BattleSHIP! Brickworld 2016

You may have already seen pictures of the ships.  You may have actually been witness to the destruction.  But this will be the full story on the glorious and gut-wrenching concept that was BattleSHIP at Brickworld Chicago.  Simon Liu, the evil genius behind the idea, started a group just after SHIPtember, 2015.  "Hey, you guys interested in playing? Ask your buddies to see if they're crazy, I mean, interested, too. "  And so it began. 

Simon put up his own fleet as collateral.  Tim Schwalfenberg and Caleb Wagoner were all-in with their own fleets.  Connor Lill and Tyler Halliwell joined forces.  Gamer LUG, with DR Church, Nick Brick, Imagine Rigney, Alec D., Benny Brickster pooled their assets.  And yours truly with Tim Clark were Team Battlestar Group 75.  So Say We All! 

Each ship would consist of twenty stud units, no more than twenty studs wide.  So one hundred studs would represent the five peg ship from the classic game.  Then an eighty, two sixties, and a forty to make a full fleet.  Next step, place your ships on the big board on the floor; micro ships would be placed on the little game board. 

The first night, Thursday, it was BSG vs Team Brickworks Industries.  Tyler and my son Alex were calling the shots.  Didn't work out so well for me.  Luckily, it was three ships smashed, and game over.  Survivors to fight another day.  So here we go, first BattleSHIP to go down in flames! 

Friday night it was Simon vs Tim S.  Here's a link to Simon's epic slow motion smash.  Courtesy of my pal Isaac Mazer.  That video pretty much sums it up for Simon- Ouch!  And somehow Tim's 140 stud Vaygr Battlecruiser survived?  Then it was Gamer LUG vs. Caleb.  More destruction ensued, with Gamer LUG walking away the victor, although still stinging from the carnage. 

Then it was on to the Saturday night finals!  All the survivors from each side assembled to make two last fleets. 

Since I was the only one on our side without any SHIPS, I was elected to take on the ruthless Matthew aka "Mini Simon" at the tactical station/game board.  Unbeknownst to me, he had been practicing a complex algorithm to assure victory.  I chose to go with a Starbuck style fly- by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach.  In spite of massive losses, including the aforementioned Vaygr Battlecruiser... Oh, the humanity...

Our team was ultimately victorious.  Let's hear it for Tim C.'s Colonial Fuel Tanker!

But at the end of the day, a great time was had by all!  In fact, people were already starting to plan for next year.  Will Team BSG return to defend the title?  Will Simon remember to bring the white pegs?  Stay tuned!