We are done for our third year! This year we had eight tables and sixteen players in game on the day at any time. Lots of laughter, dice misbehaving and players making friends and contacts across the Melbourne Battletech scene.
We had a lot of new players on the day, and I hope our rebranding of the event as a “casual tournament” helped to emphasise that this is more about the games and connections you make on the day. We had representatives from clubs across Melbourne including Warplings, GUF Ballarat and Western Suburb Wargamers.
The Jade Falcons had a lot of presence and (spoiler alert) victory on the day with a strong showing in the final placements. A big shout out to Rohan who is rightfully a legend for his presence as Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus.
On the day we had four scenarios connected in a narrative around mysterious crystalline formations found on the planet Matteo in the Battletech universe. This gave us the opportunity to build a narrative around the missions as well as have some fun creating terrain that created a different visual on the day.
Mission 1 – Caustic Crystals
I designed the first mission to be a version of capture the flag. Here players recovered crystalline objects that damaged them and tried to hold them as long as possible without needing to drop them off mid mission. While each player has a point to pickup their own crystals, they can also capture or harass the opponent’s pickup point giving lots of options for unique play.
The top three players in order on the day were Merced Up (Dylan’s Force), Stone’s Sad Bois and the 1st Falcon Jaegers.
Highlights players wrote on their score cards:
- ENHANCED IMAGING!
- Using my SPA once… (TO – likely a melee force not getting into melee range!)
- Overheat +4 on Ares to hit across map
- Killed my first Tripod
- Wolverine surviving six attacks!
- My opponents Wolverine surviving (TO – Wolverines never die… #macevedywillreturn)
Photos of the tables are available here: Mission 1 Photos
Mission 2 – Activate Pylons
So yes… This scenario’s design started as a bit of humour (re: Starcraft video game), but on playing it it was a viable building focused scenario. Building focused scenarios are difficult to create, but I persist and this one seemed to work. Some players went hard on taking out the crystal pylons and others chose instead to fight a fixed battle mid field while the pylons built up.
The top three players in order on the day were 1 BTC Beez (TO – GO BEEZ!), The Falcon’s Claws and Merced Up (Dylan’s Force).
Controversy stuck on this round with a triple tie breaker having been created and a random decider on winner determined. Instead, in the spirit of fun a CIRCLE OF EQUALS was called for by the Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus (aka Rohan) for Un-augmented Combat by Paper rock scissors. The Falcons won… Not a good day for the inner sphere…
Highlights players wrote on their score cards:
- Glorious death of my Triskelion
- Movement critical on an Urbie in forest in forced withdrawal (TO – the very definition of slow)
Photos of the tables are available here: Mission 2 Photos
The Blackburn Prize
Over the lunch break we held the first ever Blackburn Prize. This coveted art prize was our first ever attempt at a painting award. Players each had three votes to give to the on the best painted force.
The inaugural winner of the Blackburn Prize was Jason with his force the 1st Falcon Jaegers.
Photos of all the forces on parade are available here: Force Photos
Mission 3 – Escort
The third mission was a replay of an older mission from our first victorious event in 2024 and one of my favorite overall missions. This mission involves escorting a vehicle across the map, in this case one carrying the precious crystals you have recovered. There are so many ways to counter, block and engage with this mission and its simple up front, but has lots of on table variety.
The top three players in order on the day were Merced Up (Dylan’s Force), Hendo’s Force and Punic Legion.
Highlights players wrote on their score cards:
- Nova Cat jumping across buildings
- Ares shut down for 10 damage on charger.
Photos of the tables are available here: Mission 3 Photos
Mission 4 – Interception (Doubles Scenario)
The final mission is our doubles match, this match is included to get maximum exposure to players present on the day and to allow people from different ranking to work together and learn from each other. This year we did a variant of the interception mission that has teams activate one time objectives to recover from the board. I heard lots of conversation, laughter and fun in the background as this mission played out and it sounded like everyone was having a great time.
The top three scores for the final doubles round in order fell the teams:
- Primate’s Rage & Punic Legion (TO – together ape strong!)
- Marlon’s Force & Stone’s Sad Bois
- 1 BTC Beez & Hendo’s Force.
Highlights players wrote on their score cards:
- Crit, Crit, Headshot (TO – I’m guessing the dice were really misbehaving this match!)
- Surprise Monkeys!
- Nova Cat taking Timber Wolf and Masakari at short range.
Photos of the tables are available here: Mission 4 Photos
Results and final scores
When all was said and done and the crystalline dust settled across the world of Mateo the overall scores were mixed. The Ogre for the event is the unit in the event with the highest overall health, this year it fell to the Areas fielded by Stone’s Sad Bois. Across our prize categories the winners were:
- The PPC award (Primary Player Category, not sponsored by a podcast… best overall): 1st Falcon Jaegers, Jason B
- Lone Wolf (Best of solo): Merced Up, Dylan B
- The Ogre Slayer (most damage to the Ogre): Primate’s Rage, Nickolas T
- The Hanger Queen (most damage received): Marlon’s Force, Marlon G
All players received something from the prize table on the day in order of the categories above then overall ranking in the event. Everyone received a free Brumby ‘mech and a mech and some 3D printed terrain.
| Final Rank | Force | Player | Win / Loss | Total Points | Crippled HMM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st Falcon Jaegers | Jason B | 4 | 120 | 15 |
| 2 | Stone’s sad bois | Daniel W | 3 | 194 | 47 |
| 3 | Dylan’s Force | Dylan B | 3 | 172 | 35 |
| 4 | Hendo’s Force | Matthew H | 3 | 123 | 30 |
| 5 | Primate’s Rage | Nickolas T | 2 | 186 | 60 |
| 6 | Daoji’s Order! | Andrew B | 2 | 153 | 69 |
| 7 | Punic Legion | Richard T | 2 | 149 | 31 |
| 8 | The Falcon’s Claws | Rohan D | 2 | 116 | 46 |
| 9 | Marlon’s Force | Marlon G | 2 | 102 | 76 |
| 10 | 1 BTC Beez | Jeremy K | 2 | 84 | 69 |
| 11 | P Force | Daniel P | 2 | 75 | 70 |
| 12 | Coffin Dancers | Luke M | 1 | 111 | 68 |
| 13 | 48 Battalion AIF | Mark C | 1 | 103 | 55 |
| 14 | Flynns Freelancers | Jared M | 1 | 94 | 38 |
| 15 | 2nd Sword of Light | Adrian B (TO filler) | 1 | 87 | 39 |
| 16 | Sunset Defenders | Sam M | 0 | 37 | 41 |
The full scores are available here fore the curious or those who want to play the pack at home and compare: FINAL SCORES
Reflections and Forces used
Overall into the third year the format is going well. Games remain tight for time, but experienced players are normally finished before the clock strikes. We don’t want games to go to long so you get to meet more people on the day.
This year we limited the Heat Special a month before the event in the spirit of this being a casual tournament and also some odd interactions with formations. Some specials like these can take away another player’s action or are not fun to play against – we try to avoid these to maximise game enjoyment for all participants.
Overall, the force lists were a mix of personal preference and fun. Even lists like the Falcons Claws that was generated as a novelty did well on the day – DARE YOU REFUSE HIS BATCHALL!
Force Listings: FORCE LISTING SUMMARY
I get asked about if we should faction and era lock the event each year. I obviously set this event in the Ilkhan era, but still want people to bring their own fun. Alpha Strike’s PV does most of the game balance here, with eras not adding any practical balance. Overall, we saw five players lock their faction and era, two of which did so to access Kurita Force Manual formations as per the pack. Many others also did this in a more limited sense, playing close to a faction with only one or two units being outside. We also had a few new players playing only with the cards from the boxes, something that is not easy to do with faction and era locking and that I want to support.
In the leadup to the Tournament, we playtested the scenarios a lot more and had less problems on the day. A sentence needs to be fixed in the Caustic Crystals mission which will appear in our scenario pack. Also I will likely drop the shield from the buildings in Activate Pylons mission as it disadvantages smaller units from getting a shot in.
All our past scenarios are here and available to play: Hotspots Scenarios
If you have any feedback please send me an email (drrnwh@gmail.com) or on the NWA Discord or Victorian Battletech Discord.
Thank you and next events
Finally I would like to thank everyone who attended and made it a great day. I couldn’t do it without all your support.
Special thanks to:
- Rohan for the Brumby 3D prints
- Jeremy, (Jezza) for the 3D terrain – reach out to him on the Victorian Battletech discord if you need anything printed or some decals (message me if you don’t have discord)
- Natalya for the event cover art
- Andrew and Grey Squirrel (on the NWA Discord) for creating the fantastic objective tokens for the event you can see in the photos – again reach out if you have a need for something
- The PPC Podcast for the pre-event plug and maybe a post event wrap-up.
Our very next event is our first ever Battletech Core narrative campaign in June – check it out at Battletech: Operation Demon Star.
Also we will be running a Hotspots Replay at Victorius in August so we hope to catch you there.