atlantic storm [Updated August 2001]

ACS  5 prizes Experienced Mult Ent Sing Elim Scheduled 
  Rnd1 Heat1  18   Rnd1 Heat2 16
  Rnd1 Heat3  18   Rnd1 Heat4 12
  Round 2  16  Round 3  18 Final    

  Rnd1 Heat1 Rnd1 Heat3 Maryland 3 Rnd1 Heat2 Round 2 Round 3 Maryland 4 Rnd1 Heat4 Salon EF

John Coussis, IL

2001Champion

2nd: Rob Winslow, NY

3rd: Henry Richardson, VA

4th: Pat Mirk, FL

5th: Dewayne Curry, OH

6th: Ben Knight, MD
Event History
1991    None      -
1992    None      -
1993    None      -
1994    None      -
1995    None      -
1996    None      -
1997    None      -
1998    Ric Manns      155
1999    Roy Gibson     116
2000    Bob Eastman     129
2001    John Coussis     126

AREA Ratings:

GM: John Coussis

one crowded ocean ...

The icy waters of the North Atlantic proved once again to be a very popular place as 126 hard-bitten naval commanders set out for this year's title and thereby claimed the largest tournament field at WBC 2001. As with previous years, the North Atlantic proved to be as strange and mysterious as it is deadly.

Some of the highlights from the heats and semi-finals included:

- Pat Mirk capturing five (5) ships via fate cards
- The Bismarck rolling boxcars; to help take out the Duke of York, Renown, and Trident
- John Coussis capturing the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and the Bismarck with fate cards in the same game
- A massive battle that pitted the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst agains the Rodney, Trinidad, and Hood. Ben Knight rolled an eight (8) with the Tirptiz to tie the battle and send it to a second round.

Before getting to the final game, there was one semi-final that deserves special mention. Kevin Sudy, John Coussis, Pete Stein, and Stephen Squibb were matched up in one of five semi-final games. Stephen raced out to a 23-point lead after only four hands. The game continued and despite the fact that two convoys went through unplayed (and thus discarded) the game got tighter and tighter. The 23 points that Stephen scored in the first four hands turned out to be the only ones he would score that game. In the end, John Coussis emerged with 25 points to win the game. What really made this game intriguing was the fact that only three points separated last place from the winner. Both Pete Stein and Kevin Sudy ended the game with 22 points, making this the tightest game (from first to last) of the tournament.

Pat Mirk, Henry Richardson III, Rob Winslow, John Coussis, and Dewayne Curry were paired in the final match.

In sharp contrast to the past couple of years, there were no early arctic convoys. The third hand saw a big combined battle over convoy ONS202, ONS18. The Bogue and Victorious squared off against the Scharnhorst and Bismarck. Dewayne emerged victorious with the Victorious (sorry) and took home 11 points, giving Rob the Bismarck for five points. The next few hands saw a fairly even distribution of points. Henry tried a couple of times to play “?”-valued cards, but never could quite roll high enough to win convoys. He was, however, building up a good spoils pile in front of him. At the mid-way point, the visible (convoy) points were: Pat-10, Dewayne-10, John-9, Rob-7, and Henry-0.

The second half of the game began with an Arctic convoy started by John. After playing a strong sub card, John played the Arctic Storm and took Rob out of the hand. No one else challenged John and so he started the second half on a good note. Round 13 saw a tied hand for a 1940 convoy that went around a second time. The second time no one could challenge Pat, so he took the convoy and all spoils for a six-point hand. The game remained tight going in to the last five convoys. Hand 16 saw Henry select convoy SC118 and call Surface leading the Duke of York. Despite Rob pitching in on the Allied side, Dewayne, Pat, and John all went German and John took the big convoy by rolling a 10 with the Tirpitz. Dewayne started hand 18 by selecting SC48 and playing five points for the Germans. No one challenged him except John who put out a Wolf Pack and a +1 bonus card. John rolled a five (net six with the bonus) and took the convoy. Pat began hand 19 as he chose SC122. Pat called sub and played 4 points for the Germans and also played the 2nd Happy Time Card. John followed-up with a Wolf Pack and no one else was able to challenge. It came down to the die roll and the GM continued his display of bad manners with hot dice by rolling a five to take the convoy. John selected the final convoy, ON166, called sub, and put out a tremendous hand of Admiral Tovey, an Escort Group, a +1 bonus, and the Wellington. Despite this show of strength, no one else was looking for spoils as everyone else played German. Dewayne wound up winning the hand, although it didn't move him out of last place.

When the final scores were tallied, John had 34, Rob 32, Henry 26, Pat 25, and Dewayne 23. So, John Coussis took home the wood he challenged the rest of us to win. This was John's second title of the 2001 WBC, both in the events he GM'd. While no one really had a serious problem with that, he had to absorb more than a few good natured taunts.

 GM      John Coussis  [3rd Year]  1978G Kenilworth Circle, Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
    JohnC10295@AOL.com   (847) 490-1504

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