Everyone knows Oklahomans make
the best sailors ...
Atlantic Storm once again proved itself to be one of
the most popular tournaments at the WBC, drawing 129 eager naval
commanders to the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
As in previous years, there were four qualifying heats leading
up to the semi-final round. Each winner of a heat game automatically
qualified to play in the semi-finals. Once again there were plenty
of strange happenings in the North Atlantic during the qualifying
heats. Some of the highlights included:
- Two games being decided by the second tie-breaker (lowest
convoy card number, one player won with convoy card C19 as his
lowest)
Andy Gardner rolling the dreaded "snakes" with the
Bismarck costing him an opportunity to take 10 VP's all
by himself
Mike Arnold taking the last convoy of the game for a three point
swing and beating Don Chappell by two points
Keith "Boom-Boom" Hunsinger taking out the Bismarck
with the Rodney and then swiping the six point convoy
(an 11 point hand)
The Gneisenau, Lutzow, and Tirpitz all going
down as spoils in one battle
Roy Gibson's whopping 54 points scored in one 5-player game
Ben Knight rolling "Boxcars" with the Tirpitz
to claim PQ18 and the Rodney
Carl Damcke getting bitten by the "snake" with the
Tirpitz to give Steve Arcidiacong a 10 point hand
Twenty-nine of the 35 preliminary qualifiers came for the
semi-final round on Saturday afternoon. This gave us enough to
set up six games to advance six players to the final. When the
semi-finals were over, Henry Richardson III, Ben Knight, Scott
Buckwalter, Josh Gifford, Marty Sample, and Robert Eastman sat
down to do battle for the Atlantic Storm title.
GM John Coussis (left) and designer
Ben Knight (center) plot the fate of an Atlantic convoy while
the pack gathers.
As was the case in 1999, this year's final also began with
a "storm" of Arctic convoys. The first three convoys
played were all in the Arctic. Ben decided to make enemies early
as he played the Arctic Storm card on the first hand to take
Marty out of the play. Some justice was served as Ben had his
play for the second convoy taken out by Josh's play of the fate
card. Ben then followed up with the line of the tournament "At
least the sixth place player gets a plaque". A couple of
convoys later Josh took a short lead by out-rolling Henry for
a 7 VP convoy.
As the game approached the midpoint Scott chose to play convoy
HX79 (1940 Atlantic) and called air as the suit. He then proceeded
to discard a card since he had no 1940 cards to play. One by
one the other players all discarded as well until it came to
Ben, who was last to play. Ben calmly placed the Admiral Hipper
down (air value of 1) to steal the convoy. So, after ten convoys
the visible (i.e. convoy points) scores were as follows: Josh-13,
Scott-12, Ben-9, Henry-2, Marty-1, and Robert-0.
Marty started the second half of the game by choosing convoy
PQ12, QP8 and calling a combined action. He then played the Victorious
(which not only gets two dice +3 in a combined action, but is
fated against this convoy). Needless to say no one dared oppose
him and he quietly walked away with it. A couple of hands later
Marty got the Victorious back and tied up the battle for
convoy SC118 sending it around a second time. Marty then played
an escort group in the second hand and out-rolled Henry to take
the convoy.
As the second half of the game rolled on, Robert made a steady
charge. At one point he took 13 VP's in two hands. Helped by
Henry rolling a 1 (and only needing a 2 to tie the hand) and
giving Robert seven VP's at one shot. Robert then had the lead
in the second to last convoy of the game. He chose a juicy seven-point
convoy and played the Atlantic Storm card in addition to his
regular card. Robert rolled a two and promptly took Scott out
of the hand since he was leading the game at the time. Incredibly.
no one else could challenge Robert for the convoy and he took
it with no opposition. The last convoy of the game was SC48 and
drew out all the big ships. Josh began the hand by leading the
Hood. Henry added to the allied total with the Duke
of York. Marty then swiped four VP's for himself by playing
the Bismarck to sink the Hood. Unfortunately for
Marty. Ben next played the Rodney to take fiveVP's for
himself. There was not much that Scott or Robert could do to
affect the outcome so Henry took the convoy with the Duke
of York.
It was now time to add up the numbers. In the end, Robert's
late game charge made the difference as he won with a total of
27 points. Scott finished second with 22 points (20 convoy) and
Henry third also with 22 (14 convoy). Josh took fourth with 17,
Ben was fifth also with 17, and Marty had to settle for sixth
while only scoring 15 points.
All in all the Atlantic Storm tournament was a great
time. I was pleased to see the participation level rise and I'm
looking forward to more excitement in the North Atlantic next
year.
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