Highlighting the July 3334 Cameron Chrono
It was another special event, like the October `33 Ice Castles. This time, in addition to the regular prizes, it was possible to win one of the brand new Cameron Mechs.
All you had to do was place high enough on your assigned mountain in a King Chrono event.
How many Camerons who were available as prizes depended on the mountain, 15 each on Mount Olympus and K2, five on each of K3 and K4, and one each on K5, K6, K7, K8, K9 and K10. If you were assigned to K 11 or K12 there was no Cameron to be won.
The Commanders who managed to secure one of the Cameron Mechs in this event was:
On Mount Olympus
- Dexter Berry, Warlock
- Jaime Beltram, Leviathan
- Fabio Favaro, Warlock
- Bernard Johnson, Warlock
- Ben Rail, Leviathan
- Terry Cole, Warlock
- Jeff Haas, Warlock
- Shawn Wretham, Warlock
- David Buchanan, Warlock
- Don Davis, Death`s Collector`s
- German Jaramillo
- Che Moffat, The Isle of Misfit Toys
- Sal Vezzosi Jr, Warlock
- Sherrif Leary Wretham, Warlock
- Kristopher Fleet, Death`s Collector`s
On Division 2
- Bing Paculan, The Isle of Misfit Toys
- Bob Schlomer, Spirit of Bunny
- Ales Hasala, Sorcerers
- James Waddington, Northwind Dragons
- Christine Mainer, Spirit of Bunny
- Deborah Roache-Hudak, The Brotherhood BlackWatch
- Robert C Goetz Sr, Death`s Collector`s
- Orion Prime, Sorcerers
- Michael Coldwell, The Brotherhood BlackWatch
- Andy Morris, The Brotherhood BlackWatch
- Randy Taylor, Omegas Legacy
- Jim Faust, Slaughter House 5
- xZydrex, Spirit of Bunny
- Melissa Powell, Spirit of Bunny
- Joe Kump, Spirit of Bunny
On Division 3
- Theo Peeples, The Isle of Misfit Toys
- KiloToneRecoil, Northwind Dragons
- Terry Harper, Northwind Dragons
- George Warren, Northwind Dragons
- Michael Beagle, Death`s Collector`s
On Division 4
- Chris Zimmer, Northwind Dragons
- John Thorson, Northwind Dragons
- Karl Kash
- roward, Black Star Lycan Rangers
- Luana Alligood, Black Star Lycan Rangers
On Division 5
- Jason Pedracini, Northwind Dragons
On D6
- Fj Bros, Northwind Dragons
On D7
- 1GoML, Steampunk Dragons
On D8
- Red Atkins, Emerald Dragons
On D9
- David Bear, Emerald Dragons
On D10
- Robert Pawulski, Punishers Guild
A total of 46 Camerons were awarded. The awarded Clans were:
- Warlock: 9
- Northwind Dragons: 8
- Spirit of Bunny: 5
- Death`s Collector`s: 4
- The Isle of Misfit Toys: 3
- The Brotherhood BlackWatch: 3
- Leviathan: 2
- Sorcerers: 2
- Black Star Lycan Rangers: 2
- Emerald Dragons: 2
- Omegas Legacy: 1
- Slaughter House 5: 1
- Steampunk Dragons: 1
- Punishers Guild: 1
- Clanless: 2
First it was the disbelief "CAMERON CHRONO? Who have Camerons, except those that have found them in the hinterlands? This must be a mistake!!!"
Then as I checked the rules and prizes, I found out it was a regular King Chrono for purposes of fighting, the twist was that some could win one of the new Camerons in addition to the regular prizes.
I really wanted one, so I brought my formation to the registry. Unfortunately, the red tape and snafus was just as persistent as they had been lately, and the first score round was done before I was allowed in the gates. There wasn't a lot of competition there yet, so I managed to get a spot on the slopes.
The thing about a long Chrono like this is, you better pace yourself. The early points are just as important as the later ones, but they come at a lower frequency so I told my crew to hold as best they could while I returned to the compound for paperwork and some sleep.
Day two arrived, and my formation had been chased to the plains. The opposition was formidable, and I had a real struggle getting back into the foothills. There was still a lot to do in the compound, so I had to return there. On my return trips my formation had generally been pushed to the plains, and returning to the foothills was an uphill battle.
In addition there was the distraction of Scipio Aemilianus` legions we had to take care of, and while I was scoring some points, I fell further and further behind the top dogs.
As day three arrived the situation vs the legions was dire. We had less than 16 hours left of the allotted time, and hadn't managed to blast half of them yet. I set myself up as an easy lure for the legionaries, and when they pounced on me the rest of the clan would arrive and blow them apart. This frenzied activity forced me to learn some new evasive tactics that stood me in good stead when I returned to the mountain.
I had by hook and by crook, in addition to sheer bloody mindless attacks managed to get enough points at this time to have an overall ranking of 11.
Those above me could be divided into three groups:
Theo Peeples from The Isle of Misfit Toys and KiloToneRecoil from the Northwind Dragons was close to unbeatable, say I could hope to beat them one time in 300.
Terry Harper and George Warren, also from the Northwind Dragons, was just extremely hard nuts to crack, say 60-100 tries for one win.
The third group consisted of Lori Dave Stice Reittz, Leopold Hackenbush, and Michael Beagle from Death`s Collector`s, Ales Tomasek from the Sorcerers, Colin Toenjes from the Heroes and Stephen Morton from The Isle of Misfit Toys.
Normally they are in the 10-25 battles needed to beat, but with the new fancy moves I could hopefully manage one win out of 5-10?
I put the theory into practice, and while my 2560 tons were severely out massed by the oppositions 2920-3250 tons I managed to slowly work my way onto the slopes. Of course, counterattacks followed, and I repeatedly had to start anew from the middle foothills. But slowly I gained ground, and some forlorn hopes paid off a couple times. I even held the top for a couple minutes at one time. As the day passed my total score rose faster than most of the advesaries, and I dared hope a Cameron might come my way.
The last day arrived. My total points at this time put me at 7th place. Peeples, KiloTone, Harper and Warren was so far ahead that there was no hope of catching up to them. Beagle and Tomasek on the other hand.... I was not to far behind on points, I held top slope while they were at high foothills. This could go my way. Unfortunately I was displaced to the middle slopes, and had no way of rising. Hackenbush pulled me down to the foothills and I had to expend much energy in my duels vs him.
Then the regular time was up. I was 320 behind Beagle and 280 behind Tomasek. But if there was one more score round, and we held the places we had, I would tie for 5th. I wondered idly what would happen in that case, would both get Silver and a Cameron? My musings ended when the light flashed 3 minutes into the scramble. No more score rounds and no Cameron to me. The winners this time were:
- Div 1 240+ (33 Commanders): Dexter Berry, Warlock (+6820)
- Div 2 -239 (19 Commanders): Bing Paculan, T.I.o.M.T. (+22260)
- Div 3 -173 (35 Commanders): Theo Peeples, T.I.o.M.T. (+19940)
- Div 4 -130 (44 Commanders): Chris Zimmer, Northwind Dragons (+23360)
- Div 5 -110 (48 Commanders): Jason Pedracini, Northwind Dragons (+9340)
- Div 6 -89 (33 Commanders): Fj Bros, Northwind Dragons (+15390)
- Div 7 -73 (55 Commanders): 1GoML, Steampunk Dragons (+2850)
- Div 8 -55 (45 Commanders): Red Atkins, Emerald Dragons (+24110)
- Div 9 -39 (15 Commanders): David Bear, Emerald Dragons (+17230)
- Div 10 -30 (10 Commanders): Robert Pawulski, Punishers Guild (+12140)
- Div 11 -26 (26 Commanders): ErnstSBlofeld, Karma (+1600)
- Div 12 -17 (20 Commanders): Wile_E_Coyote_, Jagdstaffel 2 (+10260)
Total Contestants: 393, Total medals claimed: 175 (of 180 possible)
Another increase in participation! 73 additional Commanders showed up, and made it a real challenge to get top prizes, On most of the tops. The narrow entrance to K10 resulted in five Bronzes being sent for resmelting, and the total participation of K9 and K10 was less than half of the Commanders who showed up on K7 alone.
The highest score achieved in this event belonged to David Bear from the Emerald Dragons. 118 750 is the score from 95 consecutive turns at the top.
Most Gold medals was won with a clear margin. The narrowest wins was on
K11 (1600) and K7 (2850). Highest margin was on K8 where Red Atkins from Emerald Dragons had an advantage of 24 110 on the runner up.
The struggle for the lower medals was varying as shown by the difference in score for the medal types in this event:
.....Silver to Bronze......Bronze to Nothing
Div 1 ......9220...............2505
Div 2 ......3900.................500
Div 3 ..........40...............2175
Div 4 ......5650.................680
Div 5 ....20420...............4410
Div 6 ....18170.................500
Div 7 ......8100...............2240
Div 8 ....19400.................125
Div 9 ....10560.............N/A
Div 10 ....1380.............N/A
Div 11 ....8410.................480
Div 12 ..17110...............1500
The closest struggles was for Silver on K3 (40 Points!), and the Bronzes
on K8 (125), K11 (480) K2 (500) and K4 (680). Here you can say the time you joined up was of the essence, as a few score rounds more than the opposition could swing the result.
The competition to become best clan this time was furious. Both Emerald Dragons (K8 and K9) and The Isle of Misfit Toys (k2 and K3) took home two Golds. But the Northwind Dragons trumped them by bringing home the Gold from three tops (K4, K5 and K6) There was no unaligned winners this time and no repeat winners either.
Upcoming Event: SelfSame
This is a new format for fighting. A Commander can bring whatever Mechs he want to the mountains, but only one model is allowed to fight. Beyond that the rules are not clear. I assume the Point Mech (the one in the upper right corner of the formation) determines what that Mech model is supposed to be. This could be a pretty interesting fight, few have lots of duplicates when it comes to top line Mechs, so we will probably have a choice between quality and quantity.
Equipment and weapons work as normal
Event ends April 24 between 1700 and 1730 New York Time
Any fresh winners can try to get in touch to tell their story, the first to grab hold of me before the report is finished might get a few Niodes for sharing their thoughts.
(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)
