September 2003

Minutes of the Meeting of July 6, 2003
The meeting was kicked off by club President Jim Thorpe, who read the minutes of last months meeting and ignored calls to start the meeting. The role of Dave Peterson was played by Scribe understudy Scott Alsop (who did a great job -Ed.). Twenty-five members were present. Jim Destromp conducted the locker review. Those present and or paid were Tony, Noel, Jimbo, Rebecca & Rich, Terry, and Walt. Jessie was not present to pay. Receiving new lockers were Gregory, Doc, Zack, and Sergio. Only one locker that has no lock is left available. Scot Alsop conducted the calendar review. Mondays are Warhammer 40,000 pick-up games. Rich's BattleTech Classic is no longer run on Mondays. Tuesdays are Jim's Hackmaster at 7:00 PM. Wednesdays are Dave Saunders' Third Edition D&D and Yu-Gi-Oh CCG. Thursdays are open. Jim Destromp will run Magic the Gathering CCG tourneys starting at 6:00 PM on Thursdays during August. There will be a $5 entry fee. Fridays are Noel More's Hackmaster campaign. Saturdays are Yu-Gi-Oh CCG, Warhammer 40,000, and sanctioned Mechwarrior Dark Age tournaments at 2:00 PM. Sundays are Enio Lopez's Hero Clix or Mage Knight and Warhammer 40,000. Sunday YuGi-Oh CCG play will start in September. Tracy Johnson's multi-player board game event will be played Sunday, August 24.
that its mech bays actually hold mechs. This model can be yours-- if the price is right. Tony McVay requested that the club purchase locker key copies to avoid lack-okey problems. Rich called for a vote on the purchase of a swivel chair. This was considered to be too expensive. A Daily Press article on Gaming in the Life section was brought to the members attention. An accompanying photo showed a game in progress. Jim Destromp was quoted as saying "I don't want any brain dead gamers." Star Wars Galaxy was pitched. Apparently a designated server for ACE gamers has been selected. Enio reported that he had had no success in finding a T-shirt vendor. Jim also looked for a vendor and promised to see if anything new was available. The members voted to hold an all-nighter on Saturday August 30. The scheduled events for this evening are Magic the Gathering CCG, Hero Clix, and the BattleTech Classic Drop Ship tournament. Jim will set up a truly stupendous scenario for the BattleTech game and will give away the Aurora Drop Ship as a prize. Both a double-blind Axis and Allies game and a large Warhammer 40,000 multi-player game were discussed at the July meeting. These were tentatively planned for the all-nighter. Enio reported that Mage Knight 2.0 will be released in September. The new rules include customized hero figures. Creepy Freaks is also due in September. All adults have loved the game. Also keep a look out for Battle Tags, a World War II figure Clix game. Jim asked the members to be on the look out for a vacant space to hold the ACE Haunted House in October, if the club wants to do this. The consensus was that there are no suitable movies for a club movie night in August, September, or October. The vote in favor of scheduling a movie night for the opening of The Matrix 3 on November 5 was almost unanimous. The members voted unanimously to attend the opening of Return of the King on December 17. The Virginia Air and Space Museum contacted the club in May about running demo games during the opening of Matrix Reloaded. The member were asked if they would like to run demos in the theatre during the opening of The Matrix 3 or Return of the King. No members were interested. There was no Treasurer's report due to the absence of club Treasurer Noel More. The members were reminded by Jim that the election of club officers will be held in October, and that there is a long-standing tradition of electing people who dont show up for this meeting to the Presidency. Noel More, Jerry Steadman, Louis Rich, and Doug Darouse were nominated and seconded for President. Scot Alsop conducted the meeting attendance drawing. You must be present to win, and the drawing is based on the previous month's attendance roster. In other words, you must be present at two consecutive meetings to qualify. Jens Knudsen II won the gift certificate for the July 6 meeting. He was not wearing his club T-shirt, so his gift certificate was not doubled. Dougie Darouse won the gift certificate for the July 13 meeting. He was not wearing his club T-shirt, so his gift certificate was not doubled. Neither winner qualified for the $10 bonus for being present at both July meetings. Jim Thorpe adjourned the meeting.

Axis & Allies and various Magic games in progress during the August 30 AllNighter. Enio reported that his Sunday Hero Clix games are on going. Tracy Johnson reported that the Brits lost a carrier to Chinese subs in his game, and the U.S. launched a cruise missile that destroyed an Indian base. Most losses belonged to the U.S. and the Brits after turn one (six months game time). Jim Destromp informed the members that Mechwarrior Dark Age tournaments will continue to be run in August and September. Dougie announced that he plans to run the new Yu Yu Hakusho CCG starting in September. Jens Knudsen II conducted a review of the club roster. The entire roster was reviewed. Many former members were expunged from the list. Jerry Steadman was chastised in absentia for letting his membership expire. Jens reported that he had called all members due to expire in June and July. Jens requested that members submit updated e-mail addresses. Jim asked if anyone knows his e-mail address. The Aurora Class Drop Ship for Mechwarrior Dark Age was unveiled. The members were suitably impressed (Wow! Neat-O!) This model has large holds so
5 Fleet PBEM Month-End Summary, by Tracy Johnson
+++ THIS IS A GAME ++++ The month of August was totally dedicated to the Indo/Chinese alliance submarine move.
The ACE Game Club Newsletter is produced monthly by the ACE Game Club, 50 West Mercury Blvd, Hampton, Virginia 23669 U.S.A. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of Atomic Comics Emporium, Inc. You can contact the ACE Game Club Newsletter by mail or by e-mail at scribe@atomic-comics.com.
ACE Game Club Newsletter - September 2003
The former H.M.S. Ark Royal Task Force (now TF3) never made it to refuge between two submarine attacks from Turns 1 and 2. More Chinese torpedoes and missiles made hits. The UK DD Gloucester was damaged by SSMs and the UK FF Cumberland was sunk by torpedoes. In the same Task Force, the US pre-positioning ship Hauge and Amphibious Assault ship Frederick were damaged. In separate incidents two Slow Convoys, TITAN and RAPID were also sunk. It is as if they had been shadowed by Chinese submarines since Turn 1. One Player quipped, it seems the Chinese are using up all their ammo. armor and numerous laser & PPC hits before a final critical to the already damaged engine dropped the proud fighter. While the death of the Zeus was occurring, Scot's Warhammer dropped the Locust and began his teleportation odyssey. But not before Shon's mechs reached the center teleport point. On two consecutive turns, two of his mechs hit the #1 teleport pog on their first rolls! At the same time six other mechs were bouncing around the other teleport pogs, desperately trying for the coveted '1' or '20' to stop him and claim the prize for themselves. Alas, it was not to be. No other mechs hit the magic numbers and with the clock nearing 5:00 AM Shon's Phoenix Hawk marched unmolested up the plateau and claimed the prize! The tournament game was very exciting and a thrill a minute. You never knew when a mech would appear on a teleport pog near you and everyone would forget the business at hand and blast away at them! Though we all wanted the prize, everyone kept it light and many a laugh was had by all for the six-plus hours the battle raged. High marks to everyone involved for excellent sportsmanship and a distinct lack of profanity! And congratulations to Shon on his first ever tournament win in his life. What a great way to start winning!

Labor Day All-Nighter and BattleTech Drop Ship Tournament Report, by Jens Knudsen II
The ACE 30-31 August 2003 All-Nighter went off well. With everyone bringing their own food or banding together to order pizza, all our ACE warriors were well-fed and ready to go! The Magic CCG had many takers and the Axis & Allies play-by-radio game was interesting and presented new challenges for the gamers by introducing real element of the fog of war to them (bad communications, missed observation, etc.). The centerpiece game of the evening, the BattleTech tournament for the Aurora Drop Ship, was a sight to behold. Everyone selected his or her 150-ton mech force with no idea what the scenario would be - hoping his or her entry fee wouldn't be wasted by an unfortunate mech selection! Most folks selected fairly heavy and well-armored and gunned units, not necessarily the best mix as you'll soon see! The scenario Jim dreamed up was particularly wicked. Both large tables were connected via land bridges and a large landmass in the middle with lots of terrain to block lines of site and offer cover. Twenty numbered pogs (1-20) were placed at various locations around the map to represent teleport points. Opposite the starting end of the table was a large multi-level plateau where the Objective pog of the evening resided. In order to reach the objective, your mechs only had to sprint as fast as they could to one of two land bridges leading up to the central land mass and then reach one of the only two active teleport pogs. Once on a teleport pog, you only had to roll a '1' or a '20' on a D20 to land on one of only two (are you seeing a theme yet?) peaks connected to the objective plateau and sprint for the goal! Of course you had 18 other chances to teleport on to other pogs - usually located near other mechs still trying to get to a teleport pog, and who loved nothing more than to try and shoot you to bits! And if you survived being the designated target, you rolled the D20 on the next turn and hoped for a '1' or '20'! Oh, and did I forget to mention that no one could shoot at anyone for the first three turns of the game and the mechs would only be using regular movement and shooting distances (not double as in previous tournaments)!?! Well, approximately 23 mechs hit the starting line and made a beeline for the land bridges! The most feared was Frankies fleet -footed Locust who managed to get out of gun range and to a bridge before the firing even started. It quickly made for the central land mass and began its teleporting adventure! Many of us thought the game would be over in less than an hour - sure the Locust would hit a 1 or 20 soon. But much to the horror of its pilot and his wingman, neither of his mechs ever rolled the coveted numbers-- to everyone's shock and amazement! The battles raged as the various forces tried to reach the bridges and then hold off their opponents once they arrived there. Shon's well-balanced Mech force was leading the charge to the left flank bridge; hotly pursued by Jens III's and Rich's mechs (Becca's & Heather's mechs were to heavy and slow and were left behind). In an amazing display of uncalibrated targeting computers (or traitorous dice?) Rich only hit twice out of 16 rolls when he only needed 7s or better! Jens III suffered the same affliction, enabling Shon's force to reach the bridge first and set up a rearguard to slow them down. The battle on the right flank turned into a slug-fest since the only speedy mechs (the Locust and his buddy) were out of range. Scot's Marauder and the Locust's fire support Warhammer destroyed each other, as Jens II's Zeus and Gallowglas ended up in a running/stumbling battle to the bridge against Becca's Thug and Shootist. Though the Zeus was on the bridge and blocking the Thug and Shootist (while the Gallowglas desperately attempted to get an ammo explosion on one of them with back shots), Scot was able to maneuver his damaged Warhammer to jump onto the bridge behind the Zeus and shoot it in the back! But it still wouldn't fail, even after taking three AC20's in the back from Becca, the Zeus fought on, taking another amazing 5-6 more AC20 hits to the front

The Drop Ship Tournament table, from the objective end. Its a mighty long way!
A view of the tournament table setup.
Another view of the tournament table setup.
The view from the starting line.
Becca's Shootist and Thug navigate the pass after destroying the Zeus, while Scot gains a teleport point and kills Frankies Locust.
Frankies Locust at the bridge!
The Tourney begins-- and theyre off!
Shon's well-balanced Lance is pursued by Jens, Rich, and Heather's Mech forces vying for the bridge. The evil Locust in the teleport zone!
The mechs move out, with three turns of no shooting. The light mechs begin their sprint for the teleporters!
Scot's Marauder firing on Frankies Locusts Warhammer support, while Big Jens' mechs use industrial cover.
Shon trying to increase the range between him and Jens' mechs.
First dead mech of the day-but Frankies Locust makes the left side bridge!
Scot's Marauder and the Frankies Warhammer simultaneously destroyer each other! Shon's mechs gain the right side bridge first!
Indy Hero Clix has been delayed until October. The figures will be worth the wait. It seems like Wizkids ups the quality of its models and painting with each new release.
Sneak Preview of Deciphers.hack//ENEMY CCG, by Dave Peterson
Decipher has provided ACE with pre-release information and a demo deck kit to promote the October 15 release of.hack//ENEMY, their new anime CCG based on the Project Dot-Hack universe. Dot-Hack's products have been a hot item in Japan for a year and are being brought to the U.S. in force this fall. Cartoon Network is showing.hack//SIGN on Saturday nights and two of four parts of the.hack//INFECTION series for PS2 have been released in the U.S. and are doing well. The manga,.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet, will be released in the U.S. in September. In the.hack//ENEMY CCG each player represents a force of monsters and AI entities within the on-line game of The World attempting to do in rival monsters and, of course, PC's. The initial release of the game will consist of Black Rose and Kite starter decks of 60 fixed cards (packaged with a large rulebook, 5 foils, and a play mat) and 11-card boosters. The cards represent characters, monsters, items, and actions from the PS2 game, the anime series, and the manga.
Jens and Heather's mech forces gain the heights after destroying Shon's rear guard.
Shon's Phoenix Hawk on the verge of victory!
Scot shows Shon the object of the evening. Big Jens' Zeus valiantly stalls Becca's Shootist and Thug on the right side bridge as Jens' Gallowglas shoots them in the back.

Two of Shons mechs luck out and teleport into the home stretch on their first try!
Shon, the prize, and his fleet-footed mech that won it for him. This is the first tournament Shon has ever won. Nice finish! Many thanks for Jens Knudsen II for providing photos from the All-Nighter and Tournament.
Stray Bullets, by Dave Peterson
ACE's staff breathed a sigh of relief as summer finally came to and end. With back-to-school time comes a score of new releases. There's something for everyone. A highlight of the September releases is the Yu Yu Hakusho Trading Card Game from Score. The core set includes 176 cards. The rarity classes are Ghost Rare (4 per set), Uber Rare, Spirit Rare, Rare, Common, Starter, and Promo. Watch for 40-card pre-constructed decks, 6-card foil team packs, and 10-card booster packs. There will be four DVD insert cards to track down as well. The sleeper for fall '03 is Wizkid's new Creepy Freaks, the "gross-out 3D trading miniature game." Will it be a gooey sensation, or a slimy mess? No one knows. The starter set includes a chess-like board and an instructional DVD. The idea is to scare off all your opponents, uh, Freaks. The characters and central theme are pretty close to the world of Pixar's Monsters, Inc. Stay tuned- and puh-leese use a handkerchief.
Shon's rear guard successfully slows pursuing forces.
My kids have seen both.hack//SIGN and.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet and are hot to get their hands on this game. Let Jim know if you want ACE to carry.hack//ENEMY for the October 15 roll-out. If he has enough requests to make it worth doing, ACE will receive thirty each of three foil promo cards, Ginkan, Gate Hacking, and Mu Guardian, to give out to customers during the roll-out. Decipher also has a player ranking system and prize support for tournaments ready for the first tournament weekend on October 31-November 2. Prize support for tournament play includes special foil cards to be awarded every time a player reaches 1,000 points and levels-up.