One of the perks of working for the media is that on occasion we get to chat with fellow pilots without the throng of general riff raff interrupting us, and my guest today is somebody that I've been looking for an excuse to talk to on a number of topics for quite a while.
So without further ado, allow me to introduce none other than Queen Bunny herself, Christine Mainer.
GG- Christine, welcome to the Galaxy Gathering's temporary field offices... apologies about the state of the place but when Kenneth and I tried to clean up the old newsroom, Patrick's socks mounted a spirited counter attack and we had to burn the place to the ground.
Being in mixed barracks like the Bunnies are, do you ever have to put up with that sort of thing?
CM- Oh all the time, but being the boss of the Avengers of Bunny I have all sorts of punishment details that I can assign that involve cleaning. As I also do the payroll for the other clans, I can and do enforce a "no laundry no bar tab" policy on our pilots.
It really helps.
GG- Now, I freely admit that I'm fan-boying a bit in this interview, because apart from clan leader and warrior in your own right, you are also known in the Heroes circles as a bit of a fashion setter when it comes to specialist formations...you were one of the first to move to the 70 ton class.
How did that decision come about?
CM- Zeon and the Great Wall of Torrent. When you find yourself facing people who have got the machines you just can't match, you tell yourself again and again that outside of those lucky loot machines and bought mecha, you are just as good.
Then they put up a specialist in which not only can Torrents not play, but the Torrent/Dreadnought gear won't work in!
I had Krampus and Frigis, Inferno, lots of good mecha, all with niode class engines, and when you go down to 70 ton mecha, you realize that you have AS MANY GOOD GUNS AS THEY DO.
Sure they can do it three times over, but just once, you can match them gun for gun. All of a sudden, you have a heavy formation that can go toe to toe. My niodes went into equipment for the mecha I had, not the mecha I wanted, so I actually had better cockpit, chassis and shield than half of them did.
No way I match them on their terms, but defensive wins outnumbered my offensive in 70 ton, 50 ton, 35 ton and 40 ton formations.
GG- So you fought as a 40 tonner this war... did you toy with those other weight classes before settling on this one?
CM- I am a bit of a KOTM junkie, in fact there was a small emergency in the hour before the war that John had to help me with.
I have KOTM formations for just about everything, with sivler or gold for most classes.
GG- OK, so you've settled on 40s at the moment and I'm assuming that goes with the fact that the Nephilax is a good machine in that bracket and you have plenty of those from KotMs... I have however noticed a good few other KotM regulars starting to field 40s in response (including our own perpetual pains in the buttock the AFF).
Is it perhaps time to start thinking of a different specialist to move away from the horde?CM- Oh already ready. Did you notice 15 ton popped on the radar? I was hoping someone would be defending that one so I could showcase my Anzu lineup.
55 is nice, but getting more common. 65 is a good bracket, but 80 is more interesting. More mecha allowed there, mix of equipment, still excludes the bulk of the 85+ kit.
GG- Much as I hate to take the conversation away from light and medium mechs, lets turn to the past war ...
You ended up in a division you haven't traditionally fought in. Was that by design, accident or surprise?
CM- Panic mostly and unforeseen circumstances. You start tracking the clans that are on your threat radar.
The Avengers ended up facing Death Collectors, Misfit Toys and Zeon one war recently, and that was not fun. There are Spirit sized targets and Avengers sized targets, and Avenger sized targets don't drop colonies on you.
I forget that there are other Clans out there that have a huge stock of high level players. Hells Horses threw a wrench into my goal when I borrowed Bolverk from the Defenders, and I ended up a division lower than I was aiming.
So some chance, some panic, all good in Silver though.
GG- Now you guys didn't seem to be the only ones caught out a little, the Smurf Heavy Cavalry ended up with us as well... in fact when you add in the Omegas (who's players were back in the day a part of the Exiles), division 4 was looking more like a re-union meet from FW1.
How was it to go up against some of "the old crowd"?
CM- Kind of fun actually. We chatted a lot about it. We kind of feel proprietary towards those who fought under our banner ever, you know even when you are on the other side of the field we always want to see you do well, and want to see how you were shaping up. Fighting you all was like a reunion.
I have to say, Heroes is proving you can stay together, fight hard wherever you land, and not have to play the fifty player shuffle every war just to medal.
GG- OK, now one burning question that the Heroes have... second fight, you drew us as dance partners and to be honest we weren't necessarily looking forward to it.
As it turned out, we didn't get to see the legendary Bunny tenacity... Is this you lot lulling us into a false sense of security for next time?
CM- Well to be honest we were down a few people for that fight. It's one of those cases where we had people whose other commitments limited their cockpit time. The ones that we had fought as much as they could, but we scouted you during the first round (when your real lineups are on, and you are fighting for your life against someone else) and the list of who the people I had available could hit and win was.........well a testimony to the work you guys have put in.
GG- So what next for the Avengers? A push back up into division 3 or are you going to be slumming
it down with us for a little while?
CM- Well Alyssa seems to have voiced a very strong opinion about Bolverknapping. So I think I am losing him back to the Defenders. Where this will put everyone once the shuffling starts again I dont know.
But this time I am going to relax and remember there are too many Clans out there to worry about what they are doing, I am just going to keep my Avengers growing stronger, and work on making us ready for whoever we land on.
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| They start them young you know... |
CM- Regular thumpings on KOTM by less storied but equally or more effective pilots keep the swelled heads down.
We are a small Clan family, not one of the big players, but we get a lot of press between John and Alyssa. I guess if we do anything, I hope we inspire other Clans out the make a name for themselves that they can find their own way, be they Beagles or Heroes, Krauts, or Skull Squadron, and do it your own way.
GG- Any shout outs, final comments or questions you want to put back on me?
CM- I want to say to all the past members of the BBB, whether you were with us for one war or every Faction War, we are always following your Clans, watching with pride as you continue to do well, and when we take the field against you, it is something to celebrate.
This is the only game I have been able to play where you can build friendships across the field as easily as across the bullpen.
GG- Thanks very much for that. I'll leave you to the rest of your free time now, and one of these days I'll see you on the mountain for a re-match...
CM- Good luck in the next war!
GG- And my compliments to your chaps and chapesses... thanks for your time and the interview.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548