From: BillR54619@aol.com Subject: [consim-l] BPACon AAR BPACon aka DonCon aka AvalonCon was the only convention I attended this summer. However, unlike previous years, where I just came to Baltimore over the weekend, or in one case, took Friday off, this year was different. I did work through Wednesday, but came in Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and gamed straight through Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And I got wood to show for it. But first some general comments. I haven't seen the exact stats, but just by the feel of it, looked to me as if attendance has leveled off. Traditional wargames continue to fight a delaying action, but, because I heard so MANY comments about the geriatric nature of hex-grid gamers, I couldn't help but notice the relative (20 something) youth of some of the players who wound up in Afrika Korps, Panzerblitz and the like. Many of the vendors, including GMT, didn't shown up until Friday, which was kind of a drag if you needed to pick up a copy of Guilford for the Saratoga tournament. I ended up playing Saratoga itself instead of Guilford in that tournament, since my opponent had only played Saratoga by himself, and neither of us had a copy of Guilford. But that worked out good for me. There was a bit of carping over the meal ticket system forced on BPA by the hotel, which didn't matter to me, since I floated from hotel to hotel, and yes, the Hunt Valley Marriott was sold out, with or without me. The tournaments I played in were Afrika Korps, Panzerblitz, Kremlin (really just a filler for me), Saratoga, Battleline, and last but not least, Fortress Europa. If you don't count the Kremlin or Battleline games, my record for the convention was 5-5-1. I went 1-1 in both AK and Panzerblitz, winning the first game and losing the second to experienced competition. The Afrika Korps games were more fun. In the first game I actually managed to form a continuous front as the Allies by August 1941; well my opponent, who was wearing an Afrika Korps t-shirt, had never played the game before. My second opponent had played the game, and his mates kept talking about such-an-such a gambit declined, while I hooked and jabbed as the Germans. I never took Tobruk, went after Alexandria, ran out of time and troops and beat a fighting withdrawal back to the open desert between Mechili and Bengasi, where I met my end... In Panzerblitz, I got stuck playing the Germans twice in Scenario 1T, pulled out a tight victory in the first game and didn't pull it out in the second. I'll be glad to play Panzerblitz in some future competition, just don't make me play that scenario again.... Saratoga was a little weird. I got out of the Swiss Elimination and advanced to the quarterfinals with a draw in Eutaw Springs (technically a British loss but we both got a single point for the draw), a substantive victory in Saratoga as the British and a substantive loss in Brandywine as the Americans. The first game wasn't much of a game, since I got behind early as the British in Eutaw Springs and had to go conservative. The second game was everything I could wish for as a British player. Good dice, inexperienced opponent, I did role light fog in the first turn, but it didn't matter. Crush, kill destroy. Then I went to Brandywine and played the guy who won last year, and ended up playing Miklos in the finals this year. Ummm - I tried a semi-aggressive delay with a view to holding onto the breastworks overlooking Chad's Ford if possible. That didn't work out, and I lost too much blood to keep from hitting my demoralization level. Might have settled for a marginal loss if I had played a more conservative game. Really didn't matter since I advanced anyway. My quarterfinal loss was a real tear jerker, I got the drop on my opponent early, and actually managed to SURROUND HIS ENTIRE ARMY. Then my attacks to finish him off, I think there was a 2-1 and two 3-2 attacks - all fell appart, whereupon he zipped through the gap left by my retreats and munched two battalions and a leader. You can read the rest in my upcoming book, Ten Things I Hate About GMT's Saratoga Game System. But Mark gave me one of their little consolation prizes, even as I was asking, "Do I really deserve this ?" So while I was waiting to get skunked in Battelines, I managed to arrange a non-tournament game of Anzio. I actually signed up late in the process, but couldn't enlist an opponent and it really didn't matter. I had been chumming Bruno S. and Steve Likevich to put me on their busy schedule for Bulge or Anzio, but both those guys stood me up. Steve and I go back a long ways, and I have yet to play that guy once at BPACon. But I have made a promise to Tom Oleson that I will sign up for Anzio next year. So after getting shut out, three 0-6 games in Battleline (I keep getting worse, not better here), I had a completely free schedule for Saturday. I lost my shot at Kingmaker, but there is always Win, Place and Show. All I had to do was lose early enough and bad enough in Fortress Europa or We The People and - THEY'RE OFF !! So I chose Fortress Europa, another tournament in which I had never got out of the quarterfinals. Then something unexpected happened. In the first game, I managed to win as the Germans, even though I never deployed my invasion reaction force but I did deploy a static infantry unit off the coastline, into Rennes. Well, after I won with nothing but sheer luck of the dice, the Allied player called out the illegal division in Rennes. But the GM, Paul Koenig, ruled in my favor. So I played Paul Koenig, a perennial champion in this game, in the quarterfinals. Now, as my first game progressed, we were sitting around shooting the breeze and Paul got in on the conversation, and one of the comments he made was that it was almost impossible for the Allies to win by invading at the Bay of Biscay. I had demurred on this point, so when I looked over Paul's setup, which had little on the coasts outside fortresses, I looked at the Netherlands - no, too hard up there. I looked at Normandy, and smelled a snake in the wood pile. I looked at Southern France and thought to myself, "No I suck in Southern France, no matter which side I play". So I invaded the Bay of Biscay, with my entire invasion force going into the westernmost fortress hex at the mouth of the Bordeaux inland port, manfully defended by a 1-2 territorial division. Without air support, but with full naval gunfire, this unit evaporated. I got a second impulse attack on the 6-6 Panzer division and the headquarters in Bordeaux, and pushed 'em back. On the second turn these pieces went to the dead pile, since I put in Monty's headquarters ashore on the second impulse. With air operating in Biscay, I did a paratroop drop on La Rochelle on the second turn, to grab the port and get a little more leverage coming ashore. Paul then did an interesting thing. He railed all his available armor reserves, mainly the invasion reaction force, through Southern France, about four hexes from the military district boundary. Would I or wouldn't I go across. Well, I did go across, unfreezing his entire army, but for the second time in the weekend, I got a large force completely encircled, since both his flanks were wide open. And I killed them all. By this time, Paul was saying I was sure to win. But he did hang in there and fought to the bitter end. I like that. I really had the drop on him, managed to capture 9 cities, two of which he got back on his last turn, so I ended up winning with 7 cities out of a required 6. So that put me in the semis. I faced Bob Frisby, a guy who had given me the devil the year before as the Germans in this same game. So this year I took the Germans, and he gave me the devil as the Allies. It was not pretty. His die rolls were nearly perfect, and Bob ground me to bits in Normandy with close air support plussing up 1-1 attacks to 4-1. Bob won against his brother in the finals, so I took the third place plaque. Felt real good about it. So what's new ? Well, not much. There is a bad jinx at DonCon where every tournament I get wood in goes away. First it was Napoleon's Last Battles. I hope Fortress Europa is not the next. Anzio and AK are pretty healthy, and Panzerblitz is an event that really could use, and really wants new blood. Saratoga is a pretty healthy event, but GMT really needs to make some choices about how much it needs to use these events to market new products. As it stands, their marketing worked on me, and I picked up copies of Brandywine and Guilford with my two GMT coupons, for a reasonable $56. I did, however, nail a copy of Rebels and Redcoats Volume III for a less-reasonable $45. Now, there is a series that BPACon might consider for quick tournament play.... Bill R. From: Ed Beach Subject: [GCACW] Quick Recap of the World Boardgaming Championships Action Another great year of GCACW events at WBC. Here are the highlights: -- Skirmisher 2 was released. We wasted no time playing Piedmont and Rebels in the White House. -- In our two tournaments we had 7 different semifinalists (only one player made both semis). Lots of good play by everyone! -- Dave Cross won his first plaque in the 1863/4 tournament. Congratulations, Dave, who has worked hard GM'ing the 1862 tournament the past few years. Dave was also our "Risen from the Ranks" winner. -- Joe Doughan was our "Rookie of the Year", competing in 3 different events. We had four people attend the training session for new players on Wednesday. -- Finally, another great Rebels in the White House game was held on Saturday. Early's men arrived at DC just like last year, but this time the Union defenses held! Here are a bit more details on the tournament results: 1862 Tournament: 1st Semi (Seven Pines): Ed Beach (CSA) defeats Mark Booth in a come-from behind win. 2nd Semi (Seven Pines): Chris Withers (USA) defeats Ken Lee as all of Ken's opening attacks are crushed. Finals (Certain Destruction Awaits): Chris Withers defeats Ed Beach for his 4th straight tournament win. Ed goes down using Hooker's strategy to entrench at Chancellorsville. Chris's version of Jackson rips through the entrenched Union line without hesitation. 1863 Tournament 1st Semi (Strike Them a Blow): David Cross (CSA) defeats Bruno Passacantando in a see-saw match to the finish. 2nd Semi (Strike Them a Blow): Paul Nied (USA) defeats Chris Withers by surrounding Kershaw's division north of the North Anna and causing severe retreat losses. Finals (Bloody Spotsylvania): David Cross (CSA) defeats Paul Nied. David quickly seized the court house and built strong defenses. When rain came, Paul had to concede. Congratulations to all and I hope to see even more new faces in upcoming years! -Ed Vince Meconi - 08:51pm Aug 3, 2003 PST (#8311 of 8748) Flash GM report for War At Sea: Ray Freeman of Berkeley, CA took his 3rd championship, becoming the first player to win the crown 3 times. Ray finished 6-1 and topped Bill Thomson of Austin, TX (5-2), a veteran gamer playing in the War At Sea event for the 2nd time, for the top spot. 3rd place went to all time Avaloncon/WBC plaque leader Bruce Reiff of Lewis Center, OH, (5-1), who was the only player to win all 5 preliminary rounds. 4th was Joe Collinson of Friendship, MD (4-2), in his best finish ever. Both semifinals were 1-POC affairs, but Ray's win over Joe's deserves immediate note. Joe's U-boats hit Convoy 3C in the North Atlantic but only for 1 damage point, then his LBA hit it again in the Barents for another 1 damage point! That convoy landed and provided the winning POC margin. 5th place went to last year's Rookie of the Year, John Strand (4-1), who was edged out of the final four on a strength of schedule tiebreaker. The GM lucked into 6th place, and 7th through 10th places went to Dennis Nicholson (4-1), Glenn Petroski (4-1), defending champion Andy Gardner (3-2), and Rob Drozd (3-2), who is our Rookie of the Year. After receiving 3 previous Best Allied Player Awards, Ray Freeman switched and garnered the Best Axis Player with a 3-0 log this year. Bruce Reiff was the Best Allied Player at 5-0. We don't give a giant killer award, but if we did it would have to go to Bob Jamelli. Bob knocked off AREA leader and recent BPA PBEM Champ Jonathan Lockwood in Round 1, then beat defending champ and #2 AREA player Andy Gardner in Round 2. This is just after beating Ray Freeman (#3 AREA) in the current PBEM championship! 47 total entrants and 90 total games played were both the 2nd highest totals ever, just under last year's records. The Allies won 46 matches and the Axis 44; there were no ties. The bidding situation was 57 bids for the Allies and 32 no bids; one holdout bid for the Axis. Those bids appeared to have the desired effect, as 2 Allied wins and 4 ties became Axis wins after the bids were counted. I could not single out anybody for Sportmanship nominee, because the level of sportsmanship seems to be universally high. In addition, everybody appeared to be having a good time. I can't wait for next year! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Weber - 07:07am Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8325 of 8748) NEWS FLASH -- NEW SINGLE EVENT ATTENDANCE RECORD AT THIS YEARS WBC !! Just a note to let everyone know that this year's Puerto Rico tournament became the first event at WBC or Avaloncon to top 200 with 217 participants in the four preliminary heats on Friday-Saturday. (According to the yearbook, the previous high was 178 for Titan: The Arena in its second year.) We had a total of 72 different people who won games in the preliminaty rounds. The 18 people who won two games and top two alternates with 1 win and a second squared off in five four-player semis followed by a five player final. And the winner was .... Nicholas Anner. Apparently Nick has been coming to WBC/Avaloncon for about 10 years and this is his first win, and he picked a pretty big event to do it in. Congrats to Nick and the other finalists (Gary Carr, Phil Rennert, Lucimara Martins and defending champ Arthur Field) as well as sixth-place plaque winner David Platnick. In my book, they are all champions. Before the start of Sunday's elimination round games we held a moment of silence for Harold Siegelman, our recently departed colleague who wss perhaps the best Puerto Rico player of all. The GM wishes to acknowlege the help of assistant GM Stan Hilinski as well as two "unofficial" helpers, Fabio Tola and Bill Beckman, who enabled me to cope with the mass chaos of an event with this many players. Once I recoveer and get more sleep, there will be more details posted on the website, including (as last year) a series replay of the final game so we can hopefully learn more about the intricacies of this wonderful game. Hope to see everyone at the first annual Euro-Quest mini-con in the fall -- Nov. 7-9 at the Days Hotel in Timonium, MD, just three miles down the road from the HVI where WBC is held. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Dockter - 07:57am Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8327 of 8748) My top ten list of things I enjoyed at WBC: 10: PoG/HRC Pre-con - both events great again - attendance up 9: One of my FtP marathon games - 8 hours+, came down to last turn - I lost, but what a great game 8: Nick Anner, a WARGAMER, beating the Euro gamers at Puerto Rico 7: The booth babes 6: Marvin, Scenario Boy, in a Toga, accepting his Caesar award - I didn't see it - it could not have been pretty 5: A few late night games of RAAAAAAAA where us WARGAMERS drove a Euro gamer to the edge of insanity with our Vegas strategies 4: Playing Royal Turf - very fun/very short horse racing game 3: Slapshot - first time I attended it - a hell of a good time 2: Meeting Jason Levine and playing his Liar's Dice game 1: Meeting Randy Cox Yes, a super convention again. Hats off to Don, the Board, and all those great GMs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Levine - 08:54am Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8329 of 8748) Now for my top 10 things about WBC 2003: 10. Skipping Tuesday night to go see the Iron Maiden concert and then hang out backstage after the show :) 9. Dip pre-con...had an amazing time...even while getting crushed and backstabbed! 8. Paydirt...what a fun little game...now I am getting psyched for fantasy football season to begin! 7. Helping Marvin put on his toga Sunday morning...and seeing Don's reaction when he caught the first glance over to our side of the room :) 6. Werewolf...and not having to worry about the Beer Lady this year. 5. The Junior event...what a great time I had working with the kids for a few hours Thursday morning...they all had a great time and I couldn't have been happier than seeing them have fun! 4. Katrina...too bad Lost Battalions left the booth early Sunday...I was going to pick up a copy of Battlelines...I heard really good things about it...guess I'll get it on their website. 3. Seeing Nick win Puerto Rico over highly regarded competition such as Arthur...this was especially pleasant for me as Nick is my roommate at WBC and we have been coming together for years now since our college days in Buffalo...he was really sad after losing the 15 hour final game of B2B on Thursday and once again coming up with loser wood...everyone in our group from college has won the big one except Nick and we would tease him about it...but now he finally got over the hump and won his first official wood...even though I didn't win anything this year...it made me even happier to see Nick win and I was so proud of him! 2. Meeting David Dockter and converting him into a Euro/Party gamer in a matter of minutes...Vegas baby...you are one cool dude :) 1. Liar's Dice...I was really scared that we would not get many people...but seeing 140 gamers show up and rattle their cups together to start the game off with a bang is something I will never forget! Again...many thanks to Don, the board and everyone else associated with the convention...it was another fun time for me...and I look forward to seeing everyone again at WBC 2004...or even sooner if you will be at D-Day/Euro Quest or Enlightenment! I'll post a more complete convention report sometime this week. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom McCorry - 09:02am Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8330 of 8748) After-Action Report Summary: I just finished updating my stats for the week. I played 27 games over the course of the week against 95 unique opponents. I didn't calculate the gaming hours but it was well north of 60. I got to play 3 games for the first time (Win, Place, Show; Gangsters; Robo Rally). I qualified for 6 semi-finals but was only able to play in 3 (Princes of Florence, Tigris & Euphrates, and Kremlin). Pros compared to past: - Expanded Dealer Room with demos - Modifed Robo Rally format that allowed me to enter - Puerto Rico Format that allowed weekend only players to join in Neutral - Vouchers (Not great, but not bad either) Cons: - Friday AM Fire (but the hotel did comp me a breakfast buffet) - Missing Slapshot on Satrday Night (my fault for getting the time wrong) - Winning the last door prize with ticket 269 while the first door prize went to tick 268 Up next: Euro Quest! Tom -------------------------------------------------------------------------- George Sauer III - 10:42am Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8340 of 8748) Columbus Area Boardgaming Society Propaganda Minister - Not just a Geezer with a Tweezer Now for my top 10 things about WBC 2003: 10. Staying up until 3am rolling the "Big Fuzzy Dice" in the Pro Golf Finals. Congrats to Ken Gutermuth for his victory. 9. Pre-Con Wedding Gaming - Actually betting 3-3-3 across the board in Win Place and Show and bringing it home. Congrats to Ken and Debbie on the wedding. 8. Losing to a 12 year old in the Finals of Auction. Congrats again to Ken for having such a nice daughter. 7. Katrina... I got her Rookie card at origins and now I have the WBC card. I'm going for the complete set. 6. The Fire Aftermath, Teasing and worring those that slept through the alarm that there REALLY was a fire and the they evacuated the first floor and that they were lucky to be alive .... ;o) 5. Keith Hunsinger as a room mate and a tour guide ... Thanks Keith ... 4. Standing in "Bloody Lane" at Antietam. Thanks to ken & Deb for having the wedding on Saturday giving us three days for touring. 3. Charging across "Burnside's Bridge" Thanks again to Ken & Deb for having the wedding on Saturday giving us three days for touring. 2. Standing top "Little Round Top" A really BIG Thanks to Ken & Deb for having the wedding on Saturday giving us three days for touring. 1. Seeing and Playing games with the best people I've come to know - thanks for the gaming and the fellowship. Let's do it some more in two thousand and four !!! (You are all invited to come to Columbus and the Buckeye Game Fest IV in October.... Bruce Reiff says you can stay at his house ... ;o) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan J Rothberg - 02:44pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8362 of 8748) Consimworld one big happy dysfunctional family. You folks do know that Katrina was at Origins also? There is a picure of her over in the CABs home page in their War Room reports. (And you guys can have Katrina. I was lounging around the pool with three lovelies in bathing suits: Mike W's wife; Adam S' SO; and my wife.) Mike R, I tried to catch up with you at the Con, but always just missed you by mere minutes. Don, We definitely need some sort of sound system for the awards presentation. I was only half way across Cafe Jay, and I could barely make out a fraction of what was said. Perhaps a boom box with a mike would be the simplest solution. The vouchers were okay, but I'd rather the option to forego them and pay a slightly higher room rate. I realize that this would give the appearance that the Con is using fewer rooms. Perhaps the option to register at the hotel with with either the lower room rate and the vouchers or the slightly higher toom rate and without the vouchers, but still as a WBC attendee could be offered. I picked up MG:MG, The Skirmisher #2, Medieval, and Ardennes '44. While MG:MG and A'44 looked great, Medieval was quick to learn (RHB walked us through our first game and even played. He lost.) and fast to play. Including teaching time, you can get a game done in something between 2 and 3 hours. Marvin in a toga is not a sight I would recommend for the faint of heart. Alas for Nathan, I was not able to attract more than 1 or 2 people to look at Iron Tide. I suspect the primary causes for this were that people were playing tournament games, the brand new release or old favorites. IT occupies an unusual situation in that it: is out for a short while already; not first released at WBC; not around long enough to be an old favorite; and not being sold at WBC. The few people that did look it over seemed fairly impressed and did inquire as to where to obtain a copy. The inability to leave anything set up overnight did make demonstrating IT more difficult than I anticipated it might be. As always, it was great to see all my old buddies and make several new ones as a bonus. (I would like to move that the table at the bottom of the escalator be renamed as Andy Maly land.) Finally, does anybody have a clue what was going on Saturday evening? I was heading back downstairs and witnessed the following scene by the big announcement board by the Maryland room. A small crowd of the teen goths were all gathered around in a semi-circle watching as a female from the group took careful and deliberate aim kneeing a male member in the fundamentals, repeatedly. (He was standing there and letting this happen.) I know there is no beer nazi, but, certainly, there ought to be a LSD nazi. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ewan - 04:18pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8365 of 8748) Ah, WBC. [And yes, today was a vacation day :) ] Highlights - the people, as ever. Both old friends and new, including a couple from this board to whose names I got to put faces. Actually having some time to learn new games - clearly an error in my scheduling - so thanks to Jared for Marketplace Renaissance (which is a *great* game; better than the original, I suspect, after final tweaking), and to Kaarin for Galaxy. Still attracting new folk to AoR, and meeting new opponents in Britannia (John Strand's set, with 5 complete sets of pieces, stands out!). Oddly enough, the win in AoR was not really a highlight - the games leading to that point had been great, the win was so unexpected that it seemed more bizarre than euphoric. Thanks though to Jeff Mullett for the final turn Civil War which allowed me to move in the as-it-turned-out-critical last place ;-). But again, the people, and the general classiness - of especial note, Kathy Stroh, the 19th qualifier to turn up for the AoR semis in which 20 were supposed to advance but 19 was an impossible number. We ended up playing 3 6-player semis, not 4 5s, and Kathy deserves public acknowledgement of her _utterly_ content acceptance. The other person I wanted to single out for praise is Jim Jordan, the Britannia GM, who gave up his semi-final spot when 13 (of a desired 16) showed up; only 4-player games are possible. Despite the unanimous vote of his players, he then refused to accept a place in the final that would have been richly deserved; and again, never made even the slightest gesture of unhappiness. Such folk make the event. Neutral - the vouchers, which would have been a plus exxcept for the hotel's confusion over them on Tuesday (minor) and more importantly, the lack of any sensible place to spend them on Sunday. It took almost two hours to get served in the Paddock, which had all of one staff member on duty, and the closure of cafe Jay was a big problem. Overall, though, not a big deal. Arthur and I had spare at the end, and were sorely tempted to stand in the lobby hawking them. Wonder how many would have got the joke. Negatives - alcohol, unfortunately. I was personally witness to three separate problems of *way* inappropriate behaviour fueled by drunkenness, two of which were (to me) meriting eviction. Yeah, I'm donning my flame-retardant suit. But, sadly, it seems that the number of con attendees who cannot control their behavior merits the alcohol ban of previous years, at least in the public gaming areas. Which is a real shame, as I actually enjoyed having the beers that I did. And, maybe linked, people seemed rather more on edge than in previous years, with both more mistakes being made and more tempers flaring over them. I know I contributed to the former, and apologies again to my U-Pac game for the major screw-up; likewise to Andy Lewis for causing himn the headache. Seems that having one player handle all cards, money, and so on in such games is a partial solution - but then I had two comments, after AoR games, that players suspected their banker. I saw some players (in games I was watching, rather than playing in) who refused to touch any game component for fear of allegations, and it almost got to that stage in one of my games. If the rise in such probblems that I perceived is a shared perception, there may be a problem looming :(. Oh, and my Britannia final, in which I barely achieved fourth, but congrats to Nick Benedict on joining me in the final for the past three years and now getting the top spot in a rout. :) I'll get you next year... ...may it come soon. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Youse - 06:44pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8369 of 8748) Check out the MMP Preorder Page at http://www.multimanpublishing.com/ preorder/preorder.php Negatives - alcohol, unfortunately. I was personally witness to three separate problems of *way* inappropriate behaviour fueled by drunkenness, two of which were (to me) meriting eviction. Yeah, I'm donning my flame-retardant suit. No need to don a suit, this is true. I was against the ban on alcohol, believing participants of the con were adults and could behave as such. I am embarassed to admit that I was wrong. To be drunkenly staggering down a hallway causing a disturbance should not be tolerated by the board. Perhaps i'm getting old and crochety, but I found the whole "teen scene" a bit of a turnoff this year as well. Whomever felt the need to wander the halls howling like a wolf to attract players - please stop. Was this a scheduled event? Maybe it should be made one? I would have liked to seen more ASL players, yet I didn't wander through the main gaming areas screaming out "ASL!" "ASL!" at the top of my lungs, did I? And I would like to admit that there were some folks playing something in a corner shouting for every single event in their game. The occasional cheer and scream are perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, enjoy your game. But it became a circumstance where two or three people were just trying to outshout the others, each event being insignificant but used as an opportunity to shout as loudly as possible. I thought it was just kids being kids, imagine my shock when my opponent pointed out an early-thirties guy playing with some teens at the center of this! I said the heck with it, life's too short, and went to bed. Yup, i'm getting old. Thursday night I quit gaming late (early -- to everyone under 20 who was still awake!) and went to the elevators. The "lounge" area by the vendors salons and the elevators was filthy. Food and drink garbage all over, papers and flyers strewn about. My friend, whom I was walking with, said "This is why gamers have a bad reputation". I have to agree. Overall, very small blemishes on an outstanding four days. Well done, Don and the board, for yet another great event! Brian -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur Field - 07:20pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8370 of 8748) My week started out ever so strangely with Auction. Had to assign seating and learned how hard that is when so many conflicts exist in the room. The more families who attend, the better, but the higher number of early round conflicts. Then, due to a strange shuffle, or the lack thereof, get my ass kicked by Lisa G. in 4 cards of Auction. May have been the fastest recorded game. Despite the possible lack of shuffle (it was the game I used for the demo), we at the table agreed Lisa could keep the win and advance. BIG MISTAKE. Deja vu. George Sauer taught me the game 2 years ago, I beat him in the Mulligan and went on to win. I taught Lisa during the demo, played with her and she almost did win. Just goes to show what a really great teacher Bud is. Then it was on to Tikal to run the first round. Had a great game, posting the highest score I ever had. Things went pretty smoothly. Next couple of days played Mexica and El Grande. The flier wreacked havoc and I got to experience what it is like to be dicked with for pure sport. I try not to do it to others, and was shook up when it happened to me. Really enjoyed both El Grande and Mexica. Played in an Amun-Re heat and won it and enjoyed it. Played UPAC. Won my heat. Then had to play Ewan in the semi he refers to. Shame the incident took place, but it worked out okay due to some really fast and fair thinking on the part of Andy. Ewan was a good sport about it and the outcome was unaffected luckily. Went on to the finals and got to meet Harald Henning after all this time. It was a great game. I got spectacularly lucky and took second place in about 5 lines with only 1 share in each. Also had 2 monopolies for most of the game. The other opponents were excellent and I enjoyed it immensely. Won the wood. Very much enjoyed the Mexica semi-final and last game. Mario Lanza is a spectacular gamer. He made a move in the very last play of the game and then changed it. I was praying for the change and had those prayers answered. I believe but for the change, I would not have won by 1 point. It is good people make the occasional mistake. Makes the game far more interesting. I had made a whopper earlier in the game. These things tend to even out. Amun-Re was great. I got to play in the final with Luke Koleszar who is my idea of a top notch gamer. Quiet, respectful, thoughtful and smart. I also played with my best friend from high school. Rich Meyer. I had not seen him for over 10 years, but I convinced him to come to WBC. I loved seeing him. We played together in El Grande semi also. It was much fun. Ilan made up the 4th. He got a bit testy when I politely suggested he pay attention to the game (since it was a final and Luke kept trying to ask him a question and Ilan was talking to somebody else), but we eventually worked it out after he flipped me the bird (which was wholly uncalled for--I also hear he bitched about me later, but my Greenville compadres took care of that.) I won Amun-Re and thank Jay T. for bringing in a nice game. And, Jason, I did it without your strategy at all. Unfortunately, I missed Battle LIne because of the Amun-Re semis and missed POF because of the Amun-Re finals. Tikal semis were a nightmare. The magic 13 showed up and this became a quandray. After we all voted on what to do, I started the games and then a player stood up and left. I was very, very upset by this incident. It was the low point of my week. I ended up playing a miserable game on a board with Mark Smith, who made it clear he didn't really know what he was doing, but was going to beat up on me the whole game. More flier effect. I hated all 3 hours of it. Worst Tikal game of my life. I played in 2 Puerto Rico heats and won both. Enjoyed them a lot. Had a great semi-final with David Dockter. From now on, those war gamers should stay down in Valley where they belong. We don't need them invading Euroland. I won, but had to struggle to adapt to David's unorthodox strategy. Was a great mental challenge. Played Medici with Ted Mullally and Sue Cornett. What a hoot. At one point it was Sue's bid to my right. I held my fingers out under the table with her bid before she said it. When she made it, I held up the same number. What great gamers they both are. The two novices at the table got a lesson from 3 sharks. Sue's fin was largest. But what would Medici be without a Cornett advancing? Played Slapshot and got to announce Lisa G. beat Bruce. Also, I understand I have replaced Don Greenwood as the loser whiner prize of whom you have to take to breakfast Sunday morning. Distinct honor. Sunday morning saw PRO semis and final. I liked the semi and hated the final. I felt Gary Carr simply put it to me every chance he could. I don't know why, but I guess it comes with the defending champion territory. Got to play a few rounds of Acquire, but couldn't concentrate. Too hard to GM and play. Enjoyed Facts in 5 very much. Glad to see sensible categories like Harry Potter and Asia among the football sports silliness. (Warning, incoming from Ohio.) Was very touched Saturday night after Slapshot when the new Princes of Florence champ looked for me and showed me his new wood. Welcome to the club Eric. He was so proud and deservedly so. Highlights: Seeing the entire CABS gang and the NY crowd. Playing with Chris Byrd, Ewan, Mark Guttag, Mario, Rich Meyer, David D., Nick Anner, Luke, Steve Koleszar, Steve Packwood, Ted, Sue, the McCorry and DeMarco clans and many others. Making peace with MD gamers. Watching Weber do a great job as GM. Winning 3 wood. Running to Cafe Jay to eat. Spending my final vouchers on oysters and crab. Low points: GM problems. I informed Don I regretfully will be retiring as GM. It is just too much of a hassle for me to adjudicate and play. I will try to get Chris Terrell to GM Tikal and hope Davyd can do Acquire. Maybe Lisa G. will do Auction. I discovered I like to play to win, or at least compete. Being GM just interferes with that. Especially when some of the decisions involve the GM. Other lows, Paul Murphy leaving Tikal in a huff. Backed me into a corner and ruined my entire morning. Mark Smith deliberately kicking the crap out of me in the game just for fun, ditto Gary Carr. Two things I won't forget. (Why do this if you aren't going to win?) And, of course, the flier. One other, but very personal. Favorite moments: Lucinda sticking it to me in Puerto Rico and Fabio saying, you think you have it tough...try living with her. Also, when I referred to a prospector with a $1 on it as a $2 hooker, someone said I showed my age. A bystander said yeah, I just proved I was old enough to have had sex with a prospector. Very big laugh. Seeing my daughter holding hands with a boy for the first time. Watching both my kids do really well and make more friends. Especially difficult with me as a dad. At one point on Saturday I swore I wouldn't come back. But, that feeling went away and I will count the days. Thanks to all of you who put up with me and who made the week so enjoyable. Especially the support I got from SC, OH and NY. Arthur -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Phillips - 07:38pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8371 of 8748) 'When your property took the A train, I wonder where your manners went?' Final tally: Got to play... Clash of Giants, Guilford Courthouse, Eutaw Springs, Wilderness War, Breakout: Normandy (events); Blue and Gray, Medieval, Sweden Fights On, and Prussia's Glory (open gaming). Pros: 1) Going 3-1 in Wilderness War, even though I only finished seventh. Teaching David Docktor the rules 10 minutes before the start, and then drawing him as my opponent. Then he pushed me to the wall and I only won by a point as the French. Another good game was winning against Rob Winslow, but he had an unfair handicap. Pete Reese kept whispering in his ear that if he lost they could go get a beer. I don't think I could have played with all that pressure. All four games were fun and many big thanks to Keith for again running a great tourney. 2) Playing Matthew Miller (Prussia's Glory - Leuthen) and Volko Ruhnke (Sweden Fights On - Wittstock) in open gaming. Getting to play wargames against people of their caliber is always a huge plus. 3) Getting to play in Clash of Giants, Breakout: Normandy and Saratoga. Got drilled in all three events but my opponents were all first class people and made it a lot of fun. Thanks especially to Rob McCracken and my first round COG opponent (sorry, I've forgotten your name) for realy good games. 4) Getting to pick up Ardennes '44, Medieval, and Monty's Gamble: Market Garden. Thanks to Tony Curtis in particular and to the MMP and the GMT gang in general. 5) Getting to see friends from last year and to make a few more. Cons: 1) Not getting to play in the MG:MG event due to scheduling conflicts. 2) For the second straight year I missed all the Rail Baron heats because I was in another event or too busy playing in open gaming. 3) Not getting to come back on Sunday due to home duties. 4) I would echo some of the concerns above. The event certainly does take on a different feel on Saturday night, than say Thursday. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had to leave before 10 PM on Saturday, so I probably missed the worst of it. 5) One last rant on an already too long post...I think the fact that two people who are as totally different as Arthur Field and myself (as players) can think that the WBC is the greatest thing since toast is one of its greatest strengths, so let's not let this Euros vs Wargames thing get out of hand. Can't we all just get along? BTW, I saw the 'get Arthur' posters and thought they were put out by one of his buddies. It's sad that wasn't the case and that it caused some people to react the way they did. Anyway, THANKS TO DON AND THE OUTGOING BOARD FOR ANOTHER GREAT EVENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW BOARD! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. R. Tracy - 08:02pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8375 of 8748) "I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - Milka Duno, Le Mans I'll give this pro/con format a whirl: Pros: - New faces: played games for the first time with David Doktor, Mike Welker, Byron Stingley, and Peter Card, and enjoyed the company of all four. I also got to know Vince Alonso better - he's an old ASL acquaintance who's on his way to an assignment as the US military attache in Madrid. - New games: three games of Nappy Wars (not really new), all ending after one turn - still great fun; Royal Turf, a game made for hootin' and hollerin'; and Cold War, a Victory Games offering with a surprisingly Euro-ish feel, well worth a look. - Old games rediscovered: Byron bounced me around the room in Breakout: Normandy, absolutely destroying me but reminding me what a great game it is. - New games released: MG:MG, Mystery of the Abbey, World At War, A44, Medieval, and many more - the production values just keep getting better. Even the Shifting Sands playtest setup looked great, as do the Downtown components. - Room A/C: I don't know what they did, but for the first time our room didn't have it's own little microclimate - it was very comfortable throughout. I did sorta miss watching the thunderheads form up over the TV, though. - New food: That barbeque place mentioned above was outstanding. I ate BBQ four days in a row. I would've gone for five but one morning I woke up with what I thought was a nosebleed. I discovered it was in fact barbeque sauce dripping from my nostril so I decided maybe a salad was in order. - Kids: lots of 'em, having fun - I saw some iffy teen behavior but by and large the kids I encountered were enjoying themselves and non-disruptive. - Vouchers: the sky didn't fall, so the vouchers must've worked - I used my in Cafe Jay and the bar, and heard very few complaints. - GMs: ASL has always been blessed with hardworking GMs but this was the first year I experienced other events- hats off to all you guys, the backbone of the event. Ken Nied and John Coussis both had their rap down and kept things rolling crisply with minimal fuss, and Scott Romanowski ably filled the big shoes he stepped into this year for ASL. Cons: - the Meatlocker Ballroom: man, was that cold or what? Thankfully I know to dress for it by now but sheesh, winter rules were in effect, fer shure. - missed a later round of Breakout, thinking it was single-elimination. Looking forward to losing *two* games next year! - one die roll: The damn 5 that ended our third game of The Napoleonic Wars killed what was shaping up to be a barnburner! Thanks all - good to see you again and looking forward to the years to come. JR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve May - 10:10pm Aug 4, 2003 PST (#8384 of 8748) Quick recap and comments: I finally attended the entire convention for the first time after several years of stopping by for an evening of look-see. I enjoyed the week tremendously and cannot thank the GM's, Don, his hard working staff, the vendors, and my fellow gamers enough. I won two tournaments surprising myself completely. The downside is I would have to agree about the alcohol. I was playing in the Circus Maximus final on Sunday morning, and while having two wins was already two more than I expected, I was getting gready and thinking a hattrick was an outside possibility. Unfortunately the final included a person who was drunk and declared that he was not there to win, but to see how many people he could take out. I was one of his victims. The event lasted way longer than it should have and I felt the five or so hours I spent in futility trying to escape this person would have been better spent trying to reconnect with my family I had not seen in a week. This needless to say pissed me off for a few hours, but when I got home and placed my placques in the game room it all drifted away. Sorry for the long rant. To sum up the week was a blast and I am starting the countdown for next year. Steve ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ken Rothstein - 01:11am Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8388 of 8748) Hi all this was my 11th WBC I think, and unfortunately my least successful. I found new ways to lose with the most disgusting being in Air Baron, one of the games I previously took 1st place in... I was almost broke with a $20 loan, and there was a runway leader. In 2nd place I bought an undeclared jumbo, figuring I would get a payout and go on the attack next turn. Now I know what people are thinking, its no big deal to not have your chits drawn...BUT I went one better! While broke, I drew next turn a $15 strike and even breaking down everything could not pay off the strike...so the ruling came that I had to slowly break down to pay off the interest and not get a payout while I was under the strike because I was not forced to break down anything else since I could not pay my strike off anyway! So all I could do was slowly die. Other than that, I won a game of gangsters and I love that tournement because it is the only chance I get all year to play that game. The schedule for me was not too great. WED seemed dead more or less for me, all my games crammed on THURS and FRI, and then choices had to be made. Missed out on Merchants, AOR, Acquire, Circus Max, Tikal and god knows what else. But I learned Mystery in the Abbey. The PR tournement reminded me of Ellis Island--too many people all at once. Had a dispute with someone during Air Baron, only my 2nd in 11 yrs (the first being years ago with some lame guy who hosted 1830 and his ever-winning friend who never let you forget he won every 1830 game ever held--and then illegally played 2 heats when the tournement strictly forbade that) The food vouchers upset my schedule some. I take my own room because I like to game into the middle of the night and watch TV for a half hour, and just like the quiet you get from your own room...and I had $120 to eat and drink w/o breakfast! I wound up skipping a game to have the lunch buffet just to get rid of coupons! I enjoy the breakfast and this was a bummer. Cafe Jay is basically fast food, and that Pizza is always atrocious. Oh well, I'll figure this out next year. I won a pick up game of Bill Crenshaw's Manifest Destiny, but I hadn't played more than twice in two years and didn't really know what I was doing. Mystery in the Abbey was fun, as well as the card/board game where foxes eat chickens at cafe Jay. Played pick ups of Zombies and Illuminati, and tried Werewolf for the first time. Hanging out with the 20 yr olds is fun because they always talk trash, and I love that. The fire cost me my Fri 9 am games, bc I finally went to sleep at 6, but to be honest I knew there was no real fire that was any danger and just stayed up to hang out since other people were up. Sorry to see the Diplomacy tournement has been seperated. I know some in that crowd too, and missed saying hello to a few people I assumed I would see. Facts in Five is one of my faves, and I had fun chatting with Mrs Greenwood. Unfortunately, the categories are becoming so specific it was almost impossible for me to do well. "Maryland communities with pop. over 5000" should not be a category! But I knew my Vice-Presidents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don Greenwood - 06:34am Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8389 of 8748) Just a few quick replies to the observations expressed above which should illustrate some of the difficult decisions your Board has to make which don't seem to have any correct answers, but are more in the category of "damned if you do, and damned if you don't ..." drinking ... awright ... I've got to get my "I told you so" in .... I was not very happy about the decision to rescind the drinking ban. We did so solely on the advice of counsel that our liability was greater with the ban in place because we were unable to enforce it adequately. Having rules against drinking protects no one unless you enforce it and we had too many scofflaws to enforce it with our meager resources. Short of spending every dollar in our treasury on Security to enforce such measures, we just weren't going to stop it. And some of our leading citizens and posters on this board are guilty ... you know who you are. Maybe you can handle your liquor but your open flaunting of the rules encouraged others to do the same ... and I would think that even the most ardent defender of individual liberties would acknowledge that among 1,000 people, there are going to be some problem drinkers - and your actions helped encourage them down that path. Congratulations! You got your way. Now you'll have to live with the consequences. I just hope it doesn't ultimately cause an incident that ends WBC forever. ... but that will be ok because at least you had your beer. Likewise, the late-night teen scene with werewolve has long been a source of concern. I accosted one young man in the wee hours who appeared to have been drinking and was in the process of ramming one of the upholstered chairs through a door. He wasn't real happy that I deigned to rain on his parade. I've noticed that these late night crews never clean up after themselves and leave the rooms a mess the next morning. The damages caused by these late night revellers may well cost us our contract if it gets much worse. When the fire drill on Friday nite/morning occurred my first thought was that the werewolves had gotten out of hand. Indeed, one of our Board members observed a young man holding a lighter up to a sprinkler head. It turns out that the fire was indeed genuine - occuring in the laundry room - and that this incident was after the fact - and probably suggested by the earlier fireworks - but this sort of behavior is nonetheless cause for legitimate concern. Obviously, we cannot continue to ignore it and this will be a subject of future Board discussions. Sadly, whenever you get 1000+ people together you're going to have a few who misbehave and threaten the fun and welfare of the rest. Whether this will result in curfews and locked down meeting rooms at night, or increased security, it will incur a cost that the rest of the conference must bear .. and that is unfortunate ... as it always is when the majority must pay for the misdeeds of a few. I personally saw no coolers ... if I had, they would have been asked to leave. In any case, I am considering asking the Board to consider hiring professional security in the future and taking a much more pro-active stance in regards to alcoholic beverages and late nite shennanigans. We will also be exploring the legal requirements to permanently bar certain problem individuals from returning in the future. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- James Doughan - 11:10am Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8410 of 8748) Vote for Royal Turf for the Century! Hats off to Don for a great job again. I don't know what he gets paid, but I think the newly elected board should give him a raise. The BPA is doing a great job, with the WBC, minicons and PBEM tourneys. There's no other organization like BPA, and without DG we would be nowhere. I only encountered one obviously drunk fella. He went to bed. Before he hurt any body. I had a few beers myself, publicly, on a few occasions. As the ban was removed I thought that was okay. I didn't realize little coolers were a problem, I will avoid them in the future. I did patronize the bar regularly, though, so the Hotel got its share from me. If different behaviour is expected of me, I can change. Part of the charm of the con for many of us now, is to socialize with folks we don't see too often, and to many of us, that means having a beer or three. If that needs to be kept to the bar, than I can do that. Of course I'd prefer to have a beer while playing a 'beer and pretzels' game, but sacrifices can be made. I did not see any problems with late night drunks. That's not to say it didn't happen, just I didn't see it. I did see some messy areas late night though. It's unfortunate some folks can't bring themselves to clean up after themselves. The Werewolve freaks were out a few nights, but other than playing in a some difficult locations and making abit of noise, they seemed innocuous enough to me. Before the ban is placed on them, could it be possible to organize the event and give them a location instead? We have Jr. Events which are great, and plenty of adult stuff. Perhaps we can make some concessions to the teens who attend. I was a geeky teenager once upon a time too ... I thought the vouchers worked great. One nice effect was you could actually get breakfast at the hotel without waiting 30 mins for a table. Cool thing you may not know. There's a massage therapist at the hotel. I got an hour long massage from Diane for $60 (plus tip). Great price, good massage, and very helpful to take the kinks out of my back from 25+ hours of POG. There's also some good golf courses nearby, for those of us who play. Would anybody be interested in participating in a golf outing on Tuesday next year? I found it to be a great break from gaming. Jim Falling and Ken Nied did great jobs GMing there respective events. Hats off to them. I'd have to say one of the best cons ever. Way to go Don. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Johnson - 12:05pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8422 of 8748) BOSTON, MA My WBC Survey; Kids at WBC. Wrist Bands with Room # and Parents Names on them. Not just for trouble makers but on the off chance a parent/room is needed. Drinking at WBC. Is 1% causing problems for the rest? I saw plenty of adults having adult beverages without incident. I did not have any problems while enjoying a cold few. The offenders should be punished not the majority of us who don't cause problems. Vouchers at WBC. I had no problem with them. I was happy the hotel made some $$ in other areas that many of us do not use during WBC. The staff did seem a person short from time to time. Once my vouchers were gone, I bought 8 vouchers from friends at *cough* reduced rates. A/C at WBC. Room A/C was great, but the HuntValley Room A/C was just sickly cold. What was it set at? Did the staff ever raise it during the con? It was like a Letterman taping. Changes to WBC. NONE! Perfect how it is. Time of year is great. Location is great. (If it moves to Boston is will be even better hehe). Price is OK, I am afraid to think of what we would get for less $$. Events were great, a good selection of games, game systems and gamers. Thanks GMs, Mr Greenwood and BPA for another great week. Thanks to Up Front Group, Beef Jerky handouts, awesome Team Buttons, my teammates, Jason and Cris in RoR; Mat, Jonathan, Chuck, John, Bob, Tom, Bill, Bruce, Bari, Allan, Carrie and my wife for a very nice con. :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Perry Cocke - 01:38pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8441 of 8748) "Some guys come home from work and wash up and go racin' in the street" B. Springsteen Cons: Didn’t play ASL or a bunch of other games I would have liked to play. Froze my butt off Wednesday night in Open Gaming area. Didn’t stick it out to the bitter end. Missed some old faces. That damn annoying electronic (trivia?) game. Trash left behind by teens and teen-types. Pros: I slept through the fire: having a room 3 doors from being as far from the action as physically possible paid off. I didn’t see any drunk problems and the wolf call was just enough to annoy Brian without actually being a problem. The vouchers worked fine. The police didn’t’ come. A Baker’s Dozen of Highlights. 1. Leaving Sunday morning to take my honey to the ball game. Sure, we had to drive back home when I realized we forgot the tickets, and it rained and thundered, and the Red Sox won, but we still had a good time. 2. Relaxing Saturday night 10:30-11:00 at the pool: first cool, then hot, then cool and relaxed again. That was a rare treat. 3. Playing in the Puerto Rico event. Good to play some new faces, even if Platnick did roll over me. Then I got to beat my buddies in the all-important open play game. 4. Royal Turf: ta-dah ta ta ta ta ta ta ta taaaahhhh. 5. Meeting new friends, topped off by David Docter and Michelle Goldstein. 6. Laying the ground work for ASL as a Pre-Con next year. Perry Predicts: it will happen, and Jeff Evich will run it. 7. Seeing old friends again, especially the ASL crew (Vince, Gary, the Jims, Bunker dudes, etc.) and topped off by Andy Lewis and J.R. Tracy (congrats JR). Honorable Mention to non-ASLers Mike Rinella, Don Greenwood, Jim Doughan, Dan Dolan, and Rob Seulowitz. 8. Getting to teach some ASL to the “kids”: Koty and Dan Jr. 9. Productive meetings with designers Tom Morin (In Sight of the Module), Andy Maly (Up Front 2010), Adam Starkweather (Devil’s Den), Aaron Silverman (Lords of the Rackets), and Rob Seulowitz (Kings and Makers). 10. Having Monty’s Gamble: Market Garden on hand, seeing it well received, and actually playing some. 11. Seeing the great impression that the demo copy of Shifting Sands was making, and then watching Brian, Richard, Mike, and Jeff engage in the dance of shifting names. 12. Being the beneficiary of some great support from some great guys, the MMP Auxilary: Ken Dunn and Jeff Evich. Thanks guys. 13. Working my butt off to sell raffle tickets for Gamers for ALS. MMP. GMT, and Lost Battalion Games combined to offer games and framed prints in a raffle to benefit Curt’s Pitch for ALS in its fight agains Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The payoff: $750 for a great charity and I got to do it (sell tickets) with Katrina. Special thanks to Lu Ann and Liz. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Sample - 02:23pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8445 of 8748) " Kent , meltdown is one of those ugly buzzwords . I prefer to use the term ' undesired fission surplus' " - Montgomery C . Burns OK, here is my AAR , in no particular order : Atlantic Storm . Played in 3 heats, including the aforementioned 4 way tie that Rob won . Failed to advance to the semis for the first time in 3-4 years . Played another round in Open Gaming , where of course I was crushing the other players, having amassed 34 points only halfway through the deck. Figures . Another fine GM job by John Coussis - as usual. Galaxy . 2 prelim heats . Won my semi table in a 3 way tie based on points on cards in hand . Finished 5th ( out of 5 ) at the Finals in a very tight game that saw almost everyone's bases survive and a very high total score, a rare occurrence . Congrats to Rob "Target 2004" Winslow for a game well played . For the second year in a row I left my rules at the table ; Kaarin must have been laughing as she emailed me informing me she had them for the second year in a row . Carcassone, 3 heats . Each heat is 2 hours on the schedule . None of my heats even came close to an hour . I wonder if next year each heat was 2 games would work . Players would get a combined score . This would allow two things . It would get more play time in a very popular game, and it will reduce the chance of a winner not advancing . As I understand it, only the top 25 advance, leaving the chance that a table winner would not advance, which I feel is less than ideal, especially in a popular tourney like this . Wilderness War . Lost in the first round to Dennis Culhanne ( sp? ) as even though I held a large VP lead throughout the game, I had almost no Indians as the French . 2 full die rolls of Indians yielded only 3 units, and Desertion and Small Pox had taken care of most of the others . He took Niagara for an auto victory on the last card play . At least I lost ot someone who made the top 6 . I played another game against Bari Herman in Open Gaming and won as the Brits. Medieval . Shared playing a power with Allan Rothberg when he got Summoned by the Eva and another game later on where I was Venice and the Latin Kingdoms . The first game was painfully slow as people tried to assimilate simple but unusual mechanics, the second one was done in under 3 hours. Once people get the hang of it, assuming they are paying attention ( a recurring problem in many multis ) 2 hours is not unreasonable . I hope this makes the Century ; it seemed to get a lot of play this year and would probably be a good draw. Our second game featured the Mongols waiting until the last 6 cards whereas 3 of them were Mongols . This game was probably the hit of the convention. RoboRally . 2 heats, with the second one being won by last years champ Bradley Johnson . The congested board ( 7 players per board on average ) and lack of option card opportunities meant that the one who got in front of the pack first usually won . I couldn't even tag the first flag in either game . The game was played with 2 minute timers , a vast improvement over last year which allowed slow players to drag the game down . Ardennes 44. Played a pick up game, the 6 turn tournament scenario, with Tony Curtis in the Open Gaming area ( as an aside, I NEVER had a problem finding Open Gaming space to play the whole con ) . He crushed my American defense with some tactics I had not seen before . Another target for next year :) RA! . Played one game pretty pathetically and came in last . I am not great at this game but still like it. Successors . Played and won my table in the last prelim heat . I drew Perdiccas and Peithon, then sat back while the other 3 players beat each other up . Meanwhile I massed 3 huge forces ( I had a minor general with 5 Merc, 1 Mac and an elephant I was so flush ) . I had 2 royal family members including Alex IV ; at the beginning of turn 5 I was able to declare him and win the game. When I found out the final was Sunday AM , I told Doug I was going to bow out, as between my conflict with Galaxy and the 6 hour length of the game and a 9 hour drive, I could not commit . Kudos go to Doug Cooley for changing the format from Swiss to SE, as attendance went from 16-17 over the last 4 years to nearly double that . If the final isn't on Sunday morning , I'll be back next year . Food vouchers . No big deal . Had no problem using them ; ate in the Paddock most of the time with one stop at Café Jay due to a 15 minute gap between events Friday night. The service in the Paddock was pretty wretched sometimes though . Its like the waitstaff knew that with the vouchers they would get the same tip no matter what they did . Don was right, the crab pretzel is highly reccommended. Saw a lot of neat games being demoed . Shifting Sands looks like a must buy . And I got a peek at Mark Hermans Pacific WeepyPoG game, using hexes . Another must buy. Commissar Katrina . 'nuff said. Once again, another great con . Hats off to Don and the Board for a job well done ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kris Weinschenker - 02:56pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8449 of 8748) At the Faar Arrived Wendsday about noon. After getting settled and eating I started off with a 5-player game of Air Baron. Hadn't played the game in quite some time. I took the Detroit hub, but was strapped for cash early in the game, the Detriot being drawn only when I was in Fare Wars. I took out a loan and seized the BWI hub in FW and had the lead for a short time, but quickly dropped to the middle of the pack. The game was pretty even, as it seemed when one person took the lead some negitive event would befall him. When the GM adjudicated the game, Fuel Hikes had just struck, and the guy who had lost just about every Fare Wars 'attack' ended up winning, because he was the only guy left with cash. That night I played two rounds of Kremlin. The first game started out badly as I took control of the KGB cheif and was promptly denounced for not starting enough investigations. I guess I wasn't paranoid enough. By the end of the game, all my candidates were either in the Kremlin Wall or in Siberia. The second game I tried to make an early power play as moved my 8 IP candidate who was taking the Cure to Party Cheif and played the card that let him come back for a phase to try to Wave. It backfired when someone else revealed 10 IP on him! However, that played failed nearly every Wave roll and the game ended up going 11 turns, and the guy who ended up winning said that was the time he EVER had a Party Chief. Next morning was B-17. While some can't understand why you'd play a solitaire game at a Con(having an interest in WW2 air combat helps), this is a 'can't miss' event for me. The comaradiere is unbelieveable, and the extra prizes and medals Dave Terry, Mike Lam, and John Jacoby(?) donate are icing on the cake. This year I flew with some members of the Greenville Mafia. First target: The U-boat yards in Wilhelmshaven ( Germany!). The Killer Angel was 'maintaining an even strain' over the North Sea until it had an engine was shot up. With one member of the formation already having to jettison its bomb load, I decided to drop out of formation and press on to the target. While the bomb run was off, the plane and 8(?) crew members survived the harrowing trip back to England. Next target, St. Nazzaire, aptly nicknamed Flak City. What was beginning to look like a milk run turned to tragedy, as I rolled the dreaded Burst in Plane on the Flak table, and had made tail blown off.. Three crewman managed to bail out of the uncontrolled plane and were taken prisoner. Having my tail shot off was a recurring theme, as I flew "Tail-end Charlie" on the final mission back to Wilhelmshaven. My tail gunner managed to shoot down 3 Nazis before being seriously wounded. With his oxygen out, his crewmates dragged him to a waist gun position ( the gunner didn't need it anymore). The bomb run was off-target, but the plane made a safe landing despite having the rudder and ailerons shot off. All told the crew claimed 10 Nazi fighters downed. I ended up being next to last in "points" for the tourney, which is actually a good thing, as I recieved a video and a copy of the B-17 flight manual. 5-player Nappy Thursday night: Played Russia. Can't remember ALL the details, but France had one or two chances to win the Peace roll and failed. I DO remember spending something like 13 CP to get rid of the stupid Persian War. A full Nappy got obliterated trying to take Vienna(?) (with some help from Kutuzov, IIRC). Prussia (with the Turks) came into the Imperial camp on Turn 3, IIRC. A combined Franco-Turk attack on Vienna also got repulsed by my Austrian Ally (who, ironically enough was my 'wingman' in B-17). Still, the situation was looking bleak. I was out of cards, and the Turks had captured Kiev. I still had my resource though, so I burnt it to draw a card...hmmm...House of Rothschild. I waited a round to play it and drew Tallyrand! I played the other card right away and waited another round to break the Prusssia-Turk alliance (much to the Prussians chagrin). Either Prussia or France failed the turn 3 peace roll, so it was on to Turn 4. With Britain now harrassing the depleted French, and Austria securing my southern flank, Kutuzov rolled through France, eventually flagging Paris and Orleans. When the French tried to retake Paris, Kutuzov intercepted and won the battle. France was conquered! Unfortunately, back in the homeland, Bennigsen was so busy planning a chain of family-oriented resturants that he failed to make 2 or 3 seige rolls on Grodno. That VP gave the Prussians (played by Forrest Speck, who eventually won the whole shotin' match) the victory. Friday morning, I was feeling a little fatigued (especially after the 4 AM fire drill), so I just watched some of the Monty's Gamble demo. Seems like it should be a pretty good sucessor to Breakout: Normandy. I was considering playing in the tourney, but not knowing the BKN system very well, I decided to play Atlantic Storm. Being placed at a table with grognards Dan Dolan and Keith Hunsinger I figured my chances were slim, especially when I took an early lead (something Justin Thompson was more than eager to point out). But luck smiled on me, as I drew the Bismark just before I selected the last Convoy. The Rodney was nowhere to be seen, and I won the heat. Luck was NOT smiling on me in this years Down in Flames tourney. Peter Perla shot down 7 of aircraft and damaged another in my first two dogfights, while I managed only one kill. I actually eeked out a 5 pt. win against my next opponent in our first dogfight, but he cleaned my clock in the second, flaming all 4 of my Wildcats without a loss. Next, I tried the aforementioned Vanished Planet. An innovative design for a multi-player game in that either everyone wins or everyone loses. Sort of like the Rastur in Merchant of Venus. I was having trouble keeping track of the "tech tree" (resources build personel, personsel + resources build technology, technology+personel+resources build equipment and upgrades) until I discovered the back of rulebook broke down everything in terms of resources (the things you get each turn) . Our group had drawn all three Creature Growth cards and it looked like the Creature was gonna win. We were building Mines (they slow the creature....there's NO stopping it) every turn just to stay alive. As I had the equipment that let me draw a new goal every turn, I had the other two players trade me whatever they could before being eaten in the hope I could draw a goal I could accomplish immediately. The gambit paid off, as I drew just what I was hoping for. The galaxy was saved. The convention price of $25 was bargain for a game(I got #65) with so many cards and a MOUNTED board. Also, wins the award for best "newgame smell". As mentioned though, the rulebook could use some editing. Go get a goal...go get a goal RIGHT AWAY...tag stuff along the way, but GET A GOAL. After a couple gin and tonics discussing politics and spiritually with Ted Racier and his cousin(?), I ran into to Allan Rothberg and we scared up a learning game of Medievil. More "meat" to it than your average Euro. About on par with Puerto Rico, only its a fightin' game, not a building game. And I didn't do enough fightin', especially after the Holy Romans took Hungary. Still, a pretty interesting game. Saturday, my roomie, Jim Winslow and I decided to actually play a FtF game for once and took Eutaw Springs out for a spin. With the Swamp Fox coming down from the left, I sent Lee's Legion and the Palmetto Horseman around the woods to the right hit the British flank, gaining momentum, which I used to capture the British arty. I steadily pushed toward the British encampments as Jim was nonplussed by my ability to always play the 'right' Tactics chit. It looked the British might turn the tide however, after capturing Hampton and the NC Militia, bringing the Brits morale back to within one box of 'High'. But at this point, hometown hero and namesake, Nathaniel Greene delievered a devestating assault on the British encampments(rolled a '9' with a +) capturing Stuart(?) and a regiment of Regulars. Kirkwood's assault to the north also suceded and Jim resigned. I had planned to give some of the Pope's new designs some playtesting at this point, but since I had made the Semi's of Atlantic Storm, I didn't really have time to try something new. So, Jim and I played a quick dogfight of DiF. In the Atlantic Storm semi, it looked like history would repeat itself, as I used the Belchen to grab the Tirpitz and selected the last Convoy. In addition to winning the last Convoy, I got a single two point and two one point cards as spoils. The only player who had supported me in the round had only one 5 point convoy, and was the only player to consistently give me spoils the whole game. So, feeling generous, I gave have 3 points in spoils. Little did I know that underneath his convoy lurked 20 points in spoils. He beat me by two points. When I later told Bruce Wigdor about this debacle he said, "You don't have to be nice on the last turn!". Ironically enough, I seem to recall somebody saying the exact same thing about ACS at last year's WBC. Even more ironic, it might have been ME! At this point I was thinking of playing Facts in Five and Slapshot to finish out the night when I wandered over to the 5 player Nappy final. Mark McLaughlin said "build it and they will come". Mark rolled the high roll for nation choice and promptly began humming Le Marsialles. I took Prussia. Mark moved to put the squeeze on Limeys. Britain took a page from my book and ended up burning 11 CP trying to track down the French fleet. I think he managed to sink one fleet. I was dealt a pretty good hand and had plans to bring the Turks in as an ally, but the trecherous French spent points to move them toward their camp. My pleas to the Coalition to move them back to neutral fell on deaf ears, as they moved the Danes to neutral instead, and the Turks became a French Ally. I moved the Danes up to Prussian Partner and continued building, and Britain took control of the Swedes . During the Interphase, both Russia (with the British promise of Parliment) and Britian burnt cards to assure France would not win. When I pointed out that the Coalition hadn't supported my diplomatic efforts in Turkey and that I was leaning toward the French camp, Britian unleashed a propoganda campaign to try to persuade me to join the Coalition. Pointing out he had nothing to offer me and suspecting the Coalition was trying to play me for a dupe, I joined the French Imperialists. Had it been a tourament game, I probably would have waited another turn, but I was raring for some action. The Russians moved Kutuzov back to my border and Nappy deployed to face him. With Russian player Nick Frydas gleefully carving up the Turks, Austria now was left pretty much on its own, and Nappy (with some help from the Prussians) took Vienna. However, France had suffered a drought and was out of cards. Things looked grim as Bagration marched on Vienna, especially after both a French and Prussian force failed to intercept, but battle became a Russian/Austrian 0-9 rout. Austria was conquered! France honored her agreement to cede the first duchy to Prussia, which meant that with her gains in Turkey, and the pinpricks inflicted by the Brits, Russia was the leader. Russia needed a '5' on the Peace roll to win, which is just what Nick rolled. The Franco-Prussian alliance had won the battle, but lost the war. The championship game finished up at just about that time, and Mark and treated us and all the champion players to drinks at the bar where we toasted 5-player winner Forrest Speck and, of course, Mark himself for designing the wonderful game. We closed down the bar with Mark regaling us with stories of his ancestors. What a way to end the gaming! Don't ask me how I managed to wake early enough not only to attend the Awards ceremony, but to eat breakfast before hand. If someone had warned me Marvin Birnbaum would be appearing in a toga, I'd have probably skipped it anyhow;o) I did manage to win a door prize (Time Control), so, now, armed with 2 new games and rain threatening, I fgured it was time to head home. Once again, thanks to all the people who helped make WBC possible. I'd like to say for sure I'll be back next year, but with the Con slipping another week into August, I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend next year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel A Tamburo - 04:15pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8455 of 8748) The Ultimate Joelist. Even bigger fan of the WBC. Come play Medieval there in 2004! 2003 WBC Circus Minimus Event Report The 2003 Circus Minimus event had an attendance drop again this year, going from 21 to 14. As such it is unlikely to remain in the Century for 2004, and will have to continue as a Trial event to try to work its way back into the Century. Despite the lower attendance, a good time was had by all. Heat One featured one four player game. This race was very non-violent, and no charioteers died, which is amazing in Circus Minimus where it is commonplace for only one charioteer to survive the race. The race was won by Don Tatum, who ultimately went on to win the event. Heat Two featured two four player games. However, as this time your humble GM was playing things were more violent. As one might expect, the GM was the first player killed in one second round game. This was an interesting race, featuring Paul Bolduc's strategy (which he tried last year) of circling the track at an easy pace and letting the other players kill each other. Unfortunately for Paul, Jed Shambeda (this year's Doctor Death) killed his charioteer in the last corner of the race, and Jed then raced to victory. In the other race, John Keating prevailed in a hard fought race over a tightly packed field. Heat Three also had two four player games. Just like in the previous heat, the GM was killed almost right out of the gate, this time by Steve Shambeda (Jon's father). Steve went on to win the race and earn a spot in the Final. The Final featured five players, and was a race marked by unusual happenings and rules questions. Of the five chariots everyone stayed ok until the last two corners, each of which claimed a chariot. Don Tatum won the final in dramatic fashion. First, Steve Shambeda leaped into his chariot from the median (as Steve's chariot had crashed). Then Don raced across the finish line with Steve in it. As the owner of the chariot, Don took first place. Steve took second as the interloper. John Keating initially had a high enough speed roll to win, but Don used his reroll power to make John reroll. The resulting reroll left John just short, so he took third. James Kendrick came in fourth, and Jed Shambeda took fifth. I want to thank Steve Shambeda for his excellent work as Assistant GM, and for his sportsmanlike attitude in play. Finally, at this time I am not planning to return as the GM, so any interested party should contact me about a transfer of power. However, I will be working with Steve Shambeda and with the publisher to get the rules questions ironed out, as well as to make additional play aids for this game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keith A. Hunsinger - 06:13pm Aug 5, 2003 PST (#8458 of 8748) Justice is getting what you deserve, Mercy is not getting what you deserve, Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Let me pitch in with an AAR. First, let me thank the members of the BPA for entrusting me with a position on the board. I am honored and will try to do my best for the hobby. After attending four early morning meetings I have a renewed respect for the quality and dedication of the existing members of the board. I hope to measure up. Next, I want to thank the Guttermuths for inviting me to officiate at their wedding. It was a great pleasure and a wonderful reception. Came in last at the Win, Place, and Show event which proved to be a harbinger of my luck at the con. Certainly ate well though! It also proved to be a great excuse for touring Antietam and Gettysburg and having some open gaming with Bud Sauer, Jeff Mullett, John Coussis, Bruce Reiff, Andy Lewis, and Bruce Monnin. Even won a game of Air Baron in only my second attempt by winning ten straight die rolls. Then to the gaming. I have the pleasure of playing in events with great GM's. Tim Hitching and Bill Rohrbaugh do a super job at WSM, Dave Terry richly deserves his two GM of the year awards in B17, and John Coussis manages four heats and 150+ entrants with gracious aplomb. I took a second in B17, did very well in the WSM Fleet action and had a good time at three heats of Atlantic Storm (read that as I did not win a heat, didn't even come in second!) Pro Golf, Slapshot, and Attack Sub rounded out the week. All were well run and a whole lot of fun! Speaking of Slapshot, it was a great joy to return to the "reading of the the rules". Last year, just before the con, my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer and we were looking at surgery. The Slapshot crowd took time from their festivities for a long moment of silence in 2002 while a friend held up his cell phone for me to hear. This year it was a rousing round of applause as I informed them of her recovery and good health. (Incidental to the reading this year was the replacement of having to buy breakfast for Don Greenwood as the ultimate penalty for breaking the no whining rule with Arthur Field. I have met very few people as intense as Arthur but he is one heck of a good sport and an equally good gamer.) Thanks again to all for a great time. See you all in 2004! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Palermo - 12:37pm Aug 6, 2003 PST (#8495 of 8748) It must be in the water My observations from this year. 1) I didn't see any problems with drinking...Granted, I didn't see everything, and, in truth, since I've probably consumed about the equivalent of 1.5 glasses of wine in my whole LIFE, a ban doesn't really affect me either way. But, during our open gaming, one of our group, evidently, REALLY likes his beer...but, he was perfectly fine, as far as I saw...if others abused the lifting of the ban, I think it's a little skewed to say those who drank, and were able to handle it were the cause of the problem. After all, those who can legally drink are all adults (or should be), I think blaming others for your inability to control yourself is VERY sophomoric... 2) The Werewolf people didn't really bother me either - although, the one time I saw them was in the Maryland room, either Friday or Saturday nite...and, there were a number of the Greenville guys with them, so, at least on THAT front, there WAS some adult 'supervision' present... 3) The fire alarm -- it first went off around 3am, while I was open gaming in the Maryland room. Since the same thing happened last year, I ignored it...for 30 minutes...then, we decided to pay some heed to it, and went outside. We went BACK in around 3:45, and got to our rooms (which, I think were in another zip code, actually), and, then it went off again, this time, in the hallways (apparently the first one only affected the areas where people WEREN'T sleeping...) So, back out we went again. Yeah, I was a little disturbed that a fire alarm, for a LEGITIMATE fire, didn't actually ring in the areas where people slept... 4) Vouchers - the only real fears I had were a) could we supplement with cash (and that was fine); and b) would there be lines out the door to use them (and there weren't). Do I think the food service could be better? Yeah, but I say that every year. I like the Lounge, and I blew $80 at the Cinammon Tree, so the vouchers weren't that much of a hassle; but the two times I ate at Cafe Jay were a little disappointing. On one occasion, I got there at 12:25, and wanted the lunch 'special' - which comes with a cookie, chips and soda; except, no one had remembered to BRING the chips down, so we had to wait while they got them. The second time, there was a LINE of us waiting for chicken sandwiches, cheeseburgers and fries. They HAD fries, but only one cheeseburger and no chicken. The person in front of me ordered three burgers and fries, and the server said, "well, let me get you one now" - but, since he had JUST put in the order to the kitchen that they were out, obviously, the customer was concerned that it would take some time before the burgers arrived (and he was bringing them back for his friends). Still, the server insisted on giving him one sandwich, and having him wait for the other two (in the end, he didn't take it, and did get three fresh burgers, although, by the time the burgers came out, they were out of fries...) Still, I think this mis-management would have happened regardless of the vouchers...(at least, I'd like to think it had nothing to do with the vouchers). 5) Arthur's fliers - when I first saw them, yeah, I laughed hard (but, then again, I do read this forum). I think, anyone who reads the ENTIRE flyer, and still thinks that it's inspired by a hate group, needs to have a little more interaction with human beings; but, I can certainly understand Arthur's frustration by having to defend himself against such misconceptions. Then again, when you're successful, it's only natural that some people will take as much pride in toppling the giant, as they will in actually winning the game. This year, I played March Madness, and drew Reiff in my first game. After beating him, I didn't really care how I did the rest of the heat ;) But, after the second day, I put out my fliers, and that seemed to take the attention away from Arthur's :) Some observations (not complaints, maybe just 'wishes') 1) I wish there was a better way to handle demos. For example, I'd never played Junta before, and desperately wanted to. I had to attend the demo, which came in the middle of something else I wanted to play. While I understand that WBC is all about making tough choices, in some cases, if the demo occurs in the middle of a 6 hour game, and there's nothing else you want to play around it, you're basically left with 'eating' the 5 hours, so you can hit the demo. I don't know what the solution would be - separate certain TIMES for demos, before the actual convention hours? I don't really have any suggestions; but I do know that anything proposed, I'd almost certainly be in favor of! (again, not a complaint; but a 'wish') ;) 2) This is a slight bit more concerning, and somewhat in line with Arthur's sentiments before. With new people coming each year, and with companies like AH not producing games that were the standard for this convention for some time, are any steps being taken to ensure this convention does not become Rio Grande Con? Although, like Arthur, I enjoy the Euros, and I don't think I've EVER played a 2-player wargame at the convention, I'd like to know that if the mood hit me, I could; and certainly I'd like to know that, for those people who enjoy those games, those games will still exist. I don't know if any consideration is provided when devising the Century list to ensure some 'homage' is paid to the company that inspired this convention in its first incarnation. I don't know if that consideration even IS appropriate. I do know that I would be saddened if, 5 years from now, this convention was all Euros...I think the draw has been (and should continue to be) ALL boardgames are included. Should the Century, instead, be compiled by selecting (for arguments sake) the top 20 2-player wargames, top 30-Euros, etc...and the top 20 'at-large' games? (no need for sports games, because I have a different idea for that, and I'm probably the biggest sports game afficionado I know)... Again, just fodder for discussion, and I KNOW I'm doing a disservice by not raving about the con, because, the truth is, it's one week out of the year where I don't have to think about anything else going on in my life, and it's hard to put a quantitative value on that. Again, thanks Don, the board and the GMs for putting together a wonderful convention! Chris Palermo ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Levine - 01:33pm Aug 6, 2003 PST (#8502 of 8748) OK...here's my AAR finally... Friday - Saw Iron Maiden in NJ and partied with them until about 1:30am...finally getting into Hunt Vally at 4:00am. Saturday - Played my first heat of Diplomacy and was knocked out rather early in the game. It was very enjoyable...and lead to better outings the next 2 days. Afterwards I got in 4 games of Battleline which I won...and a game of Grand Slam Baseball which I also won. I basically played some light fillers to cap off the evening. Then I ate my first meal at Paddock Bar (a good way to use vouchers...and the pretzel was kind of interesting). Sunday - Second heat of Diplomacy and this one was AMAZING. Played literally from 10:00am until 1:00am the next day...I did not get a break at all and didn't mind starving. It was nice to be able to play a game to completion. Although I didn't win...I had a huge influence on the game and lasted to the end. Afterwards I ran into David Dockter and we got in a game of Puerto Rico where I tied for first with Nick Anner...hmmm....I guess I am as good as the champ (and I even "won" the game on a die roll...yo eleven!). Monday - More Diplomacy and then they gave out the prizes for the Dip tourney. It was a little sad that only about 30 people showed up. I want to let Jim Yerkey know that I had a great time in all 3 games (a little bit less in the 3rd "timed" one). I for one appreciated the move to pre-con for Dip as I normally don't get a chance to play it at WBC proper. This made those 3 days wonderful for me. Even though it looks like Dip is moving back to it's normal times...I really enjoyed it this year. Then it was more food at Paddock. Then I played Santa Fe rails where Stuart Tucker won. Then 2 games of Ra! with David D. and Pete Reese (my teammate)...all I have to say for those games is...Vegas Baby! I actually hate Ra!...but David (while a bit tipsy) made it a really fun game. Then I got them to try Liar's Dice...and I officially converted David to the Euro/Light crowd...lol. Tuesday - Started out by going to the Japanese steakhouse with Nick Anner and we then went to see Tomb Raider. Unfortunately the theater didn't work...so we got free tickets to go back another time. Then it was back to HVI and I registered and then ran into Andy Lewis. I spent the next hour or two helping him put together games of A World At War up in Tony's room. It is pretty interesting to see what goes into getting a game put together. Then it was the annual lunch at Outback and our waitress rocked (sorry Mullet...yours was 2nd best!). Then finally it was time for WBC proper... I first played in El Grande where I came in 3rd by 5 points behind 2 people who tied for 1st...it was a good game...I could have won...but a bad card draw came out at the end to prevent my victory. Next I blew off the rest of the night to go see Iron Maiden again in Columbia. I met Kevin Youells at the show and then I went backstage again and didn't get back to HVI until about 2:00am...when Werewolf was still going on. I hit the sack though...needed rest to start the convention off right. Wednesday - Started out with a game of Clash Of Giants against Pete Reese...he kicked my butt and showed me why it isn't good to get your supply lines cut. I learned a lot in that game and hopefully will come back stronger next year. Next it was off to Paydirt where my Jacksonville Jaguars started off 2-0 before we called it a night. Then I played Football Strategy and after having a close game through 3 quarters (20-16)...I ended up losing 43-16! Lastly I went to play a great game of Britannia...this game was very close (except for Blue) and we all have scores in the low 100's which were separated by 7 points...I came in 2nd place in the game. Oh...and I can't forget...I ran over to Greed and crapped out on 3 (count them 3) dice rolls. I should have stopped at 50 points...lol. Finally I capped the night with a few games of Werewolf. Thursday - Started off the morning GMing the Liar's Dice Junior tourney. I really had a good time with this and it was nice to see such happy kids. I gave them each a copy of Liar's Dice just for showing up...and they were so enthusiastic about the game. During this time...I also got my first round heat of War At Sea in against Bruce Reiff (thankfully he was nice enough to play me in a room full of kids...lol). He kicked my butt (I blame it on having to concentrate on watching the kids...lol). Then it was off the the Valley room and 4 more rounds of War At Sea. After my loss to Bruce I went 3-0 to bring my record to 3-1...where I had to face Ray Freeman for a chance at the semifinals. I unfortunately lost this one big time (and it was totally due to the dice...so it was never even a contest). So I finished at 3-2...and was then glad to see that Ray went on to win the whole tournament. After a quick bite at Cafe Jay I went over to play a game of Vinci. I ended up winning this game and advancing to the finals. Then it was Pro Golf. Unlike last year where I made the final 4...this year I was +6 for the tourney...terrible...but it was nice to finally see Ken Gutermuth win the big one...after 9 years in the finals. Then somehow I played more Werewolf even at 2:30am...and we all know what happened around 3:00am...FIRE ALARM...I didn't get to bed until about 5:30am! Friday - I started off with a quick game of March Madness where I couldn't roll better than a 2 to save my life. Terry Coleman ended up beating me in the first round. Next year I will know not to take a AA bench (since I was sleepy and didn't hear the new rule for the Offensive Specialist card). Then I played in the El Grande semifinals. Being the 2001 champ and 2002 first loser made for a rough game as everyone at the table had it out for me :) I ended up coming in 5th place...but it was only 8 points behind the winner...even though I was about 30 points behind everyone after the 2nd scoring round. It was almost an amazing comeback...but I came up just short. Then I got to play my favorite game...Robo Rally. It was a lot of fun and I came in 3rd place at my table. Then Puerto Rico where I came in 2nd to John Emery...it was a great game and I made 1 bad move that probably cost me a few points...but John played incredibly well. Next it was Carcassone and I got beat by two 13 year old girls...lol. I had a fun time and came in 3rd place in the game. After Carcassone it was off to Battleline (which was my team game). I stopped for food at Cafe Jay before that and was able to get in a quick game of Capt Clever before heading to Battleline. There I ended up going 2-1 in my foursome...and I lost out on making the elimination round due to tiebreakers. Next year I am going to get my 3 wins to make the final rounds! Next was a game of Princes Of Florence where I came in 2nd place...it was different playing with open holding (money) which hurt me when it came to the last bid...because someone bid me up on the piece I needed...causing me to fail in the game. That was the only problem I had...the last round of bidding with open money hurts people ahead who need a certain item. Then finally it was time for LIAR'S DICE. I did not expect to have anywhere near 140 people. I know I pumped up the game here online...but it was nice to see that many people show up for the game. We started off with everyone shaking their cups at once and slamming them to the table with a 3 count. I think the final Naval War and History Of The World tables got a little annoyed with the noise levels...lol...but a lot of people came up to me afterwards and told me what a great time they had with Liar's Dice. I wanted to let everyone know I really appreciate that...and I look forward to running it again next year! Josh Githens (who also won Greed) was the biggest liar of the night. Of course then it was off to play some more Werewolf before hitting the sack. Saturday - Started off the morning with the Vinci final...where I was hacked to pieces and ended up in the kingmaker role. I of course stopped the person who chopped me up earlier. It was a fun final and I should have know that it would be hard to win when you are a former champ...lol. Then I got to play some Win, Place and Show. First I won my heat against Ken Gutermuth and made it to the finals. Can I just say that Ken's board for the finals was the nicest thing I have ever seen...it blows away both the Circus Maximus and the GMT large demo boards...seriously. Just playing on that board made the game very enjoyable. I ended up in 7th place...but if Captain Ahab would have crossed the line first instead of fourth...then I would have won the game...those damn longshots! Then I played Dennis Nicholson in a game of Paydirt where my Jacksonville Jaguars advanced to the AFC Championship game. After that was another stop for fodd at Cafe Jay and then off to Facts In Five. This was a very enjoyable game and I would have broken 500 points if they let me count Brigadier for Brigadier General (hey...I knew it was supposed to have General added...but was busy writing other things and thought it would be acceptable). Scored 482 though...and will definitely play again next year. Then it was the annual tradition of Slapshot. I inaugurated David Dockter into the game and finished my job of converting him into a Eurogamer...lol. After that I finished Paydirt with one of the most exciting games ever. I had Harry Flawd beat...and all he could do was throw short passes at the end of the game. Literally with no time left...I roll a 3 for pass defense (the only bad number for me) and then he throws a 37 yard pass...which turned into a 35 yard hail mary touchdown. It was such a heartbreaking loss...but I will be back for revenge next year! Then it was lots of Werewolf and other late night things. I pulled an all-nighter and was tired when it came to... Sunday - After-Action Meeting where I helped dress Marvin in his Toga outfit (Hail Caesar). It was nice to have a few extra copies of Liar's Dice to donate to the raffle. Then I played (I guess you can call it that) a game of Attila where I taught the rules and then literally slept through the game except during my turns...lol. I sitll managed to get 2nd place in the game. Then I took a nap (lol) before going to watch nick Anner win the Puerto Rico final. Then we went out for food...and I was off back to NY after a great week+ of gaming. I have to say this was another great year...unfortunately I was not able to stop at the dealers room for significant time...but I think I am going to order Battlelines through the Lost Batallions website when I get a chance...I also heard Vanished Planet was good. I look forward to seeing everyone again next year...if not sooner...to get in more gaming and fun times ----------------------------------------------------------------------- David Dockter - 02:06pm Aug 6, 2003 PST (#8505 of 8748) Wargaming and WBC. RC will keep me honest, here is what I found: 5 "wargames" fell out from 2002. Drive on Paris (NR), EIA (NR - a favorite of mine, but no-one ever figured out a decent, short 7 player scenario), 5th fleet (drew between 8 and 11 for years), Pacific Victory (11), Ukraine 43 (NR) - from what I can tell. NR=no report filed - that's not cool, probably indicates a GM & advocate group for a game on the decline. If that is the case, I hate to say this, but why save the title? 4 new BIG "Wargames" were voted in: TNW2 (drew 26), TNW5 (drew 69), BtB (drew 34 and a bundle of arse hours), Hammer of the Scotts (I'll bet that drew well). These 4 will be in the Century 100 for quite awhile - ASSUMING a decent GM keeps committed. 5 other new wargames were played at WBC 2003 as "trials": Brute Force, Empires in the Ancient World, Liberty, MGM and SOS. Which of these 5 become century events, remains to be seen. 3 survivor wargames were voted back on the islang in 2003: Battleline, 1776 and Down in Flames. 1776 isn't going anywhere, I hope - we're already working on the poster campaign for this year's Century vote. Attendance for the card driven wargames (com'n eurogamers, try one, you will like them, promise) grew from about 230 to 340 - that's a big increase. WAM, TNW and possible a block wargame con is in the offing. As a HUGE wargame advocate, I feel, for the first time - these last two years, that wargames are making a big comeback - fueled by GMT, ACTS, some great designers, dedicated GMs, Consim, BPA, a lot of new faces and the communities that have sprung up around the games (like PoG - a great bunch of fun/competitive guys). As much as I beat up on the eurogamers, I can't see the bums taking over WBC. I'm hoping we wargamers can kidnap a few eurogamers and introduce them to wargames. I told my new friend Arthur F he needs to try a two player wargame (therapy). I think that 2 player wargames are around a 1/3 of the WBC titles, and I'm guessing/hoping that will remain about the same for the next few years. I'll be real interested to see the attendance figures this year, to see if we made any progress. My bottom line is that I don't think we have to worry too much that wargames will decline in importance/impact at WBC - as long as no radical change in Board of Director direction, GMs and participants. MJ - patch still not on and my beautiful wife is home tomorrow and she is going to kick the &$&%&* out of me (she quit 3 weeks ago). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Guttag - 08:33am Aug 7, 2003 PST (#8527 of 8748) Fairfax, VA As a HUGE wargame advocate, I feel, for the first time - these last two years, that wargames are making a big comeback - fueled by GMT, ACTS, some great designers, dedicated GMs, Consim, BPA, a lot of new faces and the communities that have sprung up around the games (like PoG - a great bunch of fun/competitive guys). As much as I beat up on the eurogamers, I can't see the bums taking over WBC. As someone who straddles the wargaming and Eurogaming worlds, I think we are getting pretty close to some kind of equilibrium with respect to the game mix at WBC. I also think the first two years of the WBC may have had an unfortunate effect in making wargamers fear that the Eurogames might take over the WBC as lots of Eurogames were added each year and wargames were dropped. However, in fact the voting in 1998 (for WBC 1999) and in 1999 (for WBC 2000) were very unusual years with respect to Eurogames. In 1998, there was a whole backlog of Eurogames published in prior years that were eligible for inclusion in Avaloncon/WBC for the first time and in 1999, an unusual large number of stand-out Eurogames were released: Ra, Union Pacific, Vinci, Tikal and Lost Cities. Since 1999, there has only been one or two obvious (to me at least) Eurogames that were likely to make the WBC each year. And, so far, I don't see many Eurogames being voted in in 2003. Since Puerto Rico was published in the Winter/Spring of 2002, I'm not aware of any Eurogame that has stood out from the crowd of Eurogames at the level that Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, Ra, Settlers, Medici or even El Grande or Euphrat & Tigris have in the past. Mark Richard Irving - 10:25am Aug 17, 2003 PST (#8747 of 9064) 2003 Merchant of Venus Tournament, Final GM Report 2003’s Merchant of Venus Tournament used the same format as in previous years: Three preliminary heats with every player who wins at least one game qualifying for the SE semifinals on Saturday morning. There were a total of 64 different players who play 24 games in the preliminaries. The one who had to use a space ship get to there was Ahmet Ilpars all the way from Istanbul, Turkey. This year I asked the players to record which players collected and bartered IOU’s. In the 23 games where this was completed, I found winning players collected on average 4.04 IOU’s, 2nd place players 3.09, 3rd Place players 3.13, 4th place players 2.96. So collecting IOU’s is helpful, but not necessarily a guaranteed ticket to victory: - In all 23 games, a player with most (or tied for the most) finished first 13 times, second 4 times, third 7 times and fourth 6 times. - In games where one player collected more than anyone else, the top collector won 9 of 16 games. The top collector finished last in two of these games (including the Final) - On the other hand, the winner collected the fewest IOU’s (including ties) 5 times and still won. Twice, the winner collected only 2 IOU’s. In the first heat, 34 players played a total of 9 games. A couple were nail biters: - In Game 3, Thomas Browne needed to a roll a 2 on any of the 4 dice to navigate the Cloud to win, but failed. Doug Galullo delivered 2 Melf Pelts and would finish $4 dollars short after delivering both—but he drew a demand for Pelts after his first sale to get the win. Laurel Stokes was also one sale away from winning. - In Game 5, David Long finished a few pips short—too bad he wasted 20 pips when he rolled 5556 and was stuck against an unfriendly navigation circle. Alan Ernstein snuck in for the win. The next player, yours truly, would have won on the next turn. The second heat featured 36 players and another 9 games.: - In Game 1, Joe Abrams finishes $17 short. Roy Pettis, on the next turn, visited Joe’s port to win the game, which would have given Joe the necessary money. - In Game 4, Bill Navolis need to roll 14 or more to win, unfortunately he still had his Scout ship, which only rolls 3 dice. The long shot did not come in and Chuck Foster won his second game. - In Game 8, Ed Wrobel wins the “Wrong Way” Corrigan award for having a defective Jump Start sending everywhere but where he wanted to go. Andrew Cummins raced away for the win. The third heat featured, 24 in 6 games, unfortunately, there was no commentary by the players for any of the these games. (If you want to get mentioned in the final report, write some comments.) There were 22 different winners in the Heat, but 18 showed up on bright an early on Saturday for the semifinals. That meant 5 four player games with 2 alternates being advanced. Games were to $3000, instead of $2000 in the heats. I was in another close loss as I finished 1 pip short! (Aaaarrrrrrrrgggghhh!) and Ed Wrobel sneaked in for the victory. The other semifinal winners were Luke Koleszar, Chuck Foster, Steve Dickson, and Tom DeMarco. Unfortunately, Tom had to leave to GM a final in his own event, leaving only 4 players in the final. In the final, Luke Koleszar just ran away with the game, which otherwise was pretty close. Steve Dickson was second at $2400. Ed Wrobel 3rd a4 $2353. And Chuck Foster finished 4th with $2256. As always I hoped everyone followed Rule #1 of this tournament—Have Fun! Complete Order of Finish: 1) Luke Koleszar 2) Steve Dickson 3) Ed Wrobel 4) Chuck Foster 5) Tom DeMarco 6th-20th determined by score of the their semifinal game: 6) Eric Wrobel 7) Jeff Bakalchuck 8) Richard Irving 9) Bill Crenshaw 10) Eyal Mozes 11) Richard Meyer 12) Lance Ribeiro 13) Joe Delaney 14) Joe Abrams 15) Harald Henning 16) Gary Dickson 17) Roy Pettis 18) Alan Ernstein 19) David Matheny 20) Tom Stokes 21st – 24th won their heat, but failed to arrive for the semifinals. Determined by best score in heats. 21) Ewan McNay 22) Andrew Cummins 23) Doug Galullo 24) Gary Presser 25th – 64th determined by best score in heats 25) Bill Navolis 26) Laurel Stokes 27) Lee Presser 28) Debbie Guttermuth 29) Dave Long 30) Wendy DeMarco 31) Howard Dawson 32) Abigail Cocke 33) Thomas Browne 34) Ahmet Ilpars 35) John Kerr 36) Vassili Kyrkos 37) Vince Collura 38) Su Hung 39) Paul Gaberson 40) David Fritsch 41) Sean McCullogh 42) Peter Staab 43) Frank McNally 44) Bob Heinzmann 45) Duane Wagner 46) David Weinstein 47) Mark McCandless 48) Bill Duke 49) Malinda Barnes 50) Marena Tiano 51) Roderick Lee 52) Paul Bolduc 53) Daniel Hoffman 54) Jim Fry 55) Ted Simmons 56) Lee A. Kendter Jr. 57) Tom Vickery 58) Reiko Brooks 59) Ken Guttermuth 60) Matthew Beach 61) Inger Henning 62) Derek Landel 63) Peter Putnam 64) Richard Jones Arthur Field - 07:32pm Aug 17, 2003 PST (#8749 of 9064) Tikal report TIKAL REPORT 53 gamers slashed their way through the jungles of Tikal over 3 heats lasting 2.5 hours each. More players were experienced at the game than in prior years. There were 19 games producing 16 individual winners. A large, authentic Tikal monument was displayed by the GM at all heats for inspiration. Players were ranked based upon the previously used equalizing formula of final score divided by cumulative board score. Arthur Field, John Kerr, Mario Lanza, Allyson Field, Mark Smith, Mike Hazel, Barbara Flaxington, Davyd Field, Eric Freeman, Paul Murphy, Chris Terrell, Ross Jones, Frank Singaglio, Stu Hendrickson, Jason Tighe, and David Wenstrup qualified. There were six second place finishers listed as alternates. Unfortunately, only 13 people turned out for the semi-final due to the Saturday morning 9 AM start and all of the many conflicting games. Next year, the advanced rounds should be moved to an earlier day to avoid so many conflicts. 13 is the one really difficult number and the GM had trouble finding an equitable solution to the distribution, since Tikal is a 4 player game and the three player version is vastly different. A vote of all of the semi-finalists was taken and their decision was implemented. Sadly, Paul Murphy decided to leave the game after his table was assigned and his game was just about to begin. Your GM was extremely upset by this turn of events, since the other games had already begun and it was not possible to reshuffle the tables. Four people who had never made it to a final advanced as a result of some very bizarre semi-final games. At one point, in the middle of his turn Mark Smith simply left the game and did not return for over 25 minutes. The GM did not know what to do in such a case. No rule exists in Tikal to deal with that situation. Barbara Flaxington, David Wenstrup and Eric Freeman each won their table. As a result of the departure of Murphy, it became necessary to pick a fourth finalist. The GM was at a loss to determine who to advance to the finals. Four candidates emerged for a single spot. Each of the traditional scoring methods (high score, highest percentage, closest score, defending ranking player) favored a different one of the four eligible players. Your GM consulted with the powers that be, and agreed to drop out as one of the candidates. Frank Singaglio, in an act of pure selflessness, also offered to step down from consideration. As a result, he was nominated for best sportsman. John Kerr and Mario Lanza remained. The GM chose the player with the closest second place scorer, which turned out to be John Kerr when the identities were revealed. Mario retired gracefully. Flaxington won the final with a score of 112, just edging out Eric Freeman at 110. Newcomer David Wenstrup placed third with 105 and John Kerr was fourth at 94. Flaxington took advantage of the fight between Freeman and Westrup for possession of a large temple and managed to squeeze by both of them. As so often happens in Tikal, the player who avoids the pitched battle wins. As a prize for the winner, the GM presented Barbara with a hand-carved statue Field purchased at the real Tikal and brought back for the 2003 WBC. The GM believes the controversy at the semi-final, which culminated in various displays of poor sportsmanship marred an otherwise excellent event, but definitely skewed many of the results. "Official Decree" from Tikal GM (or how can Arthur make himself even less liked), assuming I have any authority to do this, about which I am not clear, but here goes: Suspensions: 1) Paul Murphy 1 year for poor sportsmanship and leaving semi-final game. Had the first player moved, rather than just the turn order been drawn and tiles exposed, the suspension would be for much longer than 1 year. 2) Mark Smith for 2 years. For incredibly poor sportsmanship throughout, for leaving the table during his turn for over 25 minutes and not returning despite 6 attempts to call his name and locate him, for no explanation on return (and later discovery he was merely standing in the lobby chatting) (he actually began his turn and then left in the middle of it), for holding up the game over 45 minutes total, thereby delaying all the other players in the semi-finals waiting for the results of Mark's table, and for much rude behavior to other players during the semi-final. If I knew how to have ejected him from the game, I would have done so. I just didn't know what happens to the game and how it gets finished. Tikal does not have a "chaos" remedy, as does AOR. Having said that, I may decide to step down as GM. I am not sure it is worth the hassle of trying to play well and run a good tournament. I am not laid back enough to take the agita. (No, seriously.) I will only do it if the next GM will honor the above decisions. I did not make these lightly, but I think a GM has to be firm at times. I checked with other GMs and found the Smith behavior is not an isolated incident (i.e. not simply his response to me personally or those with whom he played). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur Field - 07:34pm Aug 17, 2003 PST (#8750 of 9064) Acquire Report Acquire was played over 3 rounds. Winners scored 7 points, 2nd place received 4 points, etc. 17 separate games were played during the preliminary heats. David Brooks amassed 18 points to lead the pack into the semi-finals. He was closely followed by Luke and Steve Koleszar. Interestingly, one would have expected roughly 4 games to be won by the player sitting in each of four seats, if there were no seat bias. Of the 17 games, 9 were won by the player going first. Only a single game was won by the player sitting in the second seat. Fourth seat won 4 and 3rd seat won 3. Fifteen players scoring a total of 6 or more points over the three games advanced to the semi-final. Any player winning a single game advanced. Three semi-final games of five players each were held. Davyd Field emerged as the winner at table 1. Nick Smith won at table 2 and Bruce Young won at table 3. Prior to the start of the semi-finals, the entire group agreed to advance the highest percentage scoring second place finisher from the three boards to make a four player final. Phil Bradley edged out David Gantt and Joe Belizzi for the coveted fourth spot in the finals. Once again, the seat order proved important in the semis. Both Davyd and Nick sat in the first seat in their respective games. Bruce played second in his game, but Steve Packwood had been unable to form a chain on the first turn, whereas Bruce did. Phil Bradley made the most of his wild card entry and won the finals, narrowly defeating Davyd Field, Bruce Young and Nick Smith. The scores were close and all four players did an excellent job of keeping the game competitive. No problems were encountered in the tournament and many players expressed satisfaction with the new board. Even some of the old board fans liked the ease of using the new board and the size of the tiles. The new board is recommended for future events. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthur Field - 07:35pm Aug 17, 2003 PST (#8751 of 9064) AUCTION REPORT Deja vu struck Auction this year. Two years ago, former champ George Sauer ran a demo and taught a Mulligan round to Arthur Field, who went on to win the wood. This year, 28 people turned out to play the Mulligan round. Among them were several newcomers, who had just learned the game from Field at the demo round. Included in the list of 7 immediate qualifiers was newcomer Lisa Gutermuth, who managed to win her Mulligan in an unprecedented 4 cards even with the enforced Rainbow Rule. Lisa had 2 Rare Miscellany and managed to buy the next two which appeared immediately. And to think her dad was worried about her sitting at a table with ringers! In the second round, 13 more people qualified to join the Mulligan winners. The semi-final saw a very interesting mix of players. Former champs Arthur Field, Ken Gutermuth, George Sauer and Bruce Reiff were joined by several newcomers including Davyd Field, Lisa Gutermuth, David Brooks and Paul Haynes. Due to some no-shows, there were 4 tables of 4 players each. David Brooks (another Field demo student) managed to beat both Ken and Arthur to win his table by capturing the rare jewelry set to the astonishment of the table. George Sauer and Bruce Reiff both won through to the finals. In a surprise move, Lisa Gutermuth beat some substantial competition to win her semi-final round. So the finals became a battle of the newcomers versus the old guard. The deja vu experience was complete as both newcomers beat the experienced players. David Brooks carried away the wood, closely followed by Lisa Gutermuth. Lisa had the distinct honor of becoming the youngest player to beat both Bruce and Arthur in the same game. Assistant GM’s postscript: Excellent sportsmanship was exhibited in every round by all players. Beth Bernard and Davyd Field tied for the 16th spot in the semi-finals. Each insisted upon deferring to the other. They finally flipped a coin and Beth won. The 15th player discovered a schedule conflict and had to leave, so Davyd advanced after a fine display of manners. The final was played at a later time by agreement of three players to accommodate the fourth. It was an excellent way to open the Con.