Highlighting the August 3332 Fire and Ice
I don't know if it is the Gods or the Craftsmen that hate me.
In my report from the Cannonballs I stated that the only event worse from my point of view than a weapon event, was a double weapon event, like for instance the Fire and Ice format.
Of course that was what we got as a follow up.
I stared at the announcement, and felt energy leach from me. Was there any point at all in attending?
I was still figuratively buried in paperwork, the fitness reports were far from finished, and I had been told to entertain various prospective clients. There was no time to spend on a event where I was gonna place last.
Instead I made it known to the star view restaurant that one of the special invitees to K2 would like to have a table for eight at about the time the event kicked off.
As the clients were footing the bill, full coverage from all mountains were included, and we had a panoramic view of the slopes of K3 and K4.
The clients were suitably impressed that I managed to secure a table at short notice, and asked many questions about the different fighters.
I answered as best I could, but after a while the liqueur captured their interest, and they started talking about home planet politics. I sat back and listened, there was no action worth mentioning in the view, and little action overall.
The event finished early, and those who stood on the tops this time were:
- Div 1 201+ (36 Commanders): Dexter Berry, Sorcerers (55s)
- Div 2 -200 (14 Commanders): Bing Paculan, The Isle of Misfit Toys (1d,35m)
- Div 3 -147 (49 Commanders): KiloToneRecoil, Northwind Dragons (1h,30m)
- Div 4 -107 (29 Commanders): James Waddington, Northwind Dragons (1d,25m)
- Div 5 -92 (29 Commanders): Leeboy Wegenast, B.S.L.R. (2h,38m)
- Div 6 -75 (34 Commanders): Edmond Dantes, Steampunk Dragons (9h,48m)
- Div 7 -58 (22 Commanders): Finn Robb-Jorge, Death`s Acolytes (4m,53s)
- Div 8 -44 (14 Commanders): Stug Hill, Behemoth (40m,7s)
- Div 9 -35 (10 Commanders): DemetriusC4, clown clan (1d,3h)
- Div 10 -27 (17 Commanders): Jon Gibas, Arctic Warfare (4m,40s)
- Div 11 -20 (16 Commanders): Rick Quinn, ButthurtMonkeyHunters (2h,19m)
- Div 12 -13 (10 Commanders): PrepareTheBleach, S.G.C.B:S_T.S.R. (1h,36)
Total Contestants: 280, Total medals claimed: 168 (of 180 possible)
Compared to the Cannonballs event, 35 Commanders, about one in eight, decided to not participate. Whether this was from the end time or from the format is hard to gouge. The spread was pretty uneven, K3 again had more contestants alone than the four tops with lowest attendance combined. From these mountains a total of 12 Bronzes (five each from K9 and K12 + one each from K2 and K8) were sent for resmelting.
My timepiece was still in the 5th minute when the light flashed. Could be many were gouging the opposition before committing themselves, or could be their formations were held by underlings who lacked attack licence.
Of the Gold medals, three were claimed by new commanders the last five minutes, one in the very last.
On the other hand, six Golds were held for more than two hours, three of them for more than a day.
Lower on the mountains it seemed the pecking order were well established. Only a few successful attacks were launched, and the number of lesser medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event was:
.............Silvers......Bronzes
Div 1 ....3 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 2 ....2 of 4.........9 of 9
Div 3 ....4 of 4.........6 of 10
Div 4 ....4 of 4.........7 of 10
Div 5 ....3 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 6 ....2 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 7 ....2 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 8 ....3 of 4.........8 of 9
Div 9 ....4 of 4.........3 of 5
Div 10 ..3 of 4.........7 of 10
Div 11 ..4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 12 ..4 of 4.........5 of 5
Two mountains without a single successful attack (K11 and K12), and none where the majority of medals weren't held for thirty minutes plus.
10 of 48 Silvers (21%) and 19 of 108 Bronzes (18%) got new holders the last half-hour.
The only clan to secure multiple Golds this time were the Northwind Dragons who claimed both K3 and K4. There were neither unaligned nor repeat winners in this event.
Upcoming event: Front Line Fight
Here only the first line of your Mechs will fight. You are of course permitted to bring up to a full formation, but any Mech behind the frontline are just spectators.
To reflect this, changing out weapons, shields and equipment that caters to trample effects and instead focus on splash and the forks is a sound strategy.
Event ends February 27 between 0600 and 0630 New York Time.
(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)
