Tony Nardo - Aug 3, 2005 11:44 am (#17656 Total: 17659) Developer, Winds_Of_Plunder (MTC is at P-34, and counting...) WBC post-auction musings Thanks once again to the CABS crew for organizing this year's WBC auction! Just a few thoughts on the event... - I'll leave the bulk of the auction results to whoever did the comprehensive tally last year. The quick look impression on prices, however, was that bargains were more likely to be had in the first hour (when the highest bidder # was only 68) than after noon (when bidder #s over 200 started coming to the fore). It took almost until the final hour for the first lot to cross the $100 mark. (BTW, the first single game to cross $100 was a punched copy of TimJim's "Outpost", at $145.) - As with other larger auctions, many of the more desirable and collectable titles (e.g., Titan) were held for the closing hour... well, actually, a bit longer than an hour, due to the volume of high interest fare. - The stairwell leading to the auction at the Lancaster Host made hauling large games to and fro a bit more challenging. But the auction room was definitely more spacious. - The estimated pace of 100 lots per hour was pretty close to the mark. Had there been exactly 600 lots, this auction may well have hit the time window and still had time for the two breaks provided. - Segmenting blocks of the auction into "wargames", "Euros", "sports games and miscellaneous stuff", etc. at intervals allowed bidders with focused interests time to go out for lunch. Those with more generalized interests, however, are well advised to bring snacks for the stretch. All in all, an enjoyable experience! There are some areas that need tuning and tweaking, but on the whole this contnues to look like a part of the WBC that is well worth continuing. Vince Meconi - Aug 7, 2005 3:01 pm (#17663 Total: 17848) Flash GM Report for War At Sea Dennis Nicholson of Pawling, NY won the War At Sea championship plaque on Thursday, in his first Final 4 appearance. Dennis finished 6-1 and bested former champ Pat Richardson of Warrenton, VA (5-2) in the finals. Pat hadn't been to the WBC in 4 years, but obviously hasn't lost his touch! Third place went to Greg Berry (Fairfax, VA, 5-1). Greg missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker a few years back but left nothing to chance this time, as he was the only player to go 5-0 in the Swiss rounds. Still another Virginian, former WBC champ and current PBEM Ladder champ Andy Gardner (Fairfax, VA, 4-2) finished 4th. 3-time semifinalist Chuck Stapp (4-1) took the 5th and final plaque with a 4-1 log after losing a tiebreaker for a semifinal slot. 6th and 7th places also went to folks with 4-1 records who lost the tiebreaker to get into the playoffs: Bruce Monnin and Jim Kramer, respectively. Yet another 4-1 got 8th place for Ed Menzel. Rob Drozd took 9th at 3-2 and Alan Applebaum placed 10th (also 3-2) Dennis Nicholson beat Greg Berry in one semifinal while Pat Richardson edged his neighbor and frequent at-home opponent, Andy Gardner, in the other. The woofing on that one started before the last die stopped spinning. In the final, Pat Richardson looked to have the edge until attempting to speed roll two 4-9-6 German BBs to the South Atlantic on Turn 7. Pat was overheard saying to Dennis, "I'll bet you want me to roll boxcars," then did just that. The final margin was just 1.5 POC. Pat Richardson was our best Allied player with a 5-0 mark, while Ed Menzel earned Best Axis Player honors at 4-1. Matt O'Connor, all of 13 years old, was our Rookie of the Year with a 3-1 record. He is, not surprisingly, our youngest Rookie of the Year ever. I keep thinking that there's no way we can attract more entrants, but the 55 this year was yet another all-time high, the 3rd new high in the last 4 years. The 91 total games played was the 2nd highest ever. After a one-year hiatus, play balance was back, as the Axis won 45 games and the Allies 46; no ties. 1 game featured a bid for the Axis, compared to 34 no-bid contests and 55 with an Allied bid. John Sharp is our sportsmanship nominee. His Allied opponent forgot the Axis controlled the Barents and placed only 2 carriers in the North Atlantic. John allowed his opponent to re-do his move. He said it was nothing, he would have done it for anyone, and I'm sure he would have. My thanks to Assistant GMs Bruce Monnin, Frank Cunliffe, and especially John Sharp for their help. There was an unprecedented 6-way tie for 2nd through 7th places, meaning that 3 of that sextet failed to qualify for the playoffs on a tiebreaker. For this reason, I'm considering switching from the current 4 players advancing to semifinals to a new system of 8 players advancing to quarterfinals. We have so many entrants now that mutiple tiebreakers are a mathematical certainty. Brief commentary on other aspects of the con. The GMs of the events I played in, Jonathan Lockwood, John Sharp, and Don Chappell, all did nice jobs. The new venue is a winner, in my view. Quarters seemed more spacious, the food was better, everything was cheaper, the staff even seemed friendlier. The Lampeter Room was too cold, but that only brought back fond memories of similar conditions in the Hunt Valley ballroom. I definitely vote for returning. Good selection by the BPA Board. David Bohnenberger - Aug 7, 2005 6:43 pm (#17665 Total: 17848) Non-blogger The new venue is a winner, in my view. Quarters seemed more spacious, the food was better, everything was cheaper, the staff even seemed friendlier. The Lampeter Room was too cold, but that only brought back fond memories of similar conditions in the Hunt Valley ballroom. I definitely vote for returning. Good selection by the BPA Board. Price-wise, it's MUCH better. The food was better and a lot cheaper, and the hotel seemed to take a sensible approach toward providing it, not expecting gamers to fork over piles of cash in the hotel restaurants. They even sold beer out on the convention floor, which made perfect sense. The facilities are somewhat better. The availability of the showroom and the larger rooms is a plus. Somethings could have been better, and I mention them now as "constructive criticism" before I forget: 1) I can't understand why the doors between the Event demo/Rio Grande area and the "open gaming" area needed to be closed. A lot of people just set up games in the demo area instead. Keeping those doors open would have helped a lot with the traffic flow. Please don't tell me it was just to force people to walk past the Decision Games booth 20 times a day. 2) The wargame company demo area was about 1 mile from the wargaming room. Only kids and euro-gamers would have wandered into that area by accident. I heard a bit of grumbling from reps about that. I notice that the dream of separating the Macho Manly Wargamers and the "Euroweenies" has been fulfilled, even if it was just the most logical allocation of space... A great time, once again. Thanks to everybody who makes it happen. Alan Applebaum - Aug 7, 2005 8:31 pm (#17668 Total: 17848) Positives: The playing area is a big improvement over the HVI, both in the amount and type of space and the lighting. The weather outside was not as humid as it usually is in Baltimore. Negatives: Contrary to the poster above, I greatly preferred the food options at the HVI. All three of the restaurants at the Host, as well as the bar, were inferior to their HVI counterparts, and outside the hotel, the two I tried (Lapp and the Texas Roadhouse) did not even measure up to the modest standard set by Carabbas, the Outback and Andy Nelson's. I noticed a lot of folks complaining at the desk about problems with their rooms, and I know that a number of people were promised two queen beds and did not get them. The most distant rooms were a truly unbelievable distance from the playing area. It was a 20-minute round trip. As alluded to above, in most cases one needed to drag suitcases up and down some stairs. While the rooms were cheaper than at the HVI, as was pointed out at the BPA meeting, much of that benefit was lost by those who had to rent a car to get to the Host from the nearest airport. Driving time from the northeast was actually longer than to Hunt Valley because of the poor road network. A matter of personal taste, I guess, but I find the local attractions in the Baltimore/DC area more suitable for bringing a non-gaming family member than in Lancaster. Overall, a fine convention and a decent site. I would slightly prefer a return to HVI but not by a large margin. Eric Brosius - Aug 7, 2005 8:33 pm (#17669 Total: 17848) Pleasant features of WBC 2005 I'm sure Don will get lots of complaints, so I thought it would be nice to post a list of things I particularly enjoyed. 1. Lancaster is much closer than Hunt Valley. I saved about 90 minutes on the drive down from Boston and about 3 hours on the trip home. I won't miss the Delaware Memorial Bridge, the first five NJ Turnpike exits, and the associated Sunday afternoon traffic! 2. Public transportation is more convenient. My wife and son drove down with me, but left mid-week to get ready for a trip to our church camp. They caught the hotel shuttle to the Lancaster Amtrak station five miles away and rode back to Boston in comfort (they brought a laptop and a batch of DVDs; the train had a power outlet.) 3. The cheaper hotel rate (and proximity of the in-laws in Fayetteville PA) induced me to arrive on Saturday instead of Tuesday. I didn't enter any pre-cons, but it was fun to watch some of the games and get some open gaming in before the serious competition started. It left me with the desire to pull out my copies of PoG and VitP and learn them. It also left me with the desire to acquire a copy of HRC (but not THAT much of a desire...) It did not leave me with any desires related to ASL, however. 4. This hotel did a better job with food. It was cheaper, better, and more available at odd hours (e.g., when my game ended early and my next game wasn't yet ready to start.) The only downside was the serial service protocol at the pool-side grill, but early in the week I was fortunate to learn that Mulligan's (the golf course snack shop) also serves burgers and hot dogs with much better service. 5. The hotel staff actually seemed to be happy we were there. 6. I had plenty of room for all the games I played in and (most importantly) the Princes of Florence tournament for which I serve as GM. I really like to be able to stay in the room I've been assigned in the program! 7. The oval-shaped tables in the back of Ballroom B are the best shape for Euro gaming I've ever seen. They are much better than either the big round tables or the long thin wargame tables for playing Euros. I wonder---do they have more of them? 8. On Saturday night I found Nels Thompson and Lyman Moquin playing Bonaparte at Marengo in the Paradise room ("pair o' dice"? The game doesn't use dice...) I just bought the game and have played it twice and enjoyed it immensely so far. It was their first game and I had the pleasure of helping them with the rules and meeting two great guys. Later in the pre-con I got a game in with Rich Irving, another great guy. It's hard to talk with people during the actual con, so this was a nice bonus. 9. I've never been able to play Taj Mahal at WBC; the heats always seemed to conflict with things. This year, partly thanks to the attempt at cooperative scheduling for Euros, I managed to fit a heat in, and I won! This got me into a semi, where I lost a squeaker to Nick Anner, last year's champ. Taj Mahal is one of my five favorite games. 10. I got to play 6 tournament Lost Cities games (unfortunately, I lost the last one to Rick Dutton, who is an excellent Lost Cities player.) I also got a practice game in with Jennifer Thomas, who beat me pretty handily as well. Lost Cities is another game I love, so I'm delighted that GM Ivan Lawson provided a format that allowed me to play this game seriously. 11. The Princes of Florence tournament was full of cheerful, enthusiastic players. El Grande wizard and erstwhile Lost Cities GM Jay Fox had never played Princes of Florence, so he came to my demo session at 10am on Wednesday, learned the game, and went on to play in two heats, scoring a 3rd place followed by a close 2nd in his first two games ever. Jay let me know how much he enjoyed learning the game; it's great to get that kind of encouragement when you're a GM! People criticize Princes of Florence on the basis that it's impossible to win unless you put on six works. In the semi-finals, people bid so high in an effort to get six works that the five semi-final winners put on 3, 3, 4, 4 and 5 works, respectively. As the GM, I was thrilled to be able to stick a fork in that criticism. 12. There used to be a site where you could rate the games you've played and receive a list of what games you haven't played but are likely to enjoy. The algorithm looked for other people who rated the games you've played similarly to you and found which other games they liked most. (This should be a feature on boardgamegeek.) The number one game it recommended for me was Up Front. I had Up Front on my boardgamegeek "Wanted" list for a while, but never got any bites. I attended the WBC auction and came home with my own copy; I'm going to try to read the rules as soon as I recover from WBC fatigue. Fortunately, I have a high tolerance for complex documentation... Randy Cox - Aug 7, 2005 11:17 pm (#17674 Total: 17848) Death tally in Mr. Bush's War: 23,000. And climbing. OK, I'll give impressions, too. Hotel We didn't stay at the Host (cancelled our two nights and they said they'd do so without penalty as so many people needed rooms). But I did ask everyone what they thought of the place, and to a person, they all said that the rooms were old and not all that great and the best response I got was "servicable." I also heard stories of people who didn't get their two beds. The lobby and restaurant (Legends, not Vista) were frighteningly similar to HVI. The gaming rooms weren't as "pretty" (e.g. the row of very small HVI rooms -- Chase, Tack, etc -- are better looking), but they are bigger and seemed fine for tournaments. All in all, if you could take HVI, add a couple of extra years wear and tear to it, and puff it up so that it occupies more space, you'd get Lancaster Host. Assessment: a wash. Food I thought Legends was equal to Cinnamon Tree (equally expensive, too). Vistas had a good enough breakfast buffet, but I didn't think too much of the lunch buffet, unless you live on pastries and meat, but if you ordered from the menu (e.g. at the bar), it wasn't too bad. The food line in the gaming area didn't have very good fare, of the things we tested ("we" includes carnivores and kids, too). Pretty much a wash. Open Gaming The Cafe Jay area was way too cramped. Maybe taking out five tables or so would help that. And Ballroom A was tucked away so that few people seemed to be there during the two days I was there. Worst of all was the fact that people set up demos in Open Gaming with prototype maps under plexiglass and walked away, eating up precious real estate that should be available for open gaming. Three things need to be done in this regard. 1) reduce the crowding in Cafe Jay (or remove the food line, which wouldn't go over too well) 2) open the doors to Ballroom A 3) disallow any demos in this area. The games I saw (yes, they were war games) would be better off in the Paradise lobby with other demos Alternatively, the Board could let people who want to peddle a game pay an extra $100 or so to reserve a table (no guarantees where it would be). Otherwise, they shouldn't be setting up demos and camping out. I didn't think that Ballroom A was really bigger than the space outside Maryland and downstairs at HVI. Don't count the Cafe Jay area at Lancaster (as Cafe Jay isn't part of "Open Gaming") and there didn't seem to be that much difference. Maybe if demo camp-outs weren't going on, Ballroom A would have seemed more useful than the Open Gaming at HVI. Advantage: HVI Tournament Gaming Damn that Conestoga 2 room was cold! Otherwise, it was indeed more spacious, although it felt quite dungeon-like, with the cinder block walls and cheap panelling separating from the wargame room. The big wargame room seemed to be the only place in the gaming areas that was far too smoky. Seems a lot of people stepped outside to suck cancer sticks and either left the door open or just didn't go far enough away. Wasn't a problem in the "Euro" wings, as there was no easy outside access except near the Junior room. Advantage: Lancaster Host, if only for the extra space Junior events Seems that was quite a success. I saw something like 59 names on the board of registered junior players. Only problem there was that Tara needed more help and the Werewolf teens left the room in shambles on more than one occasion. Maybe it needs to be locked overnight, as the junior players aren't going to be up that late anyway. Advantage: Lancaster Host (better digs and new procedures) Other aspects The grounds of Lancaster Host are far, far, far superior to HVI. While the indoor pool was a mess, the outdoor pool and accompanying activities were great, especially if you have kids. And though I didn't get to try it out, I hear that the walking trail is very good, too. On the other hand, if you were pushing a stroller, dragging wheeled bags, or in a wheelchair, you're pretty much SOL at the Host. I guess there may be a method of getting from one place to another without using either the tacked-on lifts (key at the desk) or the teensy-tiny elevator, but I didn't find it. The Host really needs to work on their accessibility. Advantage: Lancaster Host, even with the accessibility issue. Location Lancaster Host dominates in this category. As stated earlier, the availability of other (better) hotels in walking distance is much better in PA than at HVI. Also, the local attractions are, indeed, much better, especially when you consider how far you have to drive at HVI to get to an attraction. I drive, so transportation isn't an issue, but since Amtrak stops in Lancaster and the hotel offers a shuttle, I would think that those flying in could catch a train. They run frequently from Philly. No need to rent a car. Advantage: Lancaster Host, even if it is a bit further for me. Overall, I'd say that Lancaster Host, even with first-year problems with Open Gaming, is a far better venue for WBC. Any niggling problems can be addressed before next year. Note: did anyone else look at the photographs of the stars who have performed at the Host's Showroom over the years--read like a 1970s list of Johnny Carson guests? Arthur Field - Aug 7, 2005 11:25 pm (#17675 Total: 17848) So Much to Say The comparison of the two hotels has merits on both sides on all issues. (Just got back home.) I write about hotels, so tend to be observant. LH has serious negatives. It is old. It has a burned out wing (bet you didn't know that!). It has a poor interior layout. It has no elevators. It is not handicap friendly. It permits smoking in the bar adjacent to the lobby. There are serious disconnects between departments. Housekeeping either shows up at 8 AM or not until 5 PM. The bathrooms were not cleaned over night. The food service is poor. The restaurant servers were non-existent and the queueing system for seating is senseless with over 50 empty seats. The pool closes early and the indoor pool isn't open. The athletic facilities are poor according to my expert wife. HVI is superior in all these respects. Similarly, the Paradise Room is way too small and ventilation does not exist. I spent ALL Saturday in it and suffered immensely. The "Cafe Jay" food was much worse, although cheaper. The first night they shut at 9 PM. There was no snack bar of the HVI variety. No pizza. No easy breakfast. No quick sandwiches. That was a real negative. I understand the pool had the best food and value. Never got there but kids loved that part. That being said, there were many positives. When the bad mold in the shower was shown to the Head Housekeeper, it was cleaned within 2 hours. The hotel itself is cleaner than HVI in many parts, although it does have a very bad humidity problem. I suspect there was a fire at some point and the rectification of that left much water in the hotel. Nevertheless, the overall air cleanliness in the rooms is better than HVI. When I discussed the closing time of the food with the Food Manager and suggested they would make far more money after 9 PM, the matter was immediately fixed and they stayed open with some snacks later. There is more room, although I never got to see any of it. There were fewer 'quiet rooms' like Tack, Worthington, etc., but I understand there were many, just underutilized by the GM's. It is more convenient by far. It was 38 miles from LH to MDT. It is a bit longer from HVI to BWI, but it takes at least 2x longer to make the Baltimore loop. This airport was much easier. No lines. Need to rent a car either place. Outside hotel food was comparable. Both places pretty much suck. However there did seem a lot more to do surrounding LH. I could go on a lot more, but I give it about a 65/35 in favor of LH at this point. (My kids preferred HVI greatly; they give LH only about a 40/60.) However, I think with adaptation on part of us and LH my vote would go up to 70/30. We learned stuff, such as: 1) More food and better food service and variety; 2) Better room utilization; 3) Better upkeep of public areas and bathrooms; 4) Food availability on Sunday (there was NONE this morning except in restaurant and this is the day of Finals at 9 AM) 5) Check out flexibility. We had to be out by 11, which is hard on Finals day; 6) No cigars in lobby... Just initial thoughts. Had a great time. Much more later. Thanks to all for doing such a great job. Arthur Field - Aug 7, 2005 11:29 pm (#17676 Total: 17848) Euro GM cooperative effort My thanks and congrats to Euro GMs. I understand attendance in most Euro games was up considerably and those GMs who cooperated the most with the joint scheduling effort reported to me they saw large jumps in attendance, some as high as 40% !!! That's great. I hope we can do it again for 06 and that this year we get: a) all the Euro GMs involved b) any other GMs who wish to join the coordinated group c) real cooperation in scheduling d) far less finals shoved into Sunday creating conflicts e) phenomenal attendance in 06. I know it worked pretty well because I only had about 5 hours of 'down time'! Tony Nardo - Aug 8, 2005 4:43 am (#17681 Total: 17848) Developer, Winds_Of_Plunder (MTC is at P-34, and counting...) WBC Auction Thoughts I'll state up front that I feel the WBC has a winner with this auction. There is a good mix of games being supplied. I also find myself enjoying having it not be a multi-day extravaganza competing with the gaming events. That said, I'd like to offer a few suggestions for next year: * Prepare 300 bidder numbers in advance, so the auctioneers don't have to squint to read those last-minute hand written ones. (The highest bidder number I saw was in the 200s, and the Lancaster Showroom has room for this to grow.) * Ask if the hotel can set up more tables on the staging area - a extra row at the back of the stage and a row at the foot of the stage. This would reduce the risk of "box squash" from having to form Leaning Towers of Games. It also would allow more visual spread so people could see more of the items that are present. True, the lot names are published in advance, but somehow the effect of seeing a title doesn't match seeing the item - especially for gauging box quality, or when there are multiple makers or multiple versions of an item. * Expand on the two word item rating system to have sellers give a better indication of contents' quality, where possible. (Example: One item in this year's auction was a game where the seller explicitly noted something to the effect, "Bought this item last year because it was sold as 'unpunched'. Selling it this year because, while it was unpunched, the rules were heavily underlined.") Granted, abuses can happen regardless of the auction lot form. But if the current form seems to invite the checkbox approach, then there should at least be an expanded set of checkboxes. * If there is a desire to improve the overall quality of the lots submitted, perhaps staggering the registration dates slightly based on quality would help? The overfilling of the registration slots suggests that, at a minimum, the auction would suffer little by having a first stage reserved for complete games and a second stage where the field is opened to everything else. (OTOH, if the first hour of an auction is going to be a relatively dead time, perhaps it's best to have the current mix of those filler items take up the early slots? Hard to call, as that might just discourage even more people from showing up at the start.) * Would running from 11-5 draw in more people at the start? Or was the slow start just the inevitable result of having a six hour time block, or being in a new location? * First time attendees: dress warmly. The Lancaster Showroom is... er, well air-conditioned. To end on a positive note, I appreciated the effort by the auctioneers to tell a little bit about box condition and contents condition for various items this year. Keep it up! John Weber - Aug 8, 2005 5:14 am (#17682 Total: 17848) Lancaster Impressions and Some Results My views on the Lancaster versus HVI issue are very close to those of Alan Applebaum in an earlier post -- bottom line is I would prefer HVI but not by a wide margin. I was wondering after lugging stuff up those stairs about handicapped access when I ran into Cheryl Merica, a wheelchair-bound gamer with whom I was paired up with in one of my PRO heats. Cheryl told me that she found HVI much more handicapped-friendly. Of course, like me, Cheryl is alot closer to Baltimore than Lancaster, so that may have factored into her opinion as well. Although I did not drive there myself, it looked like parking was also pretty tight most of the time where as parking (except for perhaps 9 AM on Friday due to the office workers nearby) was less of an issue at HVI. Regarding scheduling and room space, I found the Wheatland area in the early days of the Con to be way underutilized, something the schedulers should take into account for next year. Space in Ballroom B was a problem, particularly on Friday afternoon, when several large tourneys (PRO, Atlantic Storm, Gangsters) were given overlapping time slots. As a GM for a large event, I would like to see it all in one room or with tables allocated in a more contiguous basis. Some events which had their own room were assigned a room based on last year's attendance that was way too small (I am thinking of Power Grid here). Then there was San Juan, dumped in the middle of a bunch of wargames on Saturday morning -- a Euro that drew over 100 last year. I agree with what was posted here earlier about the doors to Ballroom A but hey, at least, there was a pretty large area for open gaming which in my view is a plus. On the food issue, my perception is clouded by my hectic GM and playing schedule which meant that I usually wound up in the hot dog line in Cafe Jay because the other line which had the better food but more limited hours was closed. My main complaint is that there could have been a bigger variety of items in the "regular" food line since that was the only one available at most times. Like others, I had some niggly problems getting settled into my room, mainly that the refrigerator I asked for (and paid an additional fee for) was not set up when I got there, which meant dealing with an annoying problem instead of getting right into some gaming at 4 PM on Tuesday when I arrived. By way of comparison, I would note that the hotel I stayed at for WBC last year (Days Hotel in Timonium) did not charge an extra fee for the refrigerator which was already in the room and did not have to be set up. As far as the two events I was responsible for, PRO drew 164 this year (down slightly from last year} and the tournament was won by Bill Murdock, while Louis XIV drew 66 as a first-year trial and Evan Tannheimer was victorious. Also, for those of you who missed it, on Sunday morning Keith Levy named Louis the "Hot New Game" for this year's EuroQuest. There is a group of us who are interested in the idea of a Euro games pre-Con starting next year and so we are hopeful that the survey results will give the BPA Board some confidence in negotiating for that space in 2006, regardless of which site is chosen. I think the idea of a two-weekend ticket for the pre-Con and the Friday-Sunday of the main WBC is something that should also be considered as many gamers who might not be able to get there for the Tuesday thru Thursday would be up for the prior weekend, and this would help assure a bigger crowd to occupy the space if the pre-Con agenda were expanded (be it Euros or something else). Robert Flowers - Aug 8, 2005 7:57 am (#17683 Total: 17848) Food About even. I thought the quality of food was better (with the exception of the hot breakfast buffet), and the prices better too. The Vista Cafe was constantly understaffed though, sometimes resulting in long waits for a table, and I got up a couple times to refill my own water glass. I also thought the hours for the different places confusing. As a gamer, I'd rush out from an event trying to find what to eat, and then nope this one's closed, have to go to this one. If there were more variety in the line in Cafe Jay maybe I would not have been as bothered by this. I rarely go out to eat so can't comment on that. Travel Pretty irrelevant for me. HVI took me 1:15 to drive, Lancaster takes me 2:15. I'd like to hear from people who have to fly, and if we need to do better job coordinating shuttles/rides. Service Pretty good, except for the understaffed restaurant. Didn't have any problems with my room or the front desk. Space I primarily spent my time in three rooms: Marietta, Paradise, and Ballroom B. Paradise was too hot and stuffy, the others were fine. Marietta had bad lighting at the edges. Overall I really liked that there was more space. I thought the big round tables in Ballroom B were too big for most games. The long ovalish boards were ideal, as Eric mentioned. I really didn't like the arrangement with the vendor set up in the corridor providing access to both Ballroom B and A. Lots of traffic needs to flow through a small area (now cut in half because of the vendor tables), and pretty often I'd be walking behind someone who would suddenly stop to look at a game. I actually got to the point where I wondered if we were violating fire codes. I'd prefer for the vendor be switched with some of the tables that were in Cafe Jay. Or at least open the doors between Ballroom A and Cafe Jay, reducing the load on the corridor. Scheduling Seemed to work out pretty well. I didn't really have any downtime. Attendance for my event shot up dramatically, and I assume the schedule had something to do with it. Overall I prefer Lancaster over HVI, but would attend in either case. I enjoyed my week, but bemoan that I've lost my gaming "edge" due to other obligations which keep me from playing regularly throughout the year. (I think I got 6th in something, but that was about it.) I want to thank all the people who played El Grande, that event went really well this year with few problems. Now that I've got it under control I'll be looking for people who can assist me so that I might actually get to play it again! Please contact me if you'd be willing to help at all. I had a couple of offers during the con, we'll see what I can work out for next year. And for comparison purposes, in case anyone is curious. I attended the VITP precon, so 7.5 days of gaming. In that time I played 37 games (1/4 of them shorter pickup games), and I spent 20 hours running El Grande which had 36 total games. However, I eat regular meals and try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night, so I'm aware my totals are probably well below average Daniel Broh-Kahn - Aug 8, 2005 8:53 am (#17685 Total: 17848) Why did they put Silhouettes on the Panzer reprint? Additional Thoughts on WBC 2005 I echo most of the comments above. IMHO: Everything was fantastic, so I'll focus my comments on a selected few negatives and positives. 1) Hotel... Mark Guttag commented that is was like Hogwarts Castle, with all these stairs going all different directions. Aren't elevators required now? A pain moving volumes of games in and out. I too had to switch rooms, but recognize that will be unavoidable with overbookings. 2) Except for that, I liked the proximity of the Host to nearly everything. Able to walk to Starbucks for coffee. My son and I played 9 holes of golf before 7am and were able to get to our tourneys by 9. For outdoor buffs, the walking trail was great, as were pool, driving range, and dual putting greens and miniature golf for the kids. All within walking distance and no major roads to cross. 3) This is not applicable to me, as I live in Baltimore, but someone needs to do a better job of coordinating rides to and from airport(s). Someone suggested a bus. There is absolutely no need to have a car in Lancaster. It costs money you'd rather spend on games. 4) Saw on the survey information about Flea market. I would love to see that, as I have neither the time nor inclination to sit through a 6 hour auction. Is a Flea Marketlegal? I will volunteer to help coordinate for next year. 5) I could understand why the boardgame companies were upset by their demo location. It was nowhere near the wargaming nor the dealer area, as it logically should have been. And Cafe Jay was way too crowded. 6) Tikal had 75 entrants, about the same last year, repeating three out of four of last year;s finalists: Arthur, Davyd and Jack. Newcomer Valerie I think was unprepared for what awaited her. Davyd cruised to an easy win, as everyone else beat up on each other. 7) Regarding games, there must be a better mechanism for rewarding those who are prepared to bring their games for play. Not only do you risk losing pieces (I know of one lost treasure in a Tikal game, which kills the game!) but you also have to stay behind and clean up while other people cruise on to their next event. I challenge this board to come up with a fair mechanism for rewarding those who bring their game. One thought I had personally is to actually give a victory point, medal, whatever for those willing to go the extra mile, but I am not sure that is too radical. Daniel Enthusiastic Participant at WBC 2005. Ewan - Aug 8, 2005 9:13 am (#17687 Total: 17848) WBC AAR, version thirty-eight. Hotel/logistics commentary: I’ve been to the Host for several years now as a competitor at Historicon (and yes, the WBC crowd is far more mainstream). But I’ve never actually stayed there as a hotel guest. For WBC, where I expected accurately to be gaming until 1-2 a.m., I chose to stay on site. Good stuff: 1. Staff, at least most of them, and willingness to help. A couple of the front desk staff suffered from an overdose of superciliousness, and the ninety year-old bartender could not move more than 0.2 mph, but otherwise folk were responsive if too few. Even getting an engineer up at 2 a.m. was handled pretty well. 2. Location. Lancaster is OK access-wise by road, if not great, but is certainly much more amenable to folk bringing families, and the selection of other hotels is good. Be warned that their quality is very patchy, but I can vouch for the Hawthorn Inn and the Continental Hotel – skip the MacIntosh, Italian Villa, or Super 8. While we didn’t get a dining guide this year – Paul Weintraub, where were you? – I know where to find decent coffee, excellent breakfast, and outstanding Chinese food within 5 min. Enough when I only eat one meal in the week anyway. 3. Facilities. As mentioned by others, the grounds are great, the pools are good, and I hope to get to play golf next year. Bad stuff: 1. Age/Rooms. The age showed in the gaming areas – no big deal except that many of the tables were barely usable – but also in the rooms, which I hadn’t expected. I arrived early, but was given a smoking room initially (and the staff refused to believe that it was a smoking room until I offered to take them to inspect!); the second room was OK in size, but had no a/c, a slimy bathroom, and a non-functional faucet. This was at noon; I was promised that all would be fixed immediately. None were. On returning from second visit to the room at 8, I again mentioned the problems, and received the same assurance. The bathroom was cleaned, but the a/c remained absent and the faucet unfixed. That latter never did get repaired. Getting back to the room around midnight, the front desk promised that they would rouse an engineer to come fix it but that I would need to stay awake for him to enter the room. At 1 a.m., I called back… to find that he had come and gone, had not needed to enter after all, but they had not called ‘in case we were asleep.’ Argh. The a/c, however, did limp into action so that by morning we were below 80 degrees. I would not stay on site again even given the schedule, and this would be a MAJOR factor preventing my from returning. 2. No decent workout space. 3. Smoke! I find it hard to believe that there is still smoking permitted in a non-enclosed space, much less one that is part of the main lobby! Bizarre and repulsive. 4. Space. I had expected to find a lot more gaming space; this was not so, and we were often crowded (although I would still say that it was a little better than WBC on average). A big factor here is NOISE – the age, large rooms, and lack of any buffering material combine so that it was damn near impossible to hear folk at your table most of the time. Overall, it was a negative move for me, primarily because of the ravages of age. I gather that the Host was foreclosed on several months back, and is now in the hands of an investment group who have promised significant investment (which seems financially merited – I am surprised anyone managed to make a loss there); that would get me to return a second time, but if nothing changed I would not come back a third (although I might attend and stay offsite, but I’m one of the folk who have stayed onsite to support the WBC room block up until now, and if we stop doing so I doubt the con can survive). Gaming: This was a year of high variance. I had the worst gaming experiences of my life: one final where there was a pre-game pact [admitted to when I asked!] to attack me as well as a *lot* of highly offensive and highly personal verbal attacking, despite the presence of the (inactive in addressing this) GM as a finalist. And one game (Medieval) where as the last person to play I started my first turn unable to do *anything* [yes, seriously] and remained in that state for 95% of the game. Now there’s broken. But, I also had some wonderful games: my first face-to-face games of War at Sea [nice crowd, and congrats, Dennis], a superbly friendly heat game of Age of Renaissance, the usual superlative Britannia crowd and games (apologies for having to skip the final to rush back home, and apologies to the Baby Seals for whom this was my team event – hope it didn’t make the difference), the friends, all the new stuff for me – like playing Pro Golf! So while I gave serious thought to just quitting WBC, I’ll be back, but with some events and people just cut out. Enough said, I suspect. Paul Murphy - Aug 8, 2005 9:42 am (#17692 Total: 17848) Tourny Comments Wow! Great Con. Thoughts: Hotel: A room is a room. A previously mentioned 20 minute round tripto a room could be cut down to 10 (less than HVI) if you cut accross the pool area. I found the food much better mostly due to the ceasar salads and reasonably healthy foods at fair prices at Cafe Jay (I did not attend at HVI last year). Water vollyball was THE event. Come take on the reigning champs, Chris "I got distracted by the pink bikini" Terrell, Ross "the Hammer" (from Greenville) and myself. With the addition of golf, HVI is a distant spec in the rearview mirror of LH. Gaming space: I agree with Arthur (and I hate that . The paradise room was too hot. Other than that, fine. Gaming: A huge thanks to all the GMs. I plan on assisting next year and gming after that. Time to step up. Sunday gaming is a real problem if you live out west and it gets much, much worse if you take mass transit. (In all fairness, HVI is better in this regard due to the fact that you can take an expensive cab.) Without the boring details you either rented a car, costing $$$$, with the hope of gaming sunday morning and catching a late flight or took mass transit early to ensure you made your late afternoon flight. I met two guys on the plane back to Salt Lake City that had to take the 9 am Amtrak for a 5pm flight. Besides moving back to HVI, is there anyway the GMs can start their finals to ensure they end by 1:30? It will help the west coasters and the drivers to get a jump on that fun Sunday afternoon summer congestion. Thanks again to everyone. Be happy and healthy. Until next year.... John Coussis - Aug 8, 2005 9:47 am (#17694 Total: 17848) "Pacific Typhoon" - The Pacific War Sequel to Atlantic Storm, coming to the GMT Games P500 List Soon WBC Thoughts Hotel: Just fine Golf on Monday: Not bad at all Food: Good taste, good value Tournaments: Very enjoyable (Air Baron Final was a riot, at least what we did to GM Josh Githens afterwards ) Atlantic Storm Event: 126 great players, lots of fun, Brad Jones took the title, with a very excited Carol Caler finishing 2nd. People: Everyone I played games with, talked with, ate with, drank with, played golf with, and hung out with were fantastic. Parting Thought: Can we do it again next week????? p.s. For those who hadn't heard, "Pacific Typhoon", the Pacific sequel to Atlantic Storm, is going to be on the GMT P500 List soon. Ben Knight made the deal with GMT last week, and I've volunteered to do the last pieces of development. I've created a discussion folder in the Card Game section for people to come for updates and to post their ideas. Barcafer - Aug 8, 2005 10:23 am (#17699 Total: 17848) Ludeo Ergo Sum Host v HVI I thought the room was older, but bigger - we fit three with a fold out bed. Little deck by pool was a nice touch. The pool was great compared to the kiddy pool they pass off at HVI. Housekeeping did not refill our coffee or give us new cups, which probably could be resolved with a call to the desk, but I did not have the time or energy for something so minor. Food - Far better at Host. Hot dogs were edible, compared to the things HVI tried to pass off as Hamburgers. I ate almost exclusively at Cafe Jay. Salads big and fresh. Most specialty items good, some at least passable. (Being half italian, I have high standards for lasange) The two meals I ate at the bar were good and served quickly. Gaming space worked out well. I was never at a loss to find a table at any time to play any game. What more can you ask? Overall, I think the Host was far better and certainly the price was better. First day, it was tough to get my bearings, but by the second day, I knew exactly where to go. Great vendor space. Finally, thanks to all I played against. I had a great time in every game, win or lose. Thanks to the GM's, the board and Don. Frank McNally - Aug 8, 2005 10:34 am (#17700 Total: 17848) First, thanks Don, GMs and others who helped make it happen. Great Convention! Scheduling worked out pretty well and I managed to play most of my preferred games. Food at Host was fine. To save time, but have something freshly prepared I ate in the bar (which I never found all that smokey at meal time). Chicken or burger with a side and a drink was <$10. The family attractions seem very good in the area. Attendance seemed huge and attendees seemed to be well behaved and friendly. I stayed 2 doors down at the "America Best Inn", because I was not able to commit to coming early. That hotel seemd dirtier than the Host (which seemed pretty clean in the common areas I saw). My first room was partially flooded by a defrosting refrigerator (despite pointing out to them that it was leaking). Second room was better, but also had a non-functioning fridge, which I kept from leaking by draining and chipping the ice. I would not recommend it, unless there is an interior rennovation or it was much cheaper. I would not have my family accompany me to it. Overall the location is convenient, but transport to secondary hotels from the Amtrak station is problematic (Host has a nice shuttle...could they agree to transport conventioneers to certain other overflow hotels?). Lancaster seems to have 1 cab company and very few cabs running. Wednesday afternoon the wait time from the trainsation was 90 minutes. Locals informed me that 45-60 minutes is not uncommon, and occasionally even prearranged cabs are significantly late. Frank McNally Richard Irving - Aug 8, 2005 10:57 am (#17701 Total: 17848) Hotel opinions, gripes, etc. 1. Age/Rooms. The age showed in the gaming areas – no big deal except that many of the tables were barely usable – but also in the rooms, which I hadn’t expected. I arrived early, but was given a smoking room initially (and the staff refused to believe that it was a smoking room until I offered to take them to inspect!); I had this same experience at the HVI a couple of years ago! (apparently the HVI assigned the 0XXX rooms (past the tennis courts & down the elevator) as "temporary" smoking rooms.) Overall, I didn't have to walk as far as I did at the HVI (but I got lucky with a close-in room), but a lot of stair climbing instead. One odd thing was the nearest ice machine was down the stairs, out the exit and back inside on the lower level. I could see wheelchair access would be a BIG problem. My room was OK. I didn't have the problems others reported. The AC worked passably well. It didn't have a mold invasion in the bathroom. It could do for a remodel, though. But then again, I only slept there. Except at Cafe Jay/Demo area, the tables seemed to be spaced further apart than at HVI (maybe we were be squeezed in there.) Merchant of Venus was held in Marietta, a lot like the Salons at HVI but larger, was large enough to have another event going on and it usually did. Not too many problems. I liked those oval tables in Open Gaming. Much better size & shape for multiplayer games. How many does the hotel have? The Hopewell room was a little theater/auditorium for about 60 people which worked very well for Facts in Five--a lot like a college lecture hall. Perfect for the WBC's "final exam". It was also used for Pro Golf, Ace of Aces circuses and some meetings. Seminars with game designers or a war college would work well there. Why weren't the Junior's events in Kinderhook room? (At least the name would be appropriate!) Apparently, the game library and events were popular with the kids and parents. We needed signs/kiosks to point new arrivals to registration. I was asked many times on Tuesday where it was. If I charged a nickel each time I was asked where to register.... The only real problem area was the ballroom lobby--it was just too much having food service, Rio Grande and tournament game demos and being the main access to the Ballroom and all of the smaller rooms downstairs through the same area. Possibly move the GMT/MMP demos to Lampeter or in a Conestoga Room (where more wargamers will see them) and move the other demos back to the Paradise terrace. Need some way to get from the stairs to where we want to go. The dealer's room was very good. A good selection of vendors and fit the room well. If we get more, we may have to find a larger space for them. Most of all there is space to grow as other events were going on simultaneously with us and we didn't really affect each other--though I got a new job at Target! Overall, I'd say I like the new hotel a bit better than the old. (And I didn't get a round of golf in.) A little ironing out of the problems, otherwise OK. Gary Phillips - Aug 8, 2005 11:43 am (#17707 Total: 17848) hail mother motor hail piston rotor hail wheel This was my first year staying in the hotel, so I can't compare rooms, but I must say that the attitude of the staff struck me as a huge positive. The food, hours and attitude of the staff (some of whom were working extended shifts to accommodate us) at the Cafe Jay food lines was a huge improvement over the HVI. I agree with many of the negatives expressed earlier, but overall think the LH was a better experience, venue-wise. Perhaps some of the difficulties could be addressed with some judicious re-arranging of where events were held. However, keep the vendor room where it is, or at least don't put it in a smaller space, the one at the HVI always made me claustraphobic. Overall, I think I prefer the LH, though the HVI has some personal advantages (an hours drive instead of two to Lancaster). Another great experience, as usual. It all seems to fly by so fast. Most importantly, another huge THANK YOU to Don, the Board, the GM's and everybody else who help make the WBC a 'must' to attend, even if it's just be being a good sport, or helping out in some small (or not so small) way. See you next year. Wray Ferrell - Aug 8, 2005 11:57 am (#17711 Total: 17848) Currently reading "Avengers of the New World", "The Black Jacobins", and "The Making of Haiti" WBC Thoughts Positives: The staff was very friendly, though I found the service to be lacksidiscal at times. More space for gaming. Negatives: Food. Reading the above posts, maybe I was just unlucky, but all of the food I got at lunch time I thought was pretty lousy. I did not try the dinner selections because, I know I am a heretic, I like to go out for dinner at night. At HVI it was possible to do that without a car given the resturants across the street. At the Host you really needed a car to get to them. Hotel. It is quite old and my walls seemed paper thin. I was in an area of room that mostly were filled with 12-16 yr old kids and I could hear everything going on. Travel: It was a pain to get to the Host. It was much easier, for me at least, to get to HVI. Bottom Line: If the gaming space was the same I would pick HVI hands down. However I am willing to stay at the Host just for the additional space. Though I would suggest that the food line be moved out of Cafe Jays (and no demos be allowed in there either) and put the food line near the demo area. It was not until Thursday that I stumbled upon the demo area... Mark Guttag - Aug 8, 2005 12:20 pm (#17714 Total: 17848) Fairfax, VA Daniel Broh-Kahn wrote: I challenge this board to come up with a fair mechanism for rewarding those who bring their game. One thought I had personally is to actually give a victory point, medal, whatever for those willing to go the extra mile, but I am not sure that is too radical. I think this is a game by game thing. With E&T and Memoir '44, I have given out higher tie breaker numbers to players with games. The tie breaker number is the 4th tie breaker in Memoir '44 after wins, medals and losses. I also use the tie breaker to resolve ties for 5th and 6th place when there is no playoff game for either of these positions, as was the case this year in Memoir '44 for 6th place. I don't know what effect this has on players bringing games, but I've always had a surplus of games in the heats of E&T and we had extra games for Memoir '44 this year. Which reminds me: I want to thank all of the Memoir '44 players who brought games this year. We had more than enough games to play 46 games in the 1st round of the tournament! Given that some of the Eurogame tournaments, not even 1 in 4 players bring a game, it was great that over 1/2 of the Memoir '44 players were willing to bring a game. I would also like to apologize to the Memoir '44 players for the long registration line on Saturday, but my Assistant GMs and I were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming turnout of 93 players; usually games drop off in attendance during their 2nd year, particularly with a format and schedule change, but Memoir '44 actually increased its number of entrants. I know that Days of Wonder was very pleased, and I am hoping they will be able to support us as "wonderfully" as they did this year. To address the registration issues for next year, if I am the GM for Memoir ’44, I will be requesting that I be allowed the following format changes: 1. I want to start the Memoir ’44 tournament at 12 PM on Saturday, so that all of the players who are eliminated from the Battle Cry after the first round will be able to play in Memoir ’44. 2. I would like to run two 2-round heats of Memoir ’44. Players who win both of their games in either heat will advance to the 3rd Round which will start at 4 PM on Saturday. One of the two heats will be on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and will last 4 hours. The other heat will run from 12 PM on Saturday until 4 PM on Saturday. Players who want to be able to advance in Battle Cry will need to play in the earlier heat, so that they can play in round 3 at 4 PM on Saturday, after Battle Cry finishes. 3. I will be requesting from Don that the GMs of Memoir ’44, and Battle be allowed to stake out up to 6 tables for their continuous use on Saturday to insure that players don’t have to hunt for places to set-up a game and so that the GMs don’t have to run around the entire Lampeter Room to see where up to 23 tables (46 games) are set-up. With Battle Cry and Memoir ’44 running as I am proposing, we will have about 5-6 rows of tables (each row has 3 tables) in constant use. I am also willing to help in any way I can with determining and implementing a better system for allocating space for larger footprint wargame tournaments (i.e. tournaments where there are 16 or more games set-up at one time) such as The Russian Campaign, We the People, Memoir ’44, Battle Cry, etc. I think it is unfair to the GMs of the larger footprint tournaments priority in terms of allocating blocks of space. It’s just a fact that a smaller footprint tournament can fit in more different spaces than a larger footprint tournament can. And please understand, I am not in favor of moving a game in progress for a smaller footprint tournament. What I am proposing is that smaller footprint tournaments be made aware of what the times when various tables are reserved for larger footprint tournaments so that the games from smaller footprint tournaments will not be set up on those tables during those times. Mark Brian Youse - Aug 8, 2005 1:13 pm (#17723 Total: 17848) The hurrieder I go the behinder I get... WBC thoughts from a guy who never got a badge... HVI vs. LHH - I had a room with two king sized beds which was 20' from the lobby. No problems there, although the women at the front desk insisted, to the point of near argument, that no room in the hotel had two king-sized beds. Since I figured she'd think it a cheap pick-up line I didn't offer to take her to my room and point that out. I think the walk at HVI or LHH is long, but so what. We can't run WBC at a Comfort Inn where all rooms are 50' from the gaming area, we're a big con! What struck me is that it seemed so empty. Attendance was down i'm told, by as much as 4-5% supposedly, but it was just quiet. I never went in the big "2 player gaming room" except for one 10 min mission to check on someone's dinner plans. I never went in the various halls and cubbies to see the various rooms. I didn't know Matrix was even at the event until Sat when one of the guys from Matrix hunted me down to chat a bit. Decision? For all I know they were never there. What is needed to fix this: SIGNS. BIG SIGNS. They cost 100 bucks at Kinkos, tops. VENDOR ROOM -> would have done wonders for all the various vendor rooms. As a vendor, we made about 500 bucks more than last year. Which was disappointing because we had essentially three new products. But the traffic in the vendor area never seemed as busy as at HVI. Larger room size? I don't know. I do know we had a freebie game to give away and I was giving one to just about everyone who came to the booth or who was walking around whom I recognized as not having received one. I gave away 270 free games. That never added up for me as I thought about it on the ride home. Overall the vendor space was far superior although we could use some more visibility. Food? I had subs from WaWa four times; Long John Silvers once when I just had to leave the hotel for a few minutes; and "Legends" once. A single 3am Waffle House run capped out my weekend's worth of food. Legends was passable but expensive for what it was, although Lancaster Ale is and will be a favorite of mine since last weekend - nice color, robust flavor, and fairly reasonably priced at $4.50 a draft. The roast pig smelled good, don't really recall HVI roasting a pig for us. All they ever did was run out of food by Sat morning. Demo Area: As I told Don (seemingly earning the moniker of "always complaining" in the process), the demo area felt like "exclusive" gaming area - MMP (and GMT) seemingly paid for private gaming space. Little to no traffic. We directed people down there from the vending area as often as possible; not sure if any of that worked to any advantage. I think Dan's idea would be fine, but due to other considerations Cafe Jay warrants first choice of area so its ultimately up to him. I like the facilities; mostly. My knees are aching terribly from the steps, but that's my fault for being overweight. Still a concern at a convention - i'm not the only overweight guy there. The AC in the room barely worked, but I was only there about 4 hours a day so who cares? The water pressure was horrid, but that's not unique to LHH in the travel industry. And they deep fry their scrapple. Blech. Scrapple should be pan-fried with crispy edges. I never ate breakfast there again after the first day. Decent sales results. Lots of business conducted. And thanks to Dan we even discovered a new fun Eurogame with excellent little bits. WBC as the week I look forward to every year? A-. Facilities? Personal: C+ Demo: E (business wise; A for personal time) Vendor Area: A- Hooking up with great friends again? Priceless. Randy Cox - Aug 8, 2005 1:26 pm (#17727 Total: 17848) Death tally in Mr. Bush's War: 23,000. And climbing. Superstar Baseball recap For the second year, we used my updated All-Time All-Star charts (28 all-star franchises to pick from). We had 19 attendees and only the really bad teams were left out of the mix (like the all-time Brewers/Pilots and the all-time Mariners). To avoid any thoughts of impropriety, I selected last and wound up with the all-time all-star Texas Rangers (including their brief stint as the Washington Senators). So, there was one putrid team in the mix. Table winners were... Table 1) My Rangers went 2-1 and advanced over the 2-1 Braves (Marshall Collins) and 2-1 Expos (Bill Beckman) via tiebreaker. Newcomer Ken Good's Astros (last year's runner-up) went 0-3. Table 2) Harry Flawd's Red Sox ran the table over the Cubs (John Emery, 2-1), Pirates (Gormy, 1-2), and Phillies (John Shaheen, 0-3). Table 3) Tom Parauda's Indians were also perfect over three 1-2 teams--the Yankees (Dolan Sr), A's (Bob Jamelli), and Orioles (Steve Vance). Table 4) Another tiebreaker table, where Dave Gantt's Late Negro league stars went 2-1 to advance. Fellow one-lossers were the Early Negro Leaguers (John Tighe) and the Dodgers (Peter Putnam). Scott Nerny's Reds didn't win a game. Table 5) With only 3 players, all ended with a single loss. As has become habit, Bruce Young won via tiebreaker with the Tigers, but bowed out (along with several others) to attend semi-finals of other events. The other members of the table were Mike Hazel (Cardinals) and Greg Berry (Giants). So, we had five automatic advancers and three wild cards. Due to Bruce's departure, we ended up drawing four wild card representatives. Those were: the Expos, Early Negro Leaguers, Giants, and Orioles (who were selected after two other teams were drawn, but the managers had departed). Quarter-final results Vance's Orioles/Browns rallied to down my Rangers 4 to 3. Flawd's Sox outslugged Berry's Giants 8 to 6 behind Clemens. Tighe's Early Negro Leaguers took down Parauds'a Indians 3 to 1. Gantt's Late Negro Leaguers breezed past Les Expos 4 to 1. Semi-finals Harry Flawd had to play some untraditional Red Sox baseball (suicide squeeze?) but came away with a hard-fought victory over one of last year's newcomers (Vance) and his Orioles. Final score: 5 to 3. In the all-Negro-League game, Dave Gantt couldn't get it going against John Tighe's squad of not-so-common names from the early 1900s. Final score: 5 to 2. Championship Game So, after games that all looked like respectable baseball scores, it was time for the Big Showdown between the Red Sox (now 5-0) and the Early Negro Leaguers (4-1). The game started at 2:53 and was essentially over a by 3 o'clock. After "Bullet" Joe Rogan struck out the side in the first inning, the Sox came back with a string of five base-runners in a row followed by Bog's three-run homer. That six-run second inning sealed the Negro Leaguers fate and it was just a matter of time (25 minutes, to be exact--the finals always go quickly). Tiant was finally taken out in the ninth so that Eckersley could mop up the 11 to 2 victory for Boston, giving Harry a copy of the game and another SSB championship plaque, not to mention a perfect record for the day. Johnny Pesky went 3-for-5 on the day with two triples and a double. For the Early Negro Leaguers, their only shining players were Pop Lloyd (2-for-4) and relief pitcher Rube Foster (2-for-2 with a double and both RBIs, but he gave up four hits, two walks, and two runs in his two innings on the hill). Biggest thrashing of the tournament: the Late Negro Leaguers beat the Dodgers 14-3. Most unusual victories: the Braves two victories both came due to opposing pitchers throwing late-inning wild pitches to score the go-ahead runner. Arthur Field - Aug 8, 2005 4:21 pm (#17749 Total: 17848) My Con Flew up on Sunday with wife Kate and daughter Allyson. Met Davyd in airport, who had flown from CA. Great to see my son again. Went to Hershey hotel and then over to amusement park. We road many rollercoasters multiple times. Much fun. Love the excitement. Next day we went to Hershey factory and bought lots of chocolate. I gave out York peppermint patties at WBC all week. Drove to Gettysburg and met a lot of the Mafia there who drove from SC. Had purchased driving tour of battlefield and did that. Always love that. Very informative. Went down into Devil's Den for first time. Wow. Walked around the town. Davyd played a quick El Grande. Next day: shopping in Gettysburg and then on to WBC and check-in. Played Shadow of Emperor. 6 PM. Had to skip Auction heat. Kate played in her first game. Won her Auction heat. She was thrilled. Me too. (Always a relief when spouse starts well.) I won my Shadow. Then played in Attika as a warm body because the GM needed 1 more person to make 40. Then played Louis 14. Won that. Liked both of these new games a lot. Managed to get in a swim in the pool before the games started and our Greenville intro party and toast to deceased companions. Wed: It starts becoming a blur. Win Amun Re heat. Ditto Goa. Came in 2nd in Auction, but enough to make semi-final. 16 of us. Random draw. Ken, Bruce and I were sure we would be together just like last year. I drew first, Bruce drew in the middle and Ken took the last card. Was never any doubt. We played a really tough semi. Bart Kelley was the 4th. I almost won, then Bart almost did (missed by $20), and then Bruce pulled it out. Well done. Wife gets a 2nd in her semi. Union Pacific. 3 great games. Came in 3rd in the final. Was wonderful to be there when Mullet lost his virginity. He quietly snuck into the lead taking advantage of us beating up on clear leader. Thurs: A quick loss at Carc to start the morning. Then the Shadow semi and final. Won Shadow. OK, it was a trial, but wood is wood and I felt good about the wood. Enjoyed the game very much. Sad it didn't get better attendance, but it was too early in the week. People needed to learn it from Jay. Then won a Tikal heat. Then PRO. (Sad I didn't get to play Web or El Grande because of the conflicts.) I even got in a heat of Lost Cities right after, which was fun. I squeezed a Ra heat in there somewhere too. Fri: Goa semi-final and final. Did not enjoy the final at all. We played in Paradise all day that day. As games started people came in to sign up. The crowd press and the noise was awful when you are trying to concentrate in a final. We should have moved rooms. I came in second and may have done better if I could think clearly. It really does make a difference to me when I am trying to count backwards over two or more turns. Made it just in time to PRO to get my second win so I knew I would move on. (I never play a game a second time unless it is required. I hate to take up the table spot from somebody else or be sandbagging to keep somebody else from winning.) Battle Line started. Won my pod and then got to have a re-match with Sean for first round. Kate was very upset she didn't advance. She won 2 and lost the tie-breaker. Ended up successfully defending my title. That felt great. Even Bruce couldn't say the wood didn't count. Especially since he hadn't gotten his first one yet. (Beat him by about 1 hour.) Sad to miss the advanced rounds of Louis 14. Hate winning and taking a spot away from the guy I beat and then not moving forward, but I couldn't get there in time with Battle Line. Did manage to get in one heat of St Petersburg. Saturday: Starting to feel the pressure from competition and lack of sleep. Nothing to play until 11 AM. Went to Tikal since as asst GM I thought it wise to make sure GM arrived. Waited for semi-final. We rescheduled the finals for that night. Got in another heat of St. Pete. Then Tom DeMarco had a nightmare of a time winnowing from 20 to 16 for the semi. I suggested a plan where all 20 would get to play, but several of the players vetoed the idea and wanted to eliminate 4 now rather than 1 later. (I knew I was in the 16 but tried to get it so everyone got a chance.) We got the semi going quite late since lots of numbers had to be crunched. Hard to do when the semi follows the heat. We agreed to play the final late that night to allow people to play in other games. Got a bye out of the PRO quarter final so played an Adel V. heat just to fill in. That was fun. Then the Tikal final. As always, Jack, Davyd and I started fighting almost from the first bid. Jack took my favorite tile just to waste it. Problem with playing over and over with same guys. Everyone knows what you want to do. Valerie was in way over her head in testosterone. She plays well but isn't used to our style or that much whining. She likes the everyone can get along strategy. We like the kill your neighbor if he steps onto your land strategy. I learned it from Mark Smith and Jack, who hates when you do it to him. Davyd played a great game and beat us soundly. I got a second. It ended a lot faster than usual. Managed to play the St. Pete final right after and get through before 1 AM. Good St Pete round. They got the observatories, which was fine with me. I don't really like it. I snagged the mistress and built blues and scored 66 to win. Low scoring game. I think second scored 39. I felt I had lots of good karma from my attempt to accomodate everyone into the semis. Sunday: No food. No breakfast bar and PRO semis. Did not enjoy my game at all. John is a hard table mate. (Yes, I am too.) He is a great GM, but it is always tough playing with the GM. He is constantly being distracted, which distracts the other players. I made a mistake and asked to retract it. John ruled against me. He was probably right, but it was unduly harsh given the distractions. Cost me the game. Melinda played well and won. I was second by only a few. But it freed me up to play in Amun semis. Matched against Evan, my nemesis in Amun. 2 defending champs at same table. He won. Played very well and I was hosed from first round. Nick Anner played really well and snatched the win from Davyd in the finals on the last sacrifice round. Nick should learn to stay down in the wargaming room. You guys let him out way too often. (What a great gamer and a really, really nice guy Nick is.) Tally: 3 Firsts, 2 seconds, 1 third. Maybe enough for consul. Or at least close. Really wanted that 4th to tie Rebecca. Had excellent time seeing everyone and sharing games and stories. Family had a good time too. Glad to have chance to chat with Dave Metzger and many other 'new' people I rarely see in the Euro rooms. Arthur Rob Seulowitz - Aug 8, 2005 4:25 pm (#17751 Total: 17848) Minutus cantorum minutus balorum; minutus carbonatum descendum pantorum Lancaster? I hardly know 'er! Favorite quote from the survey: You must rate all nine choices with a different number or your answer will be invalid. This is what happens when you let people who only read Game rules design questionnaires. Personal Highlights: - Nearly winning a game of KREMLIN (by far, the most cheerful game I played, with a good crowd that surprisingly included GM Pete Stein). - Ross Jones finally getting off the snide and beating myself and Doug Smith in the SUCCESSORS final. Kudos and Huzzah, Ross! - Playing in the world's shortest ever game of Dune (hint: Harkonen should never go last in a five player game). - Seeing my patrone JR Tracy finally take #1 in ASL. - Hanging out with Perry "Pete" Cocke and schmoozing with game developers on Monday. - Playing a few turns of Herr Doktor's brilliant TRIUMPH OF CHAOS with the good Doctor Doktor himself available to assist. This is a great, great game - dense with history, but rich in both Strategy and Tactics. And beautifully produced, to boot! - Hanging in for a third place finish in SAC NOIR. Lookout, Don - Dan Dolan will make this a trial event next year or I'll eat my yearbook. As for the the LH vs HVI debate, despite some obvious flaws, the LH is miles ahead of HVI, most especially in terms of family friendliness. PS - I lost 6 small plastic trays (inserts for my Raaco storage boxes, about 4" x 2.5") left in Flesheater -- I mean Lampeter Hall on Saturday Night. If you have them, please contact me. Thanks. George Young - Aug 8, 2005 5:24 pm (#17755 Total: 17848) Great Con, as always. Don and the Board deserve great praise. Now, I'll add to the comparisons. 1. Food. Some improvements, but overall worse than HVI. Breakfast buffet much worse and the service was terrible (how does a hotel have too few servers for a buffet????). Not to mention the hostesses. Cafe Jay roughly equivalent. But no comparison to HVI bar, which had very good sandwiches/salads at reasonable prices. As for the pool, it was relatively good, but 25 minutes to cook a hamburger?? I was astounded. 2. Rooms. HVI is generally better, but only slightly so. Wet things actually dried in Lancaster (which they never did at HVI). Still, given that I spent only 6 hours a day there and was unconscious for most of that time, doesn't matter. 3. Demo area. Wish it were more visible. I love observing them, but had no reason to trot down to Paradise, so rarely went past. 4. Gaming space. Better, even though Lampeter got crowded at times. Actually played my first round WW game in one of the side rooms b/c we couldn't find space. For WTP, there were a bunch of games on the large round tables, due to lack of space. Good lighting though. 5. People. What can I say -- wonderful as usual. Joel A Tamburo - Aug 8, 2005 6:08 pm (#17756 Total: 17848) The Ultimate Joelist. Even bigger fan of the WBC. Come play Medieval there in 2005! Hi, Well, I guess it's my turn to rate everything. First, however, as Medieval GM I want to apologize to Ewan for the subpar experience he had. His position was plagued by poor luck, with England being hit by Disaster, Excommunication and Civil War. Had I thought of having sub-awards (like Gangsters does), he surely would have won for worst luck, as none of those conditions were related to the quality of his play. As to the Hotel, I would rate the following as positives: 1) More space. Regardless of issues with how things were arranged, the increase in space was a big improvement. 2) Hotel staff, although understaffed, were a big improvement over the HVI. They were for the most part friendly, and knew their jobs well. 3) Pricing on both rooms and food were better than HVI. The food was about $4 cheaper across the board in the onsite restaurants, and the close by eating choices were also better (Ladd's restaurant was really good, the salad bar there was excellent). 4) More vendors (welcome back Avalanche) and also the vendors had more space so that the vendor area was not claustrophobic. That said, there are issue areas: 1) The hotel is a bit antiquated. It really needs at least one more elevator, and possibly an escalator to the lower level. Also there is need for better TVs in the rooms and updated viewing selections. 2) Travel issues. Actually the Host is not as inaccessible as some make it out to be. As suggested earlier, BPA can go a long way towards allieviating this with a more planned approach to travel info, perhaps even looking into renting out a vehicle for pickups and dropoffs to airports. Note this is purely hotel related stuff; I'll post on the convention (which was way good) later. I vote we stay. John Weber - Aug 8, 2005 11:17 pm (#17771 Total: 17848) Euro-Games in Pre-Con and More PRO Info I want to respond to a couple of previous posts that were either uninformed or inaccurate, and also to add to some earlier posts. 1. The Euro Games pre-con question was not about adding or moving single event Euro games to a pre-Con, but rather introducing a Euro games Wild Card event similar to last year's event at EuroQuest, which I believe is the only BPA sponsored event outside the WBC to draw over 100 participants. The idea is to have a variety of games, some new and perhaps also some old favorites, with a free-form schedule over an allotted period of time (one full day of gaming, perhaps more). It is really a cross-over between tournament play and open gaming. To win, you have to be good at a variety of games, as the point system does not allow one to score points beyond the equivalent of two wins in any particular title. That being said, Pete Stein made a good point about whether the event should be restricted to games not now part of the main WBC. I can see the counter-argument about dilution of the main event games (i.e any big event shoved into a pre-Con slot is bound to see an attendance drop), but hopefully some compromise can be reached. For example, each year there are many new trial events added, usually by sponsored exemptions from companies like Rio Grande Games and others. Why not move some or all of these games to the Wild Card event? You might also solicit GMs who might want to move their existing Century/trial event, but you would also have to offer some kind of carrot like a protected prize level or, for a trial event, possible elevation to Century if it does well. Also, from a GM standpoint, putting some trial events into the pre-Con might free up more time to play games during the week. The last couple of years I found running a popular trial event (San Juan last year and Louis this year) meant I was GM-ing something just about every day, sometimes twice a day. So putting these trial events into a Wild Card format might be the solution to this schedule congestion, both for the players as well as the GMs. I also think the free-form format might appeal to some gamers who shy away from tournaments and could actually help grow the BPA membership base to some extent. 2. Randy Cox wrote that each heat of PRO draws between 60 and 80 players. Wrong, Randy. This year our first two heats drew 99 and 88, or 25 and 22 tables, respectively, which was actually down some in number of players from 2004. The last heat this year drew alot less, but more than the paltry 10 tables from last year's 9 AM time slot. 3. Arthur wrote that I made a ruling in a game of PRO when I was playing against him in the semis. Of course, the rules prevent that and the ruling in question was actually made by a non-playing assistant GM. It was similar to a ruling I made in the 2003 final round game. My quick post-mortem of the game suggests that the ruling did not cost Arthur the game, but perhaps a shot at finishing closer to Malinda in the final score. I made a blunder toward the end of the game (mainly over-estimating the strength of the player that ended up #4) that could have put me closer to Malinda as well. (Gee, what a surprise that Arthur and I both wanted to get closer to Malinda.) But Malinda had the #1 corn seat and played a very fine game. Tne final eight in PRO (remember only 6 get plaques) were: 1 - Bill Murdock 2 - David Platnick 3 - Malinda Barnes 4 - Andrew Greene 5 - Rob Barnes 6 - Davyd Field 7 - Arthur Field 8 - Ian Mac Inness Couple of comments here. The name Bill Murdock may not be a familiar one to WBC goers, but I checked his record when I got back and he was 6th in the first PRO tournament at WBC and has a fine record the two years (2002 and 2005) he has played. In fact, he has won 5 of 7 games played and never been worse than second, two points out of first. Even Arthur and Dave Platnick, now 3-time plaque winners, have trouble matching those stats. And Bill had the largest margin of victory in the four semifinal games and (you guessed it) won with the #1 corn seat in the final. Your friendly GM made it to the semis for the first time in four tries and while I was disappointed not to go further, I was pleased to see that Malinda's win kept alive our streak of having a female gamer at the final table each year, and her third place (indigo seat this time) was the best except for Barb of course who won last year but had a rough time of it this year. Fourth place Andrew Greene advanced after declining a direct bye to the semis, and Ian Mac Inness is originally from Canada which hopefully adds a little international flavor to our event. Our sportsmanship nominee was Greg Berry, who actually reported making an illegal move in a tight game and consequently was docked 3 VP which cost him the win. And you may have noticed Davyd aced out Arthur for that coveted and rare 6th place WBC wood. But before the Field family starts getting too excited, take a look at that brother-sister combination (Malinda and Rob Barnes) that outdid the Fields by taking two of the top 5 spots, following in the footsteps of dad Barry, who was a semifinalist in 2004. I suggest a four-player PRO game with each family member in alternating seats with total score for all the marbles. Finally, in my earlier post I neglected to mention the very fine assistance of my "official" PRO GMs, Barbara Flaxington and Anne Norton, as well as unofficial helpers Stan Hilinski, Ted Simmons and Brandon Tracey. In Louis XIV, my undocumented helpers were Power Grid GM Jason Wagner and fellow GCOMers Brian and Denise Stallings, with an assist from McGartlin driver extraordinare Steve Lollis. Davyd - Aug 9, 2005 11:48 am (#17788 Total: 17848) I can still taste the sand Thanks first to all the wonderful GM's and players who make this the best week of my year! I had a great time. I played well and only slept about 16 hours the whole week. Great to see friends and family and get to play games with some of the best gamers out there. LH vs Hunt Valley: I liked the Host alot. At first I was a bit alarmed by all the change (I hate change) but the place really grew on me and I think that it will along DonCon to grow over the next decade. I am already recruiting from out in California for the next one. Being so close to the Harrisburg Airport makes west-coast travel easier (for me at least). The facilities we very nice. I was told that they are planning a renovation in the next 6-8 months and that may make the place "look" nicer. Overall, the added space was great. And the division of the Wargamers into their own space was nice (let me visit them, and I always knew where to find them). The food was MUCH better at the Host. I know alot of you use the breakfast buffet (and that it was understaffed and not good) true. But everywhere else was better and the ability to get food at "odd hours" made my con 10 times better. I would add pizza slices to the cafe jay area and I would definately take out the 'Kraut because of the smell. Though, it was nice to have cheep hot-dogs as an option at all hours. The pool bar was great! Changes: I will add more later, but I really think that the Euro's need to move out of Paridise room to the Ballroom A. More space and that room was not used to its full potential. As I said, pizza slices at cafe jay would make me happy. Not quite as happy as beating Arthur in both PRO and TIKAL!!! Davyd Bruce Monnin - Aug 9, 2005 12:51 pm (#17793 Total: 17848) Editor of MMP's Operations Magazine PRO GOLF Due to increased Thursday night competition this year, Pro Golf fell to 55 participants in this late night WBC tradition. However, with the new 18 hole format and a firmer hand from the GM, this year’s event was the smoothest in years and much shorter than some of the previous years’ early morning marathons. After receiving their instructions, the players scattered to play their 18 holes on the 2002 version of the Augusta course and report back their scores to the clubhouse in the plush Hopewell room. Charles Squibb was the qualifying round leader at 9 under par, followed by Nate Hoam and John Coussis at 6 under par. There were six players tied for the last Skins game spot, as Dan Dolan, Jr. just barely reached the room in time for the sudden death playoff with Lisa Gutermuth, Ken Gutermuth, Richard Irving, Alan Kaiser and Eric Lenhart. The father and daughter Gutermuths and Dan Dolan posted birdies on the first sudden death hole to eliminate the other three players, then Ken brushed aside his daughter and the young Dolan by scoring a birdie on the second straight hole at Pebble Beach to advance to the Skins game final. After the initial 18 holes at Augusta and the two sudden death holes at Pebble Beach, the top four players were transported to Muirfield Village in Dublin Ohio, home of the Memorial tournament, for the 12 hole Skins game. Before the start of the Skins game, each player was allowed to replace their golfer with one of the legends of the game. The good Revered Keith Hunsinger did the stroke by stroke color commentary over the PA system, doing his best Ben Wright impersonation to heckle the lesser shots achieved by the players. Nate Hoam’s Ben Hogan grabbed an early skin on the first hole with the only birdie in the field. After the next three holes were halved, Hoam again birdied hole #5 to accumulate four more Skins. Hole #6 was halved (fortunately for Nate who bogeyed) and then hole #7 saw Ken Gutermuth dramatically halve the hole by matching John Coussis’ eagle on the hole. Hole #8 was also halved, but Nate then birdied the ninth to obtain his ninth skin and win the tournament. The entire event finished about 90 minutes earlier than normal, a fact the GM and players surely appreciated when gaming started Friday morning. Craig Yope - Aug 9, 2005 1:06 pm (#17794 Total: 17848) 2005 WBC Axis & Allies GM- A New Format for a New Edition! A few bits... 1) The long tables in the Lampeter room were bad!!!!!!!! Uneven and had a tendency to move around. Chairs and the lighting were good though. 2) Why not put the wargame companies and their demos in the end of the Lampeter room? They could unload/load right through the garage doors and they would be right there with their customers. GMT/MMP, along with Decision Games (which would get them out of the Ballroom Corridor), could be arrayed in the end of the room. The tables at that end were poorly lit anyway and the round tables for those events could have been better used in the small Conestoga rooms instead of the long tables, which made it tough to move around in those rooms. At least it was problem in the two rooms farther away from the main Lampeter entrance (rooms 2 & 3?). 3) Under the heading of "Cheap B------!": a) I asked for two double beds when I reserved the room back in the Spring. If you can not guarantee such a thing, then do not give me that option! I lost my other roommate and his money for the length of the convention because of this situation. (After seeing the antics of 'Herr Dockter', maybe this was a good thing!) b) The breakfast buffet wasn't great, but I was able to fill up and make it through most of the day. I tipped in there just because I was trying to keep the staff happy so that the other gamers that were in there with young kids/families would be taken care of. That and tips for 'Goldberg' behind the bar. Anything to keep the spirits flowing. 4) Whoever came up with that map/drawing of the floorplan for the host, definitely forgot to include all the stairs! Upstairs and downstairs are very relative terms in the case of the LH. John Sharp is probably still looking for the tunnel from the Lampeter room to the Ballroom Foyer! As for the Team X demise, Dan Jr. was probably too busy "scoring" with the dark-haired beauty (Did you see all the hickeys on her neck?!?!) wearing the Devils jersey to put his full effort into his team event. I wonder which team hired her to help "torpedo" a repeat. Food for thought. In the end, good people went out of their way to put on fun events and make for an enjoyable time. I am looking forward to next year! Craig Chris Palermo - Aug 9, 2005 2:25 pm (#17800 Total: 17848) www.libogroup.com After Action Report Arrived in Lancaster Sunday afternoon, because a member of my party had signed up for the Hannibal tournament. We did some quick sight-seeing, went to dinner at Miller’s Smorgasbord, and met up with some WBC friends for some late-nite mini-golfing. Monday, the three of us remaining did some quick shopping, etc., went out to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, and did some mini-golfing with another set of friends. Tuesday, I spent the day sitting in the Auction. I had lists from 5 different people for games they were looking to buy. The $100 non-refundable deposit for a Tab scared me off a little, so I ended up paying for everything once I bought it – I think between myself and bidder #45, Jeff Mullet was ready to scream! Final total for the day – nearly $700 in purchases. Ran off to El Grande, and was playing decently – but the hubbub of the day had me frazzled. At one point, the runaway winner elected to score a particular card, and – although I HAD a Veto card, I neglected to play it (translation: completely forgot I had it). That score PRETTY much solidified the game for him, and definitely cost me at least second place. I landed in third. This, despite the fact the person to my right – apparently – was trying to ‘hint’ to me that I should use the Veto card. (As an aside – a LOT of table-talk this year – more than I’ve ever seen…I don’t know if it’s because the people think it will speed up the game (avoiding Analysis Paralysis), or if people are really just that friendly. I didn’t mind it all that much, but it certainly was unexpected. I DID find it disturbing that an equally prevalent trend was that the person leading at the end of the game would be the person to call off the table-talk (as he should). The disturbing part is that, more often than not, that person had been the original initiator of the table-talk). OK – unfazed, I ran off to Age of Steam – a game that, in my other playings, I’ve won 4 of 5 times (finishing second once). Not this time. The eventual winner (who only issued 5 shares all game – my God!) made a move to seize some of my cubes, and I panicked, building something I didn’t need to build – ultimately, he still got the cubes, and I couldn’t ship anything that turn, forcing me to lower my income. Later, after I had thought about the perfect move, I ended up forgetting what I had thought (?!) and picked a different role. In all, I was carved up better than a Thanksgiving Turkey. Finished last, overall. Time for a mindless game – Carcassonne. Oops…didn’t finish ANYTHING – not the giant city, not the road, not the cloister – 4th out of 5. Needed a curved road piece to connect the farms, which would’ve given me 2nd place, but, from the middle of the game, on, I couldn’t secure such a piece. Learned Santa Fe Rails from Rob Kircher that evening, and finished last in that open game, as well. Went to bed, a bit depressed. Wednesday – got up to play March Madness. It’s funny. I don’t’ even like the game that much anymore (certainly not face-to-face), but it was the first game I played at Avaloncon, years ago, and most of the people I played with are still there, so it’s definitely nostalgic. Plus, the complete and utter lack of sports games (only two this year: Paydirt and SuperStar Baseball), means that someone like me has to at least patronize the sports-THEMED games, lest they disappear forever, as well. Drew Reiff, and my magical streak of beating him ended, with a crushing 17 point loss. He did make it to the regional finals, however, so I couldn’t be too embarrassed. On to Goa, where I once again came up short, not TERRIBLY behind the leader, but last place, nonetheless. Just didn’t feel like I was making good decisions – in ANY game, so far. Finally, ended the day with Union Pacific – where I got unremarkably hosed – every stock I held the plurality in at one point, I either ended up sharing or losing before the end of the game. Still eked out a 3rd place finish, because earlier in the game, I had managed to secure several monopolies. Decided to not play ANYTHING else the rest of the day, hoping my luck would change the next day. Thursday – didn’t start off that way. Played St. Petersburg, and got trounced…never really got to develop a strategy – and it cost me. I also saw the very powerful capabilities of the Observatory – something I’ll definitely put into practice in future games. Played the LONGEST game of Medici I’ve ever played – nearly 1 hr 40 min. More tabletalk than I’ve ever heard in any game. It was stunning – BUT – my luck swung around, and I finished second at the table. One player made a great bid that ultimately cost me the game (and he didn’t win either, another player was the beneficiary). Still, I started feeling more rejuvenated now. Off to Atlantic Storm, or – as I like to call it, “Who Wants to be Treated Like New Guy on the Cell Block?” This year wasn’t so bad – I made the mistake of jumping out to an early lead, which encouraged the leader-bashing, but still finished tied for third, so I took some solace in that. Then, played Santa Fe Rails, and won, making it to the semi-finals. Didn’t think I would play, since I really had only learned the game two days before – but Rob talked me into coming to the semi-finals. Played Pro Golf – sadly, this event may be losing its luster for me – especially since we don’t all play in the same room. The jokes just seem contrived, but at least there was opportunity for jokes before. At one point, you could ALWAYS count on Reiff bringing in some newbie to say, “so-and-so has to make a choice, whether to lay up or go for the green?” and of course, the room would scream back at the poor unsuspecting person. Even still, this may be the last year for me – unless there’s NOTHING else going on. Nevertheless, I like the new format MUCH better – one course is far more do-able. (finished 4 over….hard course, especially with Mac “Could I suck more?” O’Grady). Friday I got up early and played my team game – Vinci. Finished second, one point behind, and made the semi-finals. Funny moment occurred when I realized that I had neglected to score four points due to miscounting, halfway through the next player’s turn. Didn’t ask “Can I score them?” but waited for someone at the table to offer the choice to me – no one did, and I probably made the SF because of that (had I scored the points, I would’ve been the leader going into the last turn, and probably would’ve finished MORE than 1 point behind the leader!) Tossed in a quick game of Lost Cities against Harry Flawd – a true defensive struggle – final score (for the three games COMBINED) was 86-76 (and he actually did get one 20-pt bonus in the game for having 8 ore more cards in an expedition). Later that evening, played another round of Carcassonne, and came within one city hex of winning – ended up coming in 2nd (still a vast improvement!). On to Battleline – beat Rob K. in the first hand with a breakthrough. Second game, played a younger kid, and made one mistake. Didn’t take the flag at the beginning of the turn – mind you, the flag was claimable (Darius-9-10 in yellow), and I had three cards on it already, but, I played a card elsewhere, and went to claim this OTHER flag, and the kid jumped out of his seat, yelling, “you can’t take it, you have to take it at the beginning of the hand!” I apologized for forgetting and showed him, my move didn’t affect that card stack at all, but he relented, and I said ‘fine’ (Aside: people in my gaming group are just nicer overall! LOL – in my friend’s game, he had the opportunity to claim TWO flags at the beginning of his turn, and when he went to claim the second (which his opponent didn’t realize was ‘claimable’), the opponent said, “oh, wait, I have a card here that will stop that” and redid his move. My friend said that was okay (and ultimately lost the game). We need to stop being so nice!) Anyways, back to the kid – he played “Traitor” and took away one of my cards (Darius). No problem, thought I – I have the 8 and the 7 in my hand, now, so I can have fun. Allowed the kid to take four flags (not 3 in a row however) before playing and claiming the 8-9-10 card and the breakthrough (and I kept the 7, in case he played Mud). After all his work, he still suffered a 6-0 defeat. Karma paid me back though – next game, facing the only 0-2 player at the table, I completely lost track of things, and thought a regular straight beat a flush, which cost me the game. Still, I would’ve advanced, but I elected to drop out and do something else. Went to play Jambo at 10, and finished 2nd in the heat! (ok, ok, there were only two of us there). Neat little game – I picked it up after the con. Played an Open game of Age of Steam after that, and put into practice all the things I learned the previous play, and won the game by 8 points – that’s more like it! J In bed by 4:45am……… Saturday, normally, is reserved for SuperStar Baseball, but, due to two semi-finals, I couldn’t make it (which is ok – without me there, Harry Flawd won the title). Played Vinci, and finished 4th of 5 at my SF table (not advancing) and played in the Santa Fe Rails FINALS (since only 5 of us showed up) and finished 3rd of 5 – still without much of a clue as to how things were working or what the best strategy was. (of course, as a trial event – no plaque for third). Had dinner and came back for Facts in 5 – messed up my game when I misheard one letter (it was V as in Victor, and I heard B as in Bicker). Still, probably didn’t stand a chance (SpiceBarn????????), so I was able to play Slapshot, which is also starting to wear thin with me – I think the gameplay is fine; but so much of the gimmicks just seem ‘contrived’ now. Then again, I think I was starting to get sick with the flu by that evening, so maybe I was just in a foul mood! Ended up staying up until 3pm playing Gloom – had the game won, and saw victory snatched from my fingertips on one play. Pretty much, the story of my week! J For the week: 20 heat games 3 open games 3 semi-finals/finals Overall, I liked the location better, wished the rooms were a little nicer (they’re very dated, with funky odors) – the AC worked better. I ate nominally at both places – the Host seemed slightly better. For me, though, the $30 nite savings on the room was key – so my vote would be to stay in Lancaster. Art Lupinacci - Aug 9, 2005 4:06 pm (#17815 Total: 17848) Let me GAME, and no one gets hurt!™ It may have cost me $168 per night, but the all-non-smoking Country Inn & Suites across Lapp's parking lot was the best hotel I've stayed at in a long, long time. I stayed there too for a couple of nights and I have to agree with your experience. The rooms at the CI&S were superb. Clean, fridge and micro wave included. But, I also stayed at the Lancasert Host and althought it was not as nice, I still rate it highly. The only bummer we experienced was the poor air conditioning in the room. The room was also a tad older, but I found nothing offensive about it. Regarding the smell of food, I must say I noticed nothing evil in the lower foyer either and I did eat there the night they were serving the sour kraut. I have to search hard to look for anything negative to say about the entire WBC experience in Lancaster. The only negatives, and these are very, very, very minor (I post them only because they were minor and could be open to some improvement) are: - air conditioning in the room. I would like to see this improve. - the goofy tables in the Lampeter room. - parking was a challenge - bigger dealer room and better location. Signs would help. It would have been nice to stay all week in one hotel, but I booked late and had to split between two. Other than these few points, the rest was a very positive experience. I thought the food was great. I tried almost all the venues in the hotel and managed to hit the right combination of nights where they had all the food I like to eat. My best dinner was the all you can eat Chicken with Sauce in the hotel. They had all the veggies I enjoy cooked to my liking and I feasted for 3. The restaraunts in the area are plenty, they are not expensive and all the food we ate was excellent. The steak house down the street was superb!! The 6oz filet is worth the trip alone. Personally, I prefer this place to Hunt Valley. I like to eat well when I travel and Hunt Valley did nothing for me. The year with the vouchers turned me off completely! Art Brian Youse - Aug 9, 2005 6:47 pm (#17818 Total: 17848) The hurrieder I go the behinder I get... Concerns about WBC I have a major concern when it comes to WBC and hope that the board members put some thought into my post. Unfortunately, I propose no solutions at the moment as I have none bar Don pulling persons aside and saying look, straighten up and fly right or leave. Why am I concerned? I am a vendor. I want people to attend WBC. I'd rather have 2000 people at WBC than 1200. Today I read the following on BoardGameGeek. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listid=9608 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&threadid=74698&pageID=1 I find these "geeklists" very disturbing. The amount of negative publicity due to a relative handful of gamers should be a major concern of the board. Clearly the ubercompetetiveness of certain individuals is causing problems with the perception of what WBC is. And it is keeping people away from WBC. I have -no- problem with competition at an event like WBC, but what this is spawning (read the above posts) is almost (already?) to the point of being beyond GM control. Before you scoff and say ts, Brian, if they can't handle it they shouldn't come to WBC remember, BGGcon is just a few short months away and if the image of WBC remains that of a win at all costs / bad sportsmanship con then I would guess we'd begin to lose people to that convention. I like WBC. It is my favorite week of the year. I guess I just hate to see it potentially ruined by a few bad apples. Herr Dockter - Aug 9, 2005 7:05 pm (#17819 Total: 17848) Triumph of Chaos: Russian Civil War from Clash of Arms: www.triumphofchaos.com. "...ubercompetetiveness of certain individuals..." Hmmmm....a few bad apples (NOTICE I SAY A FEW BAD APPLES - I'll bet a $100, that if we got 10 WBC'ers in a room, that could tell you the very few by name in about 10 seconds with a 100% agreement) in the mutliplayer euroweenie crowd. NOTE: I'm not mentioning any names in THIS post. Think we have talked about this before - like a hundred times or so. That's why I play wargames - even multiplayer wargames. The few times I have entered the only euro I play at WBC (Puerto Rico - which is run by a great GM), I did run into at least one of these types - so hyper about winning, that they create tension at the table - ruining the experience for everyone else. I confronted the one I encountered - but not everyone does that (OF COURSE, they should not need to). AND, of course, why is the obligation to confront the knucklehead rest on the pleasant people? Hey, life ain't fair. You got a problem with a jerk, YOU better deal with it. What's starting to piss me off is that we know who the few are - and that they are tarnishing the brand of WBC (i.e. the experience for many, now, maybe resulting in others leaving, etc). Either we call out the Dolan boys, or maybe someone needs to ban one of these poor sport chowderheads for a year or two. Afterall, no one has a right to attend WBC. "...if the image of WBC remains that of a win at all costs / bad sportsmanship con..." WBC EASILY has the best brand in the con business. Anything close? HA! Some of this is just the usual multiplayer whining, but, I think there is a LITTLE truth in it (in the multiplayer euro games). Regarding competition, well, that's a significant part of what makes WBC the best con around. I've taken a 3 year straight beating in the For the People finals to Master Pei. I always enjoy the game - and wouldn't play it at WBC if the field wasn't so strong. Same with Paths of Glory. Same with 1776. Same with any wargame tourney I have entered. One thing about all those tourneys is how good natured the competition is - and - if we would ever find a cheater, we would deal directly with the situation. Same with a bad sport - he or she would be confronted by the players and reported by the GMs I know. Anyways, as with anything, it is important to FIRST get the facts. I don't think this stuff is that big a problem. The proof is in the pudding. Don-con moved to a new location - and attendance was about the same. That is quite a testament to how strong the WBC reputation is - so, no need to over react to a few postings on Boardgamegeek. I would offer one suggestion. The Card Driven Wargame (CDW) GMs are a pretty tight group. We discuss a number of things. Maybe the eurogame GMs need to discuss how to address the issue (Don and the Board can't solve every single problem for us). Read a 5 minute statement at the begining of the euroweenie multigame events - about competition and how the 1 or 2 bad apples will not be tolerated any longer. I don't know - but, I'll bet eurogame GMs can solve the problem. If not, we wargamers AND sports gamers (another great WBC tribe - Slapshot, Flickers, racers, march madness, etc) can lend you a bruiser or two next year. David Bohnenberger - Aug 9, 2005 7:37 pm (#17820 Total: 17848) Non-blogger I played in about a dozen "tournament" games over the course of the week. Only two of those games featured an Asshole Player. In one case, The Asshole was obviously trying to disrupt play to his advantage. I considered a complaint to the GM. The other was a case of Natural Assholism, which is surely beyond the power of any GM to control. I am not a very competitive guy, at least for a gamer. A DO play in tournaments, but I am not really expecting to win and am not really bothered if I don't. What I want is to meet new folks and, almost more importantly, avoid the "what should we play" phase that wastes so much time at our monthly club. This works out well for me. I enjoy WBC more each year, as I have more and more friends each year. And since I rarely advance, I don't have to suffer from the pressure and Advanced Assholism that inflict the later rounds. Herr Dockter - Aug 9, 2005 7:42 pm (#17821 Total: 17852) Triumph of Chaos: Russian Civil War from Clash of Arms: www.triumphofchaos.com. Great post, Mr.Bohnenberger. I'll bet that captures the feeling of a lot of WBCers. Time for us to deal with this problem - cuz like any problem - it ain't going away until it is dealt with. The good news is that we are talking about a handful (out of a 1,000+ gamers) of chowderheads - I'd bet less than 5 people and we could name them. The thing about this subject that turns my crank is how a few chowderheads, investing mabye 8 hours (if that to win a euro title) in a game at WBC can get so worked up vs. guys that sit at those BKN or ViTP tables for 32 hours (48 in the case of PoG to win it) are cool as cumcumbers and a hoot to play with. Anyways, you can't change jerks - you can only deal with them. Related note - had an absolutely fabulous time at WBC, again. The Usual BIG thanks to Don, the Board and the outstanding GMs. For all I care you can move the con to Outer Mongolia - I'll be there - without a shirt at the Dolan Slapshot table. LET'S GO RANGERS!! Ed Beach - Aug 9, 2005 8:23 pm (#17826 Total: 17852) Currently designing Here I Stand (card-driven game on Reformation Europe) Great Campaigns at WBC in 2005 Going to be a crazy month for me... better get my AAR done now to finish up GM duties. I'll send Don a copy via email once all the GCACW players have looked this over for me. ------------------- Newly consolidated into a single event, the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War tournament thrived at WBC 2005. Total attendance across all GCACW was up by 10%. The number of participants in our Wednesday teaching session and the number of commanders in our Long Roads to Gettysburg multiplayer campaign game (a whopping 13) both set all-time highs. The Long Roads to Gettysburg demo was hosted by the designer of that module, Ken Lee. With such a surplus of generals, Ken was promoted off the battlefield, serving only as a staff officer in Stanton’s War Office for much of the game. The Union commanders used the new addition of strategic movement effectively, marching north to block the Potomac crossings before Lee’s army could arrive. The decisive contest occurred at Harper’s Ferry. Ewell’s corps charged forward into a Union trap. Without Stonewall Jackson’s leadership, the II Corps was pinned against the confluence of rivers. Their destruction late that night won the game for the Union (after well over 100 commander-hours of play). Thursday morning brought the start of the GCACW single elimination rounds, and attendance in these games remained strong all day. The 16 players in the Seven Pines round set a record for recent years. At the end of the day the Union and Confederate had tied with 13 wins apiece. Chris Withers and Steve Likevich (the only players with 3 wins for the day) took top honors and advanced directly to Saturday’s quarterfinals. The other 6 slots wouldn’t be determined until the next day. Friday’s rounds were smaller, having to compete with the For The People and March Madness tournaments. Once again 3 wins advanced you to the quarterfinals, with Dave Cross and Ed Beach being the day’s triple winners. Ed’s only loss came at the hands of Ken Lee in one of the weirdest tournament games ever. Fighting out the battle of Fort Stevens, Ed launched a succession of attacks on the Washington, DC fortifications. Ken rolled a 6 in defense each time, winning our shortest scenario without having to move a single unit! Saturday’s single elimination rounds featured the scenarios Battle of the Wilderness, Bethesda Church, and Bloody Spotsylvania, all from Grant Takes Command. Our Rookie-of-the-Year, James Sulzen, fell in the Wilderness round to Chris Withers, while our Risen from the Ranks award winner, Rod Coffey, lost to Ed Beach. Former champ Paul Nied succumbed to Steve Likevich, but PBEM ladder champ Rob Doane was able to upset Dave Cross. The semifinals featured a rematch between Ed and Chris, who had battled it out in finals for the past two years. Ed’s creative use of Sheridan to wipe out half the Confederate cavalry gave him a brief lead, but Chris turned the table with a devastating attack by Hill’s corps who abandoned their forts to strike the decisive blow. Rob continued his late surge and advanced to the finals to try and upset Chris. Fighting between the WBC champ and PBEM ladder leader continued until 2am, when Chris was finally able to destroy a significant portion of Rob’s army against a river. It was Chris Withers’ 8th straight year where he returned from WBC with at least one GCACW plaque. Ric Manns - Aug 9, 2005 8:26 pm (#17828 Total: 17852) Plan on attending the '05 World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA....The BEST gaming convention! WBC I had a great week! Too bad about the bad Geek lists..... There are always some people that you can never please, UNLESS they win and get their way. It is my goal to create a competitive and above all FAIR tourney. War of 1812 has grown to the low to mid 30's and Liberty though we had the small drop still had a strong field of 25 players. Some of the highlights were playing Crusader Rex.....It is a gem from the designer of Hammer of the Scots. The Castle and siege rules are innovative and fun. If you don't have it, then go and try it! We had a terrific game of The Napoleonic Wars that John Cousis was able to win and secure victory for the coalition before I had a chance as the Prussian player to join the Imperial camp. I had a great time playing......Monsters Menace America! I tried this to see if it is a game my nephews would play with their uncle. It was a lot of fun, even for an old wargamer! Playtesting Monmouth and playing Savannah was worth the trip! I lost in the first round of Saratoga as I played Bruno, who is always a pleasure to set across the table. The Host was fine, the food was better, other than breakfast. The Lampeter was fine for playing and that is the reason I make that 9.5 hour drive. We did find a 24 hour 1950's Diner on the edge of town that had terrific food, though the atmosphere was right out of the old show Alice. Boardwalk was ok, Fudruckers and Texas Roadhouse were very good and close. I say we stay at LH! Don Greenwood - Aug 9, 2005 9:03 pm (#17832 Total: 17852) Sigh .... "I find these "geeklists" very disturbing. The amount of negative publicity due to a relative handful of gamers should be a major concern of the board. Clearly the ubercompetetiveness of certain individuals is causing problems with the perception of what WBC is. And it is keeping people away from WBC. I have -no- problem with competition at an event like WBC, but what this is spawning (read the above posts) is almost (already?) to the point of being beyond GM control." What would you have us do? Dictating how people play multi-player games would make herding cats easy by comparison. Gamers have widely varying opinions of what is acceptable in Multi-Player games. Any GM who tried to enforce a "no table talk" rule would probably be lynched. Even if accomplished - a feat far beyond the capabilities of most GMs - we would be bombarded with similar complaints about WBC being such sticklers for the rules that the games were no fun to play. And even then, the next step would be the complaints that Bridge-like signals were being given or before-game collusion was in the offing. We long ago stopped offering a meaningful prize for the Team tournament to avoid the kind of bounty hunting referred to in those lists. I suppose the next step is to eliminate the Team tournament altogether - but that wouldn't stop the charges of people operating as teams to pave the way for others in their group in a given game. So, I guess we need to eliminate tournaments altogether ... then we won't have any jerks! I've often found the public's perception or fear of cheating to be far more prevalent than the actual thing. What honor is there to be had in cheating to win a prize which is nothing but the honor of winning? Its why WBC does not offer cash prizes - but only wood. I've always maintained that WBC gets a bum wrap from those who dislike competition and that fun and competition do not have to be mutually exclusive. The presence of competition is what makes the event fun for me. Are there jerks at WBC? Sure. I defy you to show me a gathering of 1000+ people that doesn't have a few jerks. I've always marveled that the ratio of jerks to players is so low at WBC - I've certainly encountered more of them elsewhere. You don't have to have a tournament to encounter one. My gaming experience at WBC has been remarkably free of such pain - but I play predominantly two-player games where kingmaking is neither as easy nor as prevalent and the camaraderie is much higher. We will continue to do addition by subtraction and disinvite problem players when they are made known to us. If your GMs do their jobs and report such problems as they occur, you can rest assurred that WBC will be less populated by such types than the average gaming convention. We will never be able to guarantee that you won't encounter such a player - but for the vast majority - it is the friendships made at WBC that brings players back ... not the fear of the occasional jerk that keeps people away. I only wish people were more proactive about reporting such problems as they occur rather than whining about them later on the internet. WBC works very hard to provide something that is not offered anywhere else. To condemn it because you encounter a few people who do not meet your standards for a fun opponent is pretty short sighted in my opinion. You could well meet these same individuals at any other convention in the country in an open gaming environment - why do you have to lay the blame at the feet of tournament play? I don't condemn you for preferring your gaming in your fashion ... I just don't understand the mindset of people who have to go out of their way to condemn something that obviously pleases other people. Don Greenwood - Aug 10, 2005 7:03 am (#17848 Total: 17853) How about equal time? Not to disparage Ms Val and Steve from taking their internet soapbox to get their due process for an opportunity to vent ... But where is the other point of view? Granted, they may well have run into a bad situation or two. I have no doubt that in 300 guest rooms somebody's ac didn't work, either. Stuff happens. But if I hear one bad ac incident, that probably means 299 rooms had good ac. I understand that only disasters are news ... we all stop to gawk at an accident ... no one slows down to view the nice floral arrangement at the side of the road. 500 gamers were having ahelluva good time in the Valley ballroom a few years ago but all I read about the next day was how one sleep-deprived gamer lost his cool. Dare I say that such incidents are not limited to WBC? I can organize this thing to the cows come home but the most important part of any convention is more gamers of a like mind. If they aren't there, you aren't going to have a good time. Every time you let someone disparage WBC with this kind of unanswered public opinion, you give credence to their point of view and you make it that much harder to attract others to share your fun. I can't walk 50 feet at WBC without someone stopping me to tell me how much fun they are having and how much they appreciate what we do. Where then are these fans of WBC when someone disparages our con? If everyone who professes to like WBC for what it is were to make the effort to provide a different - positive - point of view on BGG or elsewhere, this would not be an issue. I challenge all of you who had a good time this past week to take five minutes to tell the world ... go to BGG right now and start a new thread on why you will return to WBC in 2006! It's not enough to preach to the choir here in this folder ... we need to tell others that not everyone shares the negative opinions being expressed by a few. I've never claimed WBC was for everyone. Competition intimidates many, but intensifies the fun and thrills for others. What kind of sporting world would we have without competition? I steadfastly refuse to believe that being a competitor also means that you have to be a jerk. Are some of our players less pc than they should be? Absolutely, and there are some for whom a diplomacy lesson would not be a wasted endeavor, but don't paint us all with the same brush, please! Dan Dolan - Aug 8, 2005 12:59 pm (#26404 Total: 26683) Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens wielding ball peen hammers can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." WBC Buys My first buy was MMP's new Fire in the Sky. A game on the Pacific war from a Japanese designer. Nice looking product with large counters and hexes and from what I've heard it is a quick play and makes a player focus on resource management and conquest. Next up was Empire of the Sun ...same topic but this one is Mark Hermann's CDG view of the subject. I was initially put off due to the flap about the rules here on CSW but after talking to Mark and seeing the game it was a quick buy. He does good stuff so why should this one be different, right? I got a chance to play Crusader Rex at WBC with Dan Resspeller and had an absolute blast. It was the highlight of WBC for me. Jerry has another winner here with CR. It is an interesting situation that has lots of options for both players. Those familiar with Hammer of the Scots will be able to start playing CR in about 10 minutes after a quick check of the rules to see how seiges work and some of the chrome Jerry has added to give the game flavor. The rules are quite clean and one can get answers to most questions within a couple of minutes using them. We had several questions and Jerry has already answered them in the CR folder as well as some other stuff that we threw at him during our game. I liked this game even more than HotS and it is now my foavorite block game hands down. We're going to be hearing a lot about this game in the coming months. Get it before it sells out. You won't be disappointed. I saw a bunch of people playing ToC there aw well. If it has chaos in the title and Herr Dockter is involved then you know it's gonna be chaotic. It looked very interesting. On the short list of next to buy games. I also picked up Clash for a Continent and For Honor and Glory from Worthingtom Games and have to say they both look real interesting. Sorta like Memoir 44 on steroids. Nice bits and interesting scenarios coverint the French and Indian War and the American Revolution (CfaC) and the War of 1812 (FHaG). FHaG also has naval rules included. Can't wait to try them out. Growing sticky from applying all the stickers from all of my WBC purchases. Don Greenwood - Aug 10, 2005 12:07 pm (#17889 Total: 18574) And the Winners were ... The only thing more hectic than the week preceding WBC is the week following it. Getting everything organized will take a while but we'll eventually compile all the after action stories and photos as only WBC does it. In the meantime, here is the short version ... and the first request to our GMs to get me those event reports while they're still fresh in your memories. 1776: Steve Packwood, MN 18XX: Bruce Beard, Ace of Aces: Rich Irving, CA Acquire: Ed Kendrick, UK Adel Verpflichtet: Ray Pfeiffer, MD Advanced Civilization: John Morris, MD Afrika Korps: John Popiden, CA Age of Nations: David Metzger, NY Age of Renaissance: Mark Smith, KY Age of Steam: Pierre Paquet, QUE Air Baron: Robert Sohn, NJ Alhambra: Nate Hoam, OH Amun-Re: Nick Anner, NY Anzio: Paul Fletcher, CT ASL: JR Tracy, NY ASL Starter kit: Daniel Leader, MA Attack Sub: Bill Edwards, VA Atlantic Storm: Brad Jones, FL Attika: Nate Hoam, OH Auction: James Tyne, OH Axis & Allies: Charles Michalek, NV B-17: Keith Hunsinger, OH Battle Cry: Robert Eastman, OK Battleline: Arthur Field, SC Bitter Woods: Randy Heller, NH Brawling Battleships Steel: Jeff Spaner, MD Breakout Normandy: Andrew Cummins, UK Britannia: Rich Curtin, NY Bulge '81: Bob Ryan, MI Carcassonne: Jennifer Drozd, IL Circus Maximus: John Tighe, NJ Clash for a Continent: Mark McLaughlin, CT Combat Soldiers: James Marousek, VA Die Macher: Roger Whitney, FL Dixie: Sean Druelinger, MD Down in Flames: Bob Titran, NY Dune: Phil Barcafer, PA Elchfest: Bob Runnicles, FL El Grande: Charlie Kersten, OH Empire Builder: Tom Dunning, NY Empires of the Ancient World: Jeff King, ME Enemy In Sight: Wade Fowble, MD Empire of the Sun: Bob Heinzmann, FL Euphrat & Tigris: Matt Calkins, VA Facts in Five: Sean McCullough, OH Football Strategy: Bruce Reiff, OH Formula De: Jason Levine, NY Formula Motor Racing: Debbie Gutermuth, TX For the People: James Pei, VA Fortress Europa: Jeff Martin, CT Galaxy: Sean McCulloch, OH Gangsters: Nick Henning, CT Gettysburg '88: Jim Tracy, OH Goa: Kevin Walsh, NY Great Campaigns: Chris Withers, CA Greed: Paul Risner, FL Guerilla: Gordon Rodgers, PA Hammer of the Scots: George Seary, NY Hannibal: Nick Anner, NY Haunting House: Chris Bauch, LA History of the World: Mark Pitcavage, OH Ivanhoe: Bob Titran, NY Jambo: Eric Freemen, PA Kingmaker: Jordan Halberstadt, IN Kremlin: Steve Cuccaro, MD Liar's Dice: Legend Dan Hoffman, MD Liberty: Bruce Reiff, OH Lost Cities: Chris Entwistle, MD Louis XIV: Evan Tannheimer, MA Manifest Destiny: Harald Henning, CT March Madness: Marvin Birnbaum, NJ Medici: Gary Noe, FL Medieval: Jim Jordan, MD Memoir '44: Joe Harrison, KY Merchant of Venus: John Koski, NC Monsters Ravage America: Marvin Birnbaum, NJ Monty's Gamble: Jim Eliason, IA Mystery of the Abbey: Lisa Gutermuth, TX Napoleon: Scott Cornett, FL Naval War: Bill Place, PA Napoleonic Wars 2-Player: Geoff Allbutt, ONT Napoleonic Wars 5-Player: Ed Rothenheber, MD Panzerblitz: Marty Musella, VA Panzergruppe Guderian: Robert Frisby, VA Paths of Glory: Tom Drueding, MA Paydirt: Devon Flawd, PA Pirate's Cove: Chris Striker, PA Power Grid: Jim Castonguay, PA Primordial Soup: Frank Hastings, MD Princes of Florence: Ian MacInnes, NY Pro Golf: Nate Hoam, OH Puerto Rico: Bill Murdock, NY Queen's Gambit: Karl Henning, CT Ra: Alex Bove, PA Rail Baron: William Duke, MD Republic of Rome: Frank McNally, MA Risk: Steve Dickson, CA Robo Rally: Bill Dyer, IL Royal Turf: Rebecca Hebner, CO Saint Petersburg: Arthur Field, SC Samurai Swords: Justin Thompson, VA San Juan: Bill Salvatore, MD Santa Fe Rails: Bill Peeck, NY Saratoga: Mark Miklos, VA Settlers of Catan: Nathaniel Coffey, Shadow of the Emperor: Arthur Field, SC Slapshot: Greg Berry, VA Speed Circuit: Dennis Nicholson, NY Stockcar Championship Racing: Seth Gunar, NJ Successors: Ross Jones, SC Superstar Basebal: Harry Flawd, PA Sword of Rome: John Wetherell, PA Taj Mahal: Ian MacInnes, NY The Russian Campaign: Doug James, NC Tigers in the Mist: Tom Thornsen, NY Tikal: Davyd Field, CA Titan: The Arena: Robert Kircher, RI Titan: Two-Player - David desJardins, CA Titan: David desJardins, CA Triumph of Chaos: Dan Hoffman, NC Tyranno Ex: Pete Staab, PA Union Pacific: Jeff Mullet, OH Up Front: Bruce Young, SC Victory in the Pacific: Andy Gardner, VA Vinci: Joe Pabis, VA War At Sea: Dennis Nicholson, NY War of 1812: David Metzger, NY Waterloo: Marty Musella, VA Web of Power: Ray Pfeifer, VA We the People: Chris Byrd, CT Wilderness War: Ron Fedin, PA Win, Place & Show: Dave Steiner, DE Wizard's Quest: David Hood, NC Wooden Ships & Iron Men: William Rohrbeck, NH World At War: Jason Moore Wrasslin': Tim Dolan Junior Champs (Age 12 & under) Carcassonne: Carolyn Strock, age 12 Formula Motor Racing: Brian Pappas, age 8 Guillotine: Tom Miklos, age 12 Liar's Dice: Stephanie Kilroy, age 12 Lord of the Rings: Carolyn Strock, age 12 Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation: Tommy Miklos, age 12 Lost Cities: Anna Marion, age 12 Monsters Menace America: Elaine Burkey, age 10 Montgolfier: Carolyn Strock, age 12 Plastic Infantry Guys: Natalie Beach, age 12 Princess Ryan's Star Marines: Carloyn Strock, age 12 Queen's Gambit: Carolyn Strock, age 12 Settlers of Catan: Nathaniel Coffey, age 11 Slapshot: Dan Lewis, age 8 Sumo Arena: Zach Dunn, age 11 Titan The Arena: Tommy Miklos, age 12 Trouble: Pam Gutermuth, age 12 Wooden Ships & Iron Men: Adam Skirkanich, age 12