It appears the game designer, Ben Knight (center) has Greg Schmittgens right where he wants him.	If its time for an Atlantic Storm heat, then Balloom B must be filled. 2008 was its 11th straight year with triple digit attendance.

This year's Atlantic Storm event welcomed a new member of the family. Pacific Typhoon, the Pacific Theater sequel to Atlantic Storm, made its debut. Players in the heats and in the semi-final round were able to play their choice of Atlantic Storm or Pacific Typhoon. While I expected Pacific Typhoon to get more action, only 16 of the 40 preliminary games went to the Pacific. The trend continued in the semis where only one of six semi-finals was fought in the Pacific, but this wasn't as much of a surprise since familiarity is a comfort the closer you get to the wood.

Some of the highlights from the heats included:

· Tim Evinger's three straight "3's rolled with two dice
· Mike Masella winning his heat after learning the game 15 minutes previously
· A giant Battleship battle (Bismark & Tirpitz vs. King George V and Duke of York) ends in a tie!
· A multitude of snake-eyes rolled by the Tirpitz in several games

The Final was quite the "Murderer's Row" of veteran gamers as Matt Evinger, Bruce Young, Stephen Cuyler, Garry Libby, designer Ben Knight, and long time GM and Pacific Typhoon developer John Coussis gathered around the table.

Bruce started out strong taking a 7-VP convoy on the second hand by calling an air battle. The early hands continued relatively calmly as everyone was reluctant to make any big moves and draw too much attention to themselves. Bruce pushed out to 11 convoy points after six convoys.

Hand 8 saw the first heavy action as Bruce led the round and chose the mighty 7-VP convoy SC42. Having the Wolfpack that is fated against that convoy in his hand made it an easy choice. John, however, had other ideas as he followed up with Admiral Tovey (to change to combined), an Allied carrier (two dice plus 3) and the Atlantic Storm which he successfully used to take Bruce out of the hand. John managed to stay lucky at the end of the round and rolled an 11 to bag the convoy.

John continued his roll the next hand by selecting a 3-VP 1940 convoy, calling a surface battle, and playing the Hood. No one else could play, especially Stephen who gleefully played the Bismarck thinking he could take out the Hood, only to be left shaking his head when reminded that the Bismarck cannot play in 1940. John took another three points uncontested.

At the midpoint Bruce, John and Stephen were all showing 11-12 convoy points (although John had been able to salt away a few more spoils cards than the others).

Play continued relatively calmly. John managed to pull ahead in convoy points, but not by much. The game came down to the final hand, and it was a hand to remember for Bruce. Having the lead and choosing a 6-VP 1943 convoy, Bruce played Admiral Tovey, two British Battleships, and Raid on St. Nazaire to effectively shut everyone else out of the hand. After the moaning and groaning and head shaking was over, Bruce took the 6 VP's without challenge.

Those 6 points made the difference as Bruce overtook John with 35 VP's. John finished with 31, followed by Stephen, Gary, Ben and Matt.

Thanks to everyone for playing. I hope all those who played Pacific Typhoon enjoyed that experience as much as Atlantic Storm. The format will remain the same again for next year, so everyone will get a choice again.