b-17  

Updated 11/29/2008

2008 WBC Report    

 2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Dan Dolan Sr, NJ

2008 Champion

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Event History
1992    Frank Alexander      32
1993    Kevin Combs      35
1994    Kevin Combs      32
1995    Paul Risner      31
1996    Robert Hamel      32
1997    Paul Risner      34
1998    Paul Weintraub      32
1999    William Burch     32
2000    John Conlon     29
2001    Jim LeVay     32
2002    Paul Risner     32
2003    William Rohrbeck     34
2004    Stephen Quirke     37
2005    Keith Hunsinger     36
2006    Paul Risner     39
2007    Dave Long     42
2008     Dan Dolan Sr     46
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Paul Risner        FL    06    169
  2.  William Rohrbeck   NH    06    102
  3.  Richard Moyer      MN    08     96
  4.  Keith Hunsinger    OH    05     90
  5.  Dan Dolan Sr       NJ    08     60
  6.  Dave Long          NC    07     60
  7.  Stephen Quirke     WI    04     55
  8.  Eric Stranger      OH    08     52
  9.  Judy Krauss        PA    02     42
 10.  Jim LeVay          MA    01     40
 11.  John Conlon        OK    00     40
 12.  William Burch      MD    00     38
 13.  Kevin Coombs       GA    07     26
 14.  Tim Evinger        PA    04     25
 15.  Ken Richards       SC    08     24
 16.  Don Del Grande     CA    01     24
 17.  John Ellmann Sr    MD    00     24
 18.  David Gantt        SC    03     20
 19.  Jim Miller         TN    08     18
 20.  Bill Beckman       SC    06     18
 21.  Bill LeVay         MA    01     16
 22.  John Poniske       PA    00     16
 23.  Roger Knowles      OH    04     15
 24.  Bruce Peckham      NY    07     12
 25.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    06     12
 26.  Anthony Musella    VA    05     12
 27.  Ralph Gleaton      SC    02     12
 28.  Rob Navolis        OH    01     12
 29.  Steve Sheldon      NY    00     12
 30.  Evan Hitchings     DE    04     10
 31.  Paul Weintraub     MD    03     10
 32.  John Emery         SC    02      8
 33.  Joshua Dunn        VA    02      8
 34.  Steve Munchak      VA    08      6
 35.  Mike Windle        DE    07      6
 36.  Marty Musella      VA    06      6
 37.  Michael Haley      NY    00      6
 38.  Even Hitchings     DE    04      5
 39.  John Poniske Jr    PA    05      4
 40.  Henry Richardson   VA    03      3

2008 Laurelists                                             Repeating Laurelists 

Rich Moyer, MN
2nd

Ken Richards, SC
3rd

Jim Miller, TN
4th

Eric Stranger, OH
5th

Steve Munchak, VA
6th


Past Winners

Kevin Coombs, GA
'93-'94

Paul Risner, TN
1995, 1997, 2002, 2006

Robert Hamel, CT
1996

Paul Weintraub, MD
1998

William Burch, MD
1999

John Conlon, OK
2000

Jimmy Levay, MA
2001

William Rohrbeck, NH
2003

Stephen Quirke, WI
2004

Keith Hunsinger, OH
2005

Dave Long, NC
2007

Dan Dolan Sr, NJ
2008
     

The skies were full as WBC sent out the largest squadron ever in the 17-years of this event. How appropriate for the landmark 50th mission!

Past champs Bill Burch and Paul Weintraub head a wing (row) of B17's. Paul consructed 42 of those white replica dice towers seen in the center of the row for this year's event.

 

 Assistant GMs Mark Yoshikawa and Mike Lam help out with the record keeping. Mike provides replica medals as auxiliary prizes and almost everyone brings something for the prize table.
 New this year was the replica control tower dice tower built by Paul Weintraub along with smaller versions for all players. No one beats B-17 for esprit de corps!

The 50 Mission Crush!

HEADLINES FROM ENGLAND, midsummer 1943:

The 17th Annual B-17 Tournament Wrap Up:

True to last year's build-up, we had a record turnout for the 50 Mission Crush. The largest field in B-17 history, 46 daring pilots, turned out for the climax of 17 years of tournament planning, gaming and history!

Heading the participants were the iron-men of B-17: Paul Risner (4-time Champion) and Keith Hunsinger (2005 champion). They are the only players to complete all 50 missions, over the 17-year history of the event, albeit the Reverend's record comes with an asterisk as he phoned it in one year. Other returning Champions were Kevin Coombs ('93 &'94) Paul Weintraub ('98) and our most recent: Dave Long. Filling out the field were veterans and rookies who, like the champions of past years, had come to test their fate in the skies over occupied Europe

As in every WBC B-17 tournament, we flew three historical-based missions. Scenario handout sheets, representing nearly a year of research by the GM and the command staff of the Squadron (the asst. GM's), designed loosely on Squad Leader scenario charts were given to each flier at the start of each mission to brief them on the game setup, target, air cover, and weather, complete with a detailed historical synopsis to let everyone know what really happened on that mission in WWII.

The three missions took us to the heart of Nazi Germany, delivering tons of Army Air Force ordnance to the munitions, war materiel and war-fighting ability of the Third Reich. This series of missions featured our longest deployment of the war, with longer range fighter cover (P-51's with drop tanks), and our squadrons landing in Tunis, North Africa, after a flight across the whole of Germany! Many brave paper men and cardboard planes went down in flames as the ferocity of the defense of the Luftwaffe fighters and flak cannonen took its toll. Our squadrons suffered their heaviest losses to date, but every pilot/player did his/her best to complete the missions.

Mission 1 took us to Schweinfurt, to bomb the ball-bearing factories essential to fighter and tank production. Even though it is a cliché of every war-movie you've ever watched, the strategy, as you may recall, worked! It was a high-priority target and well defended. Losses were heavy and many veterans were knocked from the sky. Less than half made it to the drop-zone able to deliver their bombs and over 120 crew members were killed or captured. Needless to say, this was an inauspicious start to the campaign.

Mission 2, our 50th mission as a squadron, was a record-breaker! The bombers were directed to Regensburg in the heart of Germany to destroy an aircraft factory. The kicker was: we didn't have the fuel to return to England once we reached the target zone. To survive this mission, we would have to fight our way across Germany, over Italy (to be faced by Luftwaffe and Italian fighters!) and all the way to North Africa and land in Tunis. Of the 46 forts making the raid, only 33 reached the target and again over 120 crewmen were killed or captured in the effort. The few tired, depleted crews who made it to Tunis earned a day off as the ground crews readied their flying fortresses for a return trip to England.

Mission 3 saw us take to the sky with the news we were headed to Bordeaux, and those that made it through were to land in England. Losses were lighter on the outbound leg of this mission, with 36 planes reaching the target. Heavy fighter defenses took their toll on the inbound leg, with 22 planes lost, overall.

As the stragglers of the third mission wobbled home, it became apparent that yet again, fortune had favored a new player. After all the scores were tabulated, the "Squadron by the Door" (the resident squadron of Risner and Hunsinger and sometimes Bill Rohrbeck, Champion in '03) had produced yet another Champion: Dan Dolan!

Dan had scored a rare rookie 1st place, playing in the tournament only after hearing how much fun it was last year from friends. I can only sum up Dan's enthusiasm during the day-long tourney by saying: Dan had a great time (which he told us over and over), thinks the people in the game are as much fun to play with and against as any he has met, is a big fan of the tournament and plans to play in B-17 from now on, for as long as we have them! That is about as big a rave review from the leader of Dan's World as a game and a bunch of gamers could get!

I could sum up the number of planes that flew, the bombing percentages, the gunner's kills, the medals awarded and many other interesting statistics, but I think that we who played and flew and succeeded or failed already know what happened. To us, there are more important statistics that we want you to know:

· We are among the oldest continuously running tournaments at WBC, having just completed our 17th year.

· Besides Risner and Hunsinger, we have many players who have competed 10, 12 or 15 years with us.

·  The B-17 tournament keeps growing, even though the game has been out of print for 25 years! We are one of the few events strong enough to award a 6th place plaque!

·  Rookies can and do take home 1st place wood! Even if you don't know the system, you are welcome and the veterans will help you through the missions. Try asking your opponent in ASL, Puerto Rico or For the People to help you win and see what you get.

· With every mission, you get the history of the time (usually in an enthusiastic briefing by "Col." Terry), and a chance to talk "air-war" with people who read lots of books on the subject and like to discuss everything and anything about WWII.

· We have a great wrap-up at the Officer's Club, usually 11 pm on Friday, during which we pass out the medals, award the plaques, take pictures, enjoy some laughs, movies and take a prize from the prize table (no one goes home empty handed!)

· We want you to come game with us because it is fun!

As always, we owe a debt of gratitude to the "Command" structure of the tournament. We all have a great time, enjoy some history with our gaming and a fun wrap-up at the Officer's Club, because of the hard work and planning from the guys listed below:

"Col." David Terry, Gamemaster, B-17, rules, tourney format, herder of crazy B-17 players, plotter of 51 missions (so far), operator of the pen and paper scoring system and Command Pilot of "Projectile Delivery";

"Capt." Mike Lam, Assistant Gamemaster, B-17, rules, medals and Command Pilot of "Donny Brook";

"Maj." Keith Hunsinger ('05), Assistant Gamemaster, B-17, rules, Group Chaplain, designer of the Italian Fighter cards and chief planner for the shuttle mission to Tunis, scoring and Command Pilot of "Sweet Sue";

"Capt." Mark Yoshikawa, Assistant Gamemaster, B-17, rules, electronic scoring and Command Pilot of "Kamikaze Kid";

"Maj." Paul Risner ('95, '97, '02, '06), Officer in charge of the Officer's Club, Command Pilot of "Pretty Baby," resident gunnery champion and author of this summary.

And of course all the other players, our friends all, who are the supporting cast of fliers that make this such a fun experience each year. Thanks to all and see you in 2009.

This event not only holds their attention for eight hours to fly three missions, it also draws them back for a midnight debriefing to hear the results.

A voluntarily stocked prize table of appropriately themed B17 memorabilia lets everyone walk home a winner. Unsurpassed camaraderie.
 GM      Dave Terry  [17h Year]  NA 
    david.terry@jhuapl.edu   NA

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