West Coast Melee XII: President's AAR

Well the smoke has cleared and we have the winners:

Congratulations to Fred Timm for clinching his second WCM championship. Congrats also to Matt Romey for his second place finish, Dave Deresinski for third place and Scott Thompson for fourth place.

The mini-tournament winners were:

Micro Mini: Dave Nicholas

Among the Hedgerows: Larry Rohlfing

Big Cats: Stance Nixon

Flame and Shell: Brandon Liesemeyer

Last Gasp: Mike Cirrincione

Congratulations to all of our mini-tournament winners as well.

As predicted, we had the largest for a WCM since 9-11, with 48 players in attendance, including eight from out-of-town. We had a very strong showing of “7-0 Leaders” and Starter Kit players. Although we never quite had enough at any one time to hold an SK mini-tournament, we were able to test-drive our new SK-style Red Barricades mini-CG “Among the Workshops”.

Everything went pretty much flawlessly throughout the weekend. Our new points-based system for The Melee went smoothly, with all of the players choosing to play either “Round One” or “Assaulting Tess”. The new system allowed us to pair the final 8 players at 11:30 PM on Friday. That allowed us to focus exclusively on launching the mini-tournaments on Saturday Morning. We were pleased with the way the new system worked, but a group of us brainstormed on Saturday and came up with a slight change that should improve the system even more for next year.

As usual, we had killer shirts for those who ordered them. This year we returned to embroidered polo shirts, and they were very well received. The hotel gave us the executive suite instead of our usual room for our hospitality suite this year. The two-room suite had a much-needed refrigerator and wet bar, as well as about twice the space. It was a good thing, since our Recon Thursday event was unusually well attended.

As usual, we recovered a number of items left in the room at closing. I have a scenario pack belonging to Rich Domovic. I also have a pair of reading glasses that I think belong to Dave Myers, and a binder of Dezign Pack scenarios in page-protectors that I think belongs to Scott Thompson. I also have a sheet of Plexiglas that might belong to Phil Seymour. Unfortunately it was cracked in transit to my house, but it’s still serviceable. If any of these items sound like yours, be sure to contact me.

Last but not least I want to thank the usual cast of characters who help put this event on every year:

Matt Cicero, for handling the money and registrations, running the check-in, designing the pre-reg packs, printing the registration packs, running the Club store, providing input and feedback from the planning stage onward, handling the drinks and coolers for Recon Thursday, and generally serving as my ever-faithful wingman.

Rob Feinstein, for designing the polo shirt art and handling every aspect of the shirt order from conception to delivery.

Dave Nicholas, for performing his duties as “Commissar to the 7-0’s” with his usual flawlessness and good cheer. He served additional duty this year by supervising the playtest of our SK CG “Into the Workshops”.

Paul Simonsen, for handling all aspects of the Club’s website, including getting the Pay-Pal and on-line registration running, setting up the links to the hotel, etc. Paul also serves every year as a sort of ‘deputy tournament director’, inputting and tracking results and otherwise keeping an eye on things when I’m not around. This year, he helped me greatly with compiling the results of our new format.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank two of the Club’s nice guys; Mike Cirrincione and Phil Seymour. Mike donated all those donuts we ate on Saturday Morning, and Phil donated two cases of primo beer to our hospitality suite.

Finally, I want to thank our other Club Officers; Scott Thompson, Matt Romey and Geoff Coward, for proving support, input and feedback every step of the way. Also those members (too many to mention) who assisted me in so many ways throughout the weekend.

Finally, as always, I want to thank everyone who came and supported the event. West Coast Melee takes a lot of work. Having a big turn-out is what makes all that work worthwhile.

Our next Club-wide event will be our Annual Burning Wreck BBQ in September. I will keep you posted as we develop plans for that.