Countdown to West Coast Melee XII…

Greetings all,

Well, West Coast Melee XII is only a week away. I am very pleased to report that more people pre-registered this year than we had for total attendance last year. This is shaping up to be a banner year for SoCalASL and West Coast Melee.

I’m happy to say we have everything well in hand; the plaques and shirts are being printed, our contract with the hotel is signed and paid for, scenario lists have been prepared and printed, soda and beer has been purchased, etc. In short, we’re as ready as we need to be at this point.

The SoCalASL advance team is planning to arrive at the hotel at 11:00 AM on Thursday to set up the game room. “Recon Thursday” officially starts at noon. We should have the Hospitality Suite up and running at 3:00 PM. As is our usual practice, the Club will provide sandwiches, beer and soda in our Hospitality Suite throughout Thursday afternoon and evening. “Recon Thursday” in Avalon I is a great way to warm up for the big event. In addition to the usual pick-up games, we’re going to launch a mini-tournament for those who are interested (first come, first in). I’m calling it the “Micro Mini” because all the scenario choices will be very small. We don’t want this mini-tournament to bleed into Friday’s events, so I have designed it to be completed on Thursday.

The Melee will officially start on Friday morning at 9:00 AM. We will pair players randomly, and everyone will be required to play one points-based “Qualifying Scenario”. Once you have completed this scenario, you are free to play whatever you wish for the remainder of the day. At 11:00 PM, we will announce the high scores from the Qualifying Round, and those eight players will move on to the “Hand-to-Hand” phase of The Melee on Saturday and Sunday. Everyone else will have the choice of a multitude of mini-tournaments we will be offering starting on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, or of course open play.

We will be keeping our Starter Kit players busy all weekend as well. I will have an SK mini-tournament ready to launch on Thursday afternoon, if we have a sufficient number of SK players. Otherwise, we’ll have the SK players playing warm-up games among themselves. On Friday morning, we will hold our “7-0 Leaders” Clinic for new players and those who want to sharpen their ASL skills. We will also launch a special Red Barricades mini-campaign game for SK players called “Among the Workshops” and no, you won’t need a copy of Red Barricades to play. On Saturday, we will launch another SK players’ mini-tournament, plus more open play. I will also have a couple of SK scenarios that are in need of playtesting for a future Melee Pack, for those who might like to take a crack at them.

West Coast Melee has always been more than just a tournament, it’s an ASL event. It’s all about getting together to play our favorite game and having fun. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone this coming week.