Highlighting the December 3335 Waaaaaaar Horse
Another event came up, and I was still supposed to slug it out on Mount Olympus. This time it was a Mech specific event, featuring the lightest of the niode Mechs; the WarHorse.
I didn't think much of it. The Mech specific events generally allow up to two Mechs of another model to be used as well. In the beginning there was no weight restriction on those, I still remember an Red Ant event where my dozen of Ants was chaff in the wind vs an opponent who had only a trio of Ants, but had brought two Regis along as well.
Lately though, the craftsmen have placed tonnage limits on the accompanying Mechs, in general they can still be a bit heavier than the featured Mech. So while I in theory had one WarHorse, it would probably be met by two Novums, Commissars or AxeBots who had twice my weaponry and armor.
But then my eyes widened. This event was for WarHorse ONLY. No accompanying Mechs allowed.
This changed the equation significantly. I doubted many on Mount Olympus still retained WarHorses, so here was perhaps a chance of doing really well.
Then I came back to the earth. The Warhorse in question was still in the compound, and it was Bruno`s personal ride. No way I could lay my hands on it and use it in the event.
But I didn't really have to pilot it myself. All I had to do was get Bruno to pilot it.
Right.
First thing was to get him to talk to me, and given his tantrum after my latest jaunt on the tops, he was much more likely to dismantle me than have a rational discussion if I met him face to face.
Fortunately there are other ways of talking to someone, so I brought forth my communicator and punched Bruno's code.
I was impressed. When he answered the call he started swearing at me right away. A lifetime among techs and pilots had given him a truly inspired vocabulary. In the first twenty five minutes he didn't repeat himself even once. But after an hour or so he was reaching the limits, and he was getting a bit hoarse as well. I judged the time was right to sell him onto my idea.
"Bruno, all this sound really inventive, but I am not going to climb any more mountains this year, provided you do so once"
He started another tirade, then what I said seemed to register
"What!!! you want me to do the climbing, and on Mount Olympus as well. Trying to get me killed are you?"
"Bruno, don't be like that. You know you use to say you can out shoot most in the WarHorse, and that's the only Mechs allowed this time. And besides, how many of the opponents do you think have one?"
He was quiet for a while, then he drew a shuddering breath "Ok, get the rest of the formation inside the gates so we are registred. I will get Commander (his WarHorse) ready and join up five minutes before the scramble. What time did you say it was again?"
I told him, and got us registered. adding or changing mechs in a formation is legal and the paperwork involved is nonexistent. All we had to do was settle on the plains and wait for Bruno to show up and win us a medal.
As usual I set my Mechs to record the activity on the various tops, and got some notes started as well. As far as I could see the WarHorses was awfully thin on the ground. It could of course be plenty of them around, just being impossible to spot in formations consisting mostly of BFMs
Scramble neared and there was still no sign of Bruno. I wondered what kept him. At t-two minutes I tried his comm. but it was dead. Probably drained from all the swearing yesterday. Scramble started and still no Bruno. Scramble ended and still no Bruno. He arrived about one hour late.
Reason? He had decided to rest in the Mech and its internal timekeeping had been one hour off. Why? It hadn't been in use for more than a decade and it had been at another timezone last time it was used. So no medal for us, but at least I had the footage needed to tell you the winners this time had been:
- Div 1 253+ (24 Commanders):Daniel Scott, Leviathan (3s)
- Div 2 -252 (13 Commanders): Lewis Reed, Spirit of Bunny(22h,13m)
- Div 3 -180 (17 Commanders): Chong Chin, Heroes (7h,47m)
- Div 4 -137 (16 Commanders): Darryl Proctor, B.S.L.R.(14h,16s)
- Div 5 -113 (27 Commanders): PloyPloyGunpat, Mad Scientist.7 (22h,53m)
- Div 6 -88 (11 Commanders): ANNeditor, HF: Dragoons (23h,33m)
- Div 7 -73 (24 Commanders): Patrick T Kennon, M&L NecroManiacs (5h,46m)
- Div 8 -55 (16 Commanders): Sandie Elgie, Death`s Acolytes (27m,7s)
- Div 9 -39 (9 Commanders): Arthur Shea, M&L The Emperor`s Own (2h,11m)
- Div 10 -31 (35 Commanders): DZHowes, UNDERWORLD (11h,35m)
- Div 11 -24 (33 Commanders): Van Rudolph, Dr.Z`s BMH Squad (9h,13m)
- Div 12 -17 (32 Commanders): Rick Sask, Night Hammers (9h,9m)
1(G)+0+2(G,1S)+0+0+2(G,1S)+2(G,1S)+1(1S)+0+1(G)+0 = Five Gold and four Silvers was awarded to Commanders who had formations that might have contained only WarHorses. The other medal grabbers might have had WarHorses in their formations, but they had other Mechs as well.
(Div 12 not counted as it was an unlimited event for them)
Total Contestants: 277, Total medals claimed: 168 (of 180 possible)
Compared to the Double Rainbow we lost 32 Commanders in this event. Some might have stayed away because a lack of WarHorses, but as the results show, plenty of unhorsed Commanders participated and won prizes.
Three tops, K2, K6 and K9, had to few Commanders present to claim all the prizes, and a total of twelve Bronzes was sent for resmelting after the award ceremony.
Two Golds changed hands the last half-hour, one of them the last few seconds. The other ten Golds were all held for more than two hours. The fighting varied greatly for the rest of the prizes as shown by the number of medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event:
.............Silvers......Bronzes
Div 1 ....0 of 4.........5 of 10
Div 2 ....3 of 4.........7 of 8
Div 3 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 4 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 5 ....1 of 4.........4 of 10
Div 6 ....4 of 4.........6 of 6
Div 7 ....4 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 8 ....3 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 9 ....4 of 4.........4 of 4
Div 10 ..4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 11 ..4 of 4.......10 of 10
Div 12 ..4 of 4.......10 of 10
On two of the tops, Mount Olympus and K5, the struggle was hardest and more than half the medals there found new holders. On the other end of the scale we had six tops without a single successful medal attack.
This was another event where no single clan could claim more than one Gold. No unaligned Commanders managed to get a Gold, but Sandie Elgie from Death`s Acolytes repeated the Golden performance from the Double Rainbow.
Sandie Elgie have been an active participator in the climbs. First medal awarded was a Silver in the April `21 Anzu Zoo, the first Gold came in the March `29 Single Rainbow, and this was the twenty-first Gold. At Level 38 the most likely base in use is the 14 Mech base Hector.
Sandie have an energy budget of 42, and can safely pilot 95 tonners. Some skill have been spent on improving various weapons, Lasers, Missiles and Cannons have gotten the lions share.
Upcoming event: Neeeeeeeerio
Here we have another split event. On K12 it is an unlimited event where any Mechs a Commander might have are allowed.
On the other 11 tops the only allowed Mechs are Nerio`s. Like in the preceding WarHorse event the customary two other Mechs are disallowed.
Equipment and weapons work as normal.
Event ends June 7 between 0030 and 0100 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)
