Tournament Scoring

In my post and video about Southern Assault 2025, I talked a bit about being disappointed with apparent unevenness in the paint scoring. I don’t think my own paint score reflected what my miniatures should have gotten on the published rubric, and I know a few other people in similar situations.

In some conversations sparked by that, I’ve seen some players advocate for removing paint scores from the tournament’s scores altogether with a painting competition as a separate event. Despite my frustration with paint scores this year, I quite like the way that it is incorporated into Southern Assault’s rankings.

For the tournament, a player’s overall score is a combination of their scores from games played, sportsmanship, army composition, and painting. The tournament’s top prize requires a player to perform well in all of those categories, but there are still prizes for those who excel at just one. In addition to the top 3 overall, there are trophies for the top 3 in sportsmanship, top 3 for painting, and top 3 in just game scores. I like that the overall rankings reward painting and sportsmanship in addition to just winning games since it reflects the entire hobby.

That said, there are definitely parts of Southern Assault’s scoring that I’d be happy to see changed. I like including painting, but scoring does need to match the rubric and be applied evenly across the field. There will always be a bit of subjectiveness, but ensuring multiple judges have enough time to independently look at each entry seems like it would help out.

My least favorite part of scoring at Southern Assault is actually sportsmanship and list composition. I think those are important parts of the event, but I do not enjoy giving scores out to my opponent for sportsmanship and army composition after each game. I feel like the first ends up being like a rating on a service worker – you give 5 stars unless there’s a problem of some sort. Then for army composition, it feels like every player is working off of their own rubric for where lists should land on a 1-20 rating system. Scoring after each game also means that you have less context for early opponents than those you play against in later rounds. It also has the possibility of feeling awkward if you do give a lower score because your opponent is still sitting at the same table while you pick and write down a score for them. I’d much rather just do ranked lists for both sportsmanship and army composition at the end of the event.

I don’t think any tournament scoring system is going to make everyone happy. A lot of it comes down to personal preferences with no definitively correct method. Overall though, I do like the system used by Southern Assault.

#SouthernAssault #Tournaments

Southern Assault 2025

https://youtu.be/MRzsLBiHnHI

I had a good time at Southern Assault 2025 last month. This year it had expanded from a two-day Alpha Strike tournament to a four-day mini convention with the Alpha Strike tournament, a BattleTech tournament, and more.

I originally planned to play in both the Alpha Strike and BattleTech tournaments, but a conflict with work meant that I’d only be able to do the Alpha Strike tournament this year.

Crab-Back

The first evening of Southern Assault featured the Crab-Back game. This is a charity game between Steve and Jonathan that has become an annual tradition. Each year, they pit Crabs and Hunchbacks against each other in order to see which medium ‘Mech will reign supreme. This year, Crab-Back had expanded to multiple games. Three Alpha Strike matches were played by top donors, and the side that won gave air strikes to either the Crabs or Hunchbacks in the main game. Then grinder tables also rewarded battlefield support for each kill.

I got to play at one of the top donor tables and fought on behalf of the Hunchbacks. That game was close and came down to just one Crab and one Hunchback left on the battlefield before my Hunchback suffered a unit destroyed crit.

The main game was played in BattleTech rather than Alpha Strike this year. After a long game, Steve and the Crabs emerged victorious. And more importantly, the event raised more than $4,000 to help sick kids.

Alpha Strike Tournament

I wrote about the idea for my list before the event, so read this post if you want the background on how I decided on my list: Off to Southern Assault.

• Atlas AS7-S @ Skill 3
• Awesome AWS-9Q @ Skill 3
• Mad Cat N @ Skill 3
• JagerMech JM7-D
• Catapult CPLT-C4C
• Centurion CN10-B
• Hunchback HBK-5S
• Firestarter FS9-S
• Raven RVN-2X
• Commando COM-7J

Game One – Fight!

For the first game, I was paired with Jacob who brought a Republic of the Sphere list:

• Kodiak II 2
• Atlas AS7-Dr
• Malice MAL-XV
• Lament LMT-2R (Manes)
• Kintaro KTO-19b
• Mongoose II MON-268 @ Skill 5
• Cougar E
• Jackalope JLP-KB

The scenario for this one was pretty straightforward. The primary objective points were earned for destroying and crippling enemy units.

I focused on Jacob’s biggest units to start. The Kodiak II was my first target. The harjel made it tough, but I was luckily able to hit it hard enough that the special ability only came into play one turn. After it went down, I moved on to other targets. He spread out his firepower more and destroyed a lot of my smaller units, but that worked out in my favor. My small units were worth less victory points and losing them resulted in less reduction to my firepower than the bigger targets that I was focusing fire on.

At the end of the battle, I had taken down most of his force while only losing about 150 PV of my force. That gave me a 21-11 victory for the game.

Game Two – Did I Hear You Say Supplies?

The next game I was up against Kevin. He brought a Clan Wolf list:

• Timber Wolf B @ Skill 3
• Summoner C @ Skill 3
• Stormcrow Prime @ Skill 3
• Wulfen E
• Fire Moth P
• Balac Strike VTOL × 2
• Hephaestus Scout Tank D
• Warg Assault Battle Armor (Sqd5) @ Skill 2
• Black Wolf Battle Armor [ERSPL] (Sqd5) @ Skill 2

The scenario for this game had five objective markers. One was in the center of the battlefield and then there was one in the center of each table quarter. Primary objective points were rewarded each round for uncontested control of those objectives.

Kevin’s list had a lot more speed than mine, so right from the first turn, he was able to be on three of the objectives when I could only reach the two closest to my home edge. Then his fast units were able to push on to my side of the board while my force was much slower to get across to one of his objectives.

Struggling to hold objectives meant that I was well behind on primary objective points at the end of the game. That gave Kevin a 19-10 victory.

Game Three – Strategic Points

For Saturday’s last game, my opponent was Lucas. He had a Free Worlds League list that had improved skills across the board:

• BattleMaster BLR-6C @ Skill 2
• Carronade CRN-7M @ Skill 2
• Juliano JLN-5A @ Skill 3
• Eris ERS-2N @ Skill 3
• Blade BLD-7R @ Skill 3
• Anvil ANV-3R @ Skill 3
• Whitworth WTH-2H @ Skill 3
• Hammer HMR-3C @ Skill 3

The scenario for this game had three objective markers along the mid line of the battlefield. Primary objective points would be rewarded each turn for controlling those objective markers.

Our table’s terrain made this interesting. There was a big wall in the center of the battlefield that was just slightly closer to my side of the board than the middle objective. I decided that between that wall and my slower speed, my strategy should be to aim for one of the side objectives and then pivot towards the middle once I was able to see around the wall. In order to facilitate that, I was careful during deployment by starting with my fastest units in the middle of my edge and then only committing my slower, heavy hitters after Lucas had committed his Juliano to one side. By concentrating my big units on the other side of the board, I’d be able to have them focused while his hardest hitting units were more spread out.

That strategy paid off. I got a little lucky and took out his Carronade early on to reduce his firepower. From that strong start, I was able to grind down his force as my big units walked forward to one side’s objective and then turned to the center. Our game ended when I took out his last unit on the board – the Juliano. That gave me a 22-9 victory and a 2-1 record for the first day.

Game Four – Oh, The Chaos of It All!

The first game of Sunday had me up against Will. He had a Marian Hegemony list:

• Emperor EMP-6L @ Skill 3
• Cyclops CP-11-H
• Thunderbolt TDR-7SE @ Skill 3
• Gladiator GLD-7R @ Skill 3
• Phoenix Hawk PXH-4L
• Commando COM-4H
• Ontos Heavy Tank (3053 Upgrade) @ Skill 3
• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Gauss)
• J. Edgar Light Hover Tank (MG) @ Skill 5
• Purifier Adaptive Battle Armor [Laser] (Sqd5)

This game had a new scenario that wasn’t part of Southern Assault in 2024. It had six objective markers laid out in a hexagon. As with previous objective marker missions, the primary objective points would be rewarded each turn for holding the objective markers. The twist was that each player rolled a die at the start of each turn in order to determine one objective marker that was worth triple points for them.

Luck was not on my side this game. There were a couple of turns where Will’s favored objective and mine were both on his side of the board, and then I never rolled one of the objectives closest to my board edge. On top of that, I had no luck with scoring hits throughout the game. In the end, it felt like my most lopsided defeat of the event. The final score was 25-9 in Will’s favor.

Game Five – Hold the Line

For the next game, I was up against Patrick who brought a scary-looking Clan list:

• Dire Wolf S
• Executioner I
• Viper H
• Viper F
• Shadow Hawk IIC
• Chameleon TRC-4C
• Fire Moth H
• Fire Moth P
• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Clan) × 2
• Nighthawk PA(L) Mk. XXII (Sqd5) × 2

The scenario for this game rewarded points for having units alive on your opponent’s half of the board at the end of the game. We both played defensive to start with our forces taking routes on opposite sides of the battlefield and having plenty of terrain between us. That let us both get our full forces across the board before we pivoted to fully engage. The abundance of blocking terrain on the board worked in my favor and let me limit the ability of Patrick’s slower units to make the most of their firepower. Towards the end of the game, he committed some of his faster units to trying to chase down and finish off my Atlas, but it managed to hold on till the end. Our final score was a 21-15 victory for me.

Game Six – Extraction

Michael was my opponent for the tournament’s final game. He had a Federated Suns list:

• Devastator DVS-10
• Templar III TLR2-OB @ Skill 3
• Ostroc OSR-6R @ Skill 3
• Ostsol OTL-8E3
• Nightsky NGS-6T @ Skill 3
• Firestarter FS9-S3
• Gunsmith CH11-NG @ Skill 3
• Javelin JVN-12N
• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Clan) @ Skill 3
• IS Standard Battle Armor (Magnetic) (Sqd4) @ Skill 3

This scenario, sometimes nicknamed Karnov Down, there are two downed VTOL objective tokens that each have a pair of personnel tokens next to them. The personnel tokens can be picked up to be claimed by units while the VTOL objectives need to be held by a nearby unit at the end of the battle. At the end of the game, one randomly chosen objective is the governor and counts for bonus points.

I aimed to control one set of objectives, but Michael’s Gunsmith was fast enough that it was able to grab one of the people tokens before I could even reach it. I tried to disrupt his ability to run off with the two personnel tokens that I had otherwise abandoned. My Commando made a heroic attempt to contest one of them and took fire from four big ‘Mechs before it was taken down. In the end, I managed to hold one VTOL and one of the survivor tokens while Michael controlled the other four, one of which ended up being the governor. That gave him a 21-15 victory.

Results

Overall, I went 3-3 for the event. That’s better than I was expecting to do with the list that I brought, so I’m happy with the result. During the awards ceremony, I was a bit disappointed with where I fell in the overall rankings (60-something out of just under 100 players). After the official scores were shared a couple of days later, I saw that it was my paint score that had dragged me down. Somehow my paintjob had been scored as “fully painted, but only to the most basic of tournament requirements.” That resulted in a score well below what I feel I should have received based on the painting rubric. Talking to other players afterwards, I also didn’t seem to be the only one whose paint score didn’t really line up with the published rubric.

Other than that one complaint, I had a great time at the event. All six of my games were fun, and it was great to get to hang out with a bunch of BattleTech fans over the weekend. Even though I wasn’t able to stay the whole time, I thought the expansion to a small convention was nice. If nothing else, having the event in the hotel was an improvement thanks to having easy access to my room during the day and more food choices nearby.

I look forward to attending again in 2026.

#alphaStrike #battletech #southernAssault

Off to Southern Assault

This weekend I’ll be heading to Clemmons, North Carolina for Southern Assault 2025. I’ll be playing in the Alpha Strike tournament, but due to a work trip, I won’t be able to stick around for Monday’s BattleTech tournament.

When I first started thinking about my list for the tournament, I had an idea for a theme: MechCommander. It is one of my favorite computer game representations of BattleTech, and I played it a ton back when it came out. Once the idea of theming my list around the game, I knew I’d go with it even though picking Clan Invasion as my era really limited my selection of variants to pick from.

I’m taking every Inner Sphere ‘Mech from the game except a Hollander since that one isn’t available in plastic. In its place, I used my salvage pick to take a Smoke Jaguar Mad Cat. It was a fitting choice both for its role in the intro cinematic and because I’d always try to salvage the one that shows up to terrify you in the game’s third mission. I think my list overall ended up in an okay place given the constraints I put on it. The biggest thing that I worry about is that it doesn’t have any particularly fast units for racing to objectives. I think it’ll do well enough to be fun to play though.

I also decided to have some fun with the printed copies of my list and I customized the cards to match my theme. I gave each of the ‘Mechs a MechWarrior callsign and a little quote. Those are all pulled from either the game’s cinematics or in-game dialog when units are issued commands.

If you’re going to be at Southern Assault this weekend, say hi. I’m always happy to meet folks, and I’ll have Scott’s Game Room dice to hand out while I’m there.

And finally, whether or not you’ll be at the event, you can still give money to the Crab-Back 2025 charity game. This annual Southern Assault tradition sees Crabs and Hunchbacks facing off to determine which is the superior design. The game raises money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and you can donate to support either the Crabs or the Hunchbacks (or both). No matter which ‘Mech ends up the victor, the kids win.

#AlphaStrike #BattleTech #MechCommander #SouthernAssault

Southern Assault IV

https://youtu.be/-3UdIbsVcfw

Earlier this month, I went to Southern Assault for my first time. If you don’t know, it is an Alpha Strike tournament hosted by Fortress Miniatures and Games. This year, it saw 120 players gather in Winston-Salem, NC for six games of Alpha Strike spread across two days.

My List

When I first signed up for the tournament, I was expecting to be able to field some of my new miniatures from the Mercenaries Kickstarter. When it became clear that I wouldn’t be getting my shipment in time, I decided to instead build off of the list that I had used for my two Alpha Strike battle reports. With the extra points due to moving from 250 to 375 PV, I added an Awesome, an Orion, and a Locust.

• Awesome AWS-10KM
• Orion C
• Wraith TR5
• Hunchback C
• Trebuchet TBT-9N
• Eris ERS-2N
• Phoenix Hawk PXH-9
• Locust LCT-5M2
• Ontos Heavy Tank (3053 Upgrade)

List PDF

Scenarios and Scoring

Each of the six games for Southern Assault uses a different scenario that is revealed as the round starts. Scoring for the scenario’s primary objective is based on margin of victory. For a tied game, each player will earn 12 battle points. For an entirely lopsided victory, the winner will get 25 battle points and the loser 0. Then each scenario had a range of secondary things that could award players additional battle points.

Pairings for each round were then based on battle points. After the randomized pairings for the first round, you’d be up against another player at about the same battle point total each round.

Game 1: Fight!

The first game was a straightforward scenario with destroying the enemy as the primary objective.

I was up against William for this one. He brought a Jade Falcon list that was a mix of heavy ‘Mechs, battle armor, and a VTOL.

• Warhammer IIC 11
• Jade Hawk JHK-04
• Timber Wolf W
• Flamberge 3
• Hellbringer D
• Balac Strike VTOL (Hybrid)
• Ironhold Assault Battle Armor (Sqd5) × 2
• Stormbird Battle Armor (Jade Falcon) (Sqd5) × 2

List PDF

During the game, I tried to maneuver around his force in order to keep my fast units evasive and try to get some rear shots, but in the end I wasn’t able to overcome his durability and firepower advantages.

William won this one and earned 21 battle points. I earned 12 battle points.

Game 2: Did I Hear You Say Supplies?

The second scenario used objective markers that we would earn points for controlling. There was one in the center of the board (at the top of a big building on my table) and then one in the center of each of the tables four quadrants.

My opponent this game was Anthony. He brought a list with the maximum number of units by bringing a mix of ‘Mechs, vehicles, battle armor, and conventional infantry.

• Zeus-X ZEU-9WD
• Orion ON2-M
• Grasshopper GHR-8K
• Cicada CDA-3MA
• Whitworth WTH-2H
• Panther PNT-12A
• Jenner IIC 2
• Spider SDR-7Kr
• Engineering Vehicle (Flamer)
• Balac Strike VTOL (Hybrid) × 2
• Marauder Battle Armor (Sqd4) × 2
• Mechanized Hover Platoon (Flamer) × 2
• Jump Platoon (Flamer)

List PDF

My plan for this game was to hold the objectives closest to my edge with my Awesome and Ontos and then play aggressive with the rest of my units to try to push Anthony off the rest of the objectives. The central objective was contested by our jumping units, but neither of us managed to claim it at all during the game. I did manage to do enough damage to keep Anthony from scoring his objectives a few turns though, so playing aggressive paid off.

I won this game and earned 15 battle points. Anthony got 10 battle points.

Game 3: Strategic Points

Game 3’s scenario used objective markers again. This time there were three along the middle of the table.

I was lucky this round and got paired with Ray, the BattleTech Line Developer. He brought a Davion list anchored by an Ares super heavy.

• Ares ARS-V1E Apollo
• Marauder MAD-11D
• Archer ARC-4M2
• Thunderbolt TDR-9NAIS
• Rifleman RFL-8D
• Phoenix Hawk PXH-3PL
• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Cell)
• Patton Tank
• Pike Support Vehicle (Plasma)
• J. Edgar Light Hover Tank (MG)

List PDF

Our fight was pretty brutal as our armies ground each other down while trying to control the objectives. On one turn, I managed to destroy one of his tanks to get control of one of the objectives. Then a couple turns later, he managed to knock my units off of one to claim it for a turn.

Ray and I tied on the main objective for this game. After secondary points, I got 19 battle points, and Ray got 18 battle points.

Game 4: Gridiron Titans

The final game of Saturday was a football game. Each player would have a ball that they wanted to get across the board in order to score either a field goal or a touchdown. We had to simultaneously play both offense and defense though.

My opponent for the game was Richard. He had a mix of ‘Mechs, tanks, and VTOLs.

• Nightstar NSR-9J
• Marauder MAD-7M
• Bushwacker BSW-X2
• Wolfhound WLF-4WA
• Jackalope JLP-BD
• Demolisher Heavy Tank (Defensive)
• Rommel Tank (Gauss)
• Bulldog Medium Tank × 2
• Balac Strike VTOL × 2
• Nightshade ECM VTOL (Light PPC)

List PDF

We each trusted one of our fast ‘Mechs with the ball while the rest of our armies slugged it out. His Jackalope made it most of the way to my side of the board, but then I got lucky with shooting and my Ontos destroyed it. On the other side of the board, I faced a choice of having my Wraith either kick a field goal or run into the end zone. For a field goal, I’d need to roll a 6+ to succeed on the kick. For a touchdown, I’d need to take 3 or less damage from a turn of his Nightstar shooting. I decided the field goal sounded better and made the kick!

With that one field goal, I won the football game 3-0 which gave me 21 battle points. Richard earned 12 battle points for the game.

Game 5: Extraction

The first game on Sunday featured downed VTOLs and scattered passengers. The passenger tokens could be picked up and run off the board while the VTOLs needed to be controlled by being within 2″. The score would be based on the number of objectives controlled at the end of the game.

I was paired with Bob for this game. He had a Tamar Pact list with a bunch of big, scary Clan ‘Mechs.

• Onager
• Warhammer IIC 11
• Crossbow B
• Crossbow E
• Stalking Spider II
• Eyrie
• Vedette Medium Tank V7 × 2
• Rottweiler Battle Armor (Close Combat) (Sqd4) × 2

List PDF

My fast list was an asset at the start of this scenario because I could easily get to the closest passenger tokens and get them off the board. Then I dedicated most of my force to trying to slow down Bob’s retrieval. His firepower won out and my army was slowly whittled down to nothing. During the last few turns, his remaining units marched across the board to take out my Awesome and try to take control of the helicopter it was guarding. My Awesome did not survive, but it managed to stomp on Bob’s battle armor on the last turn in order to deny him control of the objective too.

Bob won this game, and he got 20 battle points. I earned 17 battle points for my performance.

Game 6: Hold the Line!

The final game of the tournament had us trying to get as much of our force as possible on to the other player’s half of the board. The table I was assigned complicated this by having a river across the middle of it.

My opponent was Les. He had a Hell’s Horses list focused on big Clan ‘Mechs and the ability to inflict heat.

• Executioner H
• Warhammer IIC 8
• Gargoyle G
• Summoner HH
• Ebon Jaguar H
• Stormcrow B
• Nova F
• Epona Pursuit Tank E × 2

List PDF

Les massed his forces along one edge while I spread mine out a bit. My biggest units moved up the center of the board so that they could exchange fire with his forces as they both moved towards the other side. Then most of my fast units moved up along the far edge of the board to have as safe of crossing as possible. He pushed up the heat on my Orion and Awesome, crippling them before they could reach the river. By the end of the battle, we were both down to just 4 ‘Mechs remaining.

Les had more PV across the board, but the margin was small enough that we counted as tied on the main objective. After secondary points, Les earned 14 battle points, and I got 12 battle points.

List Retrospective

Looking back at how my list performed, I think I leaned more into mobility than ideal for the scenarios while at the same time being held back by my slowest units that could only move 6″. The next time I head to a tournament, I’ll aim to include more units with good firepower and durability that move around 10″ with fewer at the extremes.

Winners & Prizes

After the sixth game ended and scores were tallied, we all gathered for the awards ceremony. There were plenty of prizes, so everyone would get to go through the line in order of how they finished to pick a few things.

The top winners were:

• Best Overall: William Kim
• Best General: Jacob Brooks
• Best Sportsmanship: Donovan Marsh
• Best Painted: Justin Hall
• Best Hobbyist: Josh Varga
• Player’s Choice: Michael Govuruhk

I finished at about 71-72 overall out of the 120 players, and I was pretty happy with that for my first time at a big Alpha Strike tournament. For prizes, I got a few miniatures, a brush case, dice, and an art print. Combined with the swag bag and gifts from other attendees, that meant I brought a bunch of new stuff home.

Overall

I had a great time at Southern Assault IV. The games were fun, and it was nice to meet and hang out with a bunch of other players. I hope I’m able to attend another one in the future.

#AlphaStrike #BattleTech #SouthernAssault