Yeah...I know that I failed to get my blog posts up in a timely manner. During the pre-con, it seemed such an easy task, but once the gaming got going...suffice it to say that between not having my computer (because it was often being used in the seminar room) and finishing Here I Stand (or other games) after 2, I didn't do much at night other than fall in bed.

Sunday morning I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough to attend the church service. I did make it down for the end of Rev. Hunsinger's sermon and in time to set up the projector for the After Action Meeting. Rebecca had taken my heads-up to heart and was there front and center, despite her lack of sleep. Karsten even attended to provide support. It was fun to be able to present the Sportsmanship Award to Rebecca and tell stories of her early years at WBC. It's hard to believe she's been attending for 8 years now.

I was wishy washy about playing Attack Sub after the meeting. I was just plain tired. I'd brought the game down just in case and decided to go on over. When I got there, I realized how long it has been since I played--Rob Mull has run the event for 6 years...and I've never played under his management. It's a real shame. I like very much how he runs it. In any case, my first game ended with my U.S. subs at the bottom of the Atlantic. In the Falklands scenario, I took the Argentinians, successfully pulled in my reinforcement early, and managed to take out the British sub, despite losing one of mine. In the third game, I took the Americans and sunk the Sovs with little problem.

With a 2-1 record, I had to hope my tie-breakers would be enough to advance me to SE. I squeaked in, mostly because the opponent I had lost to went 3-0. My first SE game was Sub Duel against Andrew Cummins. I took the Americans, sunk one of the Sovs, and managed to withdraw both of my subs. It was touch-and-go. I took the first one out too early and had to fight one-on-one with the last Soviet sub before I was finally able to reduce to no contact and play an Open Range. The next SE game went very quickly. I chose the Falklands and got Argentina. My reinforcements came in quickly and blew the Brits out of the water.

There was a bit of a wait for the final game against Dan Hoffman. He selected "Rebel Without A Cause", a scenario with surface ships. I took the surface fleet, which ended up being problematic, because I kept forgetting the rules for surface ships. Rob corrected me, as necessary, and by the end of the game, I had finally managed to get it through my head that I couldn't play sub-only cards! My helicopters rarely stayed up long, but they helped me with some key active sonar plays. Dan managed to get to his firing position and take one shot, but luck was with me, and he failed. I was able to shoot a couple of torpedos, and that was enough to allow me to take home the shield plaque.

Afterwards, talking to Karsten on the phone about the match, I didn't feel tired, but I practically fell asleep at the table when I went out to lunch with BPA staff and guests about 3:30. I managed to make it back to the room after eating a light meal and slept until 9:30 the next morning. Rebecca fell asleep around 2 and got up at the same time. We got out of the room right at 11 and with only a few glitches made it home before traffic got bad. I was still pretty burnt, though, and didn't get much done. Now I'm trying to get back into the swing of life.