BattleTech UK Open

The Catalyst Demo Team is proud to present the first UK Open tournament!

The Open is a format unique to BattleTech and has proved exceptionally popular over the decades both at the big US conventions and in a Europe-wide competitive circuit.  Rather than selecting your own forces, you’re given a small selection of options for each round that are determined by the tournament organisers, allowing for a level playing field between the players while still giving interesting selections of weapons and technology in each round.

Full tournament rules are available here with the following modifications:

• There are four rounds in the event
• Rounds last 90 minutes
• Pairings are available before the event
• Maps for the games are pre-set
• You have one edge point per round instead of two for the tournament.
• Prior to the beginning of a round, you may designate ammo bays for the following weapons to be carrying any of the ammo types listed in parenthesis after them: LB-X autocannons (solid or cluster), MMLs (LRM or SRM), ATMs (ER, Standard, or High Explosive).  Any appropriate missile launcher can mount NARC or Artemis-compatible missiles.

The following optional rules are in use:

• Floating critical hits (TW:AR pg. 75, BMM pg. 45)
• Enhanced flamers (BMM, pg. 99)
• Weighted Initiative. When a player loses initiative, they gain a +1 bonus to the subsequent turn’s initiative roll.  This is cumulative–if they lose initiative again, they gain a +2 bonus on the next turn.  The bonus is removed when the player wins initiative, and the other player will gain a +1 on their next turn.
• In round 1 only, the dazzle mode rules (Gothic, pg 79) are in effect
• In round 1 only, all pilots count as Frayed MechWarriors for the purposes of taking damage from dazzle mode lasers (Gothic: pg 78)

Schedule:

10:00 Registration

10:30-12:00 Round 1

12:30-14:00 Round 2

14:00 Lunch

15:00-16:30 Round 3

17:00-18:30 Round 4

19:00 Results and prize giving

The forces are:

Round 1: The bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled. Red velvet lines the black box

1. Marauder MAD-3H (3/4) and Phoenix Hawk PHX-11T (4/4)
2. Marauder MAD-3H (4/4) and Hammer Hawk PXH-1S (3/4)
3. Marauder MAD-3H (4/4) and Phoenix Hawk Special PXH-1GU (3/3)
4. Rifleman RFL-3B (3/3) and Phoenix Hawk PHX-11T (3/5)
5. Rifleman RFL-3B (3/5) and Hammer Hawk PXH-1S (3/3)
6. Rifleman RFL-3B (3/4) and Phoenix Hawk Special PXH-1GU (2/5)

Round 2: Let off a sharp burst and then turn away, roll over, spin 'round to come in behind them

1. Nova Cat E (3/4) and Grizzly 3 (3/3)
2. Nova Cat E (2/4) and Thunderbolt IIc 2 (3/4)
3. Nova Cat E (3/3) and Rifleman C 2 (3/3)
4. Thor (Summoner) D (2/5) and Grizzly 3 (4/4)
5. Thor (Summoner) D (4/4) and Thunderbolt IIc 2 (2/4)
6. Thor (Summoner) D (4/3) and Rifleman C 2 (3/3)

Round 3: Some sort of computer game nonsense

1. Thanatos THS-4S (Felix) (4/4) and Hellspawn HSN-9F (2/4)
2. Thanatos THS-4S (Felix) (3/5) and Uziel UZL-2S (Jacob) (3/5)
3. Thanatos THS-4S (Felix) (3/4) and Chimera CMA-1S (4/5)
4. Argus AGS-5D (3/5) and Hellspawn HSN-9F (3/3)
5. Argus AGS-5D (3/4) and Uziel UZL-2S (Jacob) (4/5)
6. Argus AGS-5D (3/5) and Chimera CMA-1S (3/5)

Round 4: The boys from the special boxes

1. Penetrator PTR-7D (4/4)
2. Thunder Hawk TDR-7Y (4/5)
3. Dragon Fire DGR-5F (3/4)
4. Axman AXM-5N (4/5)
5. Spartan SPT-NF (2/4)
6. Tian-Zong TNZ-N3 “Jasminda” (3/4)

Record sheets and equipment rules can be found here

After purchasing your ticket please fill out this form  to submit your force selections before 22nd May 2026

The top three players will receive unique BattleMech statues especially created for the event