Highlighting the November 3335 Dirty 30
As expected there was another event coming up. This time it was one of my favorites: 30 ton max.
As usual, there were a few complications.
Firstly I had been promoted to K2 and the regular opposition there had 17-72 levels on me.
Secondly there was a meeting, but this time it was at least supposed to end ten minutes before the scramble.
Thirdly, Bruno was screaming bloody murder about the inflated fame factor on the highest tops.
One should perhaps expect a fearless Commander to ignore details like this, but there are old Commanders, there are fearless Commanders but few if any old and fearless Commanders.
What was needed was a ruse. I quietly gathered my Buglers (The crew who pilot my 30`s) and told them to sneak into the hangar while I was at the meeting and make sure the formation was ready. Then, as the scramble neared, they were to let Bruno understand the meeting had been prolonged so they were free to hit the fleshpots. One of them would mention a newly opened cod restaurant.
This was sure to draw Bruno there. If there is one thing he really misses from Nuruego, it is the fresh fish. He have several times mentioned that when he retires he will become a fisherman.
I don't think so. I worked as a fisherman for a couple of years, and it is a hard and dangerous job. He might try it out, but he wont last.
Anyway. I met up with the crew outside the entrance to K2 five minutes before the scramble. Unfortunately, I had run out of Heavy Guard drones during the meeting, and had just managed to secure a dozen new ones. Luckily the hassle and red tape have been reduced lately, so it was a matter of moments to be registered.
There was good news and bad news inside.
First positive was there was fewer contestants than medals, so we were virtually guaranteed something useful. The other good tiding was half of the opposition was still in main. Adding in the pair who used Red Ants to the beatables, we were looking at noble metal, unless some of the others got into correct formation of course.
Those who were in formation was another matter. On the top perched Robert C Goetz Sr. of Death`s Collector`s. He had 100 tons less than me, but a full suit of drones and new fancy moves made him a difficult opponent. Bing Paculan from The Isle of Misfit Toys had 160 tons less, but 50 levels more than me, Randy Taylor from Omegas Legacy had 54 levels and 95 tons on me and finally Melissa Powell from Spirit of Bunny had both 66 levels and 205 tons more than me.
Time was running short. After shouldering aside some overweight formations I reached the top foothill. Taking careful aim I gave the signal to ambush Goetz.
A couple lucky Wide Forks cleared the two first lines of his formation while we were unscratched. Then it broke into attrition. He lost one Mech, we lost one. But we were ahead in numbers, and still had two lines when his last machine was felled.
Then it was to brace for the onslaught as he and the others would strike back. Scramble came, and no attack materialized. I started to think that maybe, just maybe we...
Randy Taylor had gouged the timing perfectly. None can be hyper alert for long, and when you come back from that state you are a bit sluggish. He let loose, and the first salvo threw us into confusion. Advancing behind a curtain of deadly firepower he brushed us aside. Not without losses, but we were at a disadvantage and he crushed the last line and drove us off while he still had several Mechs operative.
We gathered on the middle slopes. After reviewing the recent action and a quick conference some reshuffling took place. Then we struck back. Guess they were dazed by the fighting, or perhaps they had opened the Champagne a bit early. No matter to us. They were targets and we were shrouded in mist and almost untouchable. Four of my lines was unscratched when he retreated back.
I wondered who the next attacker would be, but the light flashed while the jockeying for the positions on the slopes was still in full swing. That left the one big worry; What would Bruno do when he found out?
The full list of winners this time was:
- Div 1 233+ (25 Commanders): Claude Poirier, Leviathan (45s)
- Div 2 -232 (13 Commanders): Sten Hugo Hiller, Star League(4m,2s)
- Div 3 -167 (16 Commanders): Ken Fuchs, Northwind Dragons(4h,38m)
- Div 4 -128 (17 Commanders): Bob Goetz, Death`s Brethren(5m,30s)
- Div 5 -106 (20 Commanders): Leeboy Wegenast, B.S.L.R. (15m,20s)
- Div 6 -84 (18 Commanders): RobertS400, Death`s Diciples (1s)
- Div 7 -64 (19 Commanders): Brian Wilson, Smurf War Patrol (7h,54m)
- Div 8 -47 (8 Commanders): Stug Hill, Behenoth (1h,23s)
- Div 9 -36 (9 Commanders): DZ_Howes Heroes Light Brigade (13h,59m)
- Div 10 -27 (31 Commanders): Elmer_Fudd, Skull Squadron(4h,56m)
- Div 11 -16 (21 Commanders): Fred White (16h,33m)
- Div 12 -13 (26 Commanders): Frank Hudak, T.B. 3rd K. Highlanders (7h,17m)
0+6+7(1S)+4+3+6+3+6(3S)+3+11(1S)+3+0= Five Silvers and fourty-seven Bronzes was awarded to Commanders who had overweight formations
Total Contestants: 223, Total medals claimed: 165 (of 180 possible)
This time the drop in contestants was significant. We lost 75 fighters compared to the recent Buccaneer event. While it was a couple unclaimed medals on K2, the real lack of fighting formations was on K8 and K9. All in all 15 Bronzes were sent for resmelting.
Five Golds changed hands at least once the last half-hour, two of them the last minute. Six Golds were held for more than two hours. But the fighting for the rest of the prizes was pretty intense this time as shown by the number of medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event:
.............Silvers......Bronzes
Div 1 ....0 of 4.........1 of 10
Div 2 ....1 of 4.........3 of 8
Div 3 ....3 of 4.........9 of 10
Div 4 ....2 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 5 ....1 of 4.........8 of 10
Div 6 ....2 of 4.........4 of 10
Div 7 ....3 of 4.........5 of 10
Div 8 ....4 of 4.........3 of 3
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 ..2 of 4.........9 of 10
While the most fluid situation was on Mount Olympus, the fighting was pretty hard on both K2 and K6 also. Less than half the medals were held by the same commander on those tops. While there were tops without successful medal attacks this time as well, there was "only" four such tops this time.
No clan got more than one Gold in this event. None of the Buccaneer winners continued their winning streaks either. There were one unaligned winner; Fred White on K11.
Upcoming event: Double Rainbow.
Here you are allowed to use any Mechtypes you have available, but it is a rainbow, a double one in this case. So you are not allowed to use any more than two of each model.
A commander is always free to ignore restrictions like this, but if they do the additional Mechs will only exist as blank spots in the formation when it comes to fighting.
Equipment and weapons work as normal.
Event ends June 5 between 2300 and 2330 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)
