John Pack - Aug 2, 2008 11:31 am (#28197 Total: 28423) "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free." -- P.J. O'Rourke ZERO! I'm crossing the street to begin the War of the Ring Pre-con! See you all soon... Peter Card - Aug 3, 2008 12:19 am (#28200 Total: 28423) Feeling kind of blue I'm en-route - which obviously involves a weekend stop-over in Boston before taking the train to Lancaster via Philly on Monday. British Airways have now found my clothes and delivered them to the hotel, only a day after I got here. Todays sentiment is "Manny who?" Keith H Levy - Aug 3, 2008 6:02 am (#28202 Total: 28423) Have Fun, Learn, Share, Grow, Play TWO 2 We've already arrived. I brought a Lap Top this year, so I can check e-mail and consimworld on site. 28 or so at War of the Ring, which is more than last year. Lots of Gronards in the war room. Some open gaming going on in Paradise. Pre-reg numbers hit an all time high!! ( I can't tell you, you'll have to show up to the BPA Member meeting to find out) Looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Man in the purple hat. Keith John Pack - Aug 3, 2008 1:43 pm (#28207 Total: 28424) "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free." -- P.J. O'Rourke The War of the Ring final is being played right now... Victory in the Pacific is under way and going into round two. The Grognard con was heavily populated yesterday. Hannibal is kicking off... The question on everyone's lips is who will win the John R. Pack memorial award in Hannibal (in memory of my 2-4 record that saw my capitol sacked four times and another game where I had ZERO combat units on the entire board)... Eric Brosius - Aug 4, 2008 12:26 am (#28214 Total: 28424) Attendance Attendance is strong so far. As was mentioned, War of the Ring drew more people than last year, and Hannibal also drew more people (I think there were 38 Hannibal players in the first round.) The Through the Ages mulligan round this evening was packed, taking up half of the Marietta room (though the GM is currently adjudicating a number of games that couldn't be finished in a half hour.) Craig Yope - Aug 4, 2008 9:23 am (#28216 Total: 28424) WBC Axis & Allies GM- I make and sell die towers. See post #21001 in the WBC folder for some pictures of my towers. Or talk to me at WBC! Gaming Speed Bumps in the lead?!?!?!!!! Early intel from Lancaster has the Gaming Speed Bumps leading the team competition with Chris Trimmer's win in WOR. The first step in the downfall of the Nest of Spies has transpired. Now all that is needed is for my other two teammates to do well and carry my sorry butt to victory! Craig Ewan - Aug 6, 2008 4:40 pm (#28223 Total: 28424) It's been almost entirely a *great* event thus far. Successes in the auction, two fabulous fast games of Britannia, GMing my Juniors event this morning which seemed to go smoothly and happily, an about to head back down for more. I even got to play Win/Place/Show last night - which was also great, Bruce and Jason thoroughly schooling me in my first time at the game, until I get an urgent call. At 1 a.m. *Not* what one wants to have on the first night in Lancaster. Disaster (on the building of our new house) averted, though, so all is well . Bill D Watkins - Aug 10, 2008 2:55 pm (#28227 Total: 28424) Great, Great, Great, Yup, Yup Fantastic WBC. Best con yet. Lots of smiles all around. But couldn't you guys have helped me wrassle the credit cards away from my wife? As soon as the Lancaster outlet malls and family restaurants recover enough to send out bills, I'm going to have to sell the car. Vince Meconi - Aug 10, 2008 5:23 pm (#28228 Total: 28424) I Didn't Win a Championship But I Think I Deserve a Plaque There ought to be some kind of award for the guy who has the room that is THE absolute farthest from the lobby and Lampeter/Conestoga. This year it was me in Room 287. It's not just the last room at the end the hall, you have to go through another door at the end of the hall to get to it. Sort of like they give an award to the lowest NFL draft pick every year. Bert Schoose did tell me to look on the bright side and consider how much exercise I was getting. More seriously, it was a fabulous convention as always. Good friends and good gaming, and it's less than an hour from my home. As I say every year, can't wait till the next one. Flash GM reports for War At Sea and Gettysburg '88 later today (I hope). Bob Ryan - Aug 10, 2008 6:01 pm (#28229 Total: 28424) Many Planes Headed Yours! Yes, the guys playing the Grognard wargames all had a good time. It's nice to get to see everyone at least once a year. Daniel Broh-Kahn - Aug 10, 2008 7:16 pm (#28230 Total: 28424) GM of the otherwise uninteresting Tikal tournament Back from the Con Still the best damn con ever! (Even though there are elements of it I still do not like... but that's a personal issue... ) I played a delicate mix of a few CDG wargames, one Diplomacy game for the first time in 20 years, and enjoyed getting Schooled by many Euro Masters. Highlights were seeing 6 full games of The World at War, a game of World in Flames, Supremacy! Axis&Allies on steroids, and old friends. Only 360 days until the next one! Daniel Vince Meconi - Aug 10, 2008 8:08 pm (#28231 Total: 28424) Flash GM Report for War At Sea at the WBC Jonathan Lockwood of Reston, VA won the WBC War At Sea championship plaque on Thursday, adding the WBC crown to his previous BPA PBEM Championship in the same game. Jonathan blitzed the field with 8 straight wins, defeating former champ Mike Kaye (Pasadena, MD, 5-3), who was playing in the event for the first time since 2001. Jonathan got out in front early in the final and coasted to a 10-POC victory. The Drozd family of Vernon Hills, IL had their best showing ever, with son Charlie in 3rd (4-3) and dad Rob in 4th (4-3). Charlie had won Victory in the Pacific earlier in the week, so he came up short in his bid to be the first player to win both VITP and War At Sea in the same year. Other playoff competitors were Ewan McNay of Albany, NY in 5th at 5-1, Ed Menzel (Fullerton, CA) in 6th at 4-2, Scott Beall (Portland, Oregon) in 7th at 4-2, and the GM (Wilmington, DE) in 8th at 3-3. Rob and Charlie Drozd did not face off, but the Raszewskis, dad Steve and son Brad did, in a grudge match that may have had higher stakes than the final. Sorry Steve, your son has bragging rights for the next year! In the quarterfinals, Jonathan Lockwood was the only higher seed to prevail, besting the GM, while Rob Drozd knocked off Scott Beall, Charlie Drozd topped Ed Menzel, and Mike Kaye defeated Ewan McNay. In the semifinals, Jonathan Lockwood kayoed Rob Drozd and Mike Kaye bested Charlie Drozd. It might have been expected that the expansion of the playoffs to 8 would increase a player's chances of making the playoffs, but no player repeated from last year's elite 8. In fact, only one player so far, John Pack, has managed to make the playoffs 2 years in a row since we added quarterfinals. Jonathan Lockwood was so dominant that he added both Best Allied Player (5-0) and Best Axis Player (3-0) to his championship wood. Total entrants were 50, up 5 from last year, and 83 games were played. Play balance tilted toward the Allies again this year, with 49 Allied wins to just 31 by the Axis. There were 3 tie games. This was the case even though total bidding as well as bidding for the Allies rose. Only 15 contests had no bid, while the other 68 featured Allied bids, including 27 of 2 POC or more. My thanks to Assistant GMs John Pack, John Sharp (who provided the chess clocks), and Frank Cunliffe (who ran our demo). Rob 'Mr Seulowitz Sir' Seulowitz - Aug 10, 2008 9:24 pm (#28233 Total: 28424) BookmarkEmail to Friend Bitter, overly critical, and rarely clever, funny or constructive posts. WBC 2008 AAR in Powerpoint Presentation Bullet Points: # I owe Perry Cocke $20 # "Warriors of God" totally, utterly and completely rocks (not related to bullet point above) # The best restaurant in Lancaster County is "El Serrano" # Beware of Greeks bearing 81mm MTRs # The Amish Ale on tap at the Lancaster Host is excellent # JR Tracy knows a whole lot about games, history and probability theory and speaks pretty well off partial notes. Overheard at WBC Attractive Young Lady playing "Medici," considering a lot consisting of a pair of high value fur cards late in the third round: Yeah, but I haven't got any fur down there. None at all! Summary My T-Shirt for next year will say: "Does this game make my ass look kicked?" (Contact Andy Maly to order one now.) Rob 'Mr Seulowitz Sir' Seulowitz - Aug 10, 2008 9:40 pm (#28234 Total: 28424) Bitter, overly critical, and rarely clever, funny or constructive posts. WBC 2008 AAR for Samantha Seulowitz (aged 6) This was a big year for Sam as she made her debut appearance in the Junior's room and entered her very first ever Event: Elchfest JR! Special thanks to Dan "Manmountain" Dolan for giving her personalized instructions and to Rebecca Melton ("The Michelle Wie of Elchfest") for being a terrific opponent. Sam spent time practicing with the MegaMooses and later beat me two times out of three there. She also played "Settlers of Catan" with a pair of extremely nice 11-year-olds (Kelly and Cassie - sorry I forget to record the last names) and several other games. Thanks to the volunteers who run the Juniors Room which was a uniformly positive experience for both my kids (My son Joe is only 3 but enjoyed arranging the Blokus pieces with assistance from Jack Doughan). Speaking for Sam, she had a great time and is very excited about going back next year and playing more. And, from what I could see, the next generation of gamers are a pretty good bunch of kids. I look forward to my own spending more time with them. Herr Dr. - Aug 10, 2008 10:16 pm (#28235 Total: 28424) Working on a CDW of Spanish Civil War What a great con this year! Hats off to Don, Kaarin, the Board and the GMS. Truly outstanding. Was so good to see the WBC gang. Non stop fun all week. Many stories, including some Board members that intercepted my Andy Nelson's BBQ Revenge will be served cold. And the Nest dynasty appears over for this year - 16 points. We were slayed by "The Fin". Ewan - Aug 10, 2008 10:55 pm (#28236 Total: 28424) This was really a fabulous year. I don't know what exactly about the schedule was different, but it was *great* - I got to play several new [to me], excellent games (Battleline, Las Vegas Showdown) as well as being able to play in e.g. the semi-final of Merchant of Venus for the first year ever. Add in the usual stuff - Kremlin, Britannia, War at Sea - a couple of finds in the auction (Kremlin and MoV, plus some stuff for my 6 year-old) and a short stint GMing the juniors, and I really just grinned a lot. Very, very glad to hear that Sam S had a good time. I think that the kids in general are a great ad for WBC, and the amount of time and effort that has been put into the junior program is astounding. I hope to bring Aidan for his first year next year - many kudos to the folks involved in making this an event that my family will now actually consider joining me at. The level of friendship, civility, and responsiveness - and absolute absence of whining - in the juniors was fabulous. [Plus, the single highlight of my week: Jeff Mullett passing on ruefully that his delightful daughter Cassidy came back from TransAmerica Jr with the comment "Dad! That guy with the cute accent is so *cool*!"] What did I miss? Lost Cities - where I got to practice my rudimentary Japanese against Hiroki Tanaka! - and Air Baron, learning Bill Crenshaw's new game a little (looks very cool, fantasy combat). Several others in odd slots. Being interviewed by local TV as a 'typical gamer' or something! Not enough time to talk with friends, which is and was too bad. Maybe - heresy! - there should be an hour or two scheduled for such. Wiped out now, of course, but wouldn't have missed it. Thanks, all. Rob 'Mr Seulowitz Sir' Seulowitz - Aug 10, 2008 11:11 pm (#24156 Total: 24354) Bitter, overly critical, and rarely clever, funny or constructive posts. WBC AAR - Abbreviated Version Games played: AMR: Played one heat of Amun Re and came up with a surprise win. Good game with a balanced set of players, two of whom I've played against on-line at www.spielbyweb.com! ASL: I can safely say that I placed in dead last this year. With the brilliant and innovative system they’ve been using, even not quite knowing the exact Victory Conditions it was clear to me when my opponent revealed his 81mm MTR and immobilized 2 Pz IIF’s (half of my AFVs) and killed 1.5 Squads and a 9-1 Leader, I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere near achieving them. CCA: Played a scenario of C&C: Ancients with Britt Strickland - a scenario from C3i featuring Carthaginian Lights hiding in trees as a Roman army with 1 Leader had to exit a unit off the opposite side. Britt forgot to place one of his Roman Medium Cav units on the map (!!!) so it wasn't quite a fair fight, but it looked amazingly unbalanced to me. Still, the game is always fun and time spent in Britt's company is never wasted. CMS: Entered my one bi-annual heat of Circus Maximus and spent the whole game chasing a Light with my fast Heavy without landing a single hurt on him to finish and ignominious 2nd (at least I killed someone else, though). DOM: Learned to play a new game called Dominion that’s coming out in a few months. Very clever game with a unique twist (it’s all about building your deck, like a collectible card game in real time), but it involves a lot of card-shuffling. Production quality will be make-or-break for this title. IMP: Entered one heat of Imperial and finished a 2-point 2nd place. Would have qualified for the final but was involved in something else and missed the chance. KRM: Played a heat of Kremlin with a great table who really knew the game and played with humor and cunning. If you even slightly like this game, play it at WBC and you'll love it, win or lose. MED: My last nightcap of the Con was a game of Medici at 1:30 AM that featured my entry for the "Quote of the Con." NMC: Found my Nightmare Chess cards hours before leaving and got a pick-up game in with a friend. Just plain fun. RFG: Played a few hands of Race for the Galaxy (aka "IconQuest"), mostly with some newbies. Took me about 5 games to get how this game works but now I quite like it. ROR: Played one round of Republic of Rome and had by far the best time I've had playing that game in some time. Finished third with an "Assassin" card unplayed in my hand - grrr! RLT: Played the traditional Tuesday game of Royal Turf with a number of WBC regulars. Fuckin' Earl Gray, man! SUC: GM'd the last ever Avalon Hill-published Successors Tourney (next year we will switch to the GMT version out soon). Adjudicated my own Round 2 game in my favor to advance to the Final where Doug "Is This Boring You?" Smith won for the 4th consecutive year. WOG: Despite it's unfortunate name and acronym, Warriors of God gets my vote as Best New Game I've Played This Year by a wide margin. It's got a tricky sequence of play that takes some getting used to, but once you get the rhythm, everything makes sense. It may well be the best simulation of Medieval state-building out there. I give it a solid 9.5 and look forward to playing it to death. WON: Got in a game of Wealth of Nations with some interested gamers - there is a lot going on in this game. I definitely want to try out some different strategies and see what happens. Justin Thompson - Aug 11, 2008 11:33 am (#28247 Total: 28424) Convention Director for PrezCon "The Winter Nationals" Kingmaker After Action Report The 2008 WBC Kingmaker Tournament Report! The Kingmaker tournament started Friday at 9am with a small but eager group of players. We played 2 boards the first round a 4 player & 5 player games. Defending Champion Nick Benedict won his game by only 3 points as the game was a 2 king game. The other game was a sole king victory and was won by me. The Demo at 6pm on Friday night was well attended. We had over 20 folks gathered around the demo table. Most if not all of those players made their way to the tournament location at 7pm. We had 21 players in the second heat so we played three 5 player games & one 6 player. Hard fought to the end were all of these games. Keith Wixson won his game as sole king, Nick Benedict won his game as a sole king and I won my game on points. I had moved the Saturday 3rd Heat to 10am hoping that would allow more folks to come play. We had 2 boards in this heat. Rod Coffey won his table by points and advanced to the finals. My board was tough but I was able to seek it out over a former Champion Jordan Halberstadt. Jordan and Stanley Buck had the highest 2nd place finishes and made the final table. The final Table was a 5 player event was now set. Jordon Halberstadt, Stanley Buck, Nick Benedict, Rod Coffey and I gathered around the table to see who could be the 2008 Kingmaker champion. After the cards were dealt out, everyone had a reasonable position. The key events in the games were, Nick being wiped out on turn 3! Yes he had no cards on the board. Justin stepped out of his power base to destroy Jordan and lost not 1 but 2 nobles and Jordon’s noble also was killed on the card. 3 nobles on one card in one battle….wow! The next turn Rod Coffey marched in and crushed my forces which left me in 5th place! Rod Coffey and Stanley Buck marched around each other trying to attack the nobles being pulled way. A few actually were killed. All the time nick is getting rebuilt and growing stronger. He plays Neville and sails to the continent to get the 100 foot solders. Now Nick is a force. We strikes a deal with Stanley to crown him king. Nick gets an heir out of the deal. Parliament is called and Rod, Nick and Jordon split it up between each other. Stanley got nothing and is now the target of the 3 headed monsters! I decide then to cause as much havoc as possible and help Stanley were I can. Nick suffers a defeat late, Rod loses a few of his guys and I ambush Rods Queen late to seal Stanley’s sole king victory. This was Stanley Bucks first Championship! 1. Stanley Buck 107 2. Nick Benedict 63 3. Jordon Halberstadt 41 4. Rod Coffey 09 5. Justin Thompson -08 I was please with the quality of play in 2008! We had 23 excellent players and I hope that I am able to run it again in 2009! Dan Dolan - Aug 11, 2008 2:19 pm (#28254 Total: 28425) Keep going as if nothing were wrong. Just spending the day recovering from a week of sleep deprivation and smoked pork products. Another great year, some highlights... #1 WBC moment of all time to date, winning the B-17 event. I've been told to play in this for the last 5 years and this year I finally did. To make a good time better I even somehow managed to win the thing. If anyone hasn't played in this event yet you really should try it. The effort put in by everyone involved make it the most unique enjoyable event at WBC. I mean everyone when I say effort as each participant brings something for the prize table (everyone who enters gets a prize from the table). Paul Weintraub actually made dice towers for EVERY participant as well. The AAR meeting was a lot of fun and the people were a great group to sit and play with. Thanks to Keith, Paul, Chris and the other chap whose name eludes me for putting up with a newb. Got to meet my new sweet Samantha S. Dr Robs little heartbreaker. Still asking myself how such a lovely little thing can come from such a demented creature. His wife must have super genes. Saw the youth again being served in ELCHFEST as Dave Maynerd repeats as the ELCHFEST champion. There were several very good players competing this year amnd most of them were young'uns. Got to play some golf on Monday. WE had 12 plaqyers who challenged the LH course. Next year we have to try to expand it try for 5 foursomes. MMP's Warriors of God was a lot of fun to play and looks to be my fun purchase of the week. I had the my best room ever at the host. Right next to the pool and behind the tent. Great location and easy return to room for games access. Reservations made already for next year. Time to start packing yet? John Weber - Aug 12, 2008 2:01 am (#28268 Total: 28425) Brief AAR Here's a "Geek List" I posted recapping my activities this past week in Lancaster: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/33774 Results from the two games where I served as GM: Vegas Showdown -- total attendance of 56 Winner: Andrew Gerb Second: Scadeau D'Tela Third: Kevin Brown Fourth: Robb Effinger Fifth: Chris Robbins Sixth: Anne Murphy Puerto Rico -- total attendance of 164 Winner: Nick Page Second: Matt Peterson Third: John Weber (yes, no typo here, I made my second final in 3 years) Fourth: Chris Moffa Fifth: Scadeau D'Tela Sixth: Luke Koleszar (sorry, Luke, no 6th place plaque this year) Craig Yope - Aug 12, 2008 9:12 am (#28274 Total: 28425) WBC Axis & Allies GM- I make and sell die towers. See post #21001 in the WBC folder for some pictures of my towers. Or talk to me at WBC! Who got "Steined"??????? And no that was not me being wheeled out Saturday morning by Lancaster Ambulance. (Hope whoever that was turns out OK.) No, that was my teammate Doug Porterfield. He seemed fine that morning but then I saw Grant Ladue and he let me know that Doug was sick. Then my other teammate, Robert Frisby tells me he was taken away in an ambulance! That put the nix not only his running of the AOA finals but also his chance to score team points in said event! He made it back later in the day looking a bit woozy. I hopefully talked him out of trying to drive home that night. He needed to just sleep there another night and try to get home on Sunday. I must say that this was my best WBC yet! The event I GM (A&A) ran the smoothest it ever has and I never felt stressed out during it. All hail Kevin Keller the 2008 A&A event winner! Heck, I even enjoyed being flipped in the Circus Maximus Demolition Derby heat on Friday night after only one move!!!!! Damn those green alligators from Kentucky!!!! I will gird my loins all winter in preparation for next time. Craig Gregory Schmittgens - Aug 12, 2008 9:28 am (#28275 Total: 28425) Looking forward to Jerkcon in February 2009 Quick report on 1960: Chris Byrd (Kennedy) beat Chris Withers (Nixon) in the finals 295-242 which actually played even closer (came down to the last cube on a Nixon recount). 55 people signed up. Overall: Kennedy wins = 28, Nixon wins = 19. Not including the round one games (which culled some newbies): Kennedy wins = 13, Nixon wins = 7. Detailed writeup to follow. Jeff Schulte - Aug 12, 2008 9:54 am (#28276 Total: 28425) www.jerseygamers.com My WBC recap Tuesday/Wednesday: I played Third World War with Chris Orszak, Mike Cardwell, and Bob Titran. Chris and I played as the Warsaw Pact while Mike and Bob led NATO. Thursday: Chris and I played Roads to Gettysburg. My Union forces were just plain outrun, and Chris fortfied around Frederick. Friday: I got in a bunch of games including Panzerblitz, Eisenbach Gap, Conflict of Heroes, Attack Sub, and Race for the Galaxy. Saturday: Mike and I played a game of Command Magazine's Proud Monster. It was a great game. It's very playable, but may have some balance issues. Then that evening a bunch of us JAG members played Supremacy with all the fixin's. My only purchases for the con were some counter trays, and SPI's The Next War at the auction. Don Greenwood - Aug 12, 2008 12:05 pm (#28282 Total: 28425) Another Record Turnout Thanks one and all for another record turnout at WBC. Details to follow as only WBC does them as quickly as I can sort it all out. • GMs remember to submit your 400 word report to doncon99@toad.net by August 31st. • Players please report your good and bad critiques of events and GMs to doncon99@toad.net for use in the GM award nominations and to help us improve our events in future years. • Volunteers wishing to GM new events in 2009 watch our newsletters for when to submit 2009 event forms to get your event on the membership ballot. • Those wishing to order a WBC 2008 souvenir T-Shirt may still have them mailed to them for $17 ($22 for sizes XXL & XXXL) by sending payment and size request to BPA, 1541 Redfield Rd, Bel Air, MD 21015 by August 23rd. • Everyone not already receiving our FREE monthly email newsletters, please sign up for same at http://lists.boardgamers.org/mailman/listinfo/bpamail J. R. Tracy - Aug 12, 2008 4:05 pm (#28285 Total: 28425) "I no drive just for drive. I drive for to finish in front." - Milka Duno, Le Mans I posted my AAR over in the On The Table folder, but here are a few more items: Minor highlight: the open gaming tent by the pool. That was a *great* space. I'm told it was an expedient solution to a scheduling conflict, but I wouldn't mind seeing it in the future if it's not a significant cost issue. Once they sorted out the lighting it was my favorite place to game. Major highlight: I lost my camera on Thursday, and had no luck with the hotel's lost and found. I checked in at the WBC registration desk, however, and found it had been turned in! A *huge* 'thank you' to the individual who scooped it up and handed it it in - it's a nice camera and I was grateful to recover the irreplaceable photos. Biggest highlight: I experienced a Juniors event for the first time this year, pairing up with Andrew Doughan in the Crokinole event. It was the perfect way to wrap up the week - well run, fun, and terrific kids. What a great resource! Kudos to the folks organizing and GMing these events; as always, it's the volunteer effort that generates the success we enjoy year after year. JR John Skiba - Aug 13, 2008 4:55 pm (#28296 Total: 28425) The easy road is often traveled but never appreciated. WBC - first impressions This was the first WBC I ever attended (I have gone to several Origins in the past -- along w/ other conventions). The Bad I got lost for the first time right at the end of the trip when the Map Quest directions failed me. After asking two women - one did not know where Lincoln Hwy E. was and the other did not speak the local tongue (read English) - I got set on the right course by the third person I asked. Third time is the charm, I guess. Attempting the street crossing between the host and my hotel. Although I only had to do this twice (thank goodness), I felt like I was about to become roadkill. I copied two other persons who used the center turn only lane as a way station after first crossing two lanes of traffic. This was about the only way to do it during the day, as I rarely saw a break in all four lanes of traffic at the same time. Now a pet peeve of mine. A word about courtesy - a little goes a long way. Of all the droves of attendees I encountered during my two days at the convention "excuse me" was only heard a handful of times when it should have been used a lot more. During my travels, I walked at a reasonable pace, said pardon me whenever I felt it might be wise (or just plain polite to do so) and often went more than a few steps out of my way to make it easier for the other guy. Too many times I saw (and experienced) someone barging through the crowd w/o so much as a word uttered. As many people were carrying food and drinks (some hot coffee), I think it would have been, at the very least, prudent on their part to give a bit of a heads up to others as they rushed by. Let me state right now that the above did not make me enjoy the con any less nor prevent me from attending again next year (if possible). Also, I would still recommend the con to other players. The Good (if not Great) which far outweighed the Bad. Hats off to the GM (and his assistants) of the WAS tournament. This is extended to all of the 5 players I faced (esp Bruce Monnin). The event was very well run and a pleasure to play in (except for the Nuclear Depth Charges two of my opponents seemed to be using). I talked w/ Bruce for a while and he gave me a free copy of an Operations mag (thank you sir). After looking it over, I was impressed and shall have to sub to this publication. A special mention must be made to my opponent in Rd # 3 of the Memoir '44 tournament. Silivian (I hope I spelled that right) for great sportsmanship. I played the Allies in round # 1 and shorted myself 1 Allied Inf. This was not discovered by either of us until we were setting up for Rd # 2. Silivan said he would play without that Inf as I had. I thanked him for his off, but said it was not necessary (after all it was my mistake). But he insisted. It turns out that he did not need that Inf to wipe out my left flank troops. And facing the possible future of the hobby? I had the distinction of eliminating I am almost sure were the two youngest players in the Memoir '44 tourney back to back. In the Mulligan round, I faced Ryan (11 yrs old). The old "like taking candy from a baby" saying came to my mind. This thought was quickly dispelled after a few turns. Ryan handed me a game one loss. I did win the match by one medal, but that was too close. I was shaken (not to mention impressed) by this young gun. Ryan could still play in Rd # 1 and it was possible for me to face him again. Round # 2 (I got to skip Rd # 1 due to my win the the Mulligan Rd). I was once again facing a kid (looked to be 11 or so). OK, forget that candy stuff. This time I am thinking "Never underestimate your opponent". Bradford ran me through the ringer in game # 1. He chewed up my center panzer attack, killed off my left sector arty w/ BEL and overall made life miserable for me in that game. I did manage a win, but his tally of 5 Allied medals put me in a hole. I would have to win as the Allies (they only do this 41% of the time) or at least match his medal count and force a tiebreaker. In Game # 2, things continued to go Bradford's way early. If he did not have a bad streak of luck in the mid-game, then he could have very well won the match. He also made some pre-card play comments like " Your in trouble now" (I was) and "Your gonna pay for that" (I did). He did this with a gleam in his eyes, a grin on his face and destruction in his heart. At the end of the match (a hard fought win for me) I asked "Who brought you here". He replied "My Dad". I said if your dad comes next year tell him to leave you at behind. I was looking for a laugh here and Bradford chuckled at my comment. Two tough kids (and great players) that I hope are the spearhead of our hobby. I also got to meet Col Hogan. A teenage kid who would go on to win the Memoir '44 tournament this year. We had played in a PBEM Vassal Memoir Kursk Overlord game earlier this year (on opposite sides). He destroyed all the left sector Russian armor (in two turns) and prompted this message to Stalin "Comrade,I think we are in deep do-do now" instead of the historical "The Tigers are burning". Another very good player and nice to converse with. I also met up with (for the second time this year) my regular Mem '44 PBEM Vassal opponent, Sam. I somehow knew we would be matched up in the tourney sooner or later. We met in Rd # 4 and Sam won both games 6 to 4 for a 12 to 8 match win. Before this we had played 7 matches and split all of them. We each had won three matches and tied one. We also played the new Seelowe Heights scenario which I won. So my record vs him was 8-7. I did have a slight chance to win the 2nd game 6 to 4. This would have tied our match score and then we would have went to the tiebreaker. I told him after the match, that the first time one of us was swept in a match it had to be here and it had to be me - lol. I wished Sam luck and told him that I believed he would reach the finals and probably win it all. He nearly did but Col Hogan had something to say about that. Peter Card - Aug 14, 2008 2:31 am (#28299 Total: 28425) Feeling kind of blue WBC 2008 Battle Cry The format was a little different this year, using a system shamelessly borrowed from Richard Borg. For the first three rounds, players were organised into groups of six, with three USA players and three CSA players, with each USA player playing each CSA player in the group once. As it turned out we had 48 entrants, which worked out perfectly, but if necessary we could have had one or two groups of 8 players, and one of the GMs could have stepped in to make up and even number. The players with the best four USA records overall and the best four CSA records then went through to the single elimination stage, where each each scenario was played twice as the players switched sides. As before, the tie-break favoured aggressive play, with most flags taken trumping fewest lost, then most kills inflicted trumping fewest casualties suffered. The advantage of this format was that it avoided problems with balance of the scenarios, as during the initial group stage players were competing with the all other players on the same side to advance, while playing in groups reduced the problems inherent in working out match-ups for the 2nd and 3rd round games rapidly, as the players themselves were doing most of the work. The disadvantage of a group system is that players who happened to be grouped against weaker players on the other side enjoyed an unearned advantage, while taking overall record as the criteria made it possible to win three games and still not progress. All in all the format worked smoothly but a few entrants expressed their reservations. We will have to think hard about next year. The initial three rounds used Murfreesboro from the original game and then Franklin and Falling Waters, downloaded from the web, chosen because they looked interesting while not introducing unusual special rules. For the final elimination stage, it got a little funkier. THe quarter finals used Dennis Snow's Petersburg Crater scenario, where the Union faces entrenched Rebel positions, but gets to explode a mine at a time almost of his choosing, destroying everything in two adjacent hexes and producing the eponymous crater. This is a tough puzzle for the Union to solve, and historically saw a bloody defeat for the Union as the assault division advanced into the crater but got stuck there and was shot to pieces. Bill Edwards pulled off the unusual feat of winning as the Union without ever exploding the mine, but after playing both sides he was tied with David Metzger in all tie-break categories. A point blank simultaneous one-on-one roll-off saw him go through, until we realised that there had been an error in counting the casualties during the second game making David the winner. Bill took this unkind stroke of fate in his stride and had to console David who was looking uncomfortable at his win. For the semis, we used Leetown, an online scenario by Richard Borg, which has two units of Native Americans fighting for the Confederacy who can move and fight in the forest. Some Revel Sioux were pressed into service for the occasion. This battle sees a lot of units start on the baseline, where they are vulnerable to a flag result sending them skedaddling off the game board. 2006 Champion Jeff Cornett barely survived David Metzgers's all out sweeping cavalry charge against his Union right flank to face Michael Dauer in the final, which used Brian Bradford's Perryville scenario. Both players were pictures of concentration, and the action slowed down as they weighed their moves carefully. Both sides have small hands, making it difficult to move their units, (3 for the Union, 4 for the Rebels). The Confederate player must defend the two Perryville town hexes which are each worth one flag to the Union (only). In the first battle, Jeff Cornett exploited this by edging forward to threaten Perryville so that Michael was forced to defend one hex forward on the hill line where Jeff could pick away at the defenders. In the return leg, Jeff chose the strategic moment to play the All Out Offensive card he had been dealt at the start. Michael was able to answer with a counter-attack but the stuffing had been knocked out of his army and his 4th flag was soon captured, bringing him to the edge of concession as he faced a 3-6 flag deficit from the first game. However, he realised that a slim chance of victory still existed if he was able to chase a Confederate unit with an attached general off the battlefield for a 6th and 7th flag. The end game saw him attempt to funnel USA units towards the board edge without actually killing them, to the amusement of all concerned, until Jeff finally put an end to this foolishness by taking another flag to regain his crown. I recommend the Battle Cry web resource at http://www.thewargamer.com/battlecry/index.html for all your Battle Cry needs, and also Rod Lilley's site at http://www.angelfire.com/games2/battlecry/scenes.html from which I downloaded the JPEG files for battles used here. Bill Alderman - Aug 15, 2008 6:56 pm (#28326 Total: 28434) Loving Life in Lake Monticello, Virginia! (Go 'Hoos!) AAR for Enemy in Sight Many new faces and some returnees came to play in the three Heats scheduled this year. The Demo attracted at least four players. The format change (to multiple Heats, “B” status, two hands only with tiebreakers, only Winners advance to the Semi) worked well. A few complained that they liked playing hands until someone got 100 points, most others said that two hands was enough to determine a Winner, luck being a major factor in winning this game. Many “old hands” were pleased that Enemy in Sight was being played in multiple heats on three different days. Others liked playing their Heat on Sunday and being able to advance to the Final. While tiebreakers were defined, none were necessary, as every game was won on points alone. Unfortunately, the Heats were scheduled as two-hour events, which meant the first Heat was truncated as we ran out of time. This disappointed many players. Fortunately the second and third Heats did not have schedule conflicts after the two hours, and were allowed to play until both hands were played. Next year’s Heats will be scheduled to run three hours. There were nine Winners – eight showed up for the Semi/Final on Sunday. (Four were Winners of the Sunday morning Heat.) There was no Semi – the eight played the Final. The Winners were experienced players and finished the two hands before 1 PM. Many former Champions played in the Heats, and only two (Bill Peeck and Tim Evinger, were in the Final.) In the Final, Rob Eastman sailed out to a lead at the end of the first hand, with 46 points, followed by Peeck at 38, Evinger at 34 and Bill Alderman at 30. Most of the scoring was in Prizes, though there was the usual spate of sinking the smaller ships once the Break-the-Line cards were in play. The second hand found some players starting out with powerful 1st Rate Broadside cards and only 3rd Rate Ships or less. Eastman was under siege, with a Break-the-Line and a variety of attacks. He was down to one ship in the line at one point, but used an Additional Ship card to get up to two. In the meantime, others had the pleasure of attracting attention, including all of the first round players with 30 points or more. No one lost all their ships, but many had three or less in the line at one point. Through it all, Eastman had Boarding Party cards while others did not, so he captured prizes and was able to keep them afloat even though he was unable to remove the Line Breakers. He won with 62 points, followed closely by John Elliott at 60 and Kevin Coombs with 57. Enemy in Sight is a game of luck more than most, as evidenced that no one in the 18 years of WBC has won more than twice. There is a small cadre of WBC attendees who drive their RVs to Lancaster and stay in the Old Mill Stream park across the street. Jim Burnett and I are two of them, and our wives have become friends as well. (They did Tea on Friday afternoon, for example.) Living in your own RV is pleasant, and you get to pet your dog at night. Great WBC, as I was able to play many games, win a few, and even end up in two Finals. Alas, wood winning is not what I do.... (BTW, I cam in sixth in EIS._ Robert Flowers - Aug 17, 2008 10:45 am (#28348 Total: 28434) El Grande 2008 It has been 9 years since El Grande made its appearance at the WBC, and the event has yet to see a repeat champion. Would this be the year? The attendance appears to have settled down to a core group of players who are not only experienced with the game, but just love to play. Over a quarter of the field played in at least two of the three heats. Three players attended all three heats, including David Burkey who scored a win in the final heat. Nineteen winners meant that 6 alternates would get to advance to the semifinals, and for the first time since I have run the event, there were absolutely no no-shows for the semifinal slots. The final table had the winners from the two previous years, Robb Effinger and Greg Thatcher, as well as Geoff Pounder, who had placed 3rd in the 2005 final. Marc Berenbach had made the semifinals the previous year. Tim Mossman was a relative newcomer, but had advanced to the semis with the strongest record of 1st and 2nd place finishes in the first two heats. Right off the bat, Greg used the King action to set up a favorable situation for Geoff to score the 6’s and 7’s. Geoff took the score, putting him at 14 points and Greg at 13, with the rest trailing behind. In Turn 2, Tim used a Score the 5’s card to catch up to them, while Robb and Marc still trailed. Robb placed the 8/4/0 mobile scoreboard on Greg’s home territory (Valencia), where he was already tied with Robb with 1 caballero each. During the first scoring round, everyone avoided Valencia when placing their pieces from the Castillo. Only Marc and Robb succeeded in scoring their Grandes. Greg had been beat on a bit, but still scored well enough to place him in first with 36 points. Robb was in second with 31, and the others were within 5 points of him. In Turn 4, Tim scored New Castile, putting both Tim and Geoff within 3 points of the lead; Marc still trailed by 9 points. Turn 5 saw Tim execute the “Dial-a-Score” card, which helped Tim somewhat but helped Greg a lot more. Greg again opened his lead to 5 points over Robb, while the overall spread was now 12 points. Meanwhile, Geoff had been strengthening his board position while other players were attacking the leaders. When it came to the second round of scoring, Geoff scored in 7 of the 10 regions (including a 3rd in the Castillo) and was the only player to get points for his Grande, while Greg only scored in 3 regions and Robb in 4. Geoff tied Greg for the lead at 60, although the players were all within 4 points of each other. In Turn 7, Geoff spent his 13 to grab a scoring card, adding 8 points to his score while not helping Greg. Marc was a beneficiary, getting 4 points to barely put him into 2nd. Midway though turn 8, Geoff picked up a Veto card, which gave him tremendous leverage to protect his lead throughout the rest of the game. He used this to good effect in Turn 9, influencing Tim’s move of the King, which finally went to New Castile to protect Tim’s first place there. Unfortunately, this set up a situation where Geoff was able to score Old Castile once again, getting him another 8 points and putting him 11 points in the lead. Geoff had the lowest scoring in the 3rd scoring round, but his lead was too much to overcome. Unlike the previous two years, scoring cards did not play a dominant role. In fact, five scoring cards were taken by players and NOT executed. Still, Geoff managed score about 10 points more than anyone else through scoring cards. He also managed to get points from his Grande 5 times, while no one else managed it more than twice. This year we played with a new rule whereby partial Vetoes of actions are not allowed. This simplified the rule and speeded up games. Next year I think I’ll revisit the issue with the various differently worded cards in the 2 stack regarding “fellow players” versus “each player”, to help reduce questions on that issue. As with last year, I have a play by play record of the final in Excel format, should any Mark Kalina - Aug 20, 2008 5:58 pm (#28405 Total: 28434) Member of The Central Connecticut Wargaming Association Good time! I was back at the first time in a few years and had a great time. Primarily, I played a lot of Twilight Struggle and 1960 with moderate success. Bought a few other games as well, talked to a lot of friends and acquaintances and saw a lot of interesting games played. Will be back next year with my son who will start playing in the Junior events. Much to recommend! Thanks to all those who put their sweat and toil into making 2008 a success in my book. Good Gaming! Mark Bruce Monnin - Aug 20, 2008 7:26 pm (#28406 Total: 28434) Editor of MMP's Operations Magazine I think my convention was summed on the the Sunday night before it all got started. Checked into the hotel and went to supper with about 10 friends. Then stopped by the bar and broke out a game of Pacific Typhoon with some more friends. Had a hard time finishing the game because we had to stop every time some other friend we hadn't seen since last year came by. I think I could enjoy WBC week if I never left the bar area, but just sat there and talked to people as they go by all week. And if I had done that, I would have won exactly as many plaques as I did by playing in those tournaments.