First off, let's welcome a new club to the AADA fold:
That brings our current roster up to 23 clubs. How illuminated . . .
The duellists were: Don Jacques, Norman McMullen, Chris French (defending champion) and Tim Jacques (Hammer's Slammers). At the start, Chris and Norman turned toward each other and started circling for position. Meanwhile, Tim worked his way toward the canyon between the central jumps and Don accelerated toward him. Don hit Tim's right with his laser, doing medium damage just as Tim turned into the canyon. Tim dropped two mine counters and detonated them remotely as he cleared them, doing critical damage to Don's underbody. Tim turned to exit the canyon and dropped some additional mines. Don's underbody caught fire, which burned its way into the vehicle's interior. Don fired one last time at Tim's back armor, destroying half of it in one hit, but the fire in Don's car caused a power plant explosion, ending his participation in the event.
Norman tried to break off from Chris, only to get shot in the rear with three RRs. In response, Norman did some hard turns to avoid Chris' fire just as Tim entered the fray. Tim started dropping a double-row of mines and went partially up a jump. Norman turned to get Chris, only to have him dance out of the way. Seeing the mines, Norman pulled a hard swerve to avoid them, but Tim's passenger detonated a set of mines, barely getting Norman in the process. The damage to Norman's left rear tire was major, while his underbody armor was breached and the driver killed. Norman's car stayed straight on course - heading towards a wall. The resulting ram and bumper-triggered rockets blasted a hole that allowed the vehicle to proceed into the pits and cause extensive collateral damage. A quarter of the garage area, as well as a munitions locker, were destroyed. The driver's body was never found.
Chris and Tim engaged each other again, trading RR fire and doing minor damage. Both avoided ramming each other. In the ensuing maneuvering, they had a same-direction sideswipe while heading up a ramp. Chris started to drop spikes, while Tim responded with his mines. Tim's passenger detonated the mines, and both vehicles lost tires and underbody armor, their power plants and their top armor. The sliding wrecks headed for the edge of the jump. Chris' car started to roll while Tim's went for a little flight. Chris jumped out of his vehicle, putting his vehicle between himself and Tim. Tim dropped more mines in Chris' path and called for Chris' surrender. Reluctantly, Chris agreed.
Finishing out the last round for posterity's sake, the resulting mine explosions started a fire in Tim's vehicle which caused the car to explode. Chris' exposed driver was caught in the multiple blasts and was also killed.
Tim Jacques took the championship with three kills, despite dying at the very end. Chris French took second with one kill.
Tim Jacques' Glouchester Supreme:
Luxury, x-hvy. chassis, hvy.
suspension, large power plant w/SCs, 4 FRPR snow tires, driver,
passenger, 3 Spear 1000 MDs w/extra magazine and napalm loads linked (2
rear, 1 left), RR w/HESH ammo front, 2 IcD (1 left, 1 right), 2 OD (1
left, 1 right), HRSWC for RR, 2 bumper triggers (1 left, 1 right),
weapons timer for MDs, radio links for MD loads. Armor: F70, L45, R45,
B50, T4, U8. Accel. 5, Top Speed 90, HC 3; 6,595 lbs., $28,035. Personal
equipment: flak jacket for passenger, radio detonator, personal fire
extinguisher, 7 thermite grenades, 1 foam grenade.
Chris French's Dominator:
Luxury, x-hvy. chassis, hvy. suspension, 150
ci gas engine w/turbocharger, 5 gallon duelling gas tank, 4 PR snow
tires, driver, 3 linked RRs front w/HEAT ammo, 2 SDs w/incendiary ammo
and extra magazine, 1 each rear and right (linked), HRSWC, streamlining.
Sloped armor: F75, L60, R60, B70, T1, U5. Accel. 5/10 at 40+, Top Speed
70, HC 3; 6,595 lbs., $27,937. Cargo capacity: 1 space, 5 lbs. Personal
equipment: body armor, flak jacket, HAVR w/laser targeting scope and
underbarrel grenade launcher w/explosive grenade.
Norm McMullen's Speed Kills:
Luxury, x-hvy. chassis, hvy. suspension,
400 ci gas engine w/tubular headers, 5 gallon duelling gas tank, 4 PRR
tires, driver, 3 linked RLs front, SWC, spoiler, airdam, bumper trigger
front, streamlining. Sloped armor: F80 (ramplate), L 36, R36, B38, T1,
U2. Accel. 15, Top Speed 132.5, HC 4/5 @ 60+; 6,600 lbs., $29,861.
Personal equipment: body armor, SMG, 2 explosive grenades.
Don Jacques' Amex Combat Autoworks Custom Sedan Rudolph:
Sedan, x-hvy.
chassis, hvy. suspension, large power plant w/PCs, 4 PR tires, driver,
pulse heavy laser front, SD w/extra magazine right-rear corner mounted,
link - PHL to SD, SWC, blow-through concealment for PHL. Sloped armor:
F53, L50, R50, B50, T5, U5, 10 pts. component armor for driver and PHL.
Accel. 5, Top Speed 92.5, HC 3; 6,117 lbs., $29,318. Personal equipment:
body armor, SMG, 2 explosive grenades.
Then Tim Jacques pulled off an impressive double, winning the Hammer's Slammers Club Champion-ship. His report:
The competitors in the event were Tim "the Weasel" Jacques, Matt "Trikeman" Holt, Jill "G-spot" Woods, Greg "Batman" Willis, and the ever-popular (and sometimes controversial Bill "Bubba" Muskgrove. Primed and ready, their Division 20 vehicles vaulted out of the gates and into combat.
The first victim, and certainly the messiest, was Jill Woods, After a brief moment of distraction, Jill found herself caught between two large patches of dropped ordnance. Her response was a series of gutsy finesse maneuvers in an attempt to avoid the web of spikes and mines. She nearly made it, until Bubba decided to lob an ice grenade in the wrong place in the wrong time - right in front of her! Failing her control roll, Jill spun out and slid onto a patch of incendiary spikes. Her tires popped like carnival balloons, sending her burning vehicle into a collision course with the outer wall. Exploding upon impact, the resulting debris field littered an immense area (which would impact future events in the duel).
With the quick demise of Woods, Bubba followed up on his good luck by attacking Willis. In a series of firing passes and the use of dropped weapons in an offensive mode, Willis found himself on the losing side of the fight. Furthering his troubles, Willis took a vicious potshot from Tim Jacques, resulting in the destruction of his turreted gas streamer. Without his "special surprise," Willis was vulnerable to short-range attacks and Bubba knew it. Within a matter of seconds, Willis' vehicle was breached in multiple locations. Seeing the inevitability of his defeat, Willis surrendered to Bubba and exited the arena.
Meanwhile, Weasel was having a difficult time with Trikeman. Finding Trikeman's armor too thick for standard attacks, Weasel became more assertive in his dropped weapon attacks. After several detonations of incendiary spikes, Trikeman was on the ropes with multiple tire fires. The flames quickly spread to his underbody, resulting in a deadly inferno. Trikeman valiantly fought on for the next six turns, but the end was swift and bitter as his unused thermite grenades exploded. The blast created an interesting collage of burned wreckage, scorch marks and assorted body parts.
The final two contestants wasted no time in slugging it out. Each duellist tried to keep their respective weak spots out of danger while trying to entrap their foe with dropped weapons. After ten turns of playing cat-and-mouse, weasel managed to get behind Bubba and started to pound away. It would have been the end for Bubba, but last-second maneuvers got him out of harm's way.
Weasel wasn't ready to give up yet. After several turns of dodging and weaving, Weasel quickly reestablished his six o'clock position behind Bubba. This time, he wasn't going to be shaken off. The damage on both sides was adding up, but Bubba was feeling the effects more severely, as his rear armor was breached.
Realizing that his only opportunity for victory was to engage Weasel in frontal firing passes, Bubba made a risky D6 bend in a debris field (the remnants of Jill's vehicle). The maneuver backfired, as his right-side tires hit obstacles and debris, causing both of them to blow out. Bubba's vehicle spun out into the arena wall and came to an abrupt stop. Weasel casually drove to Bubba's rear and demanded Bubba's surrender, which he got.
"It was a damn good fight," Weasel said. "The competition has pleasantly improved over the year. I hope to meet these guys in competition again."
Congratulations - twice! - to Tim Jacques. More results next issue!
Dear Scott,
I hope that you're doing well in the new year. I'm writing today in response to your request for opinions from AADA members about the format of the Car Wars World Championships. I speak for myself and the other members of the St. Paul Area Road Knights who have signed below (hopefully our renewal charter fee has arrived at your offices by the time you get this letter).
We feel that because of the larger size and greater stability of GenCon, it is a better choice than Origins for the more prestigious Duelling Championships. You point out that your events at Origins have traditionally been better attended than those at GenCon, but I suspect that stems from the fact that more people are interested in participating in the duelling tournament than the racing tournament.
Obviously, we in St. Paul have a special interest in having the Duelling Championships in Milwaukee. Having GenCon in our backyard is admittedly very convenient for us. Even considering that we have an ulterior motive for preferring GenCon, however, I believe that GenCon's size, prestige, and stability make it the better choice.
In regard to your questions about regional level championships, why not eliminate them all together? In their place, you might consider simply "sanctioning" certain AADA tournaments at conventions. The winners of these events would be seeded as if they were club champions (to the second round, I believe). You would be able to control the number of these tournaments that can occur by only sanctioning a certain number of events in each area.
Thank you for you openness in accepting the opinions of the membership of the AADA in this matter. Hopefully the pending re-release of the Car Wars Compendium and the VictorMaxx virtual reality game will generate renewed interest in the AADA, and we'll all have a lot more opponents to duel with.
Drive offensively,
Jeff Tidball
St. Paul Area Road Knights