head shots.  Clan ERPPCs are a bitch.

The frequent falls were comical at times.  We had up to four ‘Mechs down in a pile as failed pilot rolls and gyro hits took their toll.  A fun game despite my limited participation.  My Ryoken B was unfortunately caught a bit ahead of the vanguard and ate too many pulse lasers on turn two or three.

The End of Necromo

The Word of Blake is intent on destroying the production facilities on the Capellan world of Necromo.  I was on the side of the Capellans fending off the toaster lovers from laying waste to our power plants and research centers.

The End of Necromo will be another full battle report to be featured in a future post.  Until then, here are a few teasers.

Grand Melee

The Grand Melee is the traditional end of the Saturday evening.  I took to a NovaCat C and ran head first into the awaiting pulse lasers of a Glass Spider.  In the second turn, due to the combined fire from no less than three ‘Mechs, I succumbed to three engine hits.

Sigh.

I didn’t do near the damage I wanted but such is life.  In a perfect world I would of been able to stay at a more significant range to use my autocannons to greater effect.  As it was, I was sandwiched between the Glass Spider and a Rifleman IIC.  Rock and hard place, check.  Not to mention the extra attention from a Kraken in heavy woods and partial cover in the center of the battle.

But, I’m not bitter at all.  Good times were had by all and I got to do some play testing for a future post in the break just before the Melee.  Can’t wait for the next con.

All the Rest

Here are a few pictures from the rest of the convention.  As always there were quite a few fantastic setups.  If you have not been to a HMGS event you need to start.  It may not have the publicity of GenCon or Origins but it is more wargame centric and is in no way a small convention.  Historicon is just around the corner so make a point to come out for a day or more.  You will not be disappointed.