And Now For Something Different
...
There was a drone in the air at the WBC this year. If you
looked up, you may have seen daring young men in their flying
machines, fighting it out to see who was the best pilot among
us. Ace of Aces, a game long out of print, but remembered
fondly by some of us from days gone by, was played for the first
time. Using an open format of find an opponent and fly and fight,
it had a very successful debut. The little books with the big
game proved quite popular. While the minimum to qualify for the
finals was fifteen flights, many pilots had more; Paul Weintraub
had the most with 26 flights.
Throughout the week, maneuvers were chosen, page numbers were
called, books were flipped and cheers or groans were heard for
giving or taking damage. Points were earned for shooting down
your opponent, for chasing him away after doing more damage,
or just for surviving and getting away.
While players were allowed to use any books from the series
for the qualifying round, no one chose the WWII, Jet or Star
Wars versions, and only one player, the GM, flew the Flying Machines.
Everyone used either the Rotary or Powerhouse, with the Powerhouse
being by far the most popular.
In the qualifying round, Bruce young had the highest score,
shooting down his opponent in 17 of 24 flights, while being shot
down only twice. Paul Weintraub had the distinction of simultaneously
shooting down while being shot down not once, but twice.
Bruce apparently practiced on the way to the WBC, shooting
down his Greeneville Mafia-Mates on the drive up.
The finals were in a round robin format. Bruce Young was in
control all the way through, shooting down three of his opponents
and chasing off the other two to win the event with a perfect
record. Dan Lavall shot down three also and chased off one, but
was run off by Young. Young took home a DVD of "Blue Max"
to accompany his eighth WBC wood.
Many thanks to all whom participated and made this a success
despite the objections of our grumpy Convention Director. The
open format meant the GM was not around to settle any disputes,
but everyone played well and in the highest tradition of WBC
sportsmanship. Next year, there will be several changes to allow
more players to start earlier and a designated Aerodrome for
people to hang out and fly against each other.
And a special thanks to Greg Schmittgens for making the green
AoA buttons to use as opponent finders.
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