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Attack Sub (ATS) WBC 2017 Report
Updated February 15, 2018 Icon Key
30 Players Trevor Schoenen 2017 Status 2018 Status History/Laurels
  2017 Champion Click box for details. Click box for details.
 

Youth Previls Beneath The Surface

Thirty submariners turned out for this year's Attack Sub tournament. Four players emerged unbeatenfrom the initial 3 Swiss rounds – Jim Eliason, Eric Rogers Vargo, Anthony Daw, and Trevor Schoenen (son of 2014 champion and last year's second place finisher Rob Schoenen). Tiebreakers were used to add Jim Doughan, Andy Lewis, Rob Schoenen, and last year's champion Bruce Young to make the final 8 for the playoff rounds.

The Quarterfinals saw Anthony Daw's Soviet subs defeated Jim Doughan's NATO surface fleet in Scenario B Search and Destroy. Jim had very bad luck in that he was unable to launch a single helicopter the entire game!

Trevor Schoenen and Andy Lewis also chose to play Search and Destroy. Trevor took the Soviets with Andy as NATO. This was a tense match. Andy had better luck than Jim did in getting helicopters into the air, but Trevor got off to a fast start putting sensor and attack damage on both NATO ships. One of Andy's helicopters sank the Molniya, but the Skvortsov got revenge and sank the Simpson. Things now looked very bleak for Andy as he could no longer launch helicopters and Virginia was damaged. He fought valiantly, but Virginia was finally sunk giving Trevor the win.

Eric Rogers Vargo and Rob Schoenen chose to play Scenario H with Rob taking the Soviets and Eric taking NATO. Eric drew first blood, sinking the boomer's escort sub. Eric then also managed to hit the boomer, but it absorbed the damage without sinking. Rob played damage control to reduce the damage. He managed to sink Eric's Asheville, but before he could make his escape Eric's Los Angeles finished off the boomer for the win.

Jim Eliason and Bruce Young played Scenario B Search and Destroy, with Jim taking the NATO surface force against Bruce's Soviet subs. This time the NATO surface force would do much better. The Virginia quickly sank the Molniya. Bruce had bad luck, having a system malfunction on his first attack. Bruce tried to open range and gain some time to repair his sub, but Jim closed in for the kill and the win. Bruce will not be a repeat champion this year.

In the first semifinal game, Trevor Schoenen's NATO subs took on Anthony Daw's Soviets in Scenario A Sub Duel. Neither side could gain a firm contact on the other during the first deck of play. In the second deck, Trevor's Valiant managed to sink the Skvortsov. Anthony had a number of malfunctions on his subs during this second deck. In the third deck, Trevor sank Anthony's other sub for the win.

The other semifinal saw Eric Rogers Vargo's Soviet subs taking on Jim Eliason's NATO surface force in Scenario B Search and Destroy. Eric's aggressive play style got him the first attack on Simpson, but he missed. Jim's Virginia fired back and also missed. Continuing to play very aggressively, Eric played Battle Stations to close range and attack with 2 attack cards. He hit Virginia, but it absorbed the damage, taking two attack damage. Eric would finish off Virginia before Jim could repair it. Eric then tried to kill Simpson for the win, but missed. Eric's aggressive play left his sub with the highest contact level of 4. Jim took advantage of that by launching several high odds attacks, but missed on all of them. In spite of the high contact level on his subs, Eric continued to press the attack and closed range on the Simpson for a contact level 4 attack, but he also missed. Simpson fired back and missed. This was like a knife fight in a phone booth – both sides wildly firing at each other and missing. Finally, Simpson managed to sink Molniya, leaving the battle one versus one. After more aggressive play, Eric managed to sink the Simpson for the win.

This year's final would feature two players who had never won the tournament before. Not only that, they were both under eighteen years old! This would be the first time that Attack Sub would have a champion that was under eighteen years old.

For the final match, Eric chose this year's most popular scenario Search and Destroy. Trevor chose to play the Soviet subs. It will be interesting to see how Eric's aggressive play style will handle the NATO surface force.

Trevor launched the first attack, but missed. Eric drew first blood when one of his helicopters sank Molniya. Trevor got some revenge, when Skvortsov hit Simpson for heavy damage, but it didn't sink. Erik used damage control to repair Simpson's sensor damage. Even with a damaged ship, Eric continued to play aggressively, trying to close range but Trevor negated the attempt. Trevor then hit Simpson again but only managed to damage the repaired sensor. Back and forth play continued into the third deck. About halfway through the third deck, Trevor sank the Virginia leaving a damaged Simpson against the Skvortsov. Eric was still dangerous because he still had Simpson's helicopters available. Eric kept attacking with his helicopters, but they kept missing. Play has now advanced into the fourth deck! Early in this deck, Trevor opened range, prompting a chicken cackle from the GM! Trevor good naturedly laughed it off. Eric now tried for the win using an aggressive move of Battle Stations, close range, and an Attack 2. But Trevor played an Evasive Actions 2 and the attack failed! Almost at the end of the fourth deck, Trevor managed to finally sink the Simpson to become the youngest Attack Sub champion ever! Dad Rob taught him well.

2017 Laurelists Repeating Laurelists: 0
Eric Rodgers-Vargo Anthony Daw Jim Eliason Andy Lewis Rob Schoenen
2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Carol and Steve Caler at opposite ends of the table Chairman of the Board enjoying Sunday morning
Youth versus Experience A youngster among grognards
 
GM    Steve Caler [9th Year]   NA
   stevecal@sssnet.com    NA