Andrew Maly - 05:39am Jul 5, 2001 PST (#2014 of 2089)
Working on UF2K and creating other sorts of trouble...

Jeff

I see that Bruce Reiff took you under his wing. Just follow his guidance
and you will be swimming in wood....

Mark

Just tossing it out as alternative to the ongoing debate

RE: Clothing

I figure most of the controversial clothing is worn for the exact
purpose of generating a reaction, thus gaining a psychological edge. No
different than eating Mexican food before the big game, or failing to
shower... well, there may be other reasons for the latter....

My Tournament:

Started bright and early Monday Evening as I head over to Chez Greenwood
to load the van and my Durango. I again plead to Don to rent a frickin
U-Haul next time. Ben Knight shows up and helps. We're done loading in
about an hour under prime Maryland summer conditions.

Tuesday, wake up, get the kids off to day care, cat to the vet, and head
over to HVI. Stop and pick up new teammate's shirt. Get to HVI ahead of
Don. Start setting up. Watch Don have a near heart attack over missing
papers, that turn out to be in my vehicle. I didn't put them there,
really, so that's why I didn't jump at first. (Respond to question, "Are
you open yet?" A: No. "When" A: Give a variable time that does not
correspond to previous answer. Watch person walk away. Repeat until desk
actually opens). Finish the set up, talk Don into letting me help out
with the registration desk. Long debate.... (Ok, its not brain surgery,
but there are definite reasons why he limits the back door crew. If you
haven't ever thanked Stephanie, et al who run the desk, you are
OBLIGATED to do so at the next WBC.) Having worked the desk for about an
hour-hour and a half Tara shows up, and I become odd man out. No
objection on my part. I finally get to unload the plaques from the truck
(ebay cancelled the auctions), and haul the rest of the crap from my
truck. Get to room and lower thermostat to 45degrees F, where the room
will stay comfy for the remainder of the week.

Shower and head off to Cosmic Encounter. First time playing the game, I
get to go first, take two bases. Game played way to quick for the vets,
and I steal a victory in half an hour. I head up to Maryland to play
Princes of Florence. Another first time effort, a good table and I
didn't find anyone that ruined my week. Finished 3rd based on a poor,
just maximize what you currently have plan. Note to self - place was
packed for a Tuesday. Head on over to help with Elchfest. 27 people! 27
people for this one. Amazing. Lots of fun. I win my first best 2 out of
3. It will be my last tournament victory of the week....

Wednesday - I run Formula Motor Racing Junior. I figured I run a Junior
event to help Kathy, and to remind myself why I don't usually run
Juniors events. This one was different. Kids seemed interested in this
one, instead of just playing what was offered. Also three moms hung
around and acted as track stewards. To them I am grateful. They made
things run very easy, and they understood the "no playing" policy,
without me ever having stated it. Two best moments - the younger Miklos
kid (Timmy?) wanting to black flag (disqualify) his older brother, and
the reaction of the winner.

Go grab one of the few copies of WW. Coup! It will be a good week
regardless. Run the teaching session of FMR, three people show up, but
they all play in the event. First heat I crash and burn to fourth, never
being able to get two cars to point in the same race and lagging near
the back during races 5 and 6. Second heat I bow out when we get 13, so
that the tables are 6 player. Take the rest of the day off to open game.
Fight for the "good" open gaming table. Play the "Great Wall" scenario
of settlers, using a who needs to build a wall strategy. Of course the
Mongol horde overruns the biggest section of the wall...

TBC


Andrew Maly - 01:29pm Jul 5, 2001 PST (#2035 of 2089)

Working on UF2K and creating other sorts of trouble...

Thursday - Some details are obscured as I played a lot of open gaming
from here on out, and I don't remember when I played what, as opposed to
being able to consult the schedule to say, oh, that's when I played in
tournament X.

Up Front started my morning. Lost two very tight ones. The first was
very close. The second, I lost my Infantry Gun on turn 4, but still
played it late into deck 3 before losing. Third game, late in the game,
I'm in despirate straits, and I make this maneuver, which isn't exactly
clear in the rules as written. We are talking, oh never mind. Big
discussion, but the GM rules in my favor, and I go on to win. Now, for
those of you who are following the story are saying, wait, didn't he say
something about Elchfest being his last tournament win?

Post WBC, its pointed out that the GM's ruling wasn't entirely correct.
Now, you could say that 16.22 (or A.2 for you ASL'ers) applies, in that
you don't back up to an inadvertent illegal action to correct play, and
my win should stand. Except, I'm the guy who had written the
clarification of the issue in question. So, I conceded that game to my
opponent (I couldn't have won it otherwise, based on the point in the
game I had won.) My opponent hadn't expected that, but was appreciative.

I think I got in three open games then. Attilla - Good, but confusing
the first time you play, I think I got second. Africa - Good again for
what it is, finished somewhere near the middle of the pack of five first
timers. Doge - I liked it and finished second. One of our foursome got
lost in the bidding early and wound up getting hosed in the game.
Another, its a bit difficult to follow the first time type of game.

On to Formula De. My set, so we're playing Magny Cours. Nine players,
including the GM. The GM's quote, "Gosh, you guy's drive aggressive!"
Four engine blows and two crashes later, 2nd and third decide to drive
to the finish line in 3rd and 4th gear to avoid further carnage. Great
fun.

More open gaming to conclude the night, which included my yearly painful
session of Fluxx, but otherwise enjoyable gaming.

TBC


Andrew Maly - 10:49am Jul 7, 2001 PST (#2060 of 2090)
Working on UF2K and creating other sorts of trouble...

Where am I, oh, yes, friday....

Ran FMR heat 3. Very odd time, 9AM for a filler game round, but it drew
13 again, so again I let go with two tables of 6. Ran into the slowest
table of the three heats, mostly attributable to one person, but the
others at the table didn't seem to mind, so I let it go. Besides, they
took all of 75 minutes....

Went and played Wrasslin, which didn't start until 20 after, while
waiting for people... yawn.... then playing it I've realized my affinity
for the game lessens every year. This is one game I've probably given up
gaming. The choices or decisions just don't seem to be there. I try hand
management, but to no avail. oh well...

Learned Zertz (with retsin) at Cafe Jay. A nice filler game, with about
two games played in 20 minutes. Actually some interesting decisions to
be made regarding placement.

Open gamed a bit including Taj Mahal. I'll have to reserve judgement on
this, as I didn't quite understand it in round one, dug myself a hole,
and never recovered. Will have to try it again.

Lost Cities - a very good game. I got bumped 2-1 in the first round,
lost the last game by misestimating the cards my opponent held. Still
like the game.

Got in a game of Carcasonne. Finally won a game, through judicious
placement of farmers.

Started up the playoffs of FMR. Ran pretty smooth. Very wild finish,
read the write up when available on the BPA website. In the mean time I
played Survival of the Witless. Cute idea, ran about 90 minutes, which
was about 30 minutes too long for what the game is.

Went on to play the Troy variant of Settlers. 6 player hose fest. Too
rich to describe here, but the guy who had 15 points to win, couldn't
claim because it wasn't his turn. He lost the longest road, and I hit
the numbers bonanza to claim victory. The historical variants are neat
for a play or two, so you have to be hard core to have them in your
collection.

I dedicated myself to playing battle cry in the morning, so I went to
bed...


Andrew Maly - 09:34am Jul 8, 2001 PST (#2076 of 2090)
Working on UF2K and creating other sorts of trouble...

Saturday

Played Battle Cry. A fantastic game. Sure its a lot of dice, but its
just so very cool. So cool, that after I go 0-3 I'm ready for two more
games. I split 1-1 with a friend, but rub it in cause I took more flags.
I have to do this to him.

Ate and then ran Battle Line. Overall, good, I did get one criticim,
which I appreciate, but it did bother me that "I gave the impression I
just wanted to get it over with." If I have that attitude, or convey it,
I think its time to consider hanging it up as a GM. I never want to do
that, and I've tried to give GMing my enthusiasm each and every time I
go out. No excuse for that, and I deeply appologize to anyone who got
that opinion of my performance there.

Final game was a classic. You have to read the details elsewhere...

Open gamed a lot after that. Played EVO, which I guess is sort of like
Ursuppe, but different. Since I'm not allowed to play with hammers, I've
never played Ursuppe. I liked EVO, quirky game, and I'm sure there is
more to it than what I could get after a week of gaming.

Sunday

Open gamed. Didn't feel like tournament, even my team game
final...Played EVO again, and then another game of Battle Cry. Luck
carried the day for me. Began the take down and packing up. I had no
inentive to get home, since the SO and kids were on vacation elsewhere.
Got in two games of Ivanhoe. The game of Russian Prostitution. Hold the
Ivanhoe card and you get to pimp somebody.

What was seriously funny was watching 2 or 3 GM's come up at about 4PM
with tournament results.

In one case, it wasn't bad, as Cliff Ackman had the foresight to lobby
Don to get plaques, knowing that all results are to be in by 2PM.
However, the other one comes up at 4:30, looking for stuff. Um, the
final of a 2 hour game lasted nearly 4 hours? No sympathy in my book
there.

Ended the night with a trip to Romano's Macaroni Grill, no Ocean
Paradise (crab house), no Nichi Bai Kai. It seems everyone wanted to go
out for dinner in Baltimore. Had a wonderful dinner with four good
friends, which made it a perfect way to end my WBC.


J. R. Tracy - 11:31am Jul 7, 2001 PST (#2061 of 2090)
No more banjo playin' for you!

My brief AAR:

Arrived Wednesday after a very easy drive from NYC - listened to The
Professor and the Madman on tape, a great book which helped the miles
fly by.

After picking up my groovy team shirt, late Wednesday morning I hooked
up with Dan Dolan for a game of Paths of Glory. His Germans were
thumping me in France so I tried to make things happen in the Near East
to draw him away from Paris. I was fortunate to get the MEF, the
Salonika card *and* the Russian Caucasus army before he drew Kemal, so
soon Turkey was out of the war. We spent the rest of the war throwing
roundhouse punches until late 1917, when I hunkered down and played
three meaty replacement cards and slapped five reborn Russian armies
onto the map. Those helped me push through Prussia and into Germany, and
that was the game. Great fun, and it's always a hoot to play Dan. Now I
see what all the PoGmania is about.

After that, we played a game of Cosmic Encounter, which I found
extremely disappointing. All the fancy plastic toys seem to hinder
rather than help play, and the gameplay itself wasn't all that
intriguing. That baby is going to the bottom of the closet. A subsequent
bean-planting/auction game was much more interesting, which isn't saying
much.

Thursday through Sunday were completely taken up by the ASL tournament.
Perry chose some pretty hairy scenarios, so there was little down time.
I basically played from 9:30 am to 2:00 am every day, with an hour in
there somewhere for food. I had a blast, but didn't get much open gaming
in after Wednesday, much to my disappointment. I managed a 3rd place
finish at 5-2, and was lucky to play seven straight top-notch players.
The numbers at DonCon make it maybe a distant sixth to other tourneys
attendance-wise (ASLOK: 200+; WO: 110+, WCW: 80+ etc) but six or seven
of the top ten players made it and the rest of the field wasn't shabby
either.

Overall, it was as good a DonCon as I've ever had. The lack of open
gaming (for me) was compensated for by the extremely tough ASL
competition. My one minor complaint was the lack of late-night food
options. Fortunately we found the Nautilus Diner, but I can see how much
I'm spoiled by living in New York. I expect twenty choices, not just
one! Ah well, gotta take the good with the bad. Looking forward to next
year,

JR


Arthur Field - 12:12pm Jul 7, 2001 PST (#2063 of 2090)

I have waited to do this until I caught up on some sleep since I had to
travel for 3 days after WBC. This was the first year at WBC for me and
my son Davyd. We had a wonderful time and wish to thank all of the great
people who made this possible. Bruce Monnin, Peter Staab, Jack Jaeger,
John Weber and Cliff did a very fine job as GM of their respective
games. Don organized a terrific time. I had never played Auction before
running into a demo Bruce was doing at Cafe Jay. I was one of those just
lurking. He talked me into playing. George Sauer was nice enough to
include me in his table and show me the ropes. As a result of his
tutelage, I managed to advance and met both the prior year and two year
ago champion, as well as Nick Smith from England, who was a real fine
player. Amazingly, I got wood, which made me very happy and proud, since
I was clearly up against excellent players. I just got lucky and
followed their lead. I met Mike Fitzgerald in Cafe Jay and he showed me
several games I enjoyed playing open rounds of. I played Tikal at the
urging of Jack Jaeger. Had only played the game once before. Jack sat me
at his table and showed me how the game is played. He then had me play
in an auction round. I was lucky enough to advance to the finals, where
I got to see Jack, James and Kevin play the game for real. I was a close
4th, but definitely 4th. Never imagined I would end up playing almost 9
hours of Tikal in a row and about 15 in total. I got to play Medici and
Ra and would have loved to play in the semis of each, but both
conflicted with other games. I was sorry to see that. I hope this is
worked out a bit better next year, because I think most people who like
Medici and Ra, also like POF and Tikal, etc., but I understand all
things can't play at all times. Played UPAC and had a good time; I was
just sorry we switched from 4 player games to 5 player for the semis.
Different strategy, and hard to adjust that late at night. (Getting old
you know.) Had a wonderful time playing Princes of Florence. The finals
were comprised of 5 superb players. Randy Cox did a fine job and even
put up with an occasional cranky outburst from me. I wasn't feeling too
well, but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to play in the finals
of the one game I really love. My only disappointment was in Acquire. I
was way too tired to think straight from playing Werewolves till the wee
hours and having had no food. I played 2 rounds with a girl from Japan
who spoke virtually no English and considered every possible combination
of card purchase (there are 35 of them) and each turn took roughly 4
minutes. Since I speak some Japanese, I was stuck having to help her,
and this made me quite irritable. One game I could live with, but 2 in a
row without food or sleep or a break was hard. I had no idea what a
Swiss Elim meant, but now I know. By the time I got into the finals, I
could barely see straight. I apologize to Justin for whining about the
old set. I don't know the old board and have only played on the new
Acquire board. Everything was different and I was easily confused and
way too tired to cope. When Jason Levine crapped on me for either slow
or poor play and told us how he had already won the game by the third
move, I was a bit rude in return, for which I am sorry. Even if he was
being a patronizing player at the time, I really should not have let it
bother me, figuring it is part of his gaming strategy. So Jason, even
though you were more nasty to me than I could possibly have deserved and
humiliated me in front of my son, I apologize to you. It is only a game
and I should not have taken it seriously. Bruce Reiff put up with this,
as did GM Cliff, but neither deserved it. Justin did a great job of
winning, not that I was conscious of it at the time. I would have played
better on the new board, but these three certainly would have beaten me
and deserved to win. By Sunday 3 PM I think all 4 of us just wanted to
be done with the game. 7 hours of Acquire in a row without any breaks is
just too much on the last day. I had the best week of my life, but never
slept and ate so little. I thought the hotel far nicer than I expected,
and I travel all over the world regularly. The food at the buffet
breakfast was pretty good, the hotel was nice enough to comp Davyd and
me breakfast because they liked us and we are frequent Marriott guests.
The dinner across the street at Carrabbas was pretty good. $92 per room
is quite reasonable given the number of convention rooms and salons
extended to us. I would have expected to pay far more. $60 for 5 days of
gaming is cheap. I couldn't believe all of the different games and
people and awards and shirts and volunteers all for $60. I was like a
kid in the candy store and only hope next year I can have as much fun,
play as many games and meet as many nice people as I did. Next year I
will make sure to get more sleep and eat regularly. I'd also like to
thank all of the other members of the Greenville Mafia, who supported me
in all my games and shared my joy at winning and helped make this such a
great experience. If they hadn't convinced me to come, I would never
have had the opportunity to meet so many superb gamers and interesting
people. I can't wait until next year. Arthur M. Field


Dan Dolan - 09:47pm Jul 7, 2001 PST (#2072 of 2090)
Apologies all over the place! Is there no hatred in the world anymore?

Here is my week at WBC

Tuesday leave around 9am to arrive around 2 (I thought). Some Bozo
decides he wants to make a left while doing 70 mph on the NJ Turnpike
and I sit in traffic for 2 hours getting a sunburn on my left knee.

I hate idiot drivers. I hope he suffered.

Get to the HVI and try to check in. I make the horrible mistake of
trying to pay for my room with ... sit down now and get ready ... CASH!
This mistake causes me to stand at the front desk for almost 1/2 hour
while the staff has to locate "Mikey" because he's the only one who
knows how to accept US currency. Mikey is from some country in the Far
East.

I hate Credit Cards and those who use them.

My room is of course in Bolivia. It is as far from the actual gaming
areas as was humanly possible to put a room and still have it in the
same state. I swear I walked past the accident site on the Tutnpike
everytime I had to go back to the room. And all the people working in
the halls were Bolivians.

The Bolivians were nice but I hated having to walk across the equator to
get to my room.

I wander around with the lads and get in a quick game of El Grande with
some guys who seemed to feel that it was wrong for me to do anything
that they wouldn't have done. The sad part is they were idiots, I beat
them by 30 points.

I hate idiots.

I then get into the 1st heat of Galaxy. I get crushed on the last card
when I lose my secret base and my 5 point bet.

I hate getting crushed on the last card.

Then ... Elchfest! I go into my team event confident. I have been
practicing for a year. My finger is in great shape and mentally I am
ready for anything. Except tablecloths! Who the hell ever heard of
playing Elchfest of freakin tablecloths? I lose to Jeff Paull the
eventual winner.

I hate tablecloths.

Wednesday:

I awaken early and think about trying to get into the Formula Motor
Racing Jr event but see Andy and figure he'll know I'm past the age
cutoff. So it's off to try my hand at some PoG with JR once he arrives.
I get mutilated by him and after 11 hours resign.

I like JR but I hate him.

DR Rob and Steve Pleva arrive with Chris Spell and we sit down to play
cosmic Encounter with the Gay pieces. I lose.

I hate the Gay pieces and I'm thinking my wife might be right about DR Rob.

Back to the room and sleep. Temp at 40 degrees to insure frost will
build on the corners of the room and keep out the Baltimore humidity.

I hate humidity (more on this later).

Thursday morning brings the 1st round of the ASL event. I want to play
some ASL so I go to sign up. I get there late and ask Perry to pair me
up with a newbie because I'm only going to play one round and I'll help
him with any rules questions he might have. It was my one gesture of
kindness, a moment of weakness. Perry pairs me with the newbie of all
newbies ... Jim Stahler. He's only been playing ASL since they invented
gunpowder! We play some scenario with horses and we get 3 turns done in
6 hours and Perry comes over and asks what the hell we are doing. I hate
horses so I resign to let Jim continue on in the tourney.

Did I say I hate horses? Oh yeah and Perry too.

I have to get ready for the WRASSLIN TAG TEAM to try to recapture the
only event I've ever won a plaque in. My partner Ike carries us through
to the finals as I basically stand on the ring apron and holler at the
little kids we are beating. We make it to the finals only to lose to MY
SONS!!!!

Hate ... it is not a word strong enough. Another year of listening to
not one of them talk about a plaque but but both of them and how they
beat me to get it!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! I hate baby seals!

I'm having a great time so far. Got in a game of FMR and had a good time playing Crokinole with a bunch of people. The place is cooking now. People are arriving and getting down to some serious gaming.

To be continued ...

A hateful Friday and the Saturday of Loathing followed by the Sunday of
Utter Scorn to follow.


Dan Dolan - 10:14am Jul 8, 2001 PST (#2077 of 2090)

The AC stops working and the ice begins to melt in the corners of the
room. A hazy fog appears in the room and the rugs squish underfoot.
Fetid would be the word to describe it.

Does it get any better than this!!!

I'll wear my purple shirt so I match Barney. My son's, they are
obnoxious about their WRASSLIN. There's some weird talkin going on in
the house this year I can tell you. #1 Gets knocked out in the 1st round
of the singles competition. The old man gets into round #2 but loses. #2
doesn't get to play due to team event conflicts. They beat me in the
Finals of the Tag Team.

Well I might as well get to Friday ...

It dawned like any other day. Grim and humid.

The WRASSLIN event was for High Noon.

Smash mouth trash talking going on from the opening of ones eyes. When
the dust settles we alll got our asses kicked and I sit down to play
some Way Out West from Warfrog.

Dr Rob, Mike, and I play 2 games (almost) of WOW. A 3 player that was a
series of travelling gunfights in numerous small towns over cattle
rustlers and Farmers. Then a 5 player game that was extremely tense and
strategic. Building secure towns became the way of the west. When
violence erupted it was when a pack of gunslingers came into town.
Having the sherrif on the payroll always helped.

A good time except I lose again.

I hate cows.

Late night here. It's Illuminati time!

We sit down for the killer card game. I get The Network. How bad does
that suck? I try to get global domination but I fail. I love this game.
It is one of the most devious games ever devised.

I'd love to run an Iluminati event next year. How does one go about
getting it on the menu?

Saturday is always a kinda sad day. It's next to last and you have to
get SOME sleep for the drive home.

I want to play a lot of different stuff so I wander throughout the place
playing all sorts of stuff. Pass the Pigs, FMR, Atlantic Storm,
Crokinole (another game I'd love to see played at WBC), Bohnanza and
Pit. The night ends playing DemoCrazy at the (as Andy calls it) "Prime
Table" A weird game where you have to vote on every rule in the game.
Shows exactly why democracy works. They can't vote it out.

My eyes burned from the sight of Brian Youse scuttling across the tennis
court like a sun crazed crab. The temprature and humidity got to him.
Sad really. Next year we should organize the WBC Golf event. Find a
course nearby and have a one round event. We should see about setting up
a meal as well. A round of golf one of the afternoons would be a nice
change. Anyone know of a local club that might be interested in holding
such an event?

I hate the sun for driving Brian insane.

To sleep and get ready to go on Sunday. This is perhaps the most
depressing time of the week. Leaving really sucks. I'm gonna open a
gamers nursing home. A place where you can stay till you drool on the
board. As long as you can roll the dice.

Sunday morning comes and the Battle Royal is at 1300. I have the Cosmic
Encounter to go in at 9. 6 Player using them damned Gay pieces again.

Hasbro, you really screwed the pooch on the little Gay piece thing.

Being thumble fingered I fight with the damned little things and get
mowed. A husband-wife team was in the finals and the other players
didn't see them as any kind of united threat until it was too late. They
were both very good players of the game and they worked subtly and well
together to ensure one of them would have the first shot at winning. A
good game between some people who knew how to play the game. Next year
I'm bringing my copy of the game and using the discs.

I really hate the little plastic ships and mother ships.

As we depart lovely humid Hunt Valley I miss the turn for 95N and head
through some tunnel in the harbor. Then run into a storm coming across
central Jersy that killed a cow. It's a bad thing when a cow dies. 2
hours of sitting in traffic on the NJ Turnpike looking at clouds and
rain. I am feeling refreshed!! New Jersey welcomes me home!!!

I had a great time at WBC. I hope Don comes back to run it again. He
deserves to have a good send off. He has done a very good thing putting
together WBC. It is flat out the best Gaming Event anywhere. If you
can't have fun at WBC you are a bitter and sad person. I had a great
time and am looking forward to next year already. 13 months though. This
year jumped up quickly and next years is going to seem like an eternity
away.

BUT!!!

IT WILL ALLOW ME TO TUNE MY ELCHFEST FINGER TO PERFECTION!!!

Next year the Horns shall be mine!


Randy Cox - 06:59am Jul 5, 2001 PST (#2019 of 2089)

Thanks, Andy, for the clarification. That's the spot we used to have all
the time, but now that open gaming is being used by so many more people,
we rarely get that table anymore. :(

Since everyone else is giving their summary (in fact, many have asked
for more), here's mine:

Didn't get to attend the entire shebang this year, so it was out the
door at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to catch the early flight to BWI. Landed
around 9:30 and after riding the light rail and walking the last block,
we arrived at HVI at just about noon.

Open gaming, of course, was the first order of business after checking
into the room (which was quite comfortable as the digital thermostat was
set at 72.0 degrees). Got the prime table Andy mentioned and played
Gnadenlos (a Western-themed Eurogame with shootouts, poker showdowns,
and gold digging, all in an abstract way of course), Bali (another new
Euro, not the old word game from AH), and Galileo (a betting game much
like Members Only, which some of you may be familiar with). Didn't care
for Bali, but the others were OK. More open gaming and finally some
dinner before the Princes of Florence tournament.

POF is a great game, probably my favorite multi-player game at this
time. And the event was well attended and well-played by most entrants.
I came in third at my table, though I had a very high score which would
later push me into the semi-finals. Grand time.

Then it was back to open gaming for party games and the like. As our
last order of business on Thursday night, we played a 9-player table of
Werewolf. By the time we finished the game, there were 15 or so wanting
to play "just one more" (many of these were wargamers walking by on
their way to bed). One more game and I was off to sleep. (This later
turned into the phenomenon of the convention with all-night games on
both Friday and Saturday from midnight until events started the next
morning).

On Friday, Alan Moon arrived, so it was all open gaming. The day was
very light, with Password, Inspiration/Balderdash, and the like. I
believe we snuck in a game of Timbuktu to make our brains hurt for
awhile.

Saturday I had to pass on a lot of the open gaming to run the Superstar
Baseball tournament (the sacrifices of being a GM). But it was a very
good SSB tourney, with many tight games and an exciting final. Need to
figure out how to speed up play next year, but otherwise it was a blast.
Afterwards, it was a little open gaming, dinner at Friendly's and an
early exit.

Sunday it was the Acquire tournament. I won my first two games and bowed
out of my third. Don't know if I'd have been in the semi-finals with two
victories or not, as I was off open gaming (another round of Gnadenlos,
followed by a final Werewolf game). Heard all the rumors about Don
leaving and a million theories as to why he said that. Then it was 2:30
and time to grab a pizza and take the trek to the Pepper Road station to
catch the light rail back to BWI for a 5:35 flight. One of the better
WBCs/Avaloncon's I've attended.

Mike Lam - 11:26pm Jul 9, 2001 PST (#2105 of 2174)
Playing in the DIF continuous experience campaigns at GMT's Games Weekends; 
Went to MonsterGame Con 1.0!; assistant GM - B17 event at WBC

Here's my WBC AAR (after Action Report):

Tuesday: Pick up my badge from the Formula Motor Racing GM himself, Andy
Maly. I didn't need to show my ID as Andy remembered me from one of our
events last year! "I can never forget the man who beat me in Down In
Flames!" I'm not sure if being remembered by Andy like that is a good
thing! :-)

Atlantic Storm Heat#1- 5th of 6 in the first heat game.

Win, Place, & Show - Finished a way last, in 6th out of 6 in this first
heat game with $13K. This was a poor showing as the starting cash is
$50K and all other players had between $50-92K. "Keep me away from the
real ponies!"

Wednesday: Starship Troopers or the "Saga Of The Doomed Patrol".

The six man squad I was on was wiped out within 6 turns. We couldn't
shoot straight (or roll dice) to save our lives! First thing we do was
forget to bring a trooper with a comm unit for air strikes or to call
down the retrieval ship. No matter, there's a radio at our destination.
We just don't know if it works when we get there. Ahhh, what am I
saying, of course it's going to work! GM Ben Knight wouldn't do that to
us, would he?

First bug attack kills our squad leader, Lt. Radzic (sp ?), on my left
flank. Next, a hopper attacks from the rear and kills Trooper Sugar (who
was carrying the rifle with the sniper scope). I was Trooper Ace Levy on
the right flank in the first row with Trooper Dizzy Flores in the middle
and all we had to do was roll 1-to-4 with a D6 (2 rolls each) to hit the
three bugs next to us. He rolled a 6 & 6 and I rolled a 5 & 6 and we
both missed. The bugs missed me but killed Dizzy. The heavy weapon nuke
trooper behind us shoots, and he rolls snake-eyes which means the nuke
launcher jams! No matter, the launcher trooper was killed even before
his next move so having the nuke launcher jammed was moot. The next bug
attack scored 3 hits against me. I had to roll 3s or less three times. I
rolled a 1, a 2 and ... a 4 ... Dead! No wait! I'm not really dead! It
was only a flesh. . . No, I'm really dead! The last survivor, Trooper
Johnny Rico was last year's winner, Jason Levine, and he valiantly
pushed on alone but he eventually was KIA. The other table was doing
much better. Their table had only lost 1 man in the same time period and
they made it to the objective hex. It was last year's champion's luck to
be place in our table and not the other one. In fact, he was originally
slotted to play in that game but the GM moved him to the Doomed Patrol
table at the last minute to balance out the tables. The other table did
rescue the survivors at the destination and 3 troopers out of 6 made it
out alive.

London's Burning - Got 1 pilot killed and only shot down 1 Bf-109, and
ended up with a -1 score. My table and flight partner, Steve Munchak,
and I didn't see much action. Either we failed to intercept the raids or
when we did, we saw we were outnumbered and "ran away!"

Stock Car Championship Racing - Ended up last in 9 cars. I was in the
middle of the pack until a random event caused me and the player in
front to go to the back of the pack. If it wasn't for that one event,
that leading player could have won this heat.

Thursday: B-17 - Finished 28th of 32. My first plane was shot down over
Bremen. My second plane had fuel leak over Channel; had to abort the
mission and return to England. In the last mission to Kiel, I made it
back to England but the C/P was dead, the pilot seriously wounded, and
the fight engineer attempted to land plane. My Flight Engineer would be
awarded the Medal Of Honor for his bravery, posthumously of course.

Gangsters Heat - I was a crime lord trying to take over a city. This was
my first game at this and I ended up a very poor last of 4. When two of
the players have special badges made up JUST for them by the GM, players
like Nick Slumlord Smith and Tim Bite The Bullet Evinger, you just know
you're going to be overmatched. But the other players were very helpful
with my questions on rules and tactics for this gangster-wanna-be.

Formula De Heat - Only the second time I played this and it showed as I
ended up 8th of 9 in my race, even after having the second position at
the start. I would have ended up last if the other driver didn't spin
out on the last turn. The eventual winner started in the back but he was
a very experienced player, and that experience paid off as he knew what
to do in the turns and that brought him the victory.

Friday: Monsters Ravage America - My luck changes for the better as I
win the dice roll to pick the first monster! But that's the extent of
the luck as my monster was second of 4 in this heat game.

Between my events, I got shanghaied by Mr. GMT, Gene Billingsley, to
demo ZERO. I had just wandered in the vendor room when a customer was
asking about ZERO and Gene said, "If you want to know about ZERO, here's
the best man to show you how!". I didn't have anything to do, so I said,
"Sure." I made a sale for GMT as he later bought the game.

Decathlon - My luck continues. I choose Rafer Johnson and he didn't even
make it through the entire 10 events. He was injured on the 5th event
which knocked him out of the competition. Previously on event 2, the
Long Jump, I rolled a 23 with the special game dice (a 4.6% chance).
Later on event 5, the 400 meter run, I rolled the equal of triple 6s (or
a 19 with the game dice) or about 0.5% chance of that ever happening!
So, I watched the other four players at my table finish the game, all
the while thinking, "I can't believe I rolled a 19!"

Luck (or bad player?) factor: 10 events so far and I ended up last or
near the bottom every time. Things are not looking good for my team game
on Saturday morning. :-(

Saturday: Down In Flames, the team game - Played in 7 preliminary games
(record 3-3-1) and scored 71 points, enough for the 5th seed in the
semi-finals. Played the 3rd and 7th seed (didn't get to play the #1 seed
as time ran out) but I had 54 points to advance to the final round!

First game - my opponent, Ed Karpowicz, shoots down one of my wingmen on
the first move of the game! I'm thinking at this point, "Maybe I won't
win the Wood this year". But Lady Luck is kind and I return the favor on
my first move to take out one of his wingmen to even the game! The luck
of the cards went my way and by the end, I shot down all of his planes,
winning 20-7.

In game two, the pressure was on Ed to shot down all of my planes and
only losing 1. I expected him to choose the same planes I just used but
he surprised me by taking other available planes for use in the finals.
I saw what Ed did with the American planes in the first game, so I
select the alternative RAF set up with the Spitfires. I managed to keep
his most dangerous leader neutralize throughout the game. We would both
lost 1 plane but I was able to hold on and score 2 damage planes to his
1, to win the game 9-7 and match 29-14! And it was my team game too!

Slapshot - Made it to the playoffs at my table but was eliminated in the
first round 4 games to 1. A great time was had by all; we all cheered
when the worst team in our league won its one and only game!

Twelve events, with only one first place to show for it but it was the
team game that I most wanted to win!

I had fun and a great time and I am planning to be back for my 5th year
in a row in 2002!


Peter Perla - 06:38pm Jul 5, 2001 PST (#287 of 583)

I see that the Fox has posted his DonCon report. So I guess I will add
my two cents.

First, his comments about Circus Minimus simply reflect his animus to
the game as a result of the fact that I ran him down like a dog in our
first game, on the very first turn (of the track , not the game), wasn't
it David? being a gentleman, however, and over-ready for bed, I turned
over my own chariot to his bloody corpse for a shot at resurrection. (A
prize if you can detect all the bad puns in that paragraph.)

The second game, played even later at night and with several of the six
players consuming certain quantities of a Russian spirit made, I
believe, from fermented potatoes, was a wild one. At one point there
were three chariotless drivers waiting to try to seize a chariot as it
drove by. The only guy to finish the lap (after which we all retired for
the morning at 0230) was Rich Phares. The Fox and I, who were trading
the lead through the straight, opted to go to the outside on the curve
to avoid the last survivor of the Three Stooges. Rich, on the other
hand, decided the best way to avoid having your chariot stolen out from
under you was to run the potential thief down before he had the chance.
He succeeded and passed the lap counter before us.

It was a very long game, though we were beginning to get the hang of it
and speed things up a bit. Also, I suspect it is much more fun late at
night with the wheels well oiled.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Peter Card in the Down In Flames tourney. I
had forgotten what fun that game is. It is always fun to put a face
together with a disembodied name from cyberland. I also saw Peter's
smiling face in the pictures from MonsterCon posted on the Consim home
page. Quite a couple of weeks of gaming!

On the new-game front, I spent much of Wednesday playing Ted Raicer in
his forthcoming Barbarossa to Berlin, the WWII PoG descendent. Excellent
effort. Great fun. Much, much different feel from PoG, as you would
hope. I took the opportunity to catch Ted off guard by launching a
Brit/US invasion of France (Shingle, I believe) at teh very earliest
opportunity, rather than doing Torch. Didn't work all that well, but it
sure did throw a monkey wrench into the Nazi operations in Mother
Russia. Also may have helped catch a minor rules problem which I suspect
Ted has already fixed. Those of you who whined about the OOS rules for
PoG should be happier with how Ted handles encirclements in B2B.

Armor has the ability to move into a space marked for combat and
participate in the combat, making the Keeping of reserves more important
and providing the opportunity to swing the schwerpunkt from one flank to
the other. ALl in all, very interesting and great fun. I am looking
forward to its appearance most anxiously.

Finally, any of you lads try Axis and ALlies: Pacific yet? I was quite
surprised by what looks at first blush as a great deal of unexpected
historicity. Of course, I may simply be mislead because it is so much
better in that regard than the AA:E version, which I found quite
disappointing.

One amusing incident occurred as Rich and I were setting up the game for
me to introduce Rich to it. Another gamer neither of us knew wandered by
and cheerily asked if the problem with the victory conditions had been
fixed. He pronounced that the game was irrevocably broken because there
was a guaranteed japanese victory in three turns. This marvel was to be
accomplished by the expedient of taking the Chinese capital, thus
winning an automatic victory. Only problem is that taking the Chinese
capital does no such thing. This poor sod suffered from a problem I am
finding more and more pronounced: not actually reading the rules.

Whew. Enough of that, says he!

Peter