On a personal note: I’d like to thank all the players for playing with many attending multiple Heats and making things flow well for the GM. This community is like a family and there are so many great players attending this event and helping their fellow players at the table.
Looking ahead to 2026 (sure why not!!) I have a wedding to attend on August 1, 2026 so I’m looking at a schedule change of the following: Heats on Monday & Tuesday evening and either 1 or 2 Heats on Wednesday spread out during the day then the Semifinal and Final back to back on Thursday after B17 around 6pm.
Looking at the numbers overall we had: 67 unique players over 3 Heats.
Heat 1 had 8 tables with 34 players. Noteworthy comments submitted by the players:
Keight Hunsinger captured his table starting off the round with a double push. Way to stay with the fight Keith!
Roy Gibson took the win on the last convoy and a 6 point swing in one of the closest tables of the Heat with only 3 points separating 1 to 4.
The real bloodbath was at Dacey Collinson's winning table. Lexi Shea Burns took the Bismark with the Rodney and won the Scharnhorst in spoils. Dacey battled back entering the final 4 rounds with only spoil points and a hand of only 6 cards but she held strong and took the last 4 convoys with the final convoy determining the win for her. Way to stay strong!!
Heat 1 Winners were: John Coussis, John Shaheen, Bob Wicks, Keith Hunsinger, Roy Gibson, Matt Evinger, and Dacey Collinson.
Heat 2 had 5 tables with 45 players of which 22 were new to the event this week. Noteworthy comments submitted by the players:
Daniel Collinson won his table and the action started hot and heavy early in the war. The Bismark, accompanied by a Milk Cow, the Shadower and the Reiswolf sub group failed in their attack on the convoy the when the Victorious, the Duke of York and the Wellington engaged them in a close fight until the allied Admiral Tovey gave the order to make it a COMBINED assault the attacking Germans who were quickly sent to the bottom of the ocean.
Pete Pollard captured the win at his table, but it wasn't a good day for the German Condor fleet. In an all-day battle Condor 1 came out to assault a convoy and was instantly shot down, then Condor 2 appeared in an apparent rescue mission over the convoy and was immediately shot down. It was a fate pair for the allies and a protected convoy!!
Heat 2 Winners were: Doug Kolpien, Nick Kramer, Daniel Collinson, Jesse Boomer, Billy Fellin, Justin Martin, Pete Pollard, and James Pei.
Heat 3 had 7 tables with 38 players of which 11 were new to the event this week.
Noteworthy comments submitted by the players:
Jay Schoenen won his table on the last convoy slugfest with the 10 points of spoils deciding a hard fought battle.
Gary Moss also waited to pounce on the last battle to secure a spot in the Heat for the final convoy battle
In a repeat of the most famous battle at the WBC Atlantic Storm we saw Kramer vs Kramer at the same table with Nick and his dad James. Nick showed his dad some love when the 1st convoy pushed, the battle raged on with the King George blown off course by a storm only to see Nick take out his Dad's Scharnhorst. A nice family affair that helped Nick win his table! He didn’t seem too sad about his choices, maybe the next family cookout Nick will bring the refreshments to make up for it!
Heat 3 Winners were: Keith MacFarland, Keith Hunsinger, Ernie Chambers, Rob Eastman, Joel Tamburo, Gary Moss, Nick Kramer (2nd Win!), and Jay Schoenen.
Semifinal
There were 3 tables in the Semifinal round with 17 players. The table winners and second place would advance. Daniel Collinson, Rob Eastman, Matt Evinger, Billy Fellin, Doug Kolpien, and Joel Tamburo advanced to the Final.
Final
The table was quite lively in conversation and banter much more than past Finals.
Early on in the round The Tirpitz and Scharnhorst attacked a large convoy thinking they would have an easy day of it but soon after the 1st volley was launched along came the King George 5, Duke of York and the aptly named Victorious. Rob Eastman took home the battle win.
Rob also appeared to be the master of smoke and mirrors or possibly a secret enigma machine as he was able to play the U570 Rainbow 0 air, 0 surface, 1 subsurface to dual victories and gain spoils both times!
On the final play of the game Billy played the Audacity which was blown off course in a Storm resulting in a fierce subsurface battle with Doug Kolpien taking home the convoy Allies 18 Germans 16.
Final scores were: Doug 24, Billy 23, Joel 20, Rob 18, Daniel 14, and Matt 9.
Some statistics from the final table include:
- Convoys by Year (Total 20)
- 1940 - 3
- 1941 – 4
- 1942 – 7
- 1943 – 6
- Sea of Battle
- Type of Combat
- Air – 7
- Surface – 3
- Sub – 9
- Combined – 3
- Wins
Nerney, Scott [3rd Year]