If it Isn't Malfunctioning, Don't Fix It!

For another year, Captains gathered at Seven Springs to determine which of them was the master of the seas, circa 1980. Many familiar faces were in attendance, with some first time players as well. Unfortunately, Steve Caler, the GM of 1O+ years, was unable to attend this year. Had he been able to, the first place plaque would have most likely ended up in his hands. After the three Swiss rounds, 8 players advanced to the single elimination Quarterfinal.

Quarterfinal

John Sy (1) vs. Rob Schoenen (8) - For the first Quarterfinal, John chose to play the Falklands, and Rob chose the Argentine side. John decided to play aggressively, leading off with several plays of active sonar and closing range on the Salta. Rob was able to mitigate the effectiveness of John's actions and was able to bring on the San Luis relatively early. Using this advantage, Rob managed to fire a torpedo at the Swiftsure, sinking it on the first attempt and winning the scenario.

David Hitchcock (2) vs. Anthony Daw (7) - David drew the high number and elected to play the Falklands, and Anthony chose to play as the British. This time, the Argentines came out aggressively, using active sonar to gain sufficient contact on the British for a shot. And shoot they did - but only scoring a "sensor" hit on the Swiftsure. Over time, Anthony was able to improve his contact on the Salta, aided by David malfunctioning Salta's attack system when firing a second torpedo. After many back and forth misses, Anthony's Swiftsure scored a hit on David's Salta, sinking it before reinforcements could arrive.

Marvin Birnbaum (3) vs. Mandy Mossman (6) - This quarterfinal saw the first convoy of the tournament, with Mandy choosing the Scenario G: Turning the Tide. Marvin played as the NATO convoy, leaving Mandy with the Soviet subs to hunt it down. Marvin was able to quickly get several helicopters in the air, enabling him to rapidly gain contact on Mandy's three Soviet subs. By doing this so quickly, Marvin started knocking off the Soviet subs faster than Mandy could get to the Transports, and in methodical fashion Marvin won the scenario.

Dan Leader (4) vs. Keith Hunsinger (5) - In this matchup of Scenario B: Search and Destroy, Keith played as the Soviet submarines and Dan played as the NATO surface fleet. Dan saw early success by sinking the Molniya {lovingly nicknamed the trash can for its poor stats), but the bigger threat of the Skvortsov remained. With the help of a Battle Stations card, Keith came back from his deficit and sunk the Virginia, followed by the Simpson a few turns later.

Semifinals

Marvin Birnbaum (3) vs. Anthony Daw (7) - Liking the result of his Quarterfinal, Anthony chose to play the Falklands after his high draw. Marvin decided to play as the British side. Early in the match, the Salta malfunctioned and the Swiftsure gained contact to a 2 on the Salta. On his third attempt, Anthony successfully brought in his reinforcement, the San Luis. Salta and Swiftsure traded high percentage shots at each other, but both missed. Swiftsure fired again, and this time sank the Salta. Through the third deck the Swiftsure and the San Luis attempted to improve their positions. At one point, the San Luis malfunctioned to "No contact" on the Swiftsure while the Swiftsure had a contact level of 3 on the San Luis. Things were looking pretty bleak for Anthony, but through the right card play he was able to reduce Marvin's contact with the Swiftsure all the way back to "No attack". But Marvin regained his contact advantage, and after two successive misses, his first shot of the 4th deck finally sank the San Luis.

Keith Hunsinger (5) vs. Rob Schoenen (8) - Keith would again play as the Soviets in Search and Destroy, this time with Rob in command of the NATO surface fleet. On the first random number draw of the game, Keith malfunctioned Skvortsov's sensor. On Keith's second turn, achieved the impressive feat of downing Skvortsov's sensors with his second "X" in a row while attempting to fix the malfunction. Starting with a serious advantage over the Soviets, Rob gained sufficient contact with his surface fleet to fire at the Molniya, sinking it before any damage could be done to the NATO fleet. Crawling back from a downed sensor, Skvortsov got back in the fight by sinking the Virginia, making it a one on one matchup. Fortunately for Rob, the sensing superiority of the surface fleet gave him the contact he needed to sink the Skvortsov, even with the Virginia gone.

Final

Marvin Birnbaum (3) vs. Rob Schoenen (8) - This year's final saw the heads of two Attack Sub families against each other - Marvin with Joseph and Aaron, and Rob with Trevor, Jay, and "3rd son" Brady Detwiler. With 1st place on the line, Rob drew the high number and chose to play Boomer. Marvin chose to play as NATO, which started with the Los Angeles and had the Asheville as a reinforcement. Rob was left with the Zarnista and its escort, the Ivan Rogov. Right off the bat, Zarnista malfunctioned, but Rob picked up the slack with Ivan Rogov closing range on the Los Angeles. Looking for a quick win in the scenario, Rob used a Battle Stations card with Ivan Rogov, combining a close range and a torpedo. Fortunately for Marvin, the attack missed and gave him the opportunity to fire back with the Los Angeles on his next turn. But Los Angeles's attack system malfunctioned, and the Ivan Rogov would live to fight another day. As the Zarnista did its best to remain undetected, the two attack submarines continued to close on each other to the point where the Los Angeles had a contact level of 4 on the Ivan Rogov. Marvin used this to take a high percentage shot on the Ivan Rogov, but missed, giving Rob the opportunity to return fire on a subsequent turn. With Rob's second attack on the Los Angeles, he scored a hit, sinking Marvin's only sub in play and ending the scenario. Another 1st place plaque would go home with the Schoenen family, but the Birnbaums continued their streak of good Attack Sub showings at WBC as well.