Two weeks ago I got a chance to play a multi-player game of Alpha Strike, with each player bringing forces the size of which we’ll play at Tentcon. It was fun, it ran smoothly, and… it took too long for my liking.

The game took two and a half hours, which is actually fine, but it was only three players. Double that number and add several layers of complexity (the scenario was a simple king of the hill) and suddenly my three hour time window for Tentcon starts looking not only impossible, but utterly foolish.

This last Sunday I got a chance to host a quick small game day. Each player played 250 pts (about two lances) and had a simple mission before them. The matches took around two hours, including tutorials for the newer players. Not bad. Our round table after led me down a path to a better version of the Tentcon game.

In this version, I do something akin in setting to Solaris, the famed gladiatorial arena of Battletech. I will have each player bring a single lance composed of mechs and/or vehicles. The objective will be kept simple: you score C-Bills for having units in the center of the board at the end of each round and for killing opponents. The player at the end of the game with the most C-Bills wins the event.

The wrinkles are also simple: you can respawn your units by spending C-Bills (thus losing your potential victory points) and you can further bribe opponents at will. Someone debating between shooting you and someone else? Offer some C-Bills to make the decision easier. Someone angering you with repeated headshots? Put a bounty on their head!

The game plays until time is called in the real world, at which point you finish up the round and prizes are distributed.

In the end it’s simple, effective, and should produce a fun match for six players. In the future I’d likely aim for 8 players and create two 4 player matches and maybe even standardize the ruleset with further objectives or maybe even a deck of objectives. For now, I plan to keep things simple to ensure baseline success at the first outing.

The Alpha Solaris Showdown will run its first test at Tentcon, after which I will hopefully have something I can reasonably release to the public. Assuming my players don’t hate it and vote me out of the club.

Ah, well, at least then I’d be able to focus more on cycling…