West Coast Melee XV: President's AAR

The smoke has cleared and West Coast Melee XV has come and gone. It was in my opinion the best Melee we have had to date. Our attendance was in the mid-40’s, which was higher than it’s been in the last few years. Our random prize drawing, where we gave away over $1,000 in ASL-related products, was fun and exciting. And thanks to donations of previously-used ASL modules by some members (notably from the late Steve Sulzby via Dan Plachta) there were copies of several modules available to help newer members fill in their sets. In all, everything went as smoothly as we could have hoped for.

Thursday: We got underway shortly after noon; as members trickled in they paired up for our “Micro Mini” and pickup games. At 3:00 PM we opened the Club’s Hospitality Suite and pretty much everyone made there way up to enjoy a little socializing and a sandwich and beer (or two). By the end of the evening we had about 25 in attendance, which is slightly higher than the 20 we usually see on Thursday.

Friday: We had about 35 ready to pair up for the “Close Combat” open-play portion of the The Melee by 9:00 AM, and games got started quickly. Two wins over the course of the day guaranteed a player to make the cut for the single-elimination “Hand-to-Hand” phase of The Melee on Saturday. When the smoke cleared at Friday Midnight, we had our eight players with the best records paired up for Saturday. We also continued to give away prizes from our huge prize pool throughout the day.

Saturday: At 8:00 AM we paired the 8 players who made the cut for the Hand-to-Hand Phase of The Melee in short order, and then organized two single elimination mini-tournaments; “Pacific Rim” and “Best of the Bunker”. After we had everything underway we held our annual Club meeting. Our first order of business was to award plaques to the winners of last year’s Melee, which we did to thunderous applauds. The Club then voted to extend the terms of the current Club Officers for another year, with the exception of the North Director, as Geoff Coward, the current director had decided to step down. The North region members then cast their ballots and elected Mike Cirrincione as our newest Regional Director. Congrats Mike!

Sunday: The four survivors from Saturday’s Hand-to-Hand Phase paired for the finals. The remaining players mixed and matched for pick-up games, or finished up games started the evening before.

And the winners were…

Well, as of today we don’t know. Rob Feinstein and Chad Cummins started their final game to determine the Champion and runner up, but ran out of time. They have agreed to finish the game via VASL and I will post their results when that occurs.

3rd Place: Dave Perham

4th Place: Dan Plachta

“Micro-Mini” Champion: Rob Feinstein

“Best of the Bunker” Champion: Chris Breyer

“Pacific Rim” Champion: Dave Derizinski

On behalf of the membership, I want to extend our congratulations to all of our winners.

As I’ve said before, there are two numbers that I consider of paramount importance to the long-term health of SoCalASL and West Coast Melee; the number of players attending WCM for the first time, and the number of room nights booked at the hotel. This year we had 6 players who attended their first Melee; a very healthy 15% of our total attendance, and a good indicator of future growth. And Crowne Plaza informed me we were close to last year’s record for hotel room nights booked. That is a very important number because it factors into what Crowne will charge us as a facility rental for next year. Both numbers are good news indeed, especially considering the ongoing problems with the economy.

I always say West Coast Melee doesn’t get done by itself. It takes a team effort to put together something of this scale, and recognitions are in order.

First and foremost, I want to thank our Club Officers, Matt Cicero, Paul Simonsen, Matt Romey, Eric Visnowski, Rob Feinstein, Scott Thompson, outgoing Director Geoff Coward and incoming Director Mike Cirrincione, collectively for their unswerving support and sensible advance, not just at WCM but throughout the year. We would not have the Club we have without their efforts.

Matt Cicero, for handling the money and registrations, designing and producing all of the promotional material, hand-outs and flyers, helping with the Hospitality Suite, selling raffle tickets and generally serving as my go-to guy throughout the weekend.

Paul Simonsen, for acting as deputy tournament director, setting up all the web based promotions, on-line registrations, and helping me track the results of the Close Combat phase of The Melee.

Dave Nicolas, for handling the plaques again from start to finish (including design), and being ‘on call’ to assume his role as “Commissar of the 7-0’s”.

Eric Morton, for bringing his extensive ASL set in its entirety and making it available to anyone who needed to borrow items to play.

Eric Visnowski, for being a good sport. Eric injured his knee, but a little agonizing pain wasn't going to keep a grognard down, and Eric arrived equipped with a walker. Of course we weren't going to pass up a chance to torment Eric with jokes all weekend, including hanging signs on his walker. And henceforth all wounded leaders who go Berzerk shall be offically known as a “Visnowski”.

A very special thanks to Scott Thompson, for tracking down and compiling over $1,000 in prizes and running the entire prize give-away. In no particular order: Xavier Vitry (Le Franc Tireur), Murray McCloskey (Break Contact), Perry Cocke (Multiman Publishing), Chas Smith (Bounding Fire), Mattias Ronnblom (Friendly Fire), Glenn and Scott Houseman (East Side Gamers), George Kellin (Lone Cannuck), Michael Dorosh, Chris (Battleschool), Melvin Falk (Stavka Archives), Alex Key, Countersmith Warwick, Vic Provost (Dispatches from the Bunker), and Scott Blanton (Gamers Armory); plus Club members Fen Yan, Eric Morton and Scott Thompson. Thanks to each for your generousity.

Another special thanks to Dan Plachta, who donated the late Steve Sulzby’s ASL set to the Club to sell off to our members who needed to complete the sets.

All the members who throughout the weekend offered to pitch in and help, provided good advice and suggestions, or contributed in small ways to make things run smoothly: there are too many to list, but you know who you are, and so do I.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who came and played. We had a blast. A lot of games got played. We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.

And for the first time in the history of WCM… our final room sweep uncovered not one single unclaimed item.

On a personal note, WCM is truly one of the high points of my year because I get to spend four days with so many good friends. It was great to see you all, and every single minute was a blast.