World Boardgaming Championships World

World
Boardgaming
Championships
2008-2009 Yearbook
www.boardgamers.org
[email protected]
A Retrospective of WBC Teams Over the Years
by David Docktor
Preregister your team for WBC 2009!
Contents
1
BPA
is an association of boardgame enthusiasts incorporated as a non-profit company
in the state of South Carolina for the express purpose of hosting the annual gaming
conference known as the World Boardgaming Championships, or WBC for short. It offers tournaments,
vendors, an auction, demonstrations, seminars, open gaming, and Juniors and Teen programs. In addition, for those who can’t get enough, we offer focused Mini-Cons and Play-by-Email-Tournaments.
We love boardgaming competition — from wargames and Eurogames to racing, sports, and rail games,
and we make no apologies for it. It’s what we do. And we’ve done it better than anybody else for more
than ten years. This yearbook documents BPA events of the previous year. It does not contain scheduling information for the upcoming convention. Schedules and event previews will appear in a separate
program and online at boardgamers.org. In fact, on our website, you’ll find more pre- and post-event
information than any place on the net — over 1,000 pages of it. It’s not very lucrative or cost effective, but
we think it demonstrates our commitment to this hobby.
To help support BPA activities, take a moment to subscribe to our FREE e-mail newsletter via the
web site and continue to spread the good news about our association and its activities.
Credits
Contents
Convention Director: Don Greenwood
Asst. Con. Director: Kaarin Engelmann
Webmaster: Kaarin Engelmann
Board Chairman: Ken Gutermuth
Secretary: Bruce Monnin
Treasurer: Bruno Passacantando
Incorporator and Legal Counsel: Scott Pfeiffer
BPA Logo: Mark Simonitch
Cover Art: Kurt Miller
Photography: Debbie Gutermuth
PBeM Coordinator: Hank Burkhalter
Online Discussion Board: John Kranz
Scans: Jeff Billings
Cafe Jay: Jay Tummelson
Insurance: Phil Barcafer
Exclusive Show Vendor: Decision Games
Security: Ken Whitesell, Dan Mathias,
Paul Weintraub, Larry Lingle,
Michelle Hymowitz
Juniors Room Monitors:
Laurie Wojtaszczyk, Sharee Pack
AREA Ratings: Glenn Petroski, Bruno Wolff
Team Event Handicapper: Stuart Tucker
Auction: Columbus Area Boardgaming Society
Religious Services: Keith Hunsinger
Proof Reading: Bruce Monnin
Signs and Tech Support: Roy Gibson
Web Personal Scheduler: Steve Okonski
Team Logos: David Dockter
Sampler Showcase: Keith Levy
Registration Staff: Charlie Kibler,
Judy Kibler, and Tara Greenwood
Sponsors: Nicholas Benedict,
David desJardins, James Doughan,
Ken Gutermuth, Rio Grande Games,
Jerald R. Tracy.
Team Logos............................. Inside Front Cover
Director’s Message................................................2
Century Events......................................................3
Mini-Con Schedule..............................................55
Trial Events...........................................................56
Vendors.................................................................61
Juniors Event Winners........................................62
Teen Event Winners.............................................63
Logistics................................................................63
Team Champions.................................................64
PBeM Champions................................................65
EuroQuest . ..........................................................68
Waterloo................................................................70
Winter Activation Meeting.................................71
Enlightenment......................................................72
Caesar Award.......................................................73
Consul Award......................................................74
GM of the Year.....................................................75
Sportsmanship Award........................................76
Hobby Service Award.........................................77
Top Laurelists.......................................................78
Winning Streaks...................................................79
Boardmasters........................................................80
Patrons...................................................................82
Board of Directors...............................................84
2009 Pre-Cons..........................Inside Back Cover
1541 Redfield Rd., Bel Air, MD 21015-5739
www.boardgamers.org • [email protected]
August 5–10, 2008 • August 3–9, 2009
Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster, PA
2
T
his past year marked the decade point for
the World Boardgaming Championships
run by the Boardgame Players Association.
In the dark days when AvalonCon was declared
defunct, it was impossible to foresee the success
we could find starting an independent convention
run by boardgamers where the gaming—and specifically tournaments—would come first. At that
time, we couldn’t envision that our Juniors program would graduate so
many champions who
would be raising their
own children to compete
at future WBCs. Who
would have guessed that
ten years later our attendance would be continuing to increase annually or that the Finn Riku
Riekkinen would put an
end to one of WBC’s longest winning streaks by
downing ex-Caesar Master James Pei in For the
People. Certainly, few would believe that out-ofprint Avalon Hill classics such as Gangsters, B-17,
Victory in the Pacific, and Slapshot would be pulling their own weight (and even reaching a new
audience) amidst games such as Settlers of Catan,
Twilight Struggle, Elchfest, and Here I Stand.
Our 154 adult tournaments in 2008 included
a record 16 events with triple digit entries, led by
late-night favorite Liar’s Dice with 212. Average
event size grew to 47.1 participants overall, an
increase of one per event. Laurels were awarded
to players from 41 different states/provinces and
nine nations. The champions included 17 incumbents who retained their respective titles another
year, six members of the fair sex, and 13 who
claimed multiple titles. Newcomers made their
mark, with 42 “virgins” winning their first-ever
WBC championship. All told, 79 players earned
laurels for the first time.
In the two-win department were Riku
Riekkinen, Harald Henning, Chris Byrd, Ewan
McNay, Nick Page, Alex Bove, Bryan Eshleman,
Jason Ley, John Popiden and Rob Beyma. Bruce
Reiff and Chris Trimmer scored a pair of triples
with trial events, but the biggest winner by far
was Andy Latto who homered. His four wins
included three Century events, just missing the
never achieved WBC Grand Slam. Moreover,
three of the four were triple-digit tournaments.
In all, Andy bested 484 opponents in winning
Greeting
Ingenious, Lost Cities, Thurn & Taxis and Ivanhoe to
take Consul honors as the highest scorer at WBC.
And to prove he wasn’t a one-trick Euro pony, he
also found time to go 4-1 in Hannibal during the
Omens pre-con. Top honors for the year went to
Alex Bove who earned laurels in nine different
Euro events between EuroQuest, email tournaments and WBC to edge Ewan McNay by a single
laurel and lay claim to the title of Caesar for 2008.
In the continuing
soap opera of WBC winners and losers, 12 events
were replaced in the
Century club. (There is
an icon in this yearbook
marking Century events
that failed to make the
grade for 2009.) Further,
the Board granted Legacy
status to Football Strategy
and Euphrat & Tigris. Among events with at least a
three-year track record, 17 raised their attendance
bar. However, 23 tournaments dropped to new attendance lows—going all the way back to 1991,
including Advanced Squad Leader, which won’t be
returning to WBC at all in 2009.
It was not all about winning and losing, though.
This past year provided us many examples of
fine sportsmanship. Members bestowed our
Sportsmanship Award on our Assistant Convention
Director Kaarin Engelmann. It is the second time
she has earned that honor.
Looking back, it’s possible to say that where
we are today is a testament to the power of volunteers to give of themselves to support the boardgaming hobby. We particularly recognize Debbie
Gutermuth for her many efforts to make WBC
better, including taking photos of practically every event, running tournaments, setting up kiosks,
and even finding time to compete.
This book is an opportunity to preserve our
traditions—something that, after all of these years,
has made BPA and WBC stand out in the hobby. We
hope as you look through it you will relive the good
times and look forward to making more memories
at WBC 2009, which has been expanded to a full
week. Check our website at boardgamers.org for a list
of tournaments, pre-cons, and scheduling information. We look forward to seeing you this summer in
Lancaster from August 3-9.
Don Greenwood, Convention Director
Kaarin Engelmann, Asst. Convention Director
Century Events
3
2008 Results
2008 Results
Bruce Beard, MD
Jim McDanold, TN
Chuck Krueger, MA
Akihisai Tabei, JP
Jim Munson, UT
O Pierre LcBoeuf, MD
Matt Amitrano, VA
S. Shambeda, PA
Arthur Field, SC
O R. Buccheri, MD
O David Gantt, SC
O Kelsey Lee, PA
Pierre LeBouef, MD
Joe Lux, NY
35  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Bruce Beard, MD
O
Bruce Beard, MD
Jim McDanold, TN
Jon Kwiatkowski, NC
Paul Hakken, NJ
Barrington Beavis, UK
Mark Neale, RI
Pierre LeBoeuf, MD
Richard Fox, IL
David Fritsch, VA
Chuck Krueger, MA
31  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
230
104
104
103
90
60
54
50
40
28
18XX (8XX)
nly 34 challengers attempted to deny threetime defending champion Bruce Beard his
fourth consecutive title. Seven were new to the
tournament. Four of those new arrivals qualified for the semi-finals (though only two actually played). After a very narrow escape in his
semi-final, Bruce Beard won his fourth straight
18xx tournament.
In the Final, Akihisa took the Schuylkill at
cost, Jim the C&SL for $45, Bruce the D&H for
$75 and the M&H for $155, and Chuck the C&A
for $250. Chuck then took the B&O private at
$220. Subsequently, Bruce opened the PRR at
$71. Akihisa took the B&O presidency by buying
five B&O shares. Jim then opened the NYNH at
$67, Bruce sold the D&H for $140, and Jim sold
the CSL for $80. Thinking that Chuck would sell
his three B&O shares to start his own RR, Jim sold
one, but Chuck bought the sold share instead. Jim used the proceeds to invest in the PRR,
but Bruce dumped it on him to open the B&M
at $76. At that point, Chuck sold out his B&O to
start the C&O at $71. The second wave of RRs began when Bruce started the NYC at $90, Akihisa
opened the Erie at $67, and Chuck started the
CanPac at $82. Jim and Akihisa traded control of
the B&O and PRR. When the scramble for engines
shook out, everyone but Bruce
ended up needing a diesel,
which was good enough for
Bruce to win by 7%.
Matt Amitrano, VA
A
Justin Childs, FL
Steve Shambeda, PA
David Gantt, SC
Matt Calkins, VA
Phil Bradley, IL
Jason Ley, WA
Gary Moss, MD
Matt Amitrano, VA
Ed Kendrick, UK
Jon Shambeda, PA
88
51
44
42
38
36
36
30
30
30
Acquire (ACQ)
ttendance slipped from a record high of 93
in 2007 to a near-record low in 2008 with the
change to a three-round Swiss Elimination format (shortened to two rounds when many games
went over the scheduled one-hour time limit).
One of the more interesting twists in the
event was that 2006 Champion Matt Calkins
had to face his local gaming club member Matt
Amitrano twice. The first meeting was in the second round, where Calkins squeaked out a win
with $700 to spare. For the semi-final round,
luck of the draw created a rematch. Amitrano
dominated the contest by merging more than the
other three players and maintaining his liquidity while investing in the stronger hotels. Afterwards, Amitrano admitted that this was the first
time he had bested Calkins in Acquire. As they
say, timing is everything. Amitrano joined Steve
Shambeda, Arthur Field, and Robert Buccheri in
the Final.
In the Final, none of the players were able to
found hotels in the first turn. The game turned
into a heated match between Steve and Matt.
Shambeda counted cards flawlessly, but he managed little luck with the tiles. Amitrano erred on
the stock count, which allowed
Arthur to tie him in Fusion, but as
in Matt’s semi-final victory, he was
able to merge more. This allowed
him to surpass Shambeda by nearly six grand to win with $43,700.
4
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Louis Gehring, IN
Shea Lawson, MD
Brittany Bernard, PA
O Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
O Beth Zhao, TX
O David Meyaard, CT
Christina Harley, WA
Kevin Youells, FL
Shantanu Saha, NJ
Rachel Harley, VA
Joe Lux, NJ
O Janice Thorne, OH
Shantanu Saha, NY
Tom DeMarco, NJ
30  1991-2008
64  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Louis Gehring, IN
N
Ray Pfeifer, MD
104
John Pack, CO
73
Thomas Browne, PA 72
Tom DeMarco, NJ
72
Mark Geary, OH
57
Marc Houde, VA
42
Nick Henning, CT
36
Abby Cocke, MD
33
Louis Gehring, IN
30
Ken Gutermuth, NC 30
Adel Verpflichtet (ADV)
ine former champions and eight of 2007’s
ten semi-finalists played in the tournament,
yet all of this year’s top six laurelists were new
to the honor!
In the Final, Beth Zhao was the first out of
the gate, showing a highly coveted “CCC” opening set, but Louis stole one of those lovely cards.
All of the players advanced steadily by exhibiting
and catching very busy thieves. (The $24K check—
highest in the game—was stolen four times early
in the game.) Kevin was first around the first and
second corners. Kevin, Brittany and Louis kept it
neck-in-neck in the the final stretch until Brittany
landed on the penultimate space before the finish
line. At this point, Brittany was two spaces back,
Kevin was three spaces, Louis five, Shea nine, and
Beth 11. All five players went to the Castle for the
(probable) last turn. Shea played a thief, while everyone else exhibited. Louis showed the best set,
which moved him five spaces—one space past the
finish line. Beth showed the second best exhibit
and advanced three spaces. Kevin and Brittany did
not advance. All four lost a card to Shea.
In the final showdown, Shea’s four stolen cards
gave her the longest set, at 12 cards, allowing her to
advance eight spaces, and putting her
one space in front of Louis! However,
Louis got his lead back—and the
championship—when he revealed
the second-longest set, with ten cards,
moving him ahead four spaces.
Christina Harley, WA
I
Doug Galullo, FL
Joe Gundersen, IN
Kevin Youells, FL
Eric Gundersen, NJ
Shantanu Saha, NJ
Christina Harley, WA
Harald Henning, CT
Ted Mullally, NJ
John Morris, MD
Chris Robbins, UT
266
186
174
131
103
50
50
50
40
30
Advanced Civilization (ACV)
n the eight-player Final, the three experienced
players—defending champion Kevin Youells,
GM Shantanu Saha, and Joe Lux—earned laurels,
but newcomer Christina Harley took top honors.
Other players fresh to the final round were Christina’s sister Rachel—who had defeated her father,
2007 finalist Russell Harley, to advance; Brian Farrelly; Jeff Bowers; and Janice Thorne.
Playing Africa, Jeff drew bad luck early, receiving five calamities in three turns. He decided to go
the barbarian route, attacking Kevin’s Egypt and
then Joe’s Illyria. Late in the game, he spent three
consecutive turns without any cities and finished
the game with only 1682 VPs, the lowest total ever
recorded in a WBC Final.
Rachel’s Babylon was running away with the
game early, when a tax revolt cost her six cities and
removed her from contention. At one point, after a
run of calamities, Kevin’s Egyptians were reduced
to a lowly one city and 11 tokens. He managed to
rebuild and was contending for the win, but he
came up 200 points short.
Through it all, Christina laid low playing
Thrace. She built eight cities quickly and maintained that level throughout. By the time she
managed to buy 485 points of civilization cards
in one turn, followed by 320 points
to take the lead, it was too late to
stop her rise. Gaining an additional
460 points on the penultimate turn
cemented her victory.
Century Events
5
2008 Results
2008 Results
Steve Pleva, CT
J.R. Tracy, NY
Gary Trezza, NY
Sumner Clarren, MD
O O Bill Stoppel, VA
O Jim Mehl, VA
John Popiden, CA
Bert Schoose, IL
Vince Meconi, DE
O Joe Beard, AZ
O Greg Smith, FL
O Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
Perry Cocke, MD
Jon Lockwood, VA
14  1991-2008
24  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Steve Pleva, CT
J. R. Tracy, NY
Gary Mei, NJ
Paul Sidhu, NJ
Steve Pleva, OH
Brett Hildebran, OH
Kevin Valerian, MD
Jim Stahler, VA
Mark Pitcavage, OH
Jim Mehl, VA
Gary Trezza, NY
258
228
204
162
96
84
48
36
33
24
Advanced Squad Leader (ASL)
A
fter 18 years, ASL has completed
its odyssey from flagship event of
Avaloncon to WBC alsoran. Attendance
dropped it from Century status, having lost 91%
of its peak attendance of 130 in 1994 and 1995. Still,
a strong group of contenders competed, including
1999 Champion Steve “Gor Gor” Pleva and threetime defending champion J.R. Tracy.
Round 1 featured the “Garage Hands” scenario, with combined arms forces of Germans
against Greeks. Top German honors went to Col.
William Stoppel, while the best Greek was former ASL Starter Kit champion Jim Munson. In the
standard Round 2 SE all-infantry scenario “The
Briefest Campaign,” attackers Tracy and Sumner
Clarren took out defending Danes Jim Mehl and
Rich Jenulis, while defenders Gor Gor and Gary
Trezza defeated Stoppel and Munson.
The semi-final found Clarren’s French defending against Tracy’s Germans, and Trezza
defending against Gor Gor in the combined
arms-piece “Valor in Defeat.” In the aftermath,
Tracy took on Gor Gor in the Final’s “Ripples
in the Pond” scenario. Tracy failed to prevent
Gor Gor from exiting forces off the
east-north-east of ASK mapboard
“u” when he defended a little too far
north than optimal. Although Tracy
manhandled his guns out into the
open where they could see the exit
area, Gor Gor claimed victory.
Top Laurelists
John Popiden, CA
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
Vince Meconi, DE
Jon Lockwood, VA
John Popiden, CA
Randy Heller, MD
Ed Menzel, CA
Bert Schoose, IL
Lane Newbury, TX
Greg Smith, PA
Barry Smith, NY
135
130
128
87
78
76
75
48
44
30
Afrika Korps (AFK)
E
ight of the former 12 winners competed in the tourney, with the Final coming down to a match between 2005 champ
John Popiden as the British and defending champ
Bert Schoose as the Germans. The results turned
out the same as in 2005, with John coming out on
top. Bert opened with his customary “down and
out” gambit. John almost allowed Bert to take Tobruch on May I 1941, despite an earlier tournament
loss versus Vince Meconi using the same opening.
Just in time, John saw the error of his ways, and he
managed to hold Tobruch. After the siege, where
they took no losses, the Germans headed east,
leaving the Italians to watch the British garrison.
Bert’s supply line dried up quickly, with
only four successful supplies from the start of
the game through November. Taking advantage
of the situation, Popiden counterattacked and
killed a 3-3-10 on a 4-1 attack. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, the Germans headed back to
assault Tobruch near November using four Holy
Hand Grenade attacks over six turns! However,
fate would have none of it—each attack resulted
in an A back 2, and the game ground on.
By the end of January 1942, the British were
advancing westward. Faced with the prospect of
having to drive eastward against a
substantially strengthened British
force—even if he took Tobruch, Bert
conceded the match, making John the
fourth two-time champion..
6
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Pierre Paquet, QC
Nathalie Malenfont, QC
Mario Veillette, QC
O Martin Sasseville, QC
O Michael Kaltman, PA
O Barb Flaxington, NJ
Jeff Mullet, OH
Ted Simmons, NJ
Kevin Sudy, VA
O Steve Simmons, NJ
O Mark Smith, KY
O Tedd Mullally, NJ
Pete Staab, OH
Tedd Mullally, NJ
32  2004-2008
24  1996-2008
Top Laurelists
Jeff Mullet, OH
Q
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Jeff Mullet, OH
Ewan McNay, CT
Ken Gutermuth, TX
Harald Henning, CT
Chris Byrd, CT
Steve Simmons, NJ
Kevin Sudy, VA
Carl Damcke, IL
Mark Smith, KY
Top Laurelists
325
304
256
189
187
186
185
126
120
84
Age of Renaissance (AOR)
ualifiers Jeff Mullet, Steve Simmons, Ted Simmons, Mark Smith, and Kevin Sudy made the
Final a real knock-down drag-out fight. Tough
negotiations started almost immediately. A Turn
2 Crusades play by the elder Simmons as London
and the leader factory coming from the junior Simmons’ Genoese soon had everyone taking bets
which Simmons would win.
As the morning progressed, the group proceeded in an unusually card hoarding, product
targeting fashion. A timely Shortage card made
possible an exciting end game, with 26 cards remaining for final card play. Each nation picked
its target commodities, with London in Spice and
Gold, Paris in Silk, Genoa in Cloth and Grain, and
Barcelona in Metal.
Mark Smith’s Venice tried the classic Enlightened Ruler end game, but it was not enough to
elevate him out of fifth place. London was one
of the last nations to buy Seaworthy, and despite
Steve’s portfolio of high value commodities, he
took fourth. The titans of the turn seemed to be
Kevin Sudy’s Paris vs. Genoa, each with totals
in advances around 1200, while all three of the
other contenders had 960! Deft negotiations by
Barcelona and a stealthy payout of metal resulting in $500+ ending cash brought
Jeff Mullet the win. A very shocked
and surprised Ted Simmons came
in second, followed closely by arch
rival Kevin Sudy.
Pierre Paquet, QC
Martin Sasseville, QC
Richard Irving, CA
Mario Veillette, QC
Michael Holmquist, WI
96
78
39
36
24
Peter Staab, PA
Craig Moffitt, NJ
Keith Altizer, FL
Charlie Kersten, OH
18
12
12
9
Nathalie Malenfont, QC 18
Pierre Paquet, QC
T
Age of Steam (AOS)
wo-time defending champion Martin Sasse­
ville qualified for the Final, but he could not
pull off a third championship, settling for fouth.
His Quebec neighbor 2005 champion Pierre Paquet bettered his runner-up finishes from the
past two years to win his second WBC title.
The Final—on the Germany map—started off
rather conservatively, with two players taking two
loans and the others taking one. Early on, players
were congratulating Mario on his victory, since he
was alone in the south. By the end of Turn five, Nathalie had income of $19 while all of the others had
incomes of $18. Loans kept the game less tight than
income made it appear.
On Turn 6, Martin made two 6-link runs, generating only $5 of income from each, with Nathalie
getting $1 from each. On Turn seven, Mario took
two additional loans, and Pierre became the last to
max out his train. Both Mario and Pierre completed
two runs of six links with each of them getting all
$6 of income on both runs. On the final turn, Pierre
generated $6 on one of his two runs, while Mario
managed to generate $6 on both of his.
When the game ended, Pierre, Nathalie and
Mario each had $34 of income to Martin’s $29.
However, Pierre had only issued seven shares versus 11 by Nathalie, Mario 14 and
Martin 12. Although Nathalie had
the most track segments (21), the
difference in loans gave Pierre a
ten-point victory over Nathalie.
Century Events
7
2008 Results
2008 Results
 Erica Kirchner, KY
Tom Richardson, VA
Matt Fagan, NJ
Dee Ann Gehring, IN
O Luke Koleszar, VA
O Stephane Dorais, QC
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
Nate Hoam, OH
Steve Koleszar, VA
O Heather Palenshus, OH
O Davyd Field, SC
O Lisa Gutermuth, FL
DebbieGutermuth,TX
Henry Richardson, VA
91  2004-2008
67  1996-2008
Top Laurelists
Erica Kirchner, KY
A
John Coussis, IL
Ken Rothstein, NY
Robert Sohn, PA
Chris Storzillo, NJ
Brandon Bernard, PA
Michael Musko, IN
Jack Jaeger, VA
Erica Kirchner, KY
Jonathan Fox, FL
Tom Richardson, VA
131
82
74
70
64
50
50
40
40
36
Air Baron (ABN)
banker’s roll of 3 started everyone off in the
Final with a fair amount of cash ($4 to $8).
Orange won the $1 Contract with a $3 bid, only
to lose it to Blue on Round 2 (also for $3), before
showing a profit. The Bid for Contract then went
to the bottom of the draw cup where it stayed for
seven rounds, until Orange won the $3 Contract
with a $9 bid on Round 9. Alas, he barely broke
even before the Bid reemerged in Round 12 and
went back to Blue for $16.
In the early rounds, everyone employed a
“butterfly”strategy—buying one spoke in several hubs in an effort to maximize profit opportunities. Red was the first player to declare Fare
Wars, taking the plunge in Round 5. Round 7
saw Yellow take out the first loan and immediately draw $31 in profits, just before Recession
struck in Round 8. By Round 10, Blue had three
Jumbo Jets in Chicago, with all four domestic and
both foreign spokes, a single spoke each in Atlanta
and DCA, and a good stack of cash. That stack improved when another player drew Frankfurt, giving Blue a $40 payout. In Round 11, the only Jumbo
Profit marker of the game was drawn, benefitting
four of the five players. On Round 12, Blue won the
$4 Contract, successfully defended Chicago from a
Fare Wars encroachment, and collected another $40 for Frankfurt.
On Round 13, Blue drew no calamities and declared victory with
$170 market share and $161 cash!
Top Laurelists
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
O
Nate Hoam, OH
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
Vassili Kyrlos, NY
Michael Mullins, MA
Bruce Reiff, OH
Holliday Jones, MD
Luke Koleszar, VA
Matt Calkins, VA
Richard Meyer, MA
George Sauer, OH
54
30
30
30
30
20
18
18
18
18
Alhambra (ALH)
nly one former Laurelist—2005 champion
Nate Hoam—advanced into the Final.
Other finalists were Heather Palenshus, who
won her semi-final game by one point over Lisa
Gutermuth, garnering Lisa sixth place; Legend
Dan Hoffman, who easily eliminated former
Laurelists Jeff Mullet, Bruce Reiff, and Matt Amitron; Steve Koleszar, who won his Semi by only
2 points; and Davyd Field, who knocked out GM
Debbie Gutermuth.
When the first scoring round of the Final
was pulled right before his turn, Davyd had no
buildings, while the others had from two to four
buildings each. Once again, the second scoring
round came out just before Davyd’s turn. Legend Dan and Heather were neck-in-neck for the
lead. Although Nate had the longest wall and the
most buildings, he was tied for third with Steve.
When the end of the game was triggered,
Davyd had about the same number of buildings as the rest, and he had tied Legend Dan for
longest wall, but he was too many points behind
for it to make a difference. Heather lost her lead
in many of the buildings, which dropped her
to fourth place. Second and third
place were close, with only one
point separating their final scores.
At the final accounting, Legend
Dan managed to finish 12 points
ahead of anyone else to become the
champion.
8
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Greg Thatcher, CA
Eric Freeman, PA
Doug Smith, PA
O Rich Meyer, MA
O Alex Bove, PA
O Ilan Woll, CT
Robert Ryan, MI
Tom Oleson, WA
Robert Frisby, VA
O Chris Harris, TN
O Paul Fletcher, CT
O John Clarke, FL
Jeremy Billones, VA
Bob Ryan, MI
67  2003-2008
Top Laurelists
Greg Thatcher, CA
F
Arthur Field, SC
Greg Thatcher, CA
Nick Anner, NY
Evan Tannheimer, MA
Kevin Wojtaszczyk
Rich Meyer, MA
Eric Freeman, PA
Sam Atabaki, CA
Mike Kaltman, PA
Andrew Gerb, MA
17  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
83
54
51
42
40
30
30
30
27
27
Amun-Re (AMR)
or the second straight year, one of the alternates who advanced to the semi-final (there
were five this year) managed to win the entire
tournament. In the Final, Alex Bove was first
Pharaoh, a position he would hold for four of the
six rounds, but one that he could not effectively
exploit. Rich Meyer opened a 16-13-9-8-8 lead in
the Old Kingdom on the strength of two power
cards and economical bidding—Rich bid 1 all
three rounds, which netted him four free farmers
towards the nine-farmer power card. Eric Freeman dropped the -3 all three rounds.
Greg Thatcher’s consistent 3 bids got him the
Pharaoh for Rounds 3 and 4, and after the flood,
a bid of 21 with blocker got him Avaris already
with three pyramids. When he also snagged Damanhur for 21 in Round 5, he was able to score
two power cards of his own and 33 in the New
Kingdom for a 41-34-33-32-30 win.
Having the Most Pyramids (11-10, 40-39
four-year) remains a more reliable path to victory than Most Cash (8-13, 27-52 four-year) or
the halftime lead (7-14, 34-45 four-year).
Two issues came up in the tournament this
year. One involved slow play. A couple of games had to be called at the
end of Round 5. The second was that
there was difficulty finding enough
copies of the game for the 10 games
in Heat 2. Bring yours, even if you
don’t expect to need it!
Robert Ryan, MI
A
Robert Ryan, MI
192
Paul Fletcher, CT
131
Mike Sincavage, VA 114
Tom Oleson, WA
112
Stephen Likevich, OH 74
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK 32
Carl Walling, PA
30
Chris Harris, VA
25
Paul O’Niel, MD
21
Mark Bayliss, UK
17
Anzio (ANZ) dvancing into the semi-final were
Tom Oleson who had amassed 79
tournament points; Bob Ryan, with 65;
and Robert Frisby and Chris Harris, with 44
points each. Tom managed to defeat Chris, while
Bob eliminated Robert.
The Final began with Tom’s Allies landing at
Salerno. The game proceeded in what would be
called a relatively “normal” fashion with both
sides punching and counter-punching until the
November 1 turn, when the Allies invaded at
Mondragone! The second invasion effectively cut
off two German divisions just north of Naples.
The Germans counter-attacked and dug in
from Formia to Foggia. The November 3 turn
saw the Allies attacking full bore toward Termoli. The Allies still had their fourth Port counter in
hand and wanted to open a Port on the east side
of the boot (though this never did happen).
On the December 2 turn the Allies went
back to putting the pressure on at Formia, but
they could not get even a “stick” to force the
German to either attack or backup. Deciding to
hold at Formia to protect Terracina and stacking
as much as possible at Casino meant the game
came down to a series of attacks by the Allies toward Termoli.
The game ended after
the December II turn following two consecutive ‘1’
die rolls by the Germans.
Century Events
9
2008 Results
2008 Results
Bruce Young, SC
John Coussis, IL
Stephen Cuyler, NY
Gary Libby, RI
O Ben Knight, MD
O Matt Evinger, PA
 Kaarin Engelmann, VA
Daniel Hoffman, NC
O Chris Janiec, CO
O Alex Gesing, NY
O Andrew Cummins, UK
O Geoff Allbutt, NY
: Rob Mull, CO
John Coussis, IL
34  1991-2008
124  1998-2008
Top Laurelists
Bruce Young, SC
H
John Coussis, IL
102
Roy Gibson, MD
100
Rob Winslow, NY
95
Scott Buckwalter, MD 90
Henry Richardson, VA 60
Bob Eastman, OK
60
Robert Barnes, WV
50
Ben Knight, MD
49
Pat Mirk, FL
45
John Elliott, MD
44
Atlantic Storm (ACS)
ighlights from the heats included 16 of 40
games using Pacific Typhoon instead of Atlantic Storm; Tim Evinger rolling three straight 3’s
on two dice; Mike Masella winning his heat after
learning the game only 15 minutes earlier; a multitude of snake-eyes rolled by the Tirpitz; and a
giant Battleship battle (Bismark & Tirpitz vs. King
George V and Duke of York) that ended in a tie.
The Final was quite the “Murderer’s Row” of
veteran gamers as Matt Evinger, Bruce Young,
Stephen Cuyler, Garry Libby, designer Ben
Knight, and long time GM and Pacific Typhoon
developer John Coussis gathered around the
table. Bruce started out strong taking a 7VP convoy on the second hand. At the midpoint, Bruce,
John and Stephen were all showing 11-12 convoy
points (although John had been able to salt away
a few more spoils cards than the others).
Play continued relatively calmly. John pulled
ahead in convoy points, but not by much. The
game came down to the final hand, and it was
a hand to remember for Bruce. Having the lead
and choosing a 6VP 1943 convoy, Bruce played
Admiral Tovey, two British Battleships, and Raid
on St. Nazaire to effectively shut everyone else
out of the hand. After the moaning and groaning
and head shaking was over, Bruce took the 6 VP’s
without challenge. Those 6
points made the difference,
allowing Bruce to overtake
John by four points.
Top Laurelists
Kaarin Engelmann, VA
T
Bill Edwards, VA
56
Daniel Hoffman, NC 52
David Sidelinger, CT 40
Kaarin Engelmann, VA 35
John Conlon, OK
33
Steve Caler, PA
32
Buck Karpowitz, DC 30
Brian Conlon, OK
28
Greg Courter, MI
24
Rob Schoenen, PA
20
Attack Sub (ATS)
he Malvinas remained in Argentinian
hands in a majority of the Scenario D
games played, winning 13 times to the
Brits four. It appears people have been practicing
using the diesel subs to best advantage.
For the Final (as well as both of his SE games),
two-time champion Dan Hoffman selected Scenario E (Rebel Without a Cause). Former Laurelist
Kaarin Engelmann picked the Soviet surface force,
even though she admitted she barely remembered
the rules for surface ships and helicopters.
The Renegade got off to a bad start breaking
its sensor with its first two sonar attempts, but
Dan came back quickly to detect the Simferopol,
though he only managed to damage it. The surface
force had its own detection problems and had only
managed No Attack contact on the Renegade by
the beginning of the second deck. Again the Renegade attempted to launch missiles but failed,
while the surface force—with a hand full of Close/
Open Range cards—steadily closed the distance.
At Contact 1, she fired and missed. She fired again
at Contact 2 but only damaged the Renegade. The
Renegade used Damage Control to repair itself,
just before the surface force fired again and missed.
At that point, the Renegade took a shot, but also
missed. Not to be undone, the surface force fired
again, missed, then fired for a hit
to sink the Renegade, making
Kaarin the first female Attack Sub
champion in 18 years.
10
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
 Mike Stanley, OH
Jeff Mullet, OH
O Ken Gutermuth, NC
O Mike Buccheri, MD
O John Schoose, IL
O Robert Buccheri, MD
Kevin Keller, MD
Matt Tolman, UT
Ty Hansen, DC
Patrick Mirk, FL
O Joseph Powell, VA
O Dan Pasaric, NY
Craig Yope, MI
Bruce Reiff, OH
17  1999-2008
37  1993-2008
Top Laurelists
Mike Stanley, OH
H
Bruce Reiff, OH
Arthur Field, SC
George Sauer, OH
Jeff Mullet, OH
Jon Lockwood, VA
Mike Stanley, OH
James Tyne, OH
Ray Stakenas II, MI
Andy Gardner, VA
David Brooks, TN
Top Laurelists
70
38
34
30
22
20
20
20
20
20
Auction (AUC) ighlights of the preliminaries included Reiko Brooks scoring a tourney
high $9710 to advance, Robert Buccheri
beating both four-time champion Bruce Reiff and
1996 champ Bruce Monnin (who scored a tourney low of $1050), Carol Haney beating former
champ Andy Gardner to advance, Bruce Bernard
eliminating Reiff’s chance for more laurels, and
Kevin Wojtaszczyk ending defending champ Jon
Lockwood’s reign.
After the Mulligan and first round, 11 winners and one runner-up advanced. In the first
semi-final game, Mike Buccheri took a quick decision with a complete set of jewelry. The second
game saw Ken Gutermuth win handily with a
set of rare miscellany. The third game advanced
two Cabbies—returning laurelist Jeff Mullet and
Mike Stanley, who backed into the Final with the
best second place score. (He had taken a refresher course from Ken, Jeff, and Bruce Reiff earlier
in the week.)
The Final was as long as the semi was short.
Jeff had inherited enough to win the game ($7570)
but could never get in the auction to declare, even
after bidding every cent he had. Mike just kept
plugging away at Jewelry. He finally pulled a fifth
and declared. Would it be enough?
It was. Mike won with a total of
$8150, Jeff was second at $7570, Ken
Gutermuth finished with $5140, and
Mike Buccheri had $4330.
Kevin Keller, MD
V
Philip Shea, VA
188
Kevin Keller, MD
162
Joe Powell, VA
156
Pat Mirk, FL
99
Phil Rennert, MD
96
Tim Rothenhoefer, MD 68
Brian Fitzpatrick, VA 54
Ty Hansen, DC
52
Charles Michalek, NV 40
Andrew Murphy, PA 36
Axis & Allies (A&A)
ictories by 1999 champ Kevin Keller and former Laurelist Matt Tolman in the semi set up
a Final rematch of a third round match that Kevin
had won as the Axis. This time he opted for the
Allies.The first turn saw early dead zoning of territories on the Eastern Front by the Germans and
Soviets. The USSR was active in the Soviet Far
East and China and started pushing westward
on the Eastern Front. The Japanese swatted an
early UK incursion in Borneo and then reclaimed
their Asian mainland holdings, though they lost
French Indochina to US armor.
On Turn 3, the German Baltic Fleet dashed
out to sea, setting up a Turn 4 Transatlantic lunge
for Eastern Canada, while the UK fleet entered
the Baltic and took Eastern Europe, though not
for long. The Germans fell back in the face of a
large USSR force, but they managed to clear out
the UK forces. At the same time, the Japanese
wiped out US armor in China and took India and
Buryatia, while the US took New Guinea. As the
USSR took Ukraine, West Russia, and Belorussia,
the UK grabbed Norway and Eastern Europe. Japan countered by capturing the Egyptian VT, but
the US took the VTs of Borneo and East Indies.
In the final round, Soviet armor
massed on Berlin and the US
took the Philippines VT.
With that, Kevin Keller become a two-time champ with a
win in each of the A&A editions.
Century Events
11
2008 Results
2008 Results
Dan Dolan Sr, NJ
Rich Moyer, MN
Ken Richards, SC
Jim Miller, TN
Eric Stranger, OH
Steve Munchak, VA
Jeff Cornett, FL
Michael Dauer, TX
David Metzger. NY
O John Shaheen, MA
O Bill Alderman, VA
O Pat Mirk, FL
Peter Card, UK
Dave Terry, MD
48  2001-2008
46  1992-2008
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Dan Dolan Sr, NJ
O
Paul Risner, FL
169
William Rohrbeck, NH 102
Richard Moyer, MN 96
Keith Hunsinger, OH 90
Dan Dolan Sr., NJ
60
Dave Long, NC
60
Stephen Quirke, WI
55
Eric Stranger, OH
52
Judy Krauss, PA
42
Jim LeVay, MA
40
B-17 (B17)
nly two pilots have completed all 50 missions in 17 years of tournament history: fourtime champ Paul Risner and 2005 champ Keith
Hunsinger. For 2008, Mission 1 took us to Schweinfurt to bomb the ball-bearing factories. 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 more than 120 crew members were killed or captured. Needless to say, this
was an inauspicious start to the campaign.
Mission 2—the 50th mission as a squadron—
was a record-breaker! The bombers were directed
to Regensburg to destroy an aircraft factory. Without enough fuel to return to England after reaching the target zone, we had to fight our way across
Germany, Italy, and the Med to land in Tunis. Of
the 46 forts making the raid, only 33 reached the
target and more than 120 crewmen were killed or
captured in the effort.
Mission 3 saw us head to Bordeaux. 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 wobbled
home, it became apparent that fortune had favored
a new player. After all the scores were tabulated,
the “Squadron by the Door” (resident squadron of Risner andHunsinger) had produced yet
another champion: Dan Dolan!
Jeff Cornett, FL
E
Jeff Cornett, FL
Philip Shea,VA
David Metzger, NY
Ben Knight, MD
Larry Lingle, PA
Robert Eastman, NV
Barry Shoults, MI
Josh Githens, SC
Ilan Woll, CT
Jeff Mullet, OH
60
54
33
33
30
30
30
30
30
27
Battle Cry (BCY)
ight players—the four best CSA and four best
USA—advanced from the preliminary three
rounds, which used the Murfreesboro, Franklin
and Falling Waters scenarios. In the quarter-final—
Dennis Snow’s Petersburg Crater scenario—Bill
Edwards pulled off the unusual feat of winning as
the Union without ever exploding the mine, but he
failed to advance when David Metzger barely beat
him on the tie-breaker. David didn’t emerge from
the semi-final, though, when 2006 champion Jeff
Cornett managed to survive an all-out sweeping
cavalry charge against his Union right flank.
Cornett faced Michael Dauer in the Final,
which used Brian Bradford’s Perryville scenario.
The Confederate player must defend the two Perryville town hexes which are each worth one flag
to the Union. In the first battle, Jeff exploited this
by edging forward to threaten Perryville so that
Michael was forced to defend one hex forward on
the hill line where Jeff could pick away at the defenders. In the return leg, Jeff chose a key moment
to play an All Out Offensive card. Michael answered with a counterattack, but the stuffing had
been knocked out of his army and his fourth flag
was soon captured. On the edge of concession (as
he faced a 3-6 flag deficit from the first game), he
tried to chase a Confederate unit
with an attached general off the
battlefield for a 6th and 7th flag,
but Jeff managed to take another
flag and regain his crown.
12
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Allen Kaplan, NJ
Steve Lollis, MD
Alex Bell, MD
O Michael Shea, CT
O Bill Powers, VA
O Mark Guttag, VA
Steve Likevich, OH
Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
Forrest Pafenberg, VA
O Bill Morse, VA
O Randy Heller, NH
O Vinny Sinigaglio, NJ
MaryEllenPowers,VA
Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
26  2007-2008
18  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Steve Likevch, OH
Steve Likevich, OH 152
Forrest Pafenberg, VA 94
Bill Morse, VA
57
Bob Ryan, MI
57
Phil Evans, VA
52
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK 51
Frank Sinigaglio, NJ 39
Randy Heller, MD
21
John Grant, Jr., CT
20
John Clarke, FL
19
Battle of the Bulge ‘81 (B81)
O
n 16PM of the Final, the defending champ Steve Likevish’s Allies
allowed Frank Sinigaglio’s Germans a
free run in the south, though they were limited
by the roadblock caused by the engaged 28/109.
The Germans got adjacent to St. Vith and broke
the Clerf River line. On 17AM, it looked like
there could be a rout in the making as the Germans blitzed adjacent to Bastogne. They had a
bit of bad luck, though, in the center as 16/116,
just behind the Allied line, was eliminated on
an unlucky exchange. If 16/116 rolled anything
but the exchange, the road from the north would
have been cut through Vielsalm. Steve counterattacked at Bastogne to hold the line, but he
couldn’t build a fort in the intersection.
On 17PM, there was no movement except in
the south, where Frank’s Germans got across the
Sauer River east of Martelange. German attacks
all along the line yielded contacts or engaged
results, which gave Steve’s Americans a respite.
The Americans again rolled a stick at Bastogne.
On the 18AM and 18PM turns, the Germans
rolled crap, allowing Steve to hold a fort-less
Bastogne. The Germans got next to Neufchateau,
causing consternation at SHAEF HQ back in Columbus. Eventually, the Germans took Bastogne,
eliminated 18 Allied units
and lost less than four mechanized or arty, but they still fell
one short of the win.
Allen Kaplan, NJ
E
Allen Kaplan, NJ
Keith Levy, MD
Steve Lollis, MD
Matt Evinger, PA
Alex Bell, MD
Jim Shaw, PA Michael Shea, CT
Chris Ellis, FL
Bill Powers, VA
James Dougherty, PA
30
30
18
18
12
12
9
9
9
3
BattleLore (BLR)
arly rounds used the original Lore scenario,
Wizards and Lore. In these rounds, Sire Bertrand, the French leader, and Sir Robert, the English leader, split the games evenly. It was an allaround slaughter. The Quarter-Final singled out
the eight best for single elimination. The mighty
French leader won in five of eight games.
The four winners advanced to the semi-final
field of battle, the Crossing of the Rhone. In these
games, the players chose their own councils to lead
their forces. These battles were fairly quick to the
slaughter, and winners came out quickly. None of
the battles ended without deep scars in the winner’s lines, though, and many of them were close.
In the Final pairing, we brought in the famous dwarves and not-so-famous goblins to
join the fray West of the Rhone. We were down
to our two wisest and strongest players—Allen
Kaplan and Steve Lollis. When they sat down to
battle it out, there was a major upset. The goblins
outlived the dwarves and even succeeded in killing many of them. By the end of the game, the
goblins were intact while nearly every dwarf on
the field had fallen.
Next year, all scenarios will use full Lore
rules. Emphasis will be on Lore play, not historic. Three rounds of swiss play will
advance top four to single elimination. Tie-breakers will be number
of banners won followed by pieces
eliminated..
Century Events
13
2008 Results
2008 Results
Mark Miklos, GA
Dale Long, NJ
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
O David Stiffler, VA
Rob McCracken, DE
O O John Vasilakos, VA
Tom Gregorio, PA
Randy Heller, NH
Forrest Pafenberg, VA
O Bill Morse, VA
O Marty Musella, VA
O Larry Hollern, TX
Mark Miklos, GA
Ed Witkowski, VA
24  1999-2008
22  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
Mark Miklos, GA
Mark Miklos, GA
Dale Long, NJ
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
John Vasilakos
Cliff Hansen, NM
Jim Tracy, OH Volko Ruhnke, VA
John Miklos, GA
Don Hanle, VA
Andrew Maly
Battles of the Am. Revolution (BAR)
F
Top Laurelists
219
74
64
60
48
42
42
30
30
29
ive past champions threw their hats into the
competition. Newcomer David Stiffler had the
honor of knocking 2006 champ Andy Maly out in
Round 1’s Eutaw Springs. In Round 3’s Monmouth,
Bruno Sinigaglio and John Vasilakos fought to
a draw, as did David Stiffler and John Foley. A
comparison of tournament points revealed that
Bruno and David had the best overall records, so
they advanced to the semi-final, along with GM
Mark Miklos and Dale Long. Both British armies
won marginal victories, with Dale prevailing over
David and Mark over Bruno. Although Bruno and
David were tied in tournament and victory points,
Bruno’s slight advantage in Army Morale allowed
him to advance to the Final with the two winners.
Three-player Savannah puts the Franco-American Allies into the shoes of their historical counterparts. Until Turn 12, Mark and Dale did a fair job of
cooperating, but with the game on the line, things
fell apart. After hammering out a solution for attack resolution, the Americans found themselves
confronting three unsupported artillery batteries
that could be overrun and captured for a VP each.
The French also had several good attacks. Victory
hung in the balance. In an amazing run of luck,
Mark won three die rolls in a row to drive the score
to French 8, Americans 8, British Morale 1. His final attack had adjusted
odds of 3:2 +2. He took the championship when he gained one last VP and
the British step loss ended the game.
Tom Gregorio, PA
I
Randy Heller, NH
186
Tom Gregorio, PA 151
Bob Ryan, MI
116
Phil Evans, VA
94
Forrest Pafenberg, VA 57
Steve Likevich, OH
57
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK 54
Mike Mitchell, GA
38
John Grant Jr, CT
35
Bill Morse, VA
30
Bitter Woods (BWD)
n the Mulligan, former champion and Deluxe
Bitter Woods designer Randy Heller defeated
teammate Forrest Paffenberg and Mike Mitchell
bested 2006 champion Steve Likevich. Defending champion Tom Gregorio pulled out a tight,
adjudicated win in Round 1. In the same round,
Larry Hollern, this year’s wildcard, surged past
former Laurelist Mike Mitchell.
In the semi-final, a successful Heller Skorzeny
Sneak along the Malmedy to Eupen road landed
the FJ150 in Eupen. However, Eupen was then surrounded with the FJ150 and Dietrich in it. Next to
Eupen was a surrounded 7 Armor regiment. Morse
brought in the whole 30ID and attacked but forgot
to allocate his air, Randy used his. A D1 resulted,
and a slugfest started. During one of Randy’s attacks against the 7th armor unit Randy didn’t
notice a range of 5 on an artillery unit, oops! Numerous attacks took place on both sides with ENG
or CA results, all deadlocked! Randy eventually
crushed the Americans and was victorious. In the
other game, Forrest scrambled to stop Tom’s Germans. On the 18 AM turn he left some holes near
Bastogne, the Germans had Parker’s Crossroads
and Tom built a bridge leading to an advance into
Eupen and took the victory.
Tom played well in the Final,
and Randy made a few missteps.
Ultimately, Randy couldn’t crack
the American defenses, and Tom
won a third BWD championship.
14
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Patrick Mirk, FL
Stephen Raszewski, MD
David Huss, NY
O Brad Raszewski, MD
O Matt Bacho, MD
O Jim Mehl, VA
Nels Thompson, NY
Don Greenwood, MD
Scott Fenn, MD
 Scott Moll, VA
O B. Passacantando, CT
O Andrew Cummins, UK
Evan Hitchings, DE
Andrew Cummins, UK
29  2004-2008
Top Laurelists
Pat Mirk, FL
Steve Raszewski, MD
David Huss, NY
Jeff Spaner, MD
Pat Mirk, FL
Chris Greenfield, NY
Matt Bacho, MD
Rob Mull, CO
Stephen Shedden, TN
Andrew Fedin, PA
Frank Mestre, NY
Top Laurelists
60
38
30
29
22
22
20
18
15
12
Brawling Battleships Steel (BBS)
A
20  1994-2008
lthough there was a new GM and a
new format, the tournament continued to reward capable play by defending
champ Steve Raszewski and 2006 champ David
Huss, who both made the Finals once again. The
recent change in the tournament format, qualifying heats to a single session, single elimination
tournament was quite successful.
Pat Mirk—who was recipient of the legendary curse of Mata Hari in 2007 and finished fourth
that year—finally won the championship. In 2007,
Mirk—a veteran WBC player—was topped by
an almost impossible play by evenual champion
Andrew Chitwood who pulled three event cards,
both Mata Hari cards (a spy card that lets you
draw two cards from an opponent’s hand) and the
Radio Intercept card that lets you draw two cards
from the discard pile. Andrew stole two of Pat’s
cards, even though Mirk was sitting immediately
to his left, and normally the play is better against
players to the right. Everyone at the table was surprised when Andrew played the second Mata Hari
on Pat, reducing him to two cards. When Andrew
then played the Radio Intercept card and picked
up both Mata Hari cards from the discard pile everyone at the table immediately encouraged him to
play the third spy on Pat to let him
have the honor of being the sole recipient of Mata Hari’s curse. For his
anguish, Pat received a nice prize
to commemorate the notoriety.
Nels Thompson , NY
D
Don Greenwood, MD 322
Andrew Cummins, UK 276
Nels Thompson, VA 238
Jim Doughan, PA
183
Alan Applebaum, MA180
Jim Eliason, IA
176
Bryan Eshleman, NC 153
Marvin Birnbaum, NY151
Tom Dworschak, GA 136
Henry Jones, PA
136
Breakout Normandy (BKN)
espite the best efforts of the pack, the Final
was contested by two former champs, Nels
Thompson (2004) and Don Greenwood (1998).
Nels claimed the Germans by gifting the Allies
70 supply, the equivalent of an extra turn of good
weather impulses. The Allies had an excellent start,
all beach landings were successful, Bretteville, and
then Verson, cleared, but the advantage was lost
to a late weather change that allowed Cherbourg
forces to move to cover Carentan.
On the 7th, the US cleared St Mere-Eglise, regaining the advantage but lost it again when a +3
assault into Caen failed twice. In recompense, the
8th lasted from C to 11, Bayeux, Isigny and Foret
falling to the Allies. On the 9th, focus of the game
moved to Carentan, where it stayed for the duration. After some delaying action in Isigny and an
early weather change to dry, the advantage came
back to the Allies following a deadly air bombardment on Carentan. The allies had three major assaults with a chance to take the city on the 10th
and 11th but failed. Opening bombardments were
about par. An impulse 1 10:2 German bombardment of units in Carentan netted 4 units spent,
including the lead armor. Don passed on an evenodds roll to clear before the final German unit was
put into the area. When he rolled a
3 on an impulse 4 bombardment,
he re-rolled, but failed again with a
3 for the game end, giving Nels the
game and championship.
Century Events
15
2008 Results
2008 Results
Ewan McNay, NY
John Morris, MD
Jim Jordan, MD
Mark Smith, KY
O Barry Smith, NY
O Matt O’Connor, NJ
Anne Norton, NJ
Ted Drozd, IL
O Cheryl Burkey, PA
O Ben Gardner, VA
O Paul Bean, MA
O Dave Bohnenberger, PA
Beth Zhao, TX
James Jordan, MD
148  2006-2008
37  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Ewan McNay, NY
P
Ewan McNay, CT
Nick Benedict, PA
James Jordan, MD
Mark Smith, KY
Scott Pfeiffer, SC
David Gantt, SC
Richard Curtin, NY
David Yoon, NY
Barry Smith, NY
Mike Fox, IL
Top Laurelists
277
192
96
82
73
70
60
41
40
40
Britannia (BRI)
reliminary heats gave four wins each to Yellow, Green, and Red and three to Blue. Special awards went to Ewan—for the highest score,
Duane Wagner—for taking an unusual chance,
and Duane again for achieving the lowest score
as a semi-finalist. The semi-final was manned by
many of the usual suspects, with three top Laurelists advancing—Ewan McNay, Jim Jordan, and
Mark Smith. Wildcard John Morris joined the crew,
as well, when a knife fight between the players in
his game allowed him to take control.
Opening move in the Final happened offboard,
as Ewan’s Red and John’s Blue agreed to a peace
deal dividing England between the Angles and
Saxons. Mark’s Romans (Yellow) did a great job of
controlling Boudicca’s revolt. Romans in the prelims averaged 115, while Mark pulled in 136. Jim’s
Belgae (Green), who had averaged 22 points in the
prelims, scored only 10. Toward the middle, the
game settled into détente as the Angles and Saxons
prepared for the Danes and Dubliners. Since the
board was full when mid-game invaders arrived,
the Danes cut a deal with the Saxons to maintain
a kingdom around Lindsey and Norfolk. When
the Dubliners came aboard, they tried to even the
game and pull back Red. They made inroads, but
in the end, a very balkanized board
told the tale. Ewan pulled out a narrow Red win with 224 points, while
Green and Blue tied with 213 each,
and Yellow finished with 196.
Anne Norton, NJ
E
Anne Norton, NJ Rob Winslow, NY
David Burkey, PA
Ted Drozd, IL
Cheryl Burkey, PA
Nick Page, ON
Jay Fox, NJ
Ben Gardner, VA
Jordan Flawd, PA
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
30
20
20
18
12
12
12
9
8
8
Can’t Stop (CNS)
very night at WBC now has a late night slot at
11 PM filled with quick, light fare that draws
big crowds. Wednesday appears to belong to
Can’t Stop, which drew triple digits while posting
its third attendance increase in a row.
Since the game is easy to learn and only takes
about 20 minutes to play, we were able to get
through the preliminary rounds quickly. Thanks
to everyone who brought games (especially the
CABS gang that brought eight copies), we didn’t
have anyone standing around waiting to play.
Tournament format remained the same. Players
sat down as they pleased with four to a table.
Festive cheering squads at each table departed after the semi-final, and in the relative quiet
of the witching hour, Anne Norton walked away
as champion. She earned an early advantage by
being the only one not to bust on the first turn,
and she proved consistent in closing out columns,
though Cheryl Burkey was the first to close out
a column (number 11). Anne was right behind,
closing out number 7. She kept up speed by only
letting one more column be taken before she
added number 3. Ted Drozd and Cheryl took two
columns each, but Anne reigned supreme when
she closed out her third column to win with the
3-7-8 combo. We’re not sure if her
“No Whammy” chant strategy
when rolling the dice gave her any
advantage, but expect some imitators next year.
16
Century Events
2007 Results
2007 Results
Robbie Mitchell, VA
Olin Hentz, CT
Ken Gutermuth, NC
O Kevin Wojtaszczyck, NY
O Marilyn Flowers, MD
O Dan Mathias, MD
Sam Atabaki, CA
Mike Kaltman, PA
Rich Meyer, MA
O Jeff Meyer, MA
O Andrew Gerb, MD
O Louis Gehring, IN
Tom McCorry, VA
Peter Putnam, MD
84  2002-2008
Top Laurelists
Robbie Mitchell, VA
A
Robbie Mitchell, VA
Richard Jones, UK
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
Scott Buckwalter, MD
Olin Hentz, CT
Debbie Gutermuth, TX
Katie McCorry, VA
Jennifer Drozd, IL
Jay Fox, NJ
Laurel Stokes, NJ
43  2006-2008
Top Laurelists
69
50
50
42
36
33
30
30
30
27
Carcassonne (CAR)
mong Round 1’s five-player games, Kevin
Wojtaszyk had the highest score with 79
points—32 of them coming from farmers—and
Eric Hymowitz had the lowest winning total with
48 points. GM Tom McCorry started 0-2, losing the
first eliminator game to Lisa “I got all the Monasteries” Gutermuth 90 to 100. One of the more
exciting and high scoring matches of the tournament came in this round when Joe Chacon beat
Alex Gesing 159 to 157. McCorry eliminated Eric
Monte in Round 3 to balance the bracket. Ken
Gutermuth, Kevin Wojtaszyk, Olin Hentz, and
defending champion Robbie Mitchell advanced to
the Semi. In the consolation bracket, Marilyn Flowers claimed victory 129 to 97 over Dan Mathias.
Olin overcame Ken’s superior farm scoring to
advance to the Final 117 to 99. Robbie extended
his unbeaten streak to 10 games—going back to
last year’s WBC—with a convincing win over
Kevin 132 to 103. Ken came back in the Bronze
Medal game to beat Kevin 132 to 106 and claim
the third place plaque. In a very close Final, Robbie extended his unbeaten streak and defended
his championship with a 129 to 126 win.
Next year will incorporate two changes
based on 2008’s feedback. The first is to remove
one straight road tile from the set
in two-player games so that each
player gets 35 turns. The second is
to use four-player games in Round
1 to give players extra turns.
Sam Atabaki, CA
C
Peter Putnam, MD
Andrew Gerb, MD
Sam Atabaki, CA
Jeremy Spencer, NC
Rich Meyer, MA
Michael Kaltman, PA
Rod Spade, PA
Raphael Lehrer, MD
Chris Trimmer, TX
Tom DeMarco, NJ
67
56
52
40
30
26
22
12
12
12
Caylus (CYL)
oming out of his semi-final game, Mike
Kaltman squeezed by defending champion
Andy Gerb, Rich Atwater and Rod Davidson
in a ridiculously close game with a 78-78-7768 tally. His tie-breaker win was redemption
for Mike who had been on the short end of a
similarly close Final at the last EuroQuest. Californian Sam Atabaki was the hot player coming into the Final, scoring 106 in the heat and 92
points in the Semi. The always dangeous father
and son team of Jeff and Richard Meyers earned
the last two seats.
Richard took the early lead in the Final, 16
points to Mike’s 10, Sam’s 8 and Jeff’s 7 after
the Dungeon Phase. The game tightened in the
Castle Phase with Richard at 33, Sam 33, Mike
27 and Jeff 27. The hot hand won out as Sam
beat Mike late in the game with four batches
to three to gain the critical late favors. The final
score was Sam 90, Mike 74, Richard 73 and Jeff
65. This capped a very impressive run for Sam,
who averaged 96 points per game and a 12 point
margin of victory.
In terms of strategy, most games saw a battle
between the strong building favor technique
and the strategy that uses early wood building with the mason. However, the
prestige point favor track, money
dominance and even the resource
track—widely considered weakest
options—made good showings.
Century Events
17
2008 Results
2008 Results
Josh Githens, SC
Richard Curtin, NY
Kathleen Lockwood, VA
Jed Shambeda, PA
Philip Livingston, DE
 Karl Henning, CT
Mike Galandiuk, OH
Bryan Collars, SC
Greg Courter, MI
Mark McBride, OH
O Bob Heinzmann, FL
O Joe Chacon, VA
Joel Tamburo, IL
John Jacoby, VA
55  2007-2008
98  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Josh Githens, SC
N
Josh Githens, SC
225
Steve Katz, VA
144
Tom Saal, MI
120
Anthony Musella, VA 102
Scott Sirianna, NY
80
John Tighe, NJ
72
Bill Beckman, SC
72
Frank Sinigaglio, NJ 68
Mike Stanley, OH
60
Karl Henning, CT
56
Circus Maximus (CMS)
o fewer than 15 chariots—eight heavy, two
medium and five light—were entered to race
in the Final. Four chariots and as many horses
were destroyed in the driving exhibition that followed. Amazingly, half of the destroyed chariots
met their maker at the hands of Marie Pack, who
was driving a light. She used her whip skillfully
to “help” them swerve into the wall.
The end of the race proved that the dice gods
hate any sign of hubris. On the last straightaway,
defending champion Josh Githens carefully
counted and found that when his chit was pulled,
he would just cross the finish line. He announced
that he was not going to whip his horses since
he had the race won without further effort. The
dice god’s ears pricked up at this audacity. Since
Josh was moving at a speed of 18, he had to roll
his wheel damage. He rolled a 2 on his 3 damage
wheel, flipping his chariot and dragging him 17
spaces forward. Since his speed had been reduced
by one, lacking a driver modifier, his horses managed to get across the line, but Josh—the vicarious
driver—remained prostate in the field of play.
Angela Collinson took this as a sign and proceeded to trample the dragged side of beef next
to the finish line. When Josh cleared the hooves,
he had only two hits left. When
his chit was drawn he dragged
across the line in first and managed to roll a 2 to survive and
defend his title.
Top Laurelists
Mike Galandiuk, OH
T
Mike Galandiuk, OH
Bob Heinzmann, FL
Bryan Collars, SC
David desJardins, CA
Greg Courter, MI
Chris Storzillo, NJ
Mark McBride, OH
Ray Stakenas, MI
Bob Heinzmann, FL
Bruce Young, SC
40
40
24
24
16
16
12
12
8
8
Combat Commander (CBC)
he tournament thrived for a second year, with
even higher attendance. Wednesday’s Mulligan Round featured 32 players. Play was tense
and rules questions were few and far between. SE
play started at 2pm Friday with a good crowd on
hand. Play was faster than last year, as evidenced
by the fact that we got all the way through the
semi-final before quitting for the night despite
starting five hours later. Defending champion Bob
Heinzman made it to the Quarter-Final before being vanquished. One game had to be adjudicated
that round.
The Final pitted Assistant GM Bryan Collars
against WBC newcomer Mike Galandiuk. After
a well-fought game, Mike prevailed to earn WBC
wood in his inaugural trip to the convention. He
chose the DVD Where Eagles Dare as his special
prize. Bryan finished second and received a Kelly’s
Heroes DVD as consolation.
GM Joel Tamburo introduced a new scenario
list this year. It was well-received by players. Overall, the choices were balanced and fun to play. No
players chose to use the Random Scenario Generator, as opposed to the four who opted for that
course last year.
Next year will be interesting times for Combat
Commander, as the Pacific Theater
game will be released by then. As
always we will be looking at the
format and scenario mix to see
where it can be improved.
18
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Brian Conlon, CT
Jeff King, ME
Riku Reikkinen, FN
O Bill O’Neal, NY
O Andy Joy, MD
O Paul Skrabut, FL
Tom Haver, OH
Eric Grinnell, KY
Nick Palmer, UK
Brian Shelden, DC
O Dan Broh-Kahn, MD
O Paul Konka, MD
Andy Lewis, DE
Tom Pasko, CT
40  2006-2008
22  1991-2008*
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Brian Conlon, CT
F
Bill O’Neal, NY
61
Brian Conlon, CT
46
Tony Curtis, OK
30
Jack Morrell, NY
24
Jeff King, ME
18
Andy Finkel, UK
18
Allan Kaplan, NJ
12
Riku Reikkinen, Finland12
Rob March, CA
9
Peter Stein, OH
8
Commands & Colors (CCA)
our-player groups of players took on each
other in the first round’s Bagrades scenario.
For side selection, players bid complete battle dice
re-rolls they were willing to give their opponent.
The results were close, with Carthage coming out
on top 33-27. Ten group winners plus six players
with 2-1 records advanced. The second round used
the Ilipia scenario and four-player groups again. It
was not as balanced, and the Romans went 15-8.
Only one group had a 3-0 player. The other groups
advanced the winner with a 2-1 record, wih tiebreakers based on head-to-head records in their
group. Thus, defending champ Bill O’Neal—who
has made the Semi all three years, returning Laurelist Brian Conlon, Jeff King, and Riku Riekkinen
moved forward. They used the Gabiene scenario
and played each side against the same opponent.
In a repeat of one of last year’s semi-final games,
Conlon played O’Neal. This time Brian got his revenge and had the better of Bill, winning with both
sides. The other match was closer, with Jeff and
Riku each winning once. Jeff advanced by virtue of
capturing 10 banners to Riku’s eight.
This set the stage for a Final between Conlon
and King at Gaugamela. It was a split decision,
with the Macedonians winning twice. Even the
losses were close, with total blocks killed
at 33-37 and total mounted killed at 2222. Brian triumphed by concentrating
his attacks and taking 11 banners while
losing only nine.
Tom Haver, OH
Nick Benedict, CA
115
Andy Marshall, MD 96
Tom Pasko, CT
76
Andy Bartalone, MD 60
Alvaro Ugaz, VA
60
Simon Bouton, UK
60
Nick Palmer, UK
56
Rick Desper, MD
56
Tom Kobrin, NC
48
Ric Manns, IN
48
Diplomacy (DIP)
D
raws in 2008 had fewer participants, so the action was fast and
the tension was thick. The two boards
on Friday finished with two- and three-way
draws. Saturday morning had two more boards
that finished with two- and five-way draws. Sunday’s lone board was filled with lots of action as
the top scorers maneuvered for position on the
leader board. It ended up as a four-way draw.
Nick Palmer took a break from Parliament and
came back to defend his crown, but he missed by
“this much.” Two newcomers to the convention—
Tom Haver and Eric Grinnell—walked away with
the first- and second-place awards as a result of being involved in a two-way draw. Next year should
prove tougher for them to duplicate since they are
now a known quantity at WBC.
WBC has official plaques for the top four finishers, and we gave mini-plaques to the rest. Top
board finishers were Thomas Haver, Eric Grinnell, Nick Palmer, Brian Sheldon, Daniel BrohKahn, Paul Konra and Paul Camina. A silver shiv
went to Dylan Routh (England) for his stab on
Brian Sheldon (Germany). Brian went from 7 in
‘03 to 3 in ‘04 and 0 in ‘05. We also had blocks
of wood for best country awards, which went
to Tom Haver (Austria), Paul Konka (England),
Nick Palmer (France), Paul Camina (Italy), Tom Haver (Russia),
and Eric Grinnell (Turkey).
Be sure to recruit for 2009!
*The event did not run in 2005.
Century Events
19
2008 Results
2008 Results
Glenn McMaster, ON
Benoit Groulx, QC
Stephane Dorais, QC
O Matt Fagan, NJ
O Bill Dyer, IL
O Rob Barnes, WV
Geoff Pounder, ON
Marc Berenbach, MA
Greg Thatcher, CA
O Robb Effinger, ON
O Tim Mossman, MD
O Jeff Meyer, MA
Brad Johnson, IL
Rob Flowers, MD
28  1992-2008
61  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Glenn McMaster, ON
W
Bill Dyer, IL
126
Phil Barcafer, PA
72
Steve Koehler, NC
70
Joe Abrams, CT
64
Glenn McMaster, ON 61
Brad Johnson, IL
42
Andrew Clark, AZ
40
Jay Schlaffer, DC
40
Benoit Groulx, QC
36
Anne Marie Dilworth, NY 30
Dune (DUN)
ith the exception of one solo victory (a Guild
default win), wins went to 5 two-player and
3 three-player alliances. Bene Gesserit retained
their reputation as the “winningest” faction, participating in six wins. House Harkonnen had an
uncharacteristic down year, with only three wins.
Best Faction plaques went to Ty Hansen for Atreides; Bill Dyer: BG; Benoit Groulx: Emperor;
Jean-Francois Gagne: Fremen; Alan Arvold: Guild;
and Matt Fagan: Harkonnen.
A strong Canadian contingent advanced to the
Final, with Glenn McMaster drawing the Guild;
Benoit Groulx, the BG; and Stephane Dorais, the
Fremen. Rounding out the finalists were 1997
champ Matt Fagan with the Atreides, Rob Barnes
with the Harkonnen, and two-time champion Bill
Dyer as the Emperor. On Turn 4, three alliances
emerged that would remain until the end of the
game: Fremen-Emperor, Atreides-Harkonnen,
and Guild-BG. At one point, the Guild and BG actually sealed their alliance with a publicly binding
agreement, virtually unheard of! By Turn 11, each
faction held exactly one stronghold apiece, with
Carthag controlled by each faction at least once
during the game. In the last turns, parity continued, and it became a question of whether the Fremen or the Guild would achieve their
default victory conditions. After 15
grueling turns, the Guild claimed
victory by successfully preventing
conclusive ownership of Arrakis.
Geoff Pounder, ON
T
Greg Thatcher, CA
Jason Levine, NY
Rob Flowers, MD
Geoff Pounder, ON
Charlie Kersten, OH
Jay Fox, NJ
Mark Guttag, VA
Robb Effinger, ON
Stu Hendrickson, VA
David Buchholz, MI
62
62
52
46
40
40
40
39
36
32
El Grande (ELG)
wo previous champs—Robb Effinger (2007)
and Greg Thatcher (2006), 2005 Laurelist Geoff
Pounder, frequent semi-finalist Marc Berenbach,
and relative newcomer Tim Mossman advanced to
the Final. Right away, Greg used the King action
that allowed Geoff to score the 6’s and 7’s. Geoff
took the score, putting him at 14 points and Greg
at 13, with the rest trailing behind. In Turn 2, Tim
scored the 5’s to catch up to them. During the first
scoring round, Greg scored well enough to place
him in first with 36 points. Robb had 31, and the
others were within five points. In Turn 4, Tim put
both himself and Geoff within three points of the
lead. On Turn 5, the overall spread was 12 points.
Geoff continued to strengthen his board position while other players attacked the leaders. For
the second round of scoring, Geoff scored in seven
of the ten regions and was the only player to get
points for his Grande. Geoff tied Greg for the lead
at 60, although the players were all within four
points. In Turn 7, Geoff spent his 13 to grab a scoring card, adding eight points to his score. Marc got
four points to barely put him into second. Midway
though Turn 8, Geoff picked up a Veto card that
gave him leverage to protect his lead. He used it to
good effect in Turn 9, influencing Tim’s move of the
King and allowing Geoff to score Old
Castile, gaining eight points and putting him 11 ahead. Although Geoff’s
third scoring round was meager, his
lead was too much to overcome.
20
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Harald Henning, CT
Eric Brosius, MA
Tom Wade, IN
Debbie Gutermuth, NC
Dave Steiner, DE
O Tom Dunning, NY
Robert Eastman, NV
John Elliott, MD
Kevin Coombs, GA
O Tim Evinger, PA
O Bill Peeck, NY
O Bill Alderman, VA
Tom Dunning, NY
Bill Alderman, VA
66  1999-2008
46  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Harald Henning, CT
W
Jim Yerkey, MD
110
Harald Henning, CT 100
Tom Dunning, NY
97
Richard Meyer, MA
82
Eric Brosius, MA
80
Steve Okonski, MD
70
Donna Balkan, ON
61
Debbie Gutermuth, NC 60
Bill Navolis, PA
50
Paul Van Bloem, MD 40
Empire Builder (EPB)
hile last year’s Final saw a lot of new faces,
this year it was back to the usual suspects.
After taking sixth-place laurels and just missing
the Final the past two years, Debbie Gutermuth
won her semi-final game, besting Mike Zorrer,
who just missed getting laurels. Defending champion Eric Brosius had a runaway win over 2003
champ Donna Balkan and former finalist Harald
Henning took a decisive win over 2006 champ
Rich Meyer. In another game, Tom Wade racked
up the high score of the tournament with $295.
The closest contest of the Semi allowed Dave
Steiner to return to the Final with a win over twotime champion Tom Dunning, who finished with
enough money to claim sixth place laurels.
Harald Henning’s fourth trip to the Final
proved a charm. Even after a rough start that saw
him lose one and a half turns to disaster cards,
Harald overcome his rivals by building a leaner,
more efficient network. Defending champion Eric
Brosius put in a valiant effort to defend his crown,
but he finished just short.
Nine different variants hit the tables during the
tourney. Empire Builder with Mexico was the most
popular, with seven plays in the heats, followed by
India Rails with four plays. Original Empire Builder
without Mexico (used for the Final) and
Eurorails each had three, Iron Dragon, Lunar Rails and Martian Rails each had two,
and China Rails and British Rails brought
up the rear with one game apiece.
Top Laurelists
Robert Eastman, NV
N
Matt Evinger, PA
Gordon Rodgers, PA
Mike Sincavage, VA
Bill Peeck, NY
Mike Mitchell, GA
Evan Hitchings, DE
Robert Eastman, NV
Tom Wojke, PA
Alan Arvold, IL
Wade Fowble, MD
69
60
48
38
36
35
33
30
27
20
Enemy In Sight (EIS)
ine winners emerged from the heats, and
eight of them—including former champions Bill Peeck (2004) and Tim Evinger (1997)—eagerly appeared for the semi-final and ended up
proceeding directly to the Final
Rob Eastman sailed out to a lead at the end of
the first hand, with 46 points, followed by Peeck
(38), Evinger (34) and GM Bill Alderman (30).
Most of the scoring was in prizes, though there
was the usual spate of sinking smaller ships once
the Break-the-Line cards made their appearance.
The second hand deal left some players with
powerful First Rate Broadsides for their Third
Rate (or smaller) Ships. (Not much use.)
Eastman was under siege immediately, targetted by a Break-the-Line and a variety of attacks. He was whittled down to one ship in his
line, but he used an Additional Ship card to
return to two. In the meantime, others had the
pleasure of attracting attention, including all of
the players with 30 points or more.
No one lost all their ships, but many had
three or fewer in the line at one point. Through it
all, Eastman had Boarding Party cards while others did not, so he captured prizes and was able to
keep them afloat even though he couldn’t remove
the Line Breakers. He won with
62 points, followed closely by
John Elliott (60), Kevin Coombs
(57), Evinger (52), Peeck (46)
and Alderman (39).
Century Events
21
2008 Results
2008 Results
Paul Bean, MA
Rob Winslow, NY
O Eric Brosius, MA
O Matt Amitrano, VA
O Ed Kendrick, UK
O Rich Meyer, MA
Bruce Reiff, OH
Dan Dolan Jr, NJ
Ray Stakenas, MI
O Bert Schoose, IL
O Josh Cooper, MD
O Michael Schoose, IL
Arthur Field, SC
Nate Hoam, OH
43  1993-2008
23  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Paul Bean, MA
Aaron Silverman, FL
Doug Hoylman, MD
Paul Bean, MA
Richard Irving, CA
Richard Meyer, MA
Randy Cox, SC
Winton LeMoine, CA
Pitt Crandelmire, MA
Eric Brosius, MA
Sean McCulloch, OH
44
42
40
32
32
31
28
24
24
20
Facts In Five (FI5)
A
good showing in every puzzle is better than winning just one. After Puzzle 1. Matt Amitrano led the pack with
19 correct (the best score for the night), followed
closely by Eric Brosius, Ed Kendrick and Paul
Bean. Brosius and Rich Fetzer scored the highest
in Round 2, with 15, followed by Bean, just one behind. In Round 3, Bean continued to excel, with a
17, closely followed by Kendrick with 16. Puzzle
4 sought African capital cities, Asian capital cities,
major political party Presidential election losers,
Beatles album titles, and boroughs of London. Rob
Winslow—with his knowledge about the Beatles—
came through with a score a 17. Bean, Meyer and
Kendrick continued to score well.
The final puzzle was a four-minute lightning
round with general knowledge categories of baseball 300-game winning pitchers, Disneyworld
Magic Kingdom rides and attractions, AKC terrier
dog breeds, countries without extradition treaties
with the United States, and Madonna album titles.
Winslow, Brosius, Francis Spencer, and Bean all
scored 11. (Bean knew his AKC breeds and pitchers, but not any Disney rides.)
In the end, Bean achieved a total score of 69 of a
possible 125 (55.2%). Winslow was hot on his heels
with 66, followed by Eric Brosius (62).
(Brosius got team points for his thirdplace finish.) Other top finishers were
Matt Amitrano (60), Kendrick (58) and
Rich Meyer (57).
Top Laurelists
Bruce Reiff, OH
D
Bruce Reiff, OH
217
Bill Cleary, MD
90
Ken Whitesell, MD
63
Kevin Keller, MD
33
Ray Stakenas II, MI
30
Bert Schoose, IL
24
Marvin Birnbaum, NY 24
David Rynkowski, NY 24
Paul O’Neil, MD
21
Dan Dolan Jr, NJ
18
Football Strategy (FBS)
an Dolan Jr. was obviously nervous facing top
Laurelist Bruce Reiff in the Final. Reiff scored
a touchdown on his opening drive, intercepted the
ball on the next series, and threw a 35 yard pass
for a second touchdown. As the seconds of the first
quarter ticked away, Bruce led 14 to zip. According to Dolan, it was “like a manatee getting hit by
a motorboat.” Bruce got another TD in the opening minutes of the second quarter, which seemed
to convince Dan that he should start playing football instead of ogling the cheerleaders. With five
minutes left in the half, he managed to score two
touchdowns, cuting Bruce’s lead to 7.
In the third quarter, Dan managed to fumble
the ball on the power off tackle play, setting Reiff
up for an easy field goal. The rest of the quarter
was a see-saw battle, but an interception by Dan
with three minutes left gave him some momentum, and in the fourth quarter, Dan got a field goal
with 10:45 left. On the following kick-off, Bruce’s
special teams gave him excellent field position on
the 50, but Dan’s defense kept Bruce to a field goal.
Dan’s offense then cut the lead to 3 with only 2:30
left on the clock. Bruce recovered the ensuing onside kick, and he tried to run out the clock. Dan
managed to stop him but used all of his time-outs.
Dan got the ball a final time with only
1:15 left. He set up a passing play, but
Bruce anticipated the move and intercepted the ball to end the game. The
final score was 27 to 24.
22
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Riku Reikkinen, FN
James Pei, TX
Chris Byrd, CT
Dave Dockter, MN
O Mark Giddings, NY
O Michael Ussery, MD
Mario Veillette, QC
Andrew Maly, MD
Stan Buck, MD
O Brady Wade, IN
O Harrison Anderson, PA
O Curt Collins, PA
Mark Herman, MD
Josh Githens, SC
32  1999-2008
63  2000-2008
Top Laurelists
Riku Reikkinen, FN
R
James Pei, VA
496
David Dockter, MN 162
Mark Giddings, NY 127
Trevor Bender, CA
62
Stefan Mecay, TX
60
Riku Reikkinen, Finland50
Mike Mitchell, GA
47
Tim Miller, GA
40
Nicholas Pei, CA
38
Baron August, PA
36
For The People (FTP)
iku Riekkinen (CSA) took out eight-time
champion James Pei (USA) in the Final when
he doubled the Union in SW on Turn 8. His victory
helped end Pei’s Nest of Spies’ winning streak.
Riku has never lost with the Union. His winning CSA strategy is to not defend Richmond,
rather to move all of his forces into the West or
through West Virginia. His goal is to block the
five rail lines that enter the map in the west. The
idea is to give up SW and shut down 10 Union
SPs of reinforcements for a turn or two. As the
South gains the SP edge, they begin to score
some raids, which recover the SW given up by
the loss of Richmond and double up the Union
in the mid-game. His innovation is he does not
worry about converting the rail spaces, as it is
easy for the Union to cut off an early excursion.
He just places SPs on them (and several Union
State capitals) to accomplish his initial objective.
David Dockter and James apply a similar
strategy when they play the CSA, but they have
focused on cutting off DC for two turns, which
protects Richmond. The “Riku gambit” leaves
Richmond vulnerable, enticing the Union to take
it, and giving the CSA time to move across the
Ohio in the West. A Union player confronted with
no opposition in the East can shift almost all of
his forces West and leave DC
fairly unprotected, retaining
sufficient force to exploit a CC
to take Richmond.
Top Laurelists
Mario Veillette, QC
T
Barry Smith, NY
Lance Fogel, PA
Jason Levine, NY
Robert Kircher, MA
Roderick Lee, CA
Mario Veillette, QC
James Kendrick, UK
Steve May, MD
Keith Levy, MD
Stan Buck, MD
89
78
60
38
36
30
30
30
30
24
Formula De (FDE)
en drivers raced on a 1:64 scale version of
Spa Francorchamps in the Final. Matt Bacho,
qualifying first and driving for Ferrari, put some
distance between his car and second, but fell victim to engine damage midway through the first
lap and finished last. Harrison Anderson, the lone
repeating Laurelist in the field, conserved his vehicle for the first 1-1/2 laps, but his suspension gave
way when he took an aggressive line to catch the
leader. He fell just short of the podium in the same
5th place slot he held in 2007. Brady Wade’s Team
Honda entry looked good until the last corner.
Coming through the chicane just before the finish
line, Wade overshot the exit and spun out with the
checkered flag in sight, taking fourth place. Andy
Maly took advantage of Wade’s spin to leapfrog
into second place. Stanley Buck used patience and
a car preservation strategy to transform an eighthplace starting position into third place as the only
car left on the track for the last half lap.
Mario Veillette, driving the Torro Rosso vehicle, was the surprise of the Grand Prix event.
Starting from 9th, he was able to weave through
traffic in just one lap. Torro Rosso called him into
the pits at the end of Lap 1. The strategy paid off,
as after Lap 1 Veillette had both the lead and a
fresh car. When he exited the pits, he appeared
to be one with the track, hitting corner apexes at fantastic speeds and never relinquishing the lead.
Century Events
23
2008 Results
2008 Results
Jordan Flawd, PA
Forrest Speck, MD
Matt Fetzer, NY
O Rich Fetzer, NY
O Pam Gutermuth, FL
O Nick Smith, UK
Mark Mitchell, VA
Jed Shambeda, PA
Dave Buchholz, MI
O Martin Sample, NH
O Danielle Zack, MD
O Rebecca Hebner, CA
Chris LeFevre, AZ
Mark Mitchell, VA
79  2001-2008
41  2000-2008
Top Laurelists
Jordan Flawd, PA
L
Lisa Gutermuth, TX
48
Jordan Flawd, PA
30
Forrest Speck, MD
30
Dan Lewis, DE
30
Matt Evinger, PA
30
Bill Place, PA
30
Mike Stachowski, NY 30
Debbie Gutermuth, TX 30
Steve Cameron, PA
28
Katie McCorry, VA
27
Formula Motor Racing (FMR)
osing both of her cars in the first three races
of the semi-final earned Danielle Zack the “I
Lost the Most Cars” award, closely followed by
April Gardner who managed to lose a car to a
crash in each of five races during the third heat.
In the first race of the Final, Forrest Speck
blew an engine and Rich Fetzer lost a car to spin
out but they finished first and second to mitigate
their losses. Race 2 saw Forrest, Rich, and Jordan Flawd all lose cars. Race 3 eliminated four
cars—one each from Jordan, Matt, Rich and Forrest. At the mid-point, only six points separated
first and last.
Nick Smith lost his first car in Race 4, but
when he won the race, he had the lead with 21
points. Jordan moved into second, just one point
behind. In the next race, Nick lost another car
and fell from first to fifth, still with 21 points. Top
scores going into the final race were Forrest 28,
Jordan 23, and the father-son team of Rich and
Matt Fetzer tied with 22 points each.
Race 6 saw Pam Gutermuth and Matt each
lose a car. Pam’s other car won the race. Jordan
finished second, Matt third, Rich fourth, Nick
fifth, and Forrest sixth. The final score had Forrest and Jordan tied with 29 points, Matt with 26,
Rich 25, Pam 24 and Nick 23 points.
It was the first time the
championship has been decided by the tie-breaker order of finish in the last race.
Top Laurelists
Mark Mitchell, VA
F
Rob Winslow, NY
Jon Shambeda, PA
John Keating, IL
David Buchholz, MI
Mark Mitchell, VA
Joseph Burch, MD
Sean McCulloch, OH
Jed Shambeda, PA
Steve Cameron, PA
Martin Sample, NH
60
58
54
48
42
42
42
38
37
35
Galaxy (GXY)
or a change, the Final was bereft of
former champs, though there were
plenty of players familiar with getting to
the last round. It was the second consecutive appearance by Danielle Zack, who learned the game
in 2007. Marty Sample, Jed Shambeda, and GM
Mark Michell had met previously in the 2006 Final.
Dave Buchholz last gained Galaxy laurels in 2002.
This year’s Final was close, as usual. No clear
leader emerged until the final card fell. In the end,
the winner had to be determined by tiebreaker,
when both Jed and Mark ended with 11 points.
(Dave was only one point behind.) Even the tiebreaker came down to the wire, as Jed had 47 total
points in his hand and Mark had 52.
Overall, there was roughly an even balance
beween worlds eliminated, though Cylor and
Myrmidon were slightly less likely to live to the
end. There was, however, favoritism in choosing
secret bases. Divergence got the call 16 times, and
Imperial was a distant second with 11. Only three
players won despite losing their secret bases. One
of those games produced the hard luck story of
the event, belonging to Steve Cameron. In his
semi-final game, he lost nine points at the end of
the first round. He had four visible points on the
first world to be eliminated, and it was also his secret base. Despite scoring only
eight points, he tied for first
but lost the tie-breaker and the
opportunity to advance.
24
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Bob Hamel, CT
Nick Henning, CT
Nick Smith, UK
John Elliott, MD
O Tom Richardson, VA
O John Pack, CO
Ed Menzel, CA
Vince Meconi. DE
Rob Doane, MA
Bert Schoose, IL
O Greg Smith, FL
O Dave Zimmerman, PA
Vincent Meconi, DE
John Pack, CO
33  1992-2008
71  1992-2008
Top Laurelists
Bob Hamel, CT
B
Nick Henning, CT
146
Pitt Crandlemire, MA 132
John Pack, CO 90
Nick Smith, UK
90
Bob Hamel, CT
67
Jim Castonguay, PA
54
Mark Love, MD
53
Tom Richardson, VA 48
Jeffrey Hacker, PA
40
Victor Hogen, CA
34
Gangsters (GSR)
ob Hamel pulled the right “Strings” to accomplish a 10-joint win. He needed to recruit both
a Thug and Vamp on the last turn, and he rolled
low enough to finish with $200 to spare. It’s the
second year in a row that the tournament winner
used this strategy, a first in the event’s history.
Last year’s winner, Jeffrey “The Head”
Hacker, finished in eighth place this year. In
fact, none of last year’s finalists returned to the
big game. However, of the finalists, only John
“Bugs” Elliott was new to the affair. Bugs had
finished as high as seventh place before. Nick
“Dusk” Henning won in 2004 and 2005 and Tom
“The Mumbler” Richardson won in 2006. Nick
“Slumlord” Smith has appeared in many finals
but has yet to claim the top prize.
GM John Pack gave out the Cement Overshoes Sportsmanship Award to Jordan “Preacher” Halberstadt, Junior Godfather Award to
Craig “No Cigar” Reece, “I Think She Likes Me!”
Award to Sharee “Jezebel” Pack and the Roadkill
Award to Ashley “Angel” Collinson. This year, he
inaugurated the “Barney Fife Memorial Award”.
To win, a player had to be the first to use Cop #2
to inflict two losses on a rival gang in
a single shootout. The retroactive 2007
award was presented to Paul “Da Spider” Bolduc. The Head took this year’s
award when he used Barney to delay
his opponents’ plans long enough to
collect 10 joints in the Semi.
Top Laurelists
Ed Menzel, CA
Vincent Meconi, DE 130
Ed Menzel, CA
112
Allen Kaplan, NJ
91
Ted Drozd, IL
62
Dave Zimmerman, PA 59
Barry Shoults, MI
56
Jim Tracy, OH
34
William Place, PA
31
Mike Pacheco, CA
24
Doug Porterfield, VA 12
Gettysburg ‘88 (GBG)
E
d Menzel of Fullerton, CA won his
third consecutive Gettysburg ‘88
crown, defeating GM Vince Meconi in
the Final. Ed finished with a 9-2 record, while
Vince went 8-1. Rob Doane took third at 3-3 and
Bert Schoose finished fourth at 3-1.
In the Final, Vince grabbed the Confederates
for a bid of 5.0. His Confederates had routed Ed’s
Union troops in the preliminaries, but a repeat was
not in the offing. In fact, in each of Ed’s three championships, he has won the Final against an opponent who had beaten him earlier in the event. This
time the Union was so dominant that they ended
July 1 still in command of both Culp’s Hill and
Cemetery Hill, without having suffered a single
elimination or flip to their 3- and 4-factor units.
The Rebels held on until Turn 18, but they threw in
the towel then with just one undamaged infantry
division remaining.
During the tourney, the South won 32 games
to 17 for the North. Forty-four games used the
campaign scenario. Confederates won 31 of those
contests. Four games used the short July 1 scenario,
with the Federals winning three. The Union won
the single game that used the July 1/July 2 scenario.
Confederate bids ranging from 1 to 5.5 VPs took
place in 36 games, and the South prevailed 25
times to the North’s 11. The Union
bid for side three times and lost
twice. Blue and Gray split the 10
games with no bid.
Century Events
25
2008 Results
ig
ns
2008 Results
Top Laurelists
Chris Moffa, NJ
N
Alex Bove, PA
Arthur Field, SC
Raphael Lehrer, MD
Chris Moffa, NJ
John Kerr, VA
Rod Spade, PA
Kevin Walsh, NY
Chris Trimmer, TX
Perrianne Lurie, PA
Jeff Mullet, OH
Ca
ea
t
Gr
Bruce Reiff, OH
30  2004-2008
mp
a
Chris Moffa, NJ
Bruce Reiff, OH
Raphael Lehrer, MD
O Jeff Mullet, OH
O Sean McCulloch, OH
O Matt Calkins, VA
Goa (GOA)
Dave Cross, VA
17  1993-2008
Top Laurelists
97
84
79
72
48
46
45
30
30
21
ine winners advanced to the Semi-Final.
Game 1 was a clash of the titans between
2007 Champ and EuroQuest winner Alex Bove,
Laurelist Raphael Lehrer, and Cabbie Sean McCulloch. It was no contest, as the reigning Caesar
steamrolled the board with 53 points to Sean’s
49 and Alex’s 41. Sean’s second was not good
enough to advance. In game 2, fellow Cabbie Jeff
Mullet scored only 49 points, but it was enough
to beat Matt Calkins and Sceadeau D’Tela. In
game 3, Bruce Reiff managed 51 points to defeat
Scott Mercotte, and Chris Moffa, who scored
high enough to advance as the fourth finalist.
Despite the two Cabbies in the Final and the
vast amount of experience they get in Columbus,
Ohio continued to be deprived of top honors.
This year that pleasure went to Chris. The Final
was a close affair. Jeff and Bruce both tried the
spice/cards strategy, but Bruce drew well and
Jeff drew poorly. Bruce jumped out to an early
lead, but Raphael was on his heels. Chris quietly
kept up, while Jeff was reduced to looking for
ways to screw with Bruce.
By game end, Bruce knew it would come down
to his expedition points. He had a pair and drew
three cards, but he missed his three-of-a-kind. Still,
he had 50 points, as did Chris. On the tie breaker,
Chris took victory, with 32 cash to
Bruce’s 17. Jeff—who had picked
Goa as his team game—ended with
40 points and Raphael with 47.
Ed Beach, MD
Rob Doane, MA
Justin Rice, VA
O Steve Likevich, OH
O Chris Withers, CA
O Brad Merrill, ME
Ed Beach, MD
F
Chris Withers, CA
Ed Beach, MD
David Cross, VA
Paul Nied, KS
Mark Booth, VA
Steve Likevich, OH
B. Passacantando, CT
Rob Doane, MA
Michael Pacheco, CA
Scott Spurgeon, ON
312
127
85
78
75
66
66
57
36
36
Great Campaigns (GCA)
or the first time since 2000, Chris Withers did
not make it to the elimination rounds. Instead,
1993 champ and frequent Laurelist Ed Beach
found his way to the top for a second time.
In the Semi-Final’s Wilderness, Rob Doane’s
Union beat Steve Likevich, while Ed Beach’s
Confederates defeated Justin Rice. In the Final, Ed Beach led the Confederates to victory
in Bethesda Church. Brad Merrill earned “Risen
from the Ranks” performance, showing great
improvement this year.
The tournament used the same format as in
2007. We played six straight preliminary rounds
on Wednesday and Thursday with a mix of scenarios, primarily from Grant Takes Command. We
added the McDowell scenario from Stonewall in
the Valley because players enjoyed it a lot in the
online tournament. Battles were relatively straight
forward with no real wild situations reported.
Probably the biggest variety occurred in McDowell
since it is a very long scenario in number of turns
(but few units) with lots of options for Stonewall
Jackson to run up and down the Shenandoah Valley. Overall, the Confederates won the majority of
the scenarios in every round.
During the week, Ed displayed the Battle Above
the Clouds playtest materials for the area near Chattanooga, Tenn. GM Dave Cross and
Justin Rice played a few turns of the
campaign game to demonstrate how
the restricted terrain affects play.
26
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Jim Heenehan, PA
Keith Wixson, NJ
Gary Andrews, NY
Lyman Moquin, DC
Larry Luongo, NJ
O Andy Latto, MA
Jeff Burdett, NY
Alan Sudy, VA
Mike Rogazinski, NY
Rick Cambron, PA
Justin Rice, VA
O Dave Cross, VA
Stuart Tucker, MD
Ed Beach, MD
43  1996-2008
Top Laurelists
Jim Heenehan, PA
T
James Pei, VA
Keith Wixson, NJ
Jim Heenehan, PA
Chris Byrd, CT
Peter Reese, VA
Gary Andrews
Nick Anner, NY
Aaron Fuegi, MA
Jung Yueh, MA
Doug White, PA
48  2006-2008
Top Laurelists
236
193
188
157
94
62
60
60
50
44
Hannibal (HRC)
hree former champs went down in the
first round in close-run defeats, while
former champs Keith Wixson and Jim
Heenehan advanced against tough competitors.
Randall MacInnis made history when he won in
three consecutive rounds after 9-9 ties in games he
thought he was losing entering the final turn.
Round 5 began with three undefeated players.
Gary Andrews (3-1) played Andy Latto. Andrews
took Carthage with a bid of 2. Truces caused four
straight re-shuffles, but in Turns 7 and 8, the Macedonian and Syracusan Alliances occurred. Andrews held parts of Italy for most of the game and,
despite Hannibal’s death on Turn 8, he received
Latto’s Turn 9 resignation after driving off three
Roman attempts to land an army at Carthage.
With Latto’s loss, the battle of former champs
Wixson and Heenehan would determine the
champion. Heenehan took Carthage with a bid
of 1. Syracuse joined Carthage on Turn 1 but was
sacked on Turn 5 as the Macedonian Alliance
began. Heenehan spent much of the game trying to lodge an army led by Mago on Sardinia.
On Turn 7, Wixson sent three armies into Spain.
Mago returned to Spain with reinforcements for
a pressed Hannibal, regaining Spain, but Rome
retook Sardinia for the sixth time on
Turn 9. Hannibal crossed the Alps to
play “I have come to Italy” on the final card play and secure a 9-9 count,
giving victory to Heenehan.
Jeff Burdett, NY
I
Bryan Collars, SC
Jeff Burdett, NY
Dan Gallagher, MD
John Wetherell, PA
Alan Sudy, VA
Ken Richards, SC
Rob Seulowitz, NY
Allan Hill, MD
Dennis Mishler, CT
Mike Rogazinski, NY
62
60
60
60
41
38
36
36
30
24
Here I Stand (HIS)
n Round 1, David Long’s French lost despite
amassing 26 VPs because Jeff Pattison converted
50 spaces for a Protestant auto-win. The only player to win in both heats was Dave Cross.
Cross pushed his record to 3-0 in the first
game of the Semi, winning with his third different
power. The second game featured a one-turn Papal knockout by Rick Byrens, despite a table that
included four repeat semi-finalists. In the third
game, Jeff Burdett earned his second win of the
week as the Hapsburgs. The fourth game went the
full three turns. Entering the final turn, five powers
were tied for the lead with 19 VPs. Dan Hoffman’s
Papacy was on track to win except for a city state
rebellion in Florence that scored four hits to wipe
out the garrison. At the end of the Action Phase,
Kaarin Engelmann’s English held the lead at 22 VP,
but the French rolled a 10 on two dice for a successful exploration, giving Rick Cambron the win.
Going into the Final, the win totals by power
were Ottoman 2, Hapsburgs 2, English 2, French
3, Papacy 3, and Protestant 4. Cross ignored these
numbers and chose the Ottoman, leaving the
Hapsburgs to Burdett for the fourth straight game.
On Turn 5, the Hapsburgs took Buda through
Treachery and sieged Bradenburg to keep the
Protestants from winning. On Turn
6, they took Wittenberg and Trier.
Then they conquered the Maya, giving Burdett a win over the English on
the tie-breaker.
Century Events
27
2008 Results
2008 Results
Jeff King, ME
Greg Kulp, NJ
Eric Kleist, MD
 Jeff Halberstadt, IN
O Richard Beyma, VA
O Aran Warszawski, IS
Patrick Maloney, PA
Jeff Bowers, UT
Romain Jacques, QC
O Greg Berry, VA
O Phil Shea, FL
O Ben Stephenson, MD
Kevin Youells, FL
D. Bohnenberger, PA
32  1993-2008
48  2007-2008
Top Laurelists
Jeff King, ME
Harald Henning, CT 126
Rolinda Collinson, MD 90
Jonas Borra, NY
84
Mike Backstrom, MN 68
Haim Hochboim, Israel60
Robert Destro, NJ
60
Mark Pitcavage, OH 50
Allen Kaplan, NJ
48
Kevin Youells, FL
42
Gregory Kulp, NJ
40
History of the World (HWD)
W
inners of each of the six first round games
advanced directly to the Final. Former
champions Haim Hochbaim (2004) and Craig
Yope (2006) were knocked out in the first round.
The best quote of Day 1 belonged to Greg Kulp
who was trying to calculate the best place to play
a civil war. He said, “I don’t want to be in the way
of the Khmers.” It may be the first time in History of the World that the Khmers got any respect.
Paul McGuanne won the honorary “most hosed”
award. His event cards included two that required
both a capital and navigation. They had to be
played between Epochs 2 and 5. Naturally, his opponents saddled him with the Scythians, Hsung
Nu, Huns, and Mongols—all with no capital.
In the Final, there were several lead changes,
as 2007 runner-up Jeff King (Epoch 7), defending champ Kulp (2, 3, and 4), Eric Kleist (6), and
Jeff Halberstadt (1 and 5) took turns in the forefront. Kleist held a six-point lead heading into
the last Epoch. For this sin, he was passed the
United States as his final empire. He scored a respectable 44 points with them, but fell to third
place. The game came down to Kulp and King.
Kulp scored 54 with the Manchu Dynasty. He
ended up with 199 points. King scored a terrific
58 points with France, putting him
at 207. Kulp finished out with 12
points for pre-eminence markers.
King had six, which was enough
for a three-point victory.
Top Laurelists
Patrick Maloney, PA
D
Patrick Maloney, PA
Jeff Bowers, UT
Tony Defeo, CT
Romain Jacques, QC
Jim Doughan, PA
Peter Eirich, MD
Greg Berry, VA
Lane Newbury, CA
Phil Shea, FL
Mike Horn, FL
60
18
18
12
12
10
9
9
6
6
Imperial (IMP)
espite the GM’s assurances that it was likely
for alternates to advance to the semi-final,
few made themselves available at the appointed
time. Thus, only 14 players advanced, which
meant that there were three tables in the semi.
As a result, Romain Jacques got a second chance
as the highest second-place finisher, joining Jeff
Bowers, Greg Berry and defending champion
Patrick Maloney.
Initial bond purchases were Jeff: Austria 4,
Great Britain 1, France 2, Germany 3; Patrick:
Russia 3, France 1, Italy 1, Great Britain 2, Austria 2, Germany 2; Greg: Great Britain 3, Italy 3,
France 3, Austria 1; and Romain: Britain 4, Italy
4, Russia 2. The first moves for each nation were
Austria: Investor, Italy: Investor, France: Investor, Great Britain: Factory, Germany: Factory,
Russia, Investor. The game continued a trend
from the preliminary rounds where good players tend to start a nation’s rondel marker nearer
to the tax space, trying to expand quickly and
take a smaller bonus before an investor round
could result in losing control of the nation.
The briskly-played game saw Germany reach
the 25-space of the scoring track, and Patrick successfully defending his championship. Scores
were Patrick 178, Jeff 159, Greg 143,
and Romain 143. Greg squeaked
into third on the tie-breaker because
he had more shares in Germany
than Romain..
28
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Andy Latto, MA
Rob Winslow, NY
Bruce Reiff, OH
Peter Stein, OH
O Eric Landes, OR
O Mike Kaltman, PA
Stan Buck, MD
Nick Benedict, CA
Jordan Halberstadt, IN
Rod Coffey, MD
O Justin Thompson, VA
O Scott Smith, FL
Peter Stein, OH
Justin Thompson, VA
131  2007-2008
Top Laurelists
Andy Latto, MA
W
Andy Latto, MA
Chris Johnson, CA
Rob Winslow, NY
Peter Stein, OH
Bruce Reiff, OH
Jamie Tang, MD
Eric Landes, OR
Roger Taylor, VA
Daniel Eppolio, CA
Michael Kaltman, PA
30
20
18
17
12
12
6
6
4
3
Ingenious (ING)
hile attendance in 2007 was good enough
for Century status; this year it was over
60% better. However, players did not do a better job of bringing copies of the game; we had
to scramble to get enough. BRING A COPY OF
THE GAME!
Only three players won two games in the preliminary round: GM Pete Stein, Ken Samuel, and
Andy Latto. Sixteen players advanced into the
semi-final, where Latto missed a perfect game
(18’s in all six colors) by only two. When Bruce
Reiff, Rob Winslow, and Stein also advanced,
it was sure to be an interesting Final. Latto had
already won three events that week, Bruce is the
Plaque Man, Stein was a former laurelist, and
Rob is no slouch at the game. It was a close game,
though about two-thirds of the way through Stein
fell behind when he had trouble drawing Green
tiles. The others stayed close and wound up with
scores of 11. Andy pulled out the win with a second score of 14. Rob had 13, and Bruce 12.
Several players achieved perfect scores during the tourney, including Ken Samuel (in both
of his wins), Eric Landes, Ivan Lawson, Nathan
Wright and Mario Veillette. This year three players (Arthur Field, Kathy Stroh and Sue Ellsworth) were able to win games
without being a Genius (no scores
of 18). The average winning score
was a little over 13.5, up by almost
one point from last year.
23  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Stan Buck, CA
A
Justin Thompson, VA 144
Nick Benedict, CA
66
Jordan Halberstadt, TN60
Will Wible, VA
60
Stanley Buck, MD
54
Kevin Brownell, ME 54
Dale Long, NJ
48
Bill Powers, VA
39
James Coomes, KY
36
George Sauer, OH
30
Kingmaker (KGM)
ll six of the Laurelists had seen the Final table before and four of the top five Laurelists
were present in this year’s Final. GM Justin
Thompson made it with three preliminary wins.
On the initial deal of the Final, everyone had
a reasonable position. Key events fell quickly. Defending champion Nick Benedict was wiped out
on Turn 3 with no cards remaining on the board.
Justin stepped out of his power base to destroy
2005 champ Jordan Halberstadt and lost two nobles. Jordan’s noble was also killed with the same
card. On the next turn, Rod Coffey marched in
and crushed Justin’s forces, leaving him in fifth
place. Rod and Stan Buck marched around each
other trying to attack the nobles being pulled
away. A few were killed. While this is going on,
Nick rebuilt. He played Neville and sailed to the
continent to get 100 foot solders. This brought
Nick back from the dead and made him a major
force. He struck a deal with Stan to crown him
king. Nick got an heir out of the deal.
Parliament was called and Rod, Nick and Jordan split the spoils. Stanley got nothing and became the target of the three-headed monster. Justin
decided to cause as much havoc as possible and
help Stan. Nick suffered a late defeat, and Rod lost
a few of his men. Justin ambushed
Rod’s Queen late to seal Stan’s sole
king victory. The final scores were
Stan 107, Nick 63, Jordan 41, Rod
09, and Justin -08.
Century Events
29
2008 Results
2008 Results
Lee Rodriguez, VA
Steve Cuccaro, MD
O Ewan McNay, CT
O Andy Latto, MA
O Pete Stein, OH
O Nick Benedict, CA
Josh Lanham, MD
Scott Buckwalter, MD
Haim Hochboim, IS
O Jeff Meyer, MA
O Chester Lanham, MD
O Harry Flawd, PA
Jason Levine, NY
Steve Cuccaro, MD
212  2003-2008
34  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Lee Rodriguez, VA
O
Steve Cuccaro, MD 130
Peter Stein, OH
86
Tom McCorry, VA
46
Lee Rodrigues, VA
42
Llew Bardecki, ON
40
Marc Houde, VA
35
David Buchholz, MI 30
Bruce Glassco, NJ
30
Sean McCulloch, OH 28
Nick Smith, UK
27
Kremlin (KRM)
ld age and treachery failed to overcome youth and skill in 2008, as the
youngest player managed to maneuver
the youngest politician to the top of the Politburo.
There were no “three wave and out” games in
any of the heats, even though eight of the 11 heat
games were won on waves. In addition, no heat
game lasted until Turn 10-1/2; i.e., the other three
heats were won by depleting the politicians. The
clear leader going into the Final was former GM
and defending two-time champion Pete Stein, as
the only player who managed to win two heats.
It appeared he was starting strong with (apparent) control of Nestor, but poor Nestor didn’t
make it through the year. Nor did most of the
older members of the Politburo. When the crypt
dust settled, Wassily Protzky finished the Replacement Phase as Party Chief.
Lee Rodriguez was not shy about adding years
to the young Protzky, reshaping the Politburo to
his liking. He promoted Viktor Wasolin from a
second level position to KGB Head. The combination of a young, healthy Party Chief and KGB head
under Lee’s control was too much for the remaining players. A lucky health roll on Turn 2 wounded Protzky and caused a failed wave, but this only
set up the ascension of Wasolin to Party Chief on
Turn 3, and—despite a flurry of card
play—Lee got two waves in succession, ending the game on Turn 4
with his first Kremlin crown.
Top Laurelists
Josh Lanham, MD
F
Daniel Hoffman, NC 36
Josh Lanham, MD
30
Thomas Browne, PA 30
L. Dan Hoffman MD 30
Lucimara Martins, MD 30
Josh Githens, SC
30
Scoyy Buckwalter, MD 18
Matt Calkins, VA
18
Kathy Kilroy, PA
18
Doug Galullo, FL
18
Liar’s Dice (LID)
estivities started with the traditional, yet
larger than ever, synchronized massed cup
shake and smash to the tables. Of the 212 who
started, 35 made it to the semi-final. GM Jason
Levine advanced, only to lose to Harry Flawd in
a two-man showdown. Eleven-year old Nicole
Reiff also just missed in a two-person showdown, but she earned a sportsmanship nomination for keeping her spirits high while dealing
with her opponent’s nagging.
Other than father and son Chester and Josh
Lanham, finalists were Haim Hochboim, Harry
Flawd, Scott Buckwalter, and Jeff Meyer. Scott
lost the first die, followed by Chester losing two.
The third play was a nuclear strike. Scott called
when Harry bid eleven 1’s. Only six showed.
Never before has someone lost all five dice at
once! Chester was the next out. Although Jeff
was down to his last die, he made three bids in
a row to eliminate 12 enemy dice. He couldn’t
hold on forever, though, and he finished in
fourth. Shortly afterwards, Haim called Josh on
an exactor and was out. At this point, Scott was
down to his last die, while Josh still had three.
Josh started the bidding with one 5. Scott raised
to a pair. Josh then bid three 5’s, while revealing two. Since Scott knew he had a
5 under his cup, he was forced to go
to four 5’s. Josh called, raised his
cup, saw his last roll and smiled the
grin of a champion..
30
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Andy Latto, MA
Cally Perry, MA
Lexi Shea, CT
O David Meyaard, CT
O Sue Ellsworth, IL
O Malinda Kyrkos, NY
 Harald Henning, CT
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Arthur Field, SC
Jeff Mullet, OH
O John Coussis, IL
O Pete Pollard, TN
Ivan Lawson, MD
Bill Crenshaw, VA
185  2000-2008
39  2005-2008
Top Laurelists
Andy Latto, MA
S
Andy Latto, MA
58
Jared Scarborough,IL 48
Sean McCulloch, OH 34
Daniel Karp, MD
32
Jarett Weintraub, NY 30
Chris Entwistle, MD 30
Daniel Broh-Kahn, MD 30
Laurel Stokes, NJ
26
Cally Perry, MA
24
David Meyaard, CT
24
Lost Cities (LST) ome came in groups, some in waves, and
some alone, but they all came to Paradise in
search of something Lost. In the end, they were
all paired and prepared for competition: 53 pairs
in the first heat, 60 in the second, 25 in the third
and 37 in the last. In all, 104 explorers tested
fate in more than one heat. With three expeditions scoring bonuses, Sam Atabaki posted the
highest overall score of 344. Only one game finished with a tie at the end of regulation. Wayne
Schmittberger and Laurel Stokes played a fourth
hand, only to tie again! In their fifth hand, Wayne
prevailed with a lopsided score that belied the
closeness of the contest.
Of the 32 players who advanced to SE rounds,
17 had compiled three or more wins. Cally Perry,
Claire Brosius, and Kathy Kilroy won in all four
heats. It was an All New-England semi-final. David Meyaard lost to Cally Perry, and was overwhelmed in his bid to achieve third place in the
consolation game against Lexi. That left a championship game between two friends.
Apparently exhausted by their efforts to
survive the preceding five SE rounds, Cally
Perry and 2007 runner-up Andy Latto trudged
through a pedestrian Final round. Trailing by 17
points as he entered the last hand,
Latto prevailed with a winning score
of 122 to 99. He became the leading
Lost Cities laurelist and completed
his four-championship week.
Top Laurelists
Harald Henning, CT-
D
Bill Crenshaw, VA
140
Harald Henning, CT 107
Arthur Field, SC
76
Ewan McNay, CT
50
Tom Taaffe, VA
46
Kevin Sudy, VA
40
AJ Sudy, VA
36
Bill Edwards, VA
30
Kathy Stroh, DE
30
John Coussis, IL
28
Manifest Destiny (MFD)
ropping one heat shaved 15% off the attendance but had no visible effect on the
outcome, as the usual suspects dominated.
Four laurelists returned and all added to their
former totals.
Aside from Louisiana, which was shut
out, winning positions were evenly distributed, with Mexico and Pennsylvania taking
four wins, and Quebec and Virginia three. Bill
Crenshaw (Mexico), Arthur Field (Virginia),
Jeff Mullet (Pennsylvania), and John Coussis
(Louisiana) advanced, along with Harald Henning (Quebec), who advanced on the tie-breaker, despite finishing third in his semi. Harald
made the most of the opportunity.
In the last expansion of the Final, Mexico
used most of his tokens taking Northern California from Quebec. However, Quebec had most
cities nailed and emerged largely unscathed. Ultimately, Quebec used Patriotism to cash Prohibition for $100 in Gold (even after losing Northern
California). After buying all progressions (for 30
VPs), gaining six for B/Ts and two more for most
cities, he had ballooned to 38 (five points more
than in any other MFD WBC Final), turning a
nailbiter into a blowout. The remaining scores
showed Mexico with 32 and $55, Pennsylvania
with 30 and $105 ($5 short
of 33), Virginia with 30 and
$55 and Louisiana with 30
and $50.
Century Events
31
2008 Results
2008 Results
Terry Coleman, CA
Harry Flawd, PA
O Keith Hunsinger, OH
O John Coussis, IL
O Chris Bauch, LA
O Tom Browne, PA
Carmen Petruzelli, PA
Steve Shambeda, PA
Ilan Woll, CT
O Jeff Meyer, MA
O Gary Noe, FL
O Sceadeau D’Tela, NC
Terry Coleman, CA
John Pack, CO
41  1992-2008
105  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
Terry Coleman, CA
Bruce Monnin, OH 100
John Coussis, IL
79
Dennis Nicholson, NY 70
Terry Coleman, CA
63
Ken Gutermuth, TX
55
Peter Staab, PA
54
Harry Flawd, PA
45
Derek Landel, NY
45
Bruce Reiff, OH
40
Jeff Martin, CT
39
March Madness (MMS)
G
ranted Legacy status a couple of
years ago, March Madness has seen
increased attendance each year. There
was no shortage of compelling drama in the Final Four. Keith Hunsinger had lost to Bruce Reiff
in the very first Final Four, back in 1992. For twotime champ Terry Coleman, this was a chance to
win his first MMS title in 14 years. Harry had
qualified two teams for the Final Four in the
same tournament, something only one other
player in the history of the event has done.
While Harry has been a fixture in regional finals more than a decade, Hunsinger wanted his
return to the Final Four after more than a decade to
be meaningful. At the half, Keith’s Oklahoma State
team held a two-point lead, but he couldn’t hold
off Harry’s UCLA ‘73 low post offense. Bill Walton
exploded for 18 points in the second half, giving
Harry a 82-76 victory. All Harry had to do was beat
Terry in the semi-final to win the title.
An early end was not to be. Terry’s Arkansas
‘78 team took a 53-27 lead into halftime over the
‘81 Tar Heels. A 96-71 loser, Harry changed into
his UCLA jersey for a second game. The nightcap
proved a lot closer. It was 30-28 at the half. As play
resumed, Terry scored enough to stay
ahead for most of the second period.
Harry scored well with Walton, but
foul trouble on his other positions
held Harry back and Terry achieved a
hard-fought 68-50 win.
Top Laurelists
Carmen Petruzelli, PA
C
Harald Henning, CT
Tom Stokes, NJ
Gary Noe, FL
Bruce Reiff, OH
Ann Cornett, FL
Jeff Cornett, FL
Carmen Petruzelli, PA
Peter Staab, PA
Doug Galullo, FL
Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
82
55
48
42
40
38
30
30
30
30
Medici (MED)
hamp Carmen Petruzelli had to stage a
dramatic comeback to claim victory. After
the Final’s first buying session, Gary Noe had
51 points. Carmen wasn’t in first- or second- or
even third-place! At the end of the second session, Steve Shambeda had taken the lead with 96
points. Carmen had climbed into second place
to set the stage for his victory. In the final session, Steve overbid on a set that was ideal for
Gary, which left Steve second with 96 points and
dropped Gary to last. Carmen finished at the top
with a score of exactly 100, after gains of 8, 34,
and 28 during the three buying sessions.
Such comebacks weren’t common—50% of
all winners were in the lead at the end of the first
session and 61% were in the lead by the end of
the second session. It’s a good thing for Carmen
that the Final was a five-player game—because
there were ZERO players in four-player games
who overcame a deficit after the second session!
The Final almost was a four-player game.
With 19 winners reporting for the semi, the GM
determined to play four five-player semi-finals
and a four-player Final. However, at the end of
their semi-final, Jeff Meyer and Ilan Woll were
tied with 94 points apiece! The official Medici
rules contain no tie-breaker, and
the GM decided to allow both to
advance, and—unbeknownst to
them—sewed the seeds of Carmen’s comeback.
32
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Scott Gibson, VA
Sam Edelston, CT
Mike Wojke, PA
O Rob Mull, CO
O Gordon Rodgers, PA
O Jon Miller, DC
Ewan McNay, CT
Joe Abrams, CT
Eyal Mozes, NY
Phillip Shea, FL
O Bill Crenshaw, VA
O David Fritsch, VA
Mark Guttag, VA
Richard Irving, CA
62  2004-2008
57  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Scott Gibson, VA
T
Top Laurelists
Joe Harrison, KY
108
Robert Eastman, NV 68
Jonathan Miller, DC 57
Steve Lollis, MD
54
Scott Gibson, VA
30
Harrison Anderson, PA26
Benoit Groulx, QC
20
Scott Sirianna, NY
20
Frank Hastings, MD 15
Bob Heinzmann, FL
15
Memoir ‘44 (M44) here was to be no third straight Final showdown between Joe Harrison and Jonathan
Miller, as both faltered in Round 4. Instead, two
players who had only ever met before online—
Sam Edelston and Scott Gibson—had the ultimate face-off.
In the Final’s first game, Sam played the Axis
and Scott the Allies in Montélimar. It was lopsided
through Turn 5, when the score was 4-1, Allies. By
Turn 10, there had been a dramatic turn-around,
with the Axis gaining three more medals to a single medal by the Allies. On Turn 11, the Allies used
an Infantry Assault in the center, while the Axis
Messerschmitt’s strafing run achieved the winning medal. The final score showed the Axis with
6 medals to the Allies 5. The Axis had destroyed 22
figures to the Allies’ 18.
The second game featured a six-turn onslaught by two Axis Armored units and two Panzer Grenadier Infantry. Scott’s Axis got their first
flag on Turn 2 using The Finest Hour, but Sam’s
Allies responded using a Direct from Headquarters to tie the score. On Turn 4, the Axis picked
a one-figure infantry unit to make the score 3-2.
On Turn 6, the Axis played Probe Center, rolling
nine dice against a full-strength Allied infantry
and hitting it five times to win the game 6-3. The
Axis destroyed 27 figures
while losing 11. With the
match split 1-1, Scott won on
medals, 11-9.
Ewan McNay, CT
I
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Eric Wrobel, VA
Debbie Otto, MO
Eyal Mozes, NY
Joe Abrams, CT
Luke Koleszar, VA
Ed Wrobel, VA
Steve Dickson, CA
Chuck Foster, TX
Kathy Stroh, DE
96
60
56
54
54
52
52
48
42
40
Merchant of Venus (MOV)
n the second heat, an event occurred that
caused retirement of the fictional “Water in the
Gas Tank” and “Wrong Way Corrigan” Awards.
Norm Newton, starting from the Space City in
The Cloud, was trying to go to the fashionable
Western part of the Galaxy by Galactic Base.
Navigation Circles can make this journey perilous, with a roll of 2 or 3 required to avoid getting
stuck. Still, if you roll 1,1,1 as Norm did, it probably doesn’t matter much, few pips are wasted.
Norm tried again, and rolled 1, 1, 1. Back into The
Cloud he went. On his third attempt, again trying
to go to the Westside, he rolled another 1, 1, 1!!!
Back to stuck on the Navigation circle! On his
fourth attempt, Norm made a better roll: 1, 1, 4!
He still could not go where he wanted, and he
was forced twice as far out of his way! It looked
as though he would never leave the cloud, and
just then, Gary Libby, won the game!
In the Final, Ewan McNay—whose margin of
victory in the semi was larger than any other winner, a mere $107—built a solid trade empire featuring ports at four adjacent systems: Trapped Rogue
(1a), Poison Planet (2), Shuttlestop at the Cloud (5)
and Water World (8). A perfect 4 stop loop! Using a
transport, he was able to cruise to a relatively easy
victory. Joe Abrams made a last ditch
effort to hit a telegate cure, but it
was not to be. Final scores were
Ewan $3093, Joe $2711, Eyal Mozes
$2502, and Philip Shea $1535.
Century Events
33
2008 Results
2008 Results
David Brooks, TN
Alex Bell, MD
Jason Levine, NY
O David Pack, CO
O Nick Henning, CT
O Matthew Morgal, MD
Lane Hess, PA
John Emery, SC
Bruce Young, SC
Scott Pfeiffer, SC
Pat Duffy, MD
O Richard Beyma, MD
Mark McLaughlin,CT
Mark Love, MD
46  2003-2008
77  1998-2007
Top Laurelists
David Brooks, TN
Monster’s Ravage America (MRA)
C
Top Laurelists
Marvin Birnbaum, NY 100
Nick Henning, CT
83
Rebecca Hebner, CO 77
Joe Sposito, NJ
63
David Brooks, TN
62
Tom Meier, VA
50
Steve Scott, CA
48
Daniel Val, ES
30
John Koskl, NC
30
Matthew Beach, MD 27
elebrating its 10-year anniversary in 2008,
Monsters Ravage America saw 40% higher attendance. Almost half of the players were new to
the tournament. Bronacle (in Ravage) and Toxicor
(in Menace)—monsters that can choose two mutations and keep the best—were both SHUT OUT in
2007, but they came back with a vengeance in 2008.
Josh Githens set the standard, taking Bronacle to
50, with the highest Ravage score. GM Mark Love
had the highest scoresheet, with 54 points using
the infamy-happy Megaclaw.
By mid-game of the Final, David Pack’s $5 billion attempt for military research succeeded and
he became Guard Commander. The shape of the
game changed dramatically when David Brooks
picked up Cutbacks from military research. Brooks
made a deal with Pack to NOT use Cutbacks to
eliminate the Guard Commander card, as long as
National Guard units were not used against him
for the rest of the game. The Davids’ Pact drew
Bell’s attention to Brooks. When Konk tried to attack Tomonagi, he failed to get any hits, and he
mutated Bomonagi twice, only making him stronger. There was silence for a second, since Brooks
had 25 health, while Bell and Levine each had 6,
and Pack was in Hollywood with zero. (Pack didn’t
manage to get out of Hollywood
to participate in the Challenge.)
Bell extended his hand to shake
Brooks’ hand saying, “THAT was
AWESOME!!!!”
Lane Hess, PA
E
Bruce Young, SC
120
John Emery, SC
120
Lane Hess, PA
96
Ed Rothenheber, MD 96
Scott Moll, VA
80
Melvin Casselberry, PA 75
David Gantt, SC
60
Forrest Speck, MD
60
Scott Fenn, MD
50
Mark Hodgkinson, AU 50
Napoleonic Wars (NW5)
ngland was invaded many, many times in
this year’s tournament. Some invasions,
like the one led by Bruce Young in his semifinal match, didn’t work out so well the first
time. In Bruce’s case, he invaded again, managing to get Napoleon and everyone who came
with him killed a second time. Unlike most
players who have experienced similar disasters, Bruce pulled out the victory on a peace
die roll, edging Henry Russell’s Russia by a
single point.
Tight games like Bruce’s were common.
There were two French automatic victories and
the usual assortment of strange and bizarre occurrences. As Kevin Klemme summed up one
such experience: “any game where Kutuzov
takes Lyon, Marseilles and Toulouse is a FUN
game.” (Any guesses who played the Russians?)
Despite that romp over the Rhone, Kevin came
in second—in a game where Alan “Four dice,
four sixes and Gibraltar is mine” Sudy gained
Austria’s only win.
Of the other 18 games played, the French
won nine, the English and Russians three each
and the Prussians two.
In the Final, Lane Hess won as England, narrowly edging out his allies—at a
table manned by three members
of the Greenville Mafia—to claim
the honors for saving Europe
from Scott Pfeiffer’s Napoleon.
34
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Bryan Eshleman, NC
John Speck, MD
Jim Fleckenstein, VA
O Rob Brode, MD
O Ruth Evinger, PA
O Scott Fenn, MD
Bert Schoose, IL
Alan Arvold, IL
Chuck Leonard, PA
O Bill Thomson, TX
O Bill Scott, VA
O Marty Musella, VA
Jon Lockwood, VA
Bert Schoose, IL
36  1992-2008
23  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Bryan Eshleman, NC
Bill Place, PA
Jim Fleckenstein, VA
Bryan Eshleman, NC
Kelly Czyryca, MD
Stephen Cuyler, NY
Tom Agostino, GE
Robert Paul, AZ
Susan Ellsworth, IL
John Ellsworth, IL
Roy Pettis, VA
38
32
30
30
30
30
30
30
26
24
Naval War (NVW)
U
npredictability carried through from
the preliminaries to the Final. Scott
Fenn took the early Round 1 lead with
38 points, while Jim Fleckenstein’s and Bryan Eshleman’s fleets went to the bottom early mainly
because of their reputations as good players. Rob
Brode stayed close with 30 points, followed by
John Speck 17, Ruth Evinger 10, Fleckenstein 4,
and Eshleman trailing with 2 points. In Round
2, the field teamed up against the leaders. Eshleman had a 35 point round to take the lead with 37
points, followed by Speck with 36, Fleckenstein 35,
Brode 31, Fenn 28, and Evinger with 23.
Even though Eshleman’s, Speck’s and Brode’s
entire fleets sank during Round 3, Speck was
able to pull to within striking range of victory
at 63 points, followed by Fenn with 54, Fleckenstein at 49, Evinger and Speck tied at 46, and
Eshleman in last at 38.
Round 4 proved to be decisive. The field zeroed
in on Speck and sank his fleet. Then they began
taking out each other, trying to extend the match
to a fifth round. During this free-for-all, they all ignored trailer Eshleman. It proved fatal. He steadily
picked off ships and successfully used a destroyer
squadron to sink an opponent’s fleet, managing a
match-high total of 54 points! This took him from
last place to wood with 92 points,
followed by Speck with 72, Fleckenstein 66, Brode 65, Evinger 61,
and Fenn 52.
Top Laurelists
Bert Schoose, IL
Bill Scott, VA
127
Marty Musella, VA 113
Chuck Leonard, PA
82
Bert Schoose, IL
69
Greg Tanner, AZ
48
Dave Giordano, NJ
47
Alan Arvold, IL
30
Eduardo DeNucci, AR 26
Rich Northey, MA
24
Johnny Hasay, PA
21
PanzerBlitz (PZB)
D
efending champion Bert Schoose got
his position in the Final via winning
all three of his preliminary matches and
beating two-time champ Chuck Leonard in a semifinal match. Alan Arvold got there by playing 11
matches in the preliminaries and winning six. He
beat Bill Thomson in the semis. Bill had accounted
for one of Alan’s losses in the prelims.
The Final used Scenario 45, the same scenario
that Bert played to win his previous title. The opening turn saw the Russians swarm Opustoschenia in
the hopes of trapping the Germans. The Germans
killed only four Russian units on the opening shots
of Turn 2 but the halftrack (not loaded) did escape
the city. The Russians fired back and killed all of
the remaining units in the city.
Going into the last turn, both players thought
that Bert needed to kill four German units to reach
17 kills for the decisive victory. His direct fire attacks at 4-1 (+1) avoided the dreaded “6”, and
Bert got his four kills, but the players realized afterwards that only 16 German units were dead.
Since he had already set up an additional attack as
insurance against failing in the first battle, he decided to take it. The final attack came down to a
roll of 1-3 and Bert would win his second consecutive title and a roll of 4-6 would see Alan secure his
first championship. When the
die rolled out of the tower, it
settled on 2. One couldn’t ask
for a more classic ending.
Century Events
35
2008 Results
2008 Results
John Popiden, CA
Bill Borys, QC
Robert Frisby, VA
O Jeff Hacker, PA
O Michael Pustilnik, NY
O NA
Riku Riekkinen, FN
Dave Dockter, MN
Pete Reese, VA
Rob Hassard, NJ
Tom Gregorio, PA
Steve Parrish, VA
Peter Reese, VA
Robert Frisby, VA
42  1999-2008
11  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
John Popiden, CA
Robert Frisby, VA
John Popiden, CA
James Tracy, OH
Michael Pustilnik, NY
Bill Borys, QC
Keith Schoose, CA
Jeff Hacker, PA
Larry Meyers, IL
Kevin Hacker, PA
Phil Rennert, MD
219
168
106
86
48
42
37
28
28
18
Panzergruppe Guderian (PGG)
T
hree-time winner and 2006 PBEM
champ John Popiden won his semifinal match when his Soviets defeated
four-time champ Robert Frisby’s Germans. They
had met in previous tournaments, with Popiden
prevailing in the 2004 quarter-final and the 2006
semi, but Frisby prevailing in the 2005 Final. Former laurelists Bill Borys and Jeff Hacker squared
off in the other semi-final match, with Borys’ Soviets coming out on top.
The Final was reminiscent of the 2004 and
2006 championships, when Popiden faced Borys.
Popiden was victorious on all three occasions.
The tide turned against Borys’ Soviets on Turn
4 when the Germans assaulted the Soviet main
line of defense a few hexes west and northwest
of Smolensk. The German GD panzer grenadier
regiment overran two untried Soviet rifle divisions in a forest hex northwest of Smolensk. Each
division was a 0-0-6, which enabled several German divisions to penetrate the Soviet line. Soviet
counterattacks failed to stop the German panzer
spearheads from moving south to threaten Smolensk from the east. Having bid 49 VPs for the
Germans, and with the Soviets yielding 15 VPs by
taking 10 SW reinforcements, Popiden
did not need to take any VP hexes other
than Smolensk to win. With mounting
Soviet losses and Smolensk sure to fall
within a few turns, the Soviets conceded on Turn 7.
Top Laurelists
Riku Riekkinen, FN
Tom Drueding, MA 350
Peter Reese, VA
240
David Dockter, MN 226
Chris Byrd, CT
202
Rob Hassard, NJ
181
Marvin Birnbaum, NY174
Stefan Mecay, TX
172
Nick Anner, NY
126
Jim Falling, MI
117
Stephan Valkyser, GE. 96
Paths of Glory (POG)
O
nly one of the four semi-finalists
was not a previous WBC champ.
Riku Riekkinen was new to WBC, but
he had won repeatedly in other forums and traveled all the way from Finland to participate. In
the Final, David Dockter bid 3 for the AP. Riku
opened with Guns of August. He fell back to defend the Rhein over the next two turns and was
able to trench. The Serbs were taken out by Turn
2. Italy came in by Turn 4, was stabilized by both
sides, and remained quiet. David loaded up in the
Near East, and launched an attack with the British
and Russians that captured Baghdad, while using
Pleve combat card to assist.
A Russian Caucasus army pushed forward,
while Riku started attacking the Russians on the
main map. The AP was quiet in the west, as all effort was in the Near East. The CP took Riga with
the von Hutier combat card. The Tsar took command, but when the Tsar fell, the revolution was
not far off. Riku brought in both Turkish armies
and threatened the Caucasus supplies. The CP
retook Baghdad and captured Ahwaz and Basra.
Allenby came in but was blocked by strong CP
forces in Gaza and Beersheba,. The end game saw
the AP attack in the west, but the Russians were
already too weakened. All but Russian Odessa VP
space on the main map were CP controlled. Since the treaty of Brest Litovsk would soon be played, David
conceded the game to Riku.
36
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Devin Flawd, PA
Harry Flawd, PA
Jacob Hebner, CO
O Jordan Flawd, PA
O Barry Shoults, MI
O Mark Love, MD
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Cary Morris, NC
Alex Bove, PA
O Raphael Lehrer, MD
O Greg Thatcher, CA
O Matt Peterson, MN
Harry Flawd, PA
Raphael Lehrer, MD
40  1993-2008
Top Laurelists
Devin Flawd, PA
Devin Flawd, PA
Harry Flawd, PA
Bill O’Neal, NY
Mike Destro, NJ
Derek Landel, NJ
Barry Shoults, MI
John Ellmann, MD
Jordan Flawd, PA
Dave Buchbinder, PA
Ray Stakenas II, MI
197
153
48
36
28
24
22
21
18
18
38  2007-2008
Top Laurelists
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Raphael Lehrer, PA
Bill Crenshaw, VA
Greg Thatcher, FL
Alex Bove, PA
Cary Morris, NC
Marvin Birnbaum, NY
Chris Moffa, NJ
Matt Peterson, MN
Dan Eppolito, CA
-
39
30
24
21
18
12
6
3
3
Paydirt (PDT)
Pillars of the Earth (POE)
n the AFC title game, three-time defending
champ Devin Flawd used four turnovers to
overcome a 13-point spread to defeat unknown
Jacob Hebner 37-20. The NFC Championship
was between father and six-time winner Harry
and his up-and-coming laurelist son Jordan.
Unfortunately for Jordan, Donovan McNabb
chose a very poor time to have a horrible game
(five interceptions). Harry’s Cowboys coasted,
44-24.
That set up a Super Bowl that was yet another family affair. This time, though, it was a
heartbreaker for Harry. The Colts led 14-0 midway through the second quarter, but then Dallas
came to life with two TD’s and tied the game at
the half. The Cowboys took a 21-14 lead to start
the third period on a Romo-Owens TD, but the
Colts responded with an 82-yard punt return following a missed Colts FG, and once again the
score was tied.
Dallas scored to go up 28-21 with 11:20 left
to play. Indy tied it again at 28 with 6:10 left,
setting up a nail-biting ending. Dallas’ drive
stalled at the Indy 47. Devin returned the punt
for another TD! A 35-28 Colt lead with 2:00 left
was too much to overcome, and although Dallas
got to the Colt 45 on a Pass Interference call, the
game ended with Tony Romo’s
fifth pick of the game. Another
LOOONNGGGG year is a comin’
at the Flawd house.
eith Levy ended defending champ
Raphael Lehrer’s unbeaten record
in a preliminary game and was the only
two-heat winner. Greg Thatcher had both the
highest score (62) and highest margin of victory
(an astonishing 19 points) in the heats.
All four of the 2007 finalists made the semi,
but only two made it to the Final. Alex got off to a
fast start, buying the money-making Woodworker
and getting Prior Philip on Turn 1. The other finalists played defense and got to the Priory early and
often to blunt Alex’s advantage. Raphael played
his typically solid game throughout, hoarding
money and making frequent use of the Wool Mill.
Unfortunately for him, his master builders hid
at the bottom of the bag time after time, and he
was unable to capitalize on his wealth advantage,
despite frequently controlling turn order. Bill had
money early but nearly went broke after boldly
acquiring three new craftsmen on Turn 3 and an
additional sculptor on Turn 5. Cary played well
with a good mix of craftsmen and resources and
appeared poised to edge into the lead. On the final
turn, Bill got the break he needed when his master
craftsman enabled him to buy the super-Sculptor.
His multiple stone holdings enabled him to eke
out a one-point victory over Cary. Alex’s strategic
blocking of the metal spots so that
Raphael couldn’t get the metal he
needed gave him a one-point edge
over Raphael.
I
K
Century Events
37
2008 Results
2008 Results
Tom Pavy, OH
Henry Pfeiffer, SC
Chris Gnech, PA
O Forrest Speck, MD
O John Ellsworth, IL
O Matt Evinger, PA
Eric Brosius, MA
Bill Murdock, NY
Jim Castonguay, PA
Barb Flaxington, MA
Ian Miller, MA
Phil Shea, FL
Jim Castonguay, PA
Larry Lingle, PA
123  2004-2008
58  2005-2008
Top Laurelists
Tom Pavy, OH
T
Tom Pavy, OH
Paul Weintraub, MD
Chris Striker, PA
John Elliott, MD
Forrest Speck, MD
Henry Pfeiffer, SC
Chris Gnech, PA
Lauren Vessey, VA
Frank Mestre, NY
Bob Jamelli, PA
69
51
36
30
27
18
18
18
12
9
Pirate’s Cove (PRC)
om Pavy knows his way around a cutlass,
having been in the Final every year of the
event. 2008 was his year. He cut it close, though,
by waiting until the third heat to win a game.
Although they didn’t make it to the Final, mother and daughter Katherine and Verity Hitchings
demonstrated fine blood-thirsty ideals. Together they sank 16 fellow pirates in just two games
and 53 ships total.
Advancing to the semi were 15 pirates
flushed by the heat of recent victory and five
knaves looking for a second chance. (We had to
go ten deep on the alternate list to fill the crew.)
2007 runner-up Forrest Speck was the last man
aboard. Chris Gnech, Chris Striker, Henry Pfeiffer, Forrest and Tom made short work of the
pretenders and moved on to the Final. Whoever says, “Cove is all luck” should consult with
Tom and Forrest!
When Chris Striker set sail for another
event, GM Larry Lingle went with a four-player
Final. Henry Pfeiffer sank four pirates in his
quest for a score of 49. Chris Gnech hung in for
42 points, but ol’ salt Pavy blew his way to 49
and his long-sought championship.
Ah, let us not forget poor Forrest. He had
barely faltered last year and had squeezed his
way into the semi and Final this
time only to get off to a rather
slow start. He scored his first point
on turn 8 of a 12-turn game!!!
Top Laurelists
Eric Brosius, MA
A
Jim Castonguay, PA 113
Eric Brosius, MA
100
Bill Murdock, NY
72
Patrick Shea, VA 60
Richard Meyer, MA
48
Rod Spade, PA
39
Lyman Moquin, DC 33
Barb Flaxington, NJ
33
J.J. Jaskiewicz, MD
30
David Houston, MD 30
Power Grid (PGD)
dvancing into the Final were 2004 champ Eric
Brosius, Ian Miller, GM and two-time champ
Jim Castonguay, and alternate qualifiers Bill Murdock and Barbara Flaxington. Jim got the northern
region to himself on the first turn builds and all
the players cried “game over.” Turn 3 Eric bought
the 18 plant for 21 over Jim. Jim paid 22 for the 22
plant. That meant Eric had turn order for the auction market on Turn 5, earning him the 30 plant for
cost. Ian paid 29 for the 24 plant and Bill paid 29 for
the 21 plant, leaving Barbara, Jim, and Eric in the
auction round with the 28 being the top plant and
the 30 sitting as plant number 5. Barbara passed so
as not to have the 30 drop, Jim promptly scooped
up the 28 to go along with his 22, and Eric took the
30. On Turn 6, Jim paid $47 for plant 31. Barbara
built to seven and caused stage two. Ian, Bill, and
Barbara were able to pick up end game plants for
cheap on Turn 7’s auction round.
Ian overbought coal from Turn 2 on “to make
it more expensive for everyone else”, however,
given how much coal he needed compared to
everyone else, he hurt himself BIG. Totals for
the Final were Eric with six plants and a total
of $482, with 15 cities powered; Bill with five
plants, $491 earned, and 15 cities powered; Jim
with six plants, $487 earned, and 14 cities powered; Barb with five plants, $499
earned, and 14 cities powered; and
Ian with six plants, $470 earned,
and 13 cities powered.
38
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Alex Bove, PA
Winton LeMoine, AZ
Aran Warszawski, IS
O Chris Senhouse, MA
O Eric Freeman, PA
O David Platnick, VA
Nick Page, ON
Matt Peterson, MN
John Weber, MD
Chris Moffa, NJ
Sceadeau D’Tela, NC
O Luke Koleszar, VA
Eric Brosius, MA
John Weber, MD
67  2001-2008
164  2002-2008
Top Laurelists
Alex Bove, PA
T
Eric Brosius, MA
Rod Spade, PA
L. Dan Hoffman, MD
Bryan Reynolds, MD
John Kerr, VA
Arthur Field, SC
Doug Kaufman, MD
Eugene Lin, WA
Alex Bove, PA
Ian MacInnes, NY
Top Laurelists
94
70
52
50
50
50
49
44
42
40
Princes of Florence (POF)
here were many close games in the preliminaries. The “bad luck” award went to Winton
LeMoine. In his first heat, he finished second behind Brian Kowal when they both scored 53 Prestige Points but Kowal had more cash. In Winton’s
second heat the scores were 52-52-52-51-49. Winton, Jason Levine and Cally Perry each had 52 PP,
but Winton fell behind in florins and took third.
Winton’s luck finally changed in the semi, when he
again tying for first in Prestige Points, but had 700
florins left to defeat David Platnick.
Three others who were in the Final for the first
time joined Winton, as did last year’s champ, Eric
Freeman. Alex bought the first Jester for 1200 florins, and Winton earned the Best Work bonus with
a 10 WV Bell Maker in Round 1. In Round 2, Aran
realized he had built a Laboratory in Round 1 rather than the Library he needed. He built the Library
in Round 2 and contemplated how to recover from
this error. Just as last year, Eric earned several Best
Work bonuses. It was an extremely close game going into the final round. Alex bought a Prestige
card for 200. Eric won another Best Work, and it
was all down to the Prestige cards. Chris and Winton scored 14 PP, and Alex managed to pick up 7 as
a result of his late buy, which gave him just enough
points to beat Winton by one. Winton
ended with an unusually large bank of
900 florins knowing that if he had taken just 200 florins less and one Prestige
Point more, he could have won.
Nick Page, ON
A
Barb Flaxington, NJ 138
David Platnick, NY 126
Arthur Field, SC
96
Christian Moffa, NJ
95
John Weber, MD
69
Bill Murdock, VA
63
Nick Page, ON
60
Nicholas Anner, NY 60
Raphael Lehrer, MD 54
Malinda Kyrkos, NY 54
Puerto Rico (PRO)
t the Final table were two familiar faces,
2006 champ Chris Moffa and GM John
Weber, and two first-timers, Nick Page—the
only undefeated player—and Matt Peterson—
attending his first WBC. In some spirited bidding, Nick took the #1 corn seat for 2 VPs,
Chris the #4 seat for 1.5, John the #1 seat for 1/2
VP. Matt had won in the semi with the #2 indigo position, and he was happy to take on the
challenge again. John departed from the usual
Settler-Quarry opening and went Builder-Construction Hut. Nick took full advantage and
built a strong shipping position, amassing four
corn plantations supplemented by purchase of
the game’s only Harbor. A couple of well-timed
Captain plays put Nick into the lead.
Late in the game, John’s choice to ship instead of trading, crafting for income with his
Factory or building for more points on his
Guild Hall proved key. He blocked Nick, who
had four corn in the warehouse, from the only
open boat, and froze himself out of the game’s
last two building phases. Matt made up lost
ground and, a turn later, triggered game end by
filling his building display. In the end, it was
a narrow win for Nick, who staved off Matt’s
strong finish. Raw scores were Nick 37, Matt 34,
John 31, Chris (who did not get
a large building) 29. Adjusting
for bids, Nick pulled out the win
with only one point to spare.
Century Events
39
2008 Results
2008 Results
Alex Bove, PA
Winton LeMoine, AZ
Eric Freeman, PA
Greg Thatcher, CA
O Brad Sherwood, PA
O Jean-Francois Gagne, QC
Eve Secunda, MD
Chuck Foster, ID
Ron Secunda, MD
Gary Chamblee, GA
Chester Lanham, MD
O Donna Balkan, ON
Ron Secunda, MD
Steve Scott, CA
49  1991-2008
145  2000-2008
Top Laurelists
Top Laurelists
Alex Bove, PA
O
Tom Dunning, NY
166
Alex Bove, PA
124
Joe Jaskiewicz, MD
70
Winton LeMoine, CA 64
Steve Scott, CA
43
Bobbi Warczak, CA
40
Chris Terrell, VA
40
David Rohde, MI
40
Michelle Hymowitz, MD 38
John Reiners, NY
30
Ra (Ra!)
nly one previous player, Tom Dunning,
had become a two-time champion of Ra in
its nine-year history at WBC. In 2008, Alex Bove
joined him.
The experiment of moving the Tuesday
heat to Saturday failed as only five newbies appeared to join 27 returnees. The surprise heat
was Thursday at 3 PM with 83 participants.
Attendance for the four heats were 12-17-12-7
games respectively. Ten double winners left 38
winners in the hunt to advance. Only 22 of the
38 appeared for the semi-final. A welcome minor miracle occurred when only three alternates
appeared to make a perfect 25 for the semi. The
25th semi-finalist, whose highest finish in any
heat was third place, was ranked 94th! (Anyone
who had at least a second or third with a winning margin of four points or more would have
made the semi.)
The semi-finalists included three past champions. Alex Bove was the only one to reach the
Final. Eric Freeman advanced by showing the
highest sun in a dead heat with Jean-Francois
Gagne who earned 6th place laurels by virtue of
his near-miss. Brad Sherwood won his game by
one point over Lyman Moquin. Greg Thatcher
and Winton Lemoine won by eight
and 19 points respectively. The Final was a well played game with
Alex Bove prevailing by five points
over Winton and six over Eric.
Eve Secunda, MD
H
Steve Okonski, MD 120
Ron Secunda, MD
101
Doug Galullo, FL
80
Brian Conlon, OK
74
Mark McCandless, CA 72
Chuck Foster, TX
60
Ed Wrobel, VA
60
Stan Buck, MD
60
Heikki Thoen, QC
60
Inger Henning, CT
56
Rail Baron (RBN)
istory repeated itself this year. In 2006, a
husband and wife (Inger and Harald Henning) were both seated at the Final. Inger won.
This year, it was husband and wife Ron and Eve
Secunda. Eve won. The two had made it into the
semi-final as alternates, replacing two no-show
players. 1991 champ Chuck Foster managed to
win all three of his first round games and his
semi-final, assistant GM Chester Lanham won
two first round heats and his semi-final, and
Donna Balkan won two first round heats.
Several players qualified for the Casey Jones
award: Mike Brophy had the most hostile destinations, with 12 out of 21 in Heat 3. Mark Kennel
had the highest rate of hostile destinations, with
10 hostile out of 15 destinations in his semi-final
game. On the other end of the spectrum, 1998
champ Eyal Mozes managed zero hostile out of
21 destinations in Heat 2.
The top northeastern railroad was the PA, held
by 12 winners out of 29. Of the next “big four,” winners held the ATSF most of the time 15, followed
by the SP seven, the UP four, and the CRIP four.
The railroad getting the least respect was the IC:
It was held by only two winners, followed by the
T&P, which was held by only three winners. One
last surprise: In the southeast, the SAL was held
by eight winners, but the
L&N was held by 12! The
ACL was held by eight,
and the SOU seven.
40
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Brandon Bernard, PA
Alan Hayes, IL
Keith Galbraith, PA
O Rob Larkins, PA
O Andrew Wilson, NJ
O Bram Walzl, VA
Brad Johnson, IL
James Kendrick, UK
Brad Davis, VA
Ralph Gleaton, SC
O Reikko Brooks, TN
O Craig Trader, VA
Alan Hayes, IL
Marc Houde, VA
36  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
Brandon Bernard, PA
N
Rob Lightburn, VA
Steve Dickson, CA Phil Rennert, MD
Alan Hayes, IL
Brandon Bernard, PA
Keith Galbraith, PA
Gary Schaefers, PA
Eric Wrobel, VA
Craig Melton, VA
James D. Long, PA
68  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
108
50
40
39
34
30
30
30
30
26
Risk (RSK)
o one won twice in the preliminaries. The six
finalists, in order of seeding, were Keith Galbraith (a 2007 finalist), Rob Larkins, Kevin BrohKahn, Bram Walzl, Andrew Wilson, and Brandon
Bernard. When Broh-Kahn was a “no-show”, GM
Alan Hayes rounded out the field for the Final.
During Round 11 of the Final, Rob brought
his garrisons in Greenland, Alaska and Brazil to
20 each and passed for the fourth straight turn.
When Keith turned in the tenth card set, Brandon
urged him to attack Rob, while Rob lobbied for the
reverse. Keith split his forces between Kamchatka
and Iceland and conquered most of North America. Brandon turned in the 11th card set and swept
up to Central America, capturing Rob’s four cards.
That allowed Brandon to turn in the 12th card set
and attack the Middle East, India, and Siam. Brandon eliminated about 70 of Alan’s armies, but he
couldn’t finish the job, so he ended his turn.
Alan decided the game had gone on long
enough, turned in the 13th card set and turned on
Keith, attacking China and continuing throughout
Asia and Europe and into North America. After
wearing the corners off their dice, it came down to
one of Alan’s pieces versus one of Keith’s in Western US. Alan won the battle, and captured Keith’s
three cards. Alas, he didn’t have a set
for immediate play, and Brandon did.
On Round 12. Alan settled for second
place and conceded the game and
championship to Brandon.
Brad Johnson, IL
B
Brad Johnson, IL
192
Scott Buckwalter, MD 40
Jeff Cornett, FL
40
Jeff Ribeiro, NH
40
Dan Lawall, VA
39
Tamara McGraw, VA 30
Bill Navolis, MD
29
Rich Shipley, MD
28
Jason Levine, NY
26
James Kendrick, UK 24
Robo Rally (RRY)
rad Johnson acquired his fifth championship plaque in the event despite a Final that
offered a plethora of scrap-making, with 18 of
24 robots destroyed over the 25 turns. There
were eight options in this game, more than in
previous years, likely as a result of the modified rule system used this year. The board setup
had one of the boards from the new edition. On
these boards, the double wrenches have been
replaced by a crossed wrench and hammer. Instead of choosing between repairing two points
and collecting an option as with the double
wrench, a player who stops on the wrench/
hammer repairs one point AND gets an option.
Unfortunately for the rest of the table, Brad
managed to pull three options, one of which
was the mechanical arm, which can be a huge
advantage to a skilled player (and nobody can
deny that Brad is a skilled player).
The setup included four crossings of the cannery. Brad finished well ahead of everyone else—
on Turn 20. Craig Trader and Reiko Brooks lost
their last robots on Turns 23 and 24 respectively.
On Turn 25, James Kendrick needed two turns
(seven cards) with an optimal hand to make it to
the last flag, Ralph Gleaton was physically closer,
but with three locked registers he needed to shut down before he could get the
cards he’d need to finish. Brad Davis
scored a moral victory by reaching the
second to last flag on the last turn.
Century Events
41
2008 Results
2008 Results
Rob Beyma, MD
Jim Eliason, IA
Art Lupinacci, ON
O Richard Beyma, MD
O Lembit Tohver, ON
O Doug James, NC
Doug James, NC
Gary Dickson, CA
George Karahalios,IL
Bert Schoose, IL
O Tom Gregorio, PA
O Alex Gregorio, PA
Rob Beyma, MD
Tom Gregorio, PA
19  2006-2008
27  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Rob Beyma, MD
F
Rob Beyma, MD
Art Lupinacci, ON
Jim Miller, VA
Jim Eliason, IA
Richard Beyma, MD
Craig Champagne, NJ
Lembit Tohver, ON
Jim Tracy, OH
Doug Richards, ON
Doug James, NC
90
48
21
18
18
12
9
6
6
3
Russia Besieged (RBS)
or the third consecutive year—the tournament’s entire existence at WBC—Rob Beyma
came out on top. In the Final, Jim Eliason opened
the bidding at 18. Rob, who was tired of playing
the Germans, wisely kept his mouth shut. The Germans got off to a good start, killing or trapping 18
units. A successful Blitzkrieg attack in the center
put a lot of pressure on the Russian defense. The
Russians failed to block the Lvov gap and the Germans drove forward in Jul/Aug, eliminating large
numbers of Russian units. By the beginning of Sep/
Oct, the game hung in the balance. Jim rolled the
first of two big weather rolls and got Clear/Clear.
Rob was in for a rough turn. His Russians dodged
a bullet when a German invasion to undouble
the Luga was aborted. The Germans set up for an
undoubled 2nd Impulse attack on the Luga and
swept into Veliki-Luki, Smolensk, and Bryansk.
In the south, the Germans eliminated the Odessa
pocket and captured Kiev with Stuka support. At
this point, Rob took a strategic gamble with an already weak Russian army. The Russians advanced
west of Dnepropetrovsk and in the center towards
Veliki-Luki and Smolensk. The next turn, the Russians lucked out when winter arrived in November. They unhinged the Luga in November and,
in December, hit the German defenders in front of
Veliki-Luki and Smolensk. Facing
heavy losses and a rapidly deteriorating position, Jim conceded at the
end of Turn 4.
Top Laurelists
Doug James, NC
D
Tom Gregorio, PA
Doug James, NC
Gary Dickson, CA
Rob Beyma, MD
Bert Schoose, IL
George Karahalios, IL
Phil Evans, VA
Pat Flory, CT
Ed O’Connor, NJ
Art Lupinacci, ON
290
290
237
76
75
74
63
61
40
40
Russian Campaign (TRC)
oug James was back this year and took home
his fifth crown. Getting to that win, though,
involved being defeated by Bruno Sinigaglio.
Bruno used his patented powerhouse move of
capturing Moscow in 1941. Onlookers roared
when Bruno’s Germans rolled an Exchange result
at 1-1 to capture the Russian capital. The look on
Doug’s face was priceless but, of course, ultimately getting the wood would cure that frown.
In the Final, Gary bid 16 to play the Germans. Doug’s Red Army setup aimed to prevent
the Odessa Overrun. Nevertheless, the opening
German assault killed every defender on first impulse. On second impulse, a few Russian units
survived in the BMD and WMD. These survivors
became the foundation of the Russian northern
defense. The weather was light mud in September/October and Gary used it to good effect, capturing Sevastopol, Kiev, and Dnepropetrovsk.
On the last turn, the Germans needed to capture
objectives worth SIX VPs, normally insurmountable. Nevertheless, Gary got Minsk and Kharkov,
and contested Stalino and threatened Leningrad!
Doug ably responded to all of these threats
through judicious tactics and some nifty die-rolling. Kharkov remained Russian occupied (11%
chance) and the armored corps that
previously captured Minsk managed
to capture Brest. Stalino was efficiently saved via a frontal 4-1 assault
on the Germans threatening the city!
42
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Norman Herrick, NE
Cary Morris, NC
Arthur Field, SC
Rob Flowers, MD
O Robert Cranshaw, RI
O Kevin Brown, GA
Matt Tolman, UT
Tom Dunning, NY
Harald Henning, CT
Mikkel Christensen, DK
Sue Lanham, MD
Nick Henning, CT
Steve Quade, MD
Kathy Stroh, PA
106  2005-2008
113  1999-2008
Top Laurelists
Norman Herrick, NE
T
Anne Norton, NJ
Arthur Field, SC
Chris Robbins, UT
Tom DeMarco, NJ
Norman Herrick, NE
Tom Browne, PA
Peter Staab, PA
Tom McCorry, VA
Cary Morris, NC
Joe Harrison, KY
60
56
52
51
40
38
38
30
24
24
Saint Petersburg (SPB)
he Final board found Rob Flowers, 2005 champ
Arthur Field, Norman Herrick, and Cary Morris in a neck-and-neck race to the last round. Power cards Mistress of Ceremonies, Judge, and Observatory dared not show their heads until near the
end, making things exciting. Arthur took advantage of an early Gold Smelter upgrade, followed
by a Lumber Mill upgrade for Rob to allow easier
money management. Rob also took an early lead in
number of workers for a better edge going into the
building and noble-buying phases.
Two-thirds of the way through, Arthur led
with four nobles, followed by Rob and Cary
with three, and Norman with but one. Seeing
the pressure of a looming game end, the purchase
of nobles was fast and furious. Rob and Norm increased their nobles to five each, Cary to seven—all
unique, and Arthur to nine—with seven unique.
The final scores were 84 for Norman, 74 for Cary,
and a tie of 73 for Arthur and Rob. Arthur edged
Rob on the tie breaker.
In his inaugural WBC outing, GM Steve Quade
performed well. In one heat, he managed to get
52 players checked-in and seated in under seven
minutes. There were door prizes at each heat and
Arthur Field generously supplied actual gifts from
Saint Petersburg to the finalists. Assistance from Rodney Bacigalupo,
Arthur Field, and last year’s GM, Dan
Mathias, was greatly appreciated and
helped to smooth the organization.
Top Laurelists
Matt Tolman, UT
F
Tom Dunning, NY
Roy Gibson, MD
Matt Tolman, UT
Tom Stokes, NJ
Rob Effinger, ON
Aram Warszawski, IS.
Charlie Faella, RI
David Buchholz, MI
Craig O’Brien, VA
David Platnick, VA
81
66
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
Settlers of Catan (SET)
inalists and their semi-final game scores were
Tom Dunning 10-9-9-7, Harald Henning 10-76-6,Matt Tolman 11-8-7-6, and Mikkel Christensen
10-9-9-9. Only Tom Dunning had previously
earned laurels in the event.
In the Final, Mikkel set up first, placing his
settlement on Grain, Brick and Wool; Matt chose
the Lumber and Ore intersection on the Ore port;
Harald chose Lumber and double Grain; Tom also
chose Lumber and double Grain; he then chose
Brick, Lumber and Ore for his City. Harald placed
his City on Brick and double Wool, Matt placed his
on Grain and Wool, and Mikkel chose Wool and
double Lumber. On Turn 5, the scores were all tied
at 4. On the next turn, Mikkel claimed the Longest
Road to take the lead. On Turn 8, Matt claimed the
Largest Army and Harald took the Longest Road
away from Mikkel. That left Harald in the lead
with 7, Matt with 6, Hom 5, and Mikkel back at 4.
By Turn 14, Tom had taken the lead, with 9
points. Harald and Matt were on his heels with 8
each. Mikkel was up to 5. On Turn 15, the Development Cards ran out. Mikkel had gotten only five of
them, but three were Victory Point cards. Matt had
drawn 13 before he found his only VP card. Harald
had four (one was a VP card) and Tom held the
other two. On the last turn of the
game, Matt built two roads and a
settlement to put him over the top.
Final scores were Matt 10 and Mikkel, Harald, and Tom tied for 9.
Century Events
43
2008 Results
2008 Results
Ken Gutermuth, NC
Kaarin Engelmann, VA
Sam Edelston, CT
Derek Landel, NJ
O Brooks Beyma, MD
O Sam Brosius, MA
Gerald Lientz, VA
John Shaheen, MA
B. Passacantando, CT
Tim Mossman, MD
O Robert Kircher, RI
O Kevin Keller, MD
Bruce Reiff, OH
Doug Schultz, MD
171  1993-2008
Top Laurelists
Ken Gutermuth, NC
A
Kaarin Engelmann, VA
Derek Landel, NJ
Ted Simmons, NJ
Greg Berry, VA Ken Gutermuth, NC
Jeff Cornett, FL Doug Galullo, FL
Devin Flawd, PA
Mark Guttag, VA
Richard Curtain, NY
66
41
40
39
30
30
30
30
30
30
Slapshot (SLS)
lthough 2001 champ Kaarin Engelmann
garnered additional laurels and extended
her lead in WBC’s hockey hall of fame, it was
Ken Gutermuth who squeaked out a victory and
claimed the Slapshot championship. The two WBC
honchos traded players a combined 13 times and
only drafted twice. For comparison, Derek Landel
and Brooks Beyma (4th and 5th) drafted a combined 14 times and only traded three times.
It wasn’t a piece of cake for any of the finalists to advance. In the first semi-final game,
Brooks and Sam Brosius advanced over David
Meyaard, Jordan Shea, John Ellesworth, Jacob
Hebner and Joe Yaure. In the second, Derek and
Kaarin advanced over Tom Gregorio, the ‘Voice
of Slapshot’ Keith Hunsinger, the sultan of swat
Andy Latto, and Geoffrey Entwistle. In the third,
Ken and Sam Edelston advanced over Louise
Strickland, Craig Yope, Bert Calentime, two-time
champ Leonard Omolecki Jr (who says there
isn’t strategy in this game?) and Tom Paruda.
There were plenty of stories from the preliminaries. In one game, Mike Gentile played 25
straight games and only won one, but he STILL
made the playoffs. Also at that table, Catherine
and Nathan Paull jointly won the traveling Hansen Brothers trophy for their great
outfits and true hockey spirit. Referee
Mark Yoshikawa (in costume) escorted several coaches to the penalty box,
including the GM’s daughter Nicole.
24  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Gerald Lientz, VA
S
Scott Cornett, FL
162
Kevin Keller, MD
97
Terry Schulz, PA
80
Gerald Lientz, VA
73
Jimmy Fleckenstein, VA 70
John Welage, OH
56
Dennis Nicholson, NY 56
Lance Ribeiro, NH
52
Doug Schulz, MD
46
Trevor Bender, CA
32
Speed Circuit (SCT)
ix different drivers won the qualifying races
on new tracks—Catalunya, Istanbul, and Monaco. Three more qualified for the Final with a
second place finish in one of the three heats, and
the last three finalists qualified with a third place
finish. Defending champion Terry Schulz, came
up a tie-breaker short, ending his title defense.
Don Tatum and two-time champ Kevin
Keller began the race on the front row after bidding for the pole. Kevin failed to push his start
speed and stalled on the pole. Don sped out to
the lead and spent a good amount of wear in
the first lap creating a gap between 1993 champ
Chris Hancock and 2003 champ Doug Schulz in
the pursuit group. After one lap, Don continued
to lead; however, while crossing the line completing lap 1, Don broke his acceleration down
to 20 mph, putting him out of the race.
Afterwards, Doug and Jim Fleckenstein
fought for the lead. Doug went for the win in
the final corner and crashed. Jim and Bruno
Passacantando pulled up right before the final
corner. Jim took his chance to roll for the win
after Bruno went a safer speed through the corner. Jim crashed out and Bruno, forced to avoid
Jim’s crash, spun. 1997 winner Robert Kircher
followed Bruno’s bad example. Gerald Lientz
managed to avoid the bad
luck of the leaders, made that
last corner, and secured his
second championship.
44
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Nick Page, ON
Rick Sciacca, FL
Greg Zegalia, PA
OKarl Henning, CT
O John Schoose, IL
O Larry Lingle, PA
 Eric Stranger, OH
Bill Thomson, TX
Scott Bramley, NJ
O Chuck Leonard, PA
O Phil Grasha, PA
O Bill Sosnicki, NJ
Bill Thomson, TX
Buddy Sinigaglio, CO
25  1991-2008
55  2002-2008
Top Laurelists
Eric Stranger, OH
D
Top Laurelists
Pete Pollard, CA
156
Bill Thomson, TX
128
Eric Stranger, OH
127
David Bronkhorst, VA 86
Mike Pacheco, CA
78
Andrew Cummins, UK65
Michael Hennessy, VA 30
Michael Day, AZ
27
Allen Kaplan, NJ
27
Chuck Leonard, PA 22
Squad Leader (SQL)
uring a year when ASL made its WBC exit,
the Squad Leader Series tournament at WBC
2008 saw increases in number of players, games
(30) and scenarios played (18), relative to recent
years. The parent has outlasted its much ballyhooed progeny.
Key players from the email circuit, including
Phil Grasha (3-0) and Bill Sosnicki (2-1), had family
conflicts preventing play in the last round. That left
the Final in the hands of defending champion Bill
Thomson (3-0) leading the Germans in ‘Hitdorf on
the Rhine’ versus 1996 champ Eric Stranger’s (2-1)
attacking Americans. The green stacks eluded bullets from a 2af-2 attack and a 12af-0 attack to make
swift work of the HIP Germans. Eluding exploding
minefields and early capture of the high ground,
Eric’s Americans were able to channel the German
reinforcement’s entry into the village. In the ensuing firefights, the Americans whittled down the
German effort to decide the game before entry of
the German panzers.
Floridian John Sharp, winner of the 2007 Personal Leader competition, saw his PLC fall in the
first round. (Generally, PLCs had a survival rate
of over 40%.) Eric Stranger picked up the Pollard
Memorial Plaque for this coup. At the end of Eric’s
win, SGT Thomson squeeked out a +20 élan to +17
edge to win the 2008 plaque. A
missed AFPh bazooka shot versus
a loaded German halftrack was
the deciding factor.
Nick Page, ON
Larry Lingle, PA
Brian Sutton, MD
Karl Henning, CT
Buddy Sinigaglio, CO
Nick Page, ON
William Sparks, MD
Alex Bell, MD
Phil Rennert, MD
Sean McCulloch, OH
Bill Morse, VA
79
48
42
34
30
30
30
27
25
24
Star Wars: Queen’s Gambit (QGB)
B
ecause the game is out of print, a tie breaker
for making it to the playoff rounds is “bring
your own game.” In 2008, many players checked
in for the playoffs with a copy of the game, even
though they had not brought one to the prelims.
In 2009, game status will be determined during
the prelims only.
In the prelims, David “The Hutt” Gubbay
showed up to play in his clothes rather than his
underwear. It should be noted, that “The Hutt”
Gubbay will always be classified as bringing his
own game, even when he does not, based on the
fact that he has been the only Queen’s Gambit player nominated for the Sportsmanship Award.
In the Final, “Geonosian Overseer” Nick Page
bested Rick “Rancor” Sciacca in a hard fought
contest that could have gone either way. Those
who made it into the playoff rounds, but not to
the championship game included “Battle Droid”
Bill Morse, two-time champ “Red Queen” Lingle,
Rob “Purple Queen” Flowers, 2004 champ Brian
“Nute Gunray” Sutton, Alex “Jedi Padawan” Bell,
Jacob “Quigon” Hebner, Paul “Bomarr Monk”
Menders, Greg “Zuckuss” Zegalia, Aaron “Mustafarian Flea Rider” Fuegi, 2005 champ Karl “Sith
Witch” Henning, John “Sidious” Schoose, Gino
“The Vornskr” Sinigaglio, John “Lobot” Pack,
and Kerry “Sly Moore” Codoley.
2002 champ Buddy Sinigaglio and
defending champ William Sparks
did not get past the preliminaries.
Century Events
45
2008 Results
2008 Results
 Rich Moyer, MN
Bill Beckman, SC
John Welage, OH
O Bob Menzel, VT
O Roderick Lee, CA
O Andy Lewis, DE
 Steve Caler, OH
Kevin Brown, GA
Luke Koleszar, VA
O Tom McCorry, VA
O Seth Gunar, NJ
O Cameron Spaner, MD
Chris Palermo, NY
John McLaughlin, VA
42  ‘91-’94, ‘96-’08
51  ‘99-’01, ‘05-’08
Top Laurelists
Steve Caler, OH
I
Seth Gunar, NJ
Steve Caler, OH
Kevin Brown, GA
Jean Younkin, VA
Devin Flawd, PA
Tim Dolan, NJ
Derek Miller, VA
Mike Buccheri, MD
Jim Bell, MD
Keith MacFarland, NJ
66
36
30
30
30
30
18
18
18
18
Stock Car Championship (SCC)
n the WBC 500 (Final) Doug Porterfield (#95)
took the pole followed by Luke Koleszar (#71
Teddy Bear) and Cameron Spaner (#44 Slim Jim).
Tom McCorry was the last qualifier with a provisional in the #32 Tide car. Luke Koleszar grabbed
an early lead and held it until the first round of pit
stops on lap 78. John Shaheen (#5 Tony the Tiger)
stayed out of the pits in order to lead a few laps. Ernie Chambers (#28 Havoline) did a splash and go
and moved up three positions. Although #71 was
first out of the pits, he never regained the lead.
Disaster struck on lap 108 when Carol Caler
(#99 Dominos) got impatient and crashed, wrecking her car in spectacular fashion. Dave Zimmerman (#10 Tide) took control of the race and led
until lap 138 by pulling away in the outside lane.
The second pit window was on lap 153. Steve Caler (#41) led out of the pits with an 8.9 second pit
time, while #63 Lysol lost five spots with his 24.3
second pit stop. Ernie Chambers (#28) and John
Shaheen (#5) chose not to pit, but came up short.
With 11 laps to go, Cameron Spaner (#44) made a
slingshot pass around slow traffic, passed two cars
(#6 and #42), and another slingshot to the outside
lane, finally pulling away with Steve Caler (#41) in
tow. Steve then passed #44 and beat the
second place car of Kevin Brown (#9)
to the finish line on the last turn. Luke
Koleszar (#71) rounded out the top
three taking a close third. Steve’s wife
Carol (#99) finished in last place.
Top Laurelists
Rich Moyer, MN
U
Rich Moyer, MN
Harry Flawd, PA
Chris Palermo, NY
Bill Beckman, SC
Mark Giddings, NY
Randy Cox, SC
Ken Samuel, VA
Devin Flawd, PA
John Welage, OH
Gordon Elgart, CA
70
66
47
40
40
28
28
22
20
20
Superstar Baseball (SSB)
sing the quality points system, Andy Lewis
finished first, followed by Mike Lam and
John Welage. Rounding out the eight playoff-eligible spots were Bob Menzel, Bill Beckman, Marshall Collins, Rich Moyer and Roderick Lee. Just
missing playoff eligibility were James Terry, Ilan
Woll and Harry Flawd, who had sported an impressive 11-1 record. The eight teams were seeded, with the final order: 1) Beckman (Indians)—
for the second year in a row, 2) Moyer (Giants); 3)
Lewis (Red Sox); 4) Lee (Astros); 5) Menzel (Red
Sox); 6) Welage (Reds).
In the semi-final, Beckman’s Indians proved
they belonged in the top spot, as Bob Feller pitched
no-hit ball for 7-2/3 innings, ending up with a threehitter and 14 strikeouts. Barry Larkin broke up the
no-hitter, but the Reds were unable to put a run on
the board, falling 8-0 to the Tribe. Gaylord Perry of
the Giants also pitched a shutout over the Red Sox.
Willie Mays led off the Giants’ first at-bat with a
monster homer and the Giants never looked back,
beating the Sox impressively 12-0. The Final was
anti-climactic, as the Indians were no competition
for the Giants who continued their torrid offensive
display with 16 hits and 11 walks, en route to a 14-5
win. Rich Moyer, who has led three teams to the
SSB tournament playoffs (and two to
the World Series) walked away with
his first championship and helped
lead the St Paul Rejects to Team Tournament victory.
46
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
 Andy Latto, MA
Nick Henning, CT
Bill Murdock, NY
Anne Norton, NJ
O Tom Dunning, NY
O Jon Gemmell, CT
John Faella, RI
Nico Parauda, NJ
Jamie Tang, MD
Jonathan Izer, MD
O Eyal Mozes, NY
O Chris Goff, MD
Jim Vroom, PA
Claire Brosius MA
100  2006-2008
Top Laurelists
Andy Latto, MA
L
Andy Latto, MA
Anne Norton, NJ
Raphael Lehrer, MD
Rod Spade, MD
Rob Kircher, RI
Tom DeMarco, NJ
David Meyaard, CT
Nick Henning, CT
Eric Brosius, MA Phil Rennert, MD
201  2004-2008
Top Laurelists
70
57
32
30
28
26
24
18
18
18
Thurn & Taxis (T&T)
aurelists from 2007 who made it to the semifinal were defending champion Andy Latto,
Tom De Marco, and 2006 champ Anne Norton.
Both Andy and Anne advanced to the Final, along
with Nick Henning and Bill Murdock.
Nick went first, followed by Anne, Andy, and
Bill. The men went for the all-countries strategy.
Andy scored the all-countries bonus first, followed by Bill and then Anne, netting them 6,
5, and 4 points, respectively. Nick could not get
the cards he wanted, using the administrator
to throw away six cards and deal six new ones
three times early in the game. He eventually
placed houses in every city in Bavaria, the only
player to do so, earning the five point bonus.
Those who say that the administrator is rarely
a good move should note that Nick managed to
come in second despite the card-cycling. Andy
ended the game quickly by being the first player
to build his seven carriage, ending four points
ahead of Nick to defend his championship.
Some grumble that Thurn and Taxis is too luckdependent, but the consistent performance of the
top players suggests that skill must play a large part
in the game. Not only is there a repeat champion,
but Anne Norton has now made it to the Final all
three years, without losing a tournament game to
any player except two-time champion Andy Latto. Records like that
in a 100-player event rarely happen purely by chance.
John Faella, RI
T
Virginia Colin, VA
John Faelia, RI
Daniel Karp, MD
Brittany Bernard, PA
Eric Monte, NY
Blair Morgen, NJ
Donna Davis, PA
Nico Parauda, NJ
Robert Cranshaw, RI
Tom Dunning, NY
64
60
48
40
40
40
36
36
36
32
Ticket to Ride (TTR)
ournament scores fluctuated wildly—from
2-165 points. Norm Herrick got the “courage” award for taking ten tickets in his game.
Four other folks took nine, with two of them
making eight of their destinations. Risky stuff
that, and it didn’t pay off in a first for anyone!
Defending champ Brittany Bernard gave
it her best, but her quest to repeat ended in the
semis. No other laurelist returned either. The five
finalists were Eyal Mozes, Nico Paradua, John Faella, Jon Izer and Jamie Tang. Nico built the critical Houston-New Orleans route and Jamie Tang
took Nashville-Atlanta. Only Nico, John and Jamie built 6-train sections, leaving the two 6-train
sections in the south open. Jamie took nine tickets
and completed seven for a score of 123. That total
would have won many games, but in the Final it
was only good for third. Eyal made two of five
tickets for fifth place laurels with a score of 25.
Jon took fourth with a 63 tally on four of five
tickets. Nico was the close-but-no-cigar runnerup making all six of his tickets for a score of 129.
However, John Faella also made all six tickets for
a winning score of 132 and the title.
Original TTR continues to dominate, with Europe and the 1910 variant coming in second. Firstyear GM Clair Brosius was grateful for help from
Glen Pearce, Virginia Colin,
Anne Norton, Tom DeMarco,
Eric and Cally Perry, Tom DeMarco, and Tom McCorry.
Century Events
47
2008 Results
2008 Results
Bryan Eshleman, NC
John Ellsworth, IL
Tom Thornsen, NY
Ray Freeman, CA
O Bob Hamel, CT
O Rick Sciacca, FL
Eric Freeman, PA
Barb Flaxington, NJ
Charlie Mitchell, VA
O Greg Thatcher, FL
O Davyd Field, SC
O M. Imbeault, QC
Dan Broh-Kahn, MD
Ray Freeman, CA
42  2000-2008
19  2000-2008
Top Laurelists
Bryan Eshleman, NC
I
Ray Freeman, CA
157
Jim Winslow, ME
72
Tom Thornsen, NY
70
Ric Young, NC
61
Brad Jones, FL
57
Bryan Eshleman, NC 50
Mike Mishler, CA
36
Robert Mull, CO
36
Murray Cowles, UK 32
Ric Sciacca, FL
19
Tigers in the Mist (TIM)
n the Final, Bryan Eshleman’s Allied forces
defended against John Ellsworth’s Germans.
There were few casualties on either side during the opening moves. John decided to change
tactics and ordered attacks all up and down the
line. The dice cooperated (for both sides) and the
dead piles began filling up. December 20th saw
a major German effort. They reached the Ourthe
River and attempted to cross, but successful Allied bridge demolitions prevented any serious
breach. Meanwhile, at Bastogne the battle turned
extremely bloody, and several units on both sides
were wiped out. On the second impulse, the Germans packed six steps and two supporting artillery units into the city. The Americans had a single step remaining, left behind as a roadblock so
that other positions could be held more strongly.
This group of GIs knew how to keep their heads
down, and when the dice were cast, all eight German shots missed. An American victory seemed
assured. However, Bryan failed to detect a route
by which a single German unit could reach Nives,
cutting the last supply line to Bastogne. Starvation
accomplished what the German guns failed to do,
and the city fell on the last impulse.
With six points in hand, the Germans went
looking for more, but the Allies held. By the middle of the 21st it was clear that
the Germans had reached their
high water mark. Bryan had won
for the second year in a row.
Top Laurelists
Eric Freeman, PA
T
Arthur Field, SC
107
Davyd Field, CA
101
Barbara Flaxington, NJ 62
Harald Henning, CT 60
Kevin Garber, VA
52
Eric Freeman, PA
47
Jack Jaeger, VA
44
Brian Jones, MD
40
Jason O’Donnell, OH 30
James Hopkin, CA
24
Tikal (TKL)
he three semi-final winners, Charlie
Mitchell, Eric Freeman and Greg
Thatcher, and the closest of the runnersup, Barb Flaxington—who won in 2003, played
in the Final. Taken together, they have well over
two dozen year’s experience, including several
Final forays.
In the game, Greg failed to recognize potential thievery of a monument, which, in his own
words, cost him any chance for victory. Eric paid
a staggering eight points for the right monument
tile at the right time. (He was able to score twice,
easily recovering his investment.) The last scoring round started with Greg, Charlie and Barb
struggling to amass as many points as possible
to prevent Eric from running away with the
whole thing, but it was too late.
Though Eric was able to “steal” access to the
6 monument that Greg had planned to control
later, doing so cost him protection on the 7 and
8 monuments he had built next to his centrallyplaced camp. Greg established a camp and used
20 APs to steal and cap the 7 temple with his
leader and one other worker. Barb did the best
job of protecting all her investments, which allowed her to close in on Eric. In the end, Eric protected his dig sites well, making the Action Point
cost of obtaining a lead anywhere
prohibitive. Scores were Greg, 30/85;
Charlie 34/92; Barb, 38/98 and Eric,
the winner, 37/101.
48
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
 Jason Ley, WA
Robert Masso, NY
David Finberg, MA
Joe Harrison, KY
David des Jardins, CA
Steve Koleszar, VA
Aaron Fuegi, MA
Ed Rothenheber, MD
David desJardins, CA
O Jason Ley, WA
O Brian Sutton, MD
O Nick Page, ON
Bruno Wolff, WI
Rich Atwater, WA
37  1991-2008
29  1994-2008
Top Laurelists
Jason Ley, WA
T
Aaron Fuegi, MA
193
Dave Finberg, MA
169
David des Jardins, CA140
Jason Ley, GA
111
Rich Atwater, WA
98
Brian Sutton, MD
97
Steve Koleszar, VA
84
Kevin Hillock, VA
80
Dan Strock, PA
72
Ed Rothenheber, MD 70
Titan (TTN)
itans managed upsets in two of the semi-final games. In the first, Akihisa Tabei attacked
Bob Masso with a significant edge, but Bob took a
chance with a giant hoping it would live through
16 50/50 dice and give him two strikes against
Akihisa’s 12-die titan and the chance to throw
in a second giant. It was a long shot, but things
went his way and Bob advanced. In the second,
David desJardins had a significant edge over Joe
Harrison. David kept his titan back while almost
everything else in the battle was eliminated.
Then he closed his fresh titan on Joe’s heavily
wounded titan. Both were 12-die titans and Joe’s
already had nine hits. It took two rounds to kill
the wounded titan, who dealt a death blow on
David’s titan the same turn. David rolled low on
the roll-off, and Joe advanced.
The last two players standing in the Final were
Bob Masso and Jason Ley. Jason had done well
in the preliminary rounds and had finished with
the top seed. However Bob was doing well with
a colossus in his titan stack. But before he could
get a second colossus, which probably would have
sealed the victory for him, Jason attacked with
an archangel and three angels and summoned a
fourth angel during the battle. Bob had a seven-die
titan, colossus, two dragons, unicorn and warlock.
While Bob had more meat in his
stack, his titan was vulnerable. Jason engaged and killed it to win the
battle and the tournament.
Top Laurelists
Aaron Fuegi, MA
E
Aaron Fuegi, MA
David des Jardins, CA
Brian Sutton, MD
Dan Strock, PA
Andrew Gross, WA
Jason Ley, WA
John Sharp III, FL
Ed Rothenheber, MD
Sean McCulloch, OH
David Finberg, MA
118
101
69
55
49
35
32
30
30
30
Titan Two-Player (TT2)
ight of the 11 former champs were on hand
for the first round. There were two upsets,
when past champions Dan Strock (2002) and
Sean McCulloch (2007) were ousted by Nick Page
and Rick Northey, respectively. Mike Rogozinski outlasted Eric Monte in the longest game of
the tournament at 7 hours 50 minutes. Average
match length was 2 hours 28 minutes.
1998 champ Ed Rothenheber had one of the
more interesting wins of the second round. The
final score was Geoff Pounder 662 to Ed’s 69, but
what mattered was Ed won the final battle. In the
quarter-final, two-time champ Brian Sutton lost to
two-time champion David DesJardins. Ed put 1995
champ and GM Bruno Wolff out of his misery in
an hour, Jason Ley spent nearly four hours advancing past Rick Northey in a remarkably low scoring
246 to 108 match, and 2003 champ Aaron Fuegi
schooled Nick Page in 25 minutes.
Aaron’s semi-final defeat of Jason lasted only
20 minutes and Ed’s defeat of David didn’t run too
much longer. The most unusual aspect of the Final
was intermittent. Aaron and Ed set up at 11:10 am
and played for 50 minutes, adjourning 4:30, when
they played for another 1-1/2 hours until they
could get back together. They reconvened at 10 pm.
Aaron Fuegi prevailed in a final battle, ending 23
minutes later. The score was Aaron
361, Ed 576. Playing time was 2 hours
35 minutes; elapsed time to completion was just short of 12 hours.
Century Events
49
2008 Results
2007 Results
Matt Calkins, VA
Dan Eshleman, NC
Devin Flawd, PA
O Steve Cameron, PA
O Brooks Beyma, MD
O Greg Thatcher, CA
Stefan MeCay, TX
Rick Young, NC
Phil Rennert, MD
Paul Sampson, OH
Bruce DuBoff, NJ
O George Young, VT
Ananda Gupta, MD
Greg Crowe, VA
116  1997-2008
54  2006-2008
Top Laurelists
Matt Calkins, VA
F
Rebecca Hebner, CO 54
Alan Witte, NJ
50
Joseph Sposito, NJ
40
Harry Flawd, PA
38
Bruce Monnin, OH
38
Kaarin Engelmann, VA 35
Devin Flawd, PA
32
Matt Calkins, VA
30
Gerald Lientz, VA
30
Olin Hentz CT
30
Titan: The Arena (TTA)
rom the 33 games in the heats, two players
had two wins each. Play in the semi-finals
was markedly quick. Of the five games, only one
was a blow-out; the others had margins of two
points or less, and one was won on the tiebreaker. No former laurelists emerged.
By the end of the Final’s first round, every
creature had a bet on it, but Dan Eshleman’s’s
Ranger died, possibly because the others liked
the prospect of the draw deck lasting awhile.
Dan suffered another blow when his other firstround bet (and Matt’s second-round bet), the
Unicorn went off to pasture. At this point, both
Matt and Brooks had two surviving first-round
bets, while Devin and Steve each had one. However, when Brooks added a third-round bet to
his second-round bet on the Titan, taking over
control from Steve, everyone decided Titan had
to go. The Cyclops, who had made a surprisingly long run until this point, was the next to die,
taking one of Brooks’ first-round bets with it.
Surviving creatures were Devin’s Dragon
(Dan’s and Matt’s secret bets), Matt’s Hydra,
Brooks’ Troll (with visible bets from everyone but
Matt and secret bets from Devin and Steve), and
Matt’s Warlock (with a secret bet by Brooks). As
far as the players knew every one had a chance
to win. The game ended when the
Hydra reared its heads, allowing
Matt to kill the Troll quickly, and
win the game in a landslide.
Top Laurelists
Stefan MeCay, TX
S
Stefan Mecay, TX
260
Rick Young, NC
80
Marvin Birnbaum, NY 70
Keith Wixson, NJ
51
Chris Withers, CA
51
Bill Edwards, VA
42
Stuart Tucker, MD
31
Bruce Monnin, OH
30
John Emery, SC
30
James Terry, NJ
29
Twilight Struggle (TWS) tefan MeCay, two-time defending champion,
came into the tournament having never lost
in WBC live play. The average bid in the tournament was up slightly, from 2.3 last year to 2.4,
but the balance of wins was almost exactly 50-50.
The opening rounds saw some brilliant play and
surprising upsets. Last year’s fifth-place laurelist
George Seary, fell victim, as did wargameroom.
com veteran Keith Schoose. Rick Young scored a
surprise DEFCON quarter-final win over newcomer Bruce DuBoff. Paul Sampson’s meticulous, close-fought semi-final win over veteran
Chris Withers came down to the treachery of
Aldrich Ames.
Stefan showed his mettle as always. He
dispatched Phil Rennert and George Young en
route to a Final rematch against Rick Young. Stefan and Rick have faced one another no earlier
than the semi-finals in all three years of the tournament, so a legendary rivalry may very well
be in the making. In the Final, both sides bid
3 influence, and Rick received the U.S. by random draw. He drew seven scoring cards, which
tipped the VP scale towards Stefan’s Soviets,
and he was unable to overcome a lethally-timed
Quagmire and USSR points in Southeast Asia
and Central America. The final
blow, which sealed Stefan’s third
consecutive title, was OPEC after
Central America scoring for the automatic victory.
50
Century Events
2007 Results
2008 Results
Ed Kendrick, UK
Ralph Gleaton, SC
Richard Irving, CA
Ray Stakenas, WI
O Andrew Maly, MD
O John Emery, SC
Charlie Drozd, IL
Michael Ussery, MD
Andy Gardner, VA
John Pack, CO
Mark Booth, VA
Jim Eliason, IA
Jim Burnett, TN
John Sharp, FL
22  1991-2008
36  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Ed Kendrick, UK
John Emery, SC
158
Bruce Young, SC
141
Ray Stakenas II, MI 106
Bruce Wigdor, NJ
68
Ray Stakenas Sr., MI 46
Larry Davidson, CA 46
Ed Kendrick, UK
45
Paul Wright, PA
40
Jeff Matthews, CA
30
Bari Herman, NJ
26
Top Laurelists
Charlie Drozd, IL
Dan Henry, IL
272
Andy Gardner, VA
234
Ed Menzel, CA
214
Michael Kaye, CA
186
Charlie Drozd, IL
152
Alan Applebaum, MA113
Darren Kilfara, UK 110
John Pack, CO
78
Michael Ussery, MD 78
Joe Dragan, MI
66
Up Front (UPF)
Victory in the Pacific (VIP)
ive previous champions returned to attempt
to recapture past glory; however, there was
no repetition of the virtual sweep by those past
winners in last year’s tournament. All of them
suffered at least one defeat in the opening five
Swiss rounds. Andrew Maly was the lone player
to post a 5-0 score. 1996 champ Bill Edwards and
three-time champ Bruce Young, came in at 3-2
but were eliminated by the strength of schedule
tie breaker.
Five-time champ John Emery, 1995 winner
Herbert Gratz, and 2001 champ Bruce Wigdor
reached the elimination round, but their royal
lineage did them no good, and it was sure a new
champion would be admitted to the club. Ralph
Gleaton, Richard Irving, Ed Kendrick, and Ray
Stakenas advanced to the semi-final, where they
played Scenario “F” (The Infantry’s Iron Fist).
Ralph’s defending and Ed’s attacking Germans
defeated their Russian opponents.
In the Final’s Scenario “L” (Outpost Line),
Ed’s Americans attacked Ralph’s Germans. In a
couple of swift moves, Ed established his M-20
in a flanking position against Ralph’s main
group. Ralph suddenly ran out of both Fire cards
to attempt a response with his Mortar and Move
cards to cancel the flank. With a few
swift shots, Ed reduced the flanked
squad to cap a victory. It only took
a little over half a deck—one of the
fastest finishes to a Final ever.
harlie Drozd went 6-1 over seven
rounds to claim the championship
wood over the highly competitive field
which numbered five former champions.
There were 46 Japanese wins (57%) vs 35 Allied wins and no ties, making the win ratio closer
than last year’s 63% IJN victory level. Bids rose
slightly—non-zero bid games featured 3.974
POC bids, while overall bids averaged 3.827.
NT1 games averaged 0.67 POC per bid. Five
games had a bid which changed the victorious
side to the Allies.
Over half of the games (44) had bids of either
4.0 or 4.5 POC. Win rates were 48% and 70%,
respectively. There were 13 games with bids of
5.0 or 5.5. They still resulted in a majority of IJN
wins, 75% and 55%. Among the games with bids
between 2.0 and 3.5 (there were no games with
bids of 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 POC), IJN win-rates were
50%, 100%, 40%, and 57%. Two games had zero
POC bid. One of them resulted in an IJN win.
NT1 games featured two games with 1.0 POC
bids and one game with a zero POC bid. None
of them resulted in an IJN win. About a third of
the games went all eight turns, whereas 15% went
seven turns, 20% went six, 17% five, and 12% four.
Five games went three turns or less.
Changes for 2009 will include
Swiss-Elim and different levels of
tournament points for different levels of victory,
F
C
Century Events
51
2008 Results
2008 Results
Curt Collins II, PA
Bruce Bernard, PA
Boaz Gura, NJ
O Ed Kendrick, UK
O Brian Farrelly, IL
O Jason Levine, NY
Jon Lockwood, VA
Mike Kaye, MD
Charlie Drozd, IL
Rob Drozd, IL
O Ewan McNay, CT
O Ed Menzel, CA
: Vince Meconi, DE
: Mark Neale, RI
50  1991-2008
31  2000-2008
Top Laurelists
Curt Collins II, PA
I
Top Laurelists
Jimmy Fleckenstein, VA 60
Bruce Bernard, PA
57
Joe Pabis, VA
57
Brandon Bernard, PA 45
John Charbonneau, NH 40
Jason Levine, NY
39
Paul McCarthy, NY
39
Curt Collins II, PA 30
Mark Neale, RI
30
Bob Heinzmann, FL
30
Vinci (VNC)
t was winners only for the Vinci
tournament. Twelve games determined the rightful owner of the wood.
There were nine games in the two heats. When
one winner declined advance, there were two
semi-final games, with the winners and single
closest runner-up advancing to a three-player
Final. Since only winners advanced, no one
could coast and plan to advance as an alternate. The three-player Final ensured that everyone at the table would get a prize.
At semi-final table 1 was Jack Stalica, 2000
champ Jason Levine, Bruce Bernard—finalist
in 2005 and 2006 and semi-finalist in 2007, and
another 2007 semi-finalist—Ed Kendrick. At
semi-final table 2 was 2007 semi-finalist Brian
Farrelly, 2007 finalist Brandon Bernard, Boaz
Gura, and Curt Collins II. Rick Dutton earned a
spot in the semi-final round but had a scheduling conflict. If all nine semi-finalists had been
available there would have been three 3-player
semi-final games with only winners advancing
The finalists were Bruce Bernard and Boaz
Gura who each won their semi-final games
and Curt Collins II with the best second place
(one point behind Boaz). The final was about
as close as it could be. Curt and
Bruce were tied, with Boaz just
one point behind. The tie breaker
of reverse turn order worked in
Curt’s favor.
Jon Lockwood, VA
J
Andy Gardner, VA
145
Ray Freeman, CA
133
Pat Richardson, VA 110
Darren Kilfara, UK
94
Ed Menzel, CA
92
Jon Lockwood, VA
79
Bruce Monnin, OH
78
Dennis Nicholson, NY 65
Bruce Reiff, OH
59
Vince Meconi, DE
53
War At Sea (WAS) on Lockwood won the championship, adding the WBC crown to his previous BPA 2001
PBeM championship, completing the set. Jon
blitzed the field with eight straight wins, defeating former champ Mike Kaye (5-3), who was
playing in the event for the first time since 2001.
Jon got out in front early and coasted to a ten
POC victory. He was so dominant that he added
both Best Allied Player (5-0) and Best Axis Player
(3-0) to his championship wood.
The Drozd family had their best showing
ever, with son Charlie in third (4-3) and dad
Rob in 4th (4-3). Charlie had won Victory in the
Pacific earlier in the week, and came up just
short in his bid to win both events in a single
year. Other playoff competitors were Ewan
McNay in fifth at 4-1, Ed Menzel in sixth at
4-2, Scott Beall in seventh at 4-2, and the GM
Vince Meconi in eighth at 3-3. Rob and Charlie
Drozd did not play each other at any point, but
the Raszewskis, dad Steve and son Brad, did,
in a grudge match that may have had higher
stakes than the Final. Rookie of the Year was
Brad Raszewski in 14th place.
It might have been expected that the expansion of the playoffs to eight would increase a player’s chances of making the playoffs, but no player
repeated from last year. Only John Pack has managed to make the playoffs
two years in a row since we
added a quarter-final.
52
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
Chris Trimmer, TX
Jason Levine, NY
Lyman Moquin, DC
 Jacob Hebner, CO
O John Pack, CO
O K. Wojtaszczyk, NY
Joe Beard, AZ
Rob Beyma, MD
Mark Gutfreund, KY
O Richard Beyma, MD
O Don Tatum, MD
O Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
: Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
: Marty Musella, VA
28  2006-2008
21  1991-2008
Top Laurelists
Chris Trimmer, TX
Chris Trimmer, TX
Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
Phil Rennert, MD
Jason Levine, NY
George Young, VT
Nick Anner, NY
Lyman Moquin, DC
Andy Latto, MA
Jacob Hebner, CO
Chris Yaure, PA
58
44
30
24
24
17
16
16
12
12
War of the Ring (WOR)
T
he One Ring was at the cusp of Mount
Doom, when Chris Trimmer’s Sauron
armies dominated Middle Earth. Poor
Sam and Frodo were captured, which ended the
Middle Earth Pre-Con with Sauron’s forces once
again victorious against the Free Peoples!
Out of 40 games played, 11 used the basic
game rules and 29 the added expansion rules. The
Dwarven Rings bidding appeared to balance the
game, with the majority of the bids giving the Free
Peoples from one to five rings. Many interesting
things happened during the tourney. Christopher
Yaure gets a nod for Musterings of a Long-Planned
War, being involved in two epic length games, lasting 16 and 17 turns, respectively, that pushed the
four-hour time limit. Most games fell in the nine- to
14-turn range and finished in three hours or less.
John Pack was a Ranger of the North. His Northern
army took heavy losses on a Dol Guldur siege but
still managed to oust the Orcs for a Moria/Dol Guldur FP Military victory. Sean Vassey waged some
Rohan guerilla warfare after losing Aragorn and
Boromir in a Minas Tirth siege. Ahmet Ilpars finally ousted the Rohan militants for an SP military
victory. Eric Brosius raced to a hidden five-move
FSP start only to see the Hunt tiles turn and corrupt Frodo. Chris Trimmer needed an
Isildur’s Bane 3 tile pull plus a double
Eye draw (one skipped with Mithil
Coat) to seal the Fellowship’s path to
the dark side in Mordor in Round 3.
Top Laurelists
Joe Beard, AZ
Rob Beyma, MD
162
Marty Musella, VA 122
John Clarke, FL
73
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK 45
Chuck Stapp, NJ
31
Joe Beard, AZ
30
Mark Gutfreund, KY 30
Richard Beyma, MD 27
Bill Morse, VA
24
Forrest Pafenberg, VA 18
Waterloo (WAT)
W
idespread use of the ten-sided die
Combat Results Table (CRT) has resulted in shorter games, a quicker tempo
of play, and added uncertainty regarding established defensive tactics. The new CRT provides
opportunities for challengers to test the play of
established masters. This year two relative newcomers competed against two masters in the semifinal with Richard “Beyma the Younger” versus
Rob “Beyma the Elder” and Mark “The Warrior”
Gutfreund versus Joe “The Surgeon” Beard, who
arrived at the GrognardCon pre-convention after
a nine-year hiatus. In the first game, there was a
psychological twist to side selection. Richard bid
13 factors to play the PAA, anticipating his father’s
attempts to bid higher. When Rob only bid 2, Richard got to play his preferred side, but it came at an
elevated cost. Rob had to pull all of his best strategy and tactics out of the playbook to overcome
his son’s determined defense. In the other game,
the Surgeon gave The Warrior his choice of sides,
and Mark chose the PAA. In the end, the Warrior
died heroically at the hands of French lancers commanding the final Prussian rear-guard and The
Surgeon rode victoriously into Brussels.
A “Clash of the (Waterloo) Titans” lay in store
for the Final, but Rob couldn’t play
because he was locked into the Russia
Besieged Final (his team game, which
he won). The championship went to
Joe. We hope to see him back in 2009!
Century Events
53
2008 Results
2008 Results
Brian Mountford, NY
George Young, VT
Keith Wixson, NJ
P. Burgin-Young, VT
O Paul Gaberson, PA
O Joe Collinson, MD
Henry Russell, PA
Ed Rothenheber, MD
Peter Reese, VA
O Nick Frydas, UK
O Ahmet Ilpars, TU
O Jesse Boomer, KS
Mark McLaughlin,CT
George Young, VT
20  2006-2008
38  1994-2008
Top Laurelists
Brian Mountford, NY
F
George Young, VT
220
Marvin Birnbaum, NY 179
Paul Gaberson, PA
170
Brian Mountford, NY 170
James Pei, TX
118
John Poniske, PA
88
Dan Leader, MA
60
Keith Wixson, NJ
50
Chris Byrd, CT
40
Bill Peeck, NY
36
We the People (WTP)
ive new recruits took part in the Coached
Division: four Continentals and one British
Regular—Nick Smith who visits annually from
across the pond. The Minuteman Militia Award,
presented to the surviving player of the Coached
Division, went to Tod Whitehurst. Relative newcomer Ray Freeman received the Valley Forge
Award for demonstrating remarkable fortitude
and commitment by continuing the struggle despite outrageous fortune and disappointing defeat. Ray competed in all four Swiss rounds, earning a 1-2-1 record. Three of his four opponents
were laurelists, including eventual tournament
victor 2000 and 2001 champ Brian Mountford.
In the Final, three-time champ George Young
bid 3 to take the Americans but was trumped
by Brian’s +4 strategy. The game opened with
the traditional flurry of PC placements. By the
end of 1775, aided by the extra PCs and a Minor
Campaign, the British had taken the upper Hudson Valley and isolated and removed the American presence in New Hampshire and Falmouth.
That was to be the high tide position of the game
for the British. In 1776, the British were forced to
play the Declaration of Independence and make
three discard actions, while Brian had
a nine-card hand and only had to
discard one. It didn’t get much better
throughout. When George opened his
1781 hand and saw another fistful of
discards, he resigned.
Top Laurelists
Henry Russell, PA
I
Peter Reese, VA
48
Ed Rothenheber, MD 48
Henry Russell, PA
30
David Gantt, SC
30
Rob Mull, CO
12
Robert Vollman, AB
12
Nick Frydas, UK
9
Rob Olsson, MD
9
Melvin Casselberry, PA 9
Robert March, CA
9
Wellington (WLL)
n the ten games played during two
heats, a semi-final, and a Final, wins
were split down the line with five
French and five Allied victories. Of those, the
French South won two, French North three, Britain three and Spain two. Pete Reese has made the
Final all three years and has yet to win.
Two of those games were particularly close,
one coming down to a half-point difference between the two sides in a game that went the distance all the way to the end of 1814. There were
three runaway victories, including a rare liberation of Spain and an even more rare conquest of
Portugal. The Portugal feat was orchestrated by
Ed Rothenburg setting it up for his ally Henry
Russell to complete and claim the victory. They
gained that conquest in the middle of the first
turn, earning that contest the prize for shortest
Wellington game of any convention.
Adapted from The Napoleonic Wars, this sequel covers the campaigns in Spain and Portugual between 1812 and 1814 where Wellington
distinguished himself before his big date at Waterloo. The game is shorter and simpler than its
predecessor due to the lack of diplomatic and
naval elements. Play is more battle
oriented. The four players play in
two teams, yet ultimately, only one of
the four can win. Although the event
didn’t make the cut for Century in
2009, it will be back as a trial event.
54
Century Events
2008 Results
2008 Results
James Pei, VA
George Young, VT
Paul Gaberson, PA
Don Chappell, TX
Bill Edwards, VA
O P. Burgin-Young, VT
Jason Levine, NY
Craig Fox, PA
Jennifer Drozd, IL
O Gerald Lientz, VA
O Ken Gutermuth, NC
O Rachel Harley, VA
Keith Wixson, NJ
Ken Gutermuth, TX
27  2002-2008
Top Laurelists
James Pei, VA
T
James Pei, TX
Keith Wixson, NJ
Ron Fedin, PA
Paul Gaberson, PA
Peter Reese, VA
Tom Drueding, MA
George Young, VT
John Buse, IL
Rob Winslow, NY
Bruce Wigdor, NJ
244
150
141
130
111
98
91
75
70
48
Wilderness War (WNW)
op seed, 2004 champion James “The Master”
Pei, became the second two-time winner in
the event’s history. Pei went undefeated, beating
Randy Pippus, Chris Senhouse, Michael Ussery
and Bill Edwards in the preliminary rounds, Don
Chappell in the semi-final and George Young in
the championship game. Young was also undefeated entering the Final, having defeated Frank
Mestre, Jason White, Philip Burgin-Young (his
son) and defending champ Paul Gaberson twice.
The Pei-Young championship game was a rematch
of the recent PBeM Tournament championship
game which had only concluded with a Pei victory
a week before WBC.
Half of last year’s laurelists made it into the
top six again, and three of this year’s four semifinalists were repeats. That was something of a
break with the tournament’s tradition of a complete or near complete turnover of the laurelists
from year to year. The Top New Player Award
went to Senhouse who defeated 2006 champ and
GM Keith Wixson and Grant LaDue, the second
and sixth seeds respectively.
The French won 67% of the games played, up
6% from 2007. French dominance is finally being
embraced by the players. The average
bid to play the French shot up to 1.35
VPs from 1.02 VPs in 2007.
In 2009, the event will eliminate
the quarter-final in favor of four swiss
and two SE rounds.
34  1992-2008
Top Laurelists
Jason Levine, NY
F
Ken Gutermuth, TX
John Welage, OH
Dave Steiner, DE
Bruce Reiff, OH
Robert Drozd, IL
Stuart Tucker, MD
Jason Levine, NY
Jim Bell, MD
Jeff August, VA
Gerald Lientz, VA
97
66
62
59
48
47
45
24
24
21
Win, Place & Show (WPS)
or the second year in a row, the finalists unanimously agreed to use the race cards produced
by Stuart Tucker for Avalon Hill’s General magazine. The Big Board race card featured jockeys
crafted by Ellen Hoam. They depicted former
champions, including Bruce “Hawaiian Shirt”
Reiff, Ken “Texan” Gutermuth, Dave “The Carrot” Steiner, Rob “Businessman” Drozd, Stuart
“The Mona Lisa” Tucker, John “The Beer Man”
Welage, and Dennis” Wild Hair” Nicholson.
Three familiar faces—two-time champ Ken
Gutermuth and perennial finalists Jason Levine
and Gerald Lientz—joined Jennifer Drozd, Rachel
Harley, and newcomer Craig Fox. Jason got out to
a fast start in the first three races and threatened
to run away with his first championship. In the
fourth race, it was obvious that Jason had bet on his
own horse. It appeared that a concerted effort on
the straight away would box in Jason’s horse, but
the last horse before his—run by Rachel—freed up
the lane to let Jason’s horse pass. Jason won the race
and continued to build his lead. Craig ran his horse
to a win in the fifth race to keep within striking distance, though still $50K behind. The sixth race saw
wild bets placed in an effort to catch Jason. They
almost paid off. Gerald, Jennifer, and Craig reaped
large payouts, but they were not enough to make
up the difference. Final scores
were Jason $168K, Craig 147.5K,
Jennifer $146K, Gerald $142.5K,
Ken $48.5K, and Rachel $46.5K.
Century Events
55
2008 Results
Chris Goldfarb, OR
Greg Wilson, NJ
Bruce Harper, BC
Randy Scheers, TX
Rob Carl, MD
Don Stanley, SK
Mike Crowe, VA
24  1992-2008
Top Laurelists
Chris Goldfarb, OR
S
Jason Moore, NY
156
Greg Wilson, NJ
96
Bill Moodey, PA
96
Eric Thobaben, MI
72
Herbert Gratz, AA
66
Bruce Harper, BC
61
Chris Goldfarb, OR
60
Vic Hogen, CA
60
Randy Scheers, TX
54
Brock Heathcote, AZ 48
World At War (WAW)
ix full campaign games were completed during the tourney. All made it to early or mid1945. Three matches played to completion in
Europe. Two matches played to completion in
the Pacific. The games resulted in three ties, two
Axis victories, and one Allied victory. The most
convincing Axis victory was a successful invasion of Britain. The other resulted from a failed
invasion of Britain, followed by an invasion of
Spain, conquest of Gibraltar, and 1942 invasion
of Russia. Two games tried a traditional Barbarossa. Both were ties overall, but the Axis lost
in Europe.
This was the first convention without Berchtesgaden as a potential Axis redoubt. In the
high tech arena, jets were the most popular project for Germany, but advanced subs made an
appearance in two games as well. Both projects
now require fewer research points, but appear
later and in lower quantity. The atomic bomb
was key for the Allies in two games. In one, Germany stopped an attempted atomic bomb drop,
and Japan stopped two, although it eventually
succumbed to an invasion aided by a tactical
nuke. The end result was a tie. In another game,
the Allies used two bombs to advance in France,
and would have dropped enough
on Germany by Winter 1945 to
ensure an overall tie. In the same
game, there was a failed bomb drop
on Japan in Fall 1944.
BPA PBeM Tournaments
and Mini-Conventions
The big event runs an entire week—Monday through Sunday—and begins on Aug. 3,
2009, but you don’t have to suffer while waiting. You can scratch your gaming itch at playby-e-mail tournaments and any of these fine
BPA gaming mini-cons. They offer outstanding
competition, the opportunity to earn laurels
and a chance to improve your gaming performance—not to mention, time to have fun! Get
more details about any of this gaming—as well
as past results—at www.boardgamers.org.
Aug. 1-2, 2009 • WBC Pre-Cons
Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster, PA
So many games, so little time. WBC offers a few
events for early play without distractions, from
wargames to Euros. Play in Grognardcon and
Omens on Saturday. Guns of August, Middle
Earth, and Through the Ages will be on Sunday.
Nov. 12-15, 2009 • EuroQuest VII
Holiday Inn, Timonium, MD
Tournaments for popular Euro games, open
gaming, plus a wild-card event and a hot new
Euro title from Essen.
Jan. 28-31, 2010
Winter Activation Meeting (WAM) VIII
Holiday Inn, Timonium, MD
Four days of two-player card-driven wargames:
Paths of Glory, Twilight Struggle, and more.
March 26-28, 2010
Enlightenment XIII
Holiday Inn, Timonium, MD
Four rounds of Age of Renaissance and
Manifest Destiny over three full days.
PBeM Tournaments
Year-round events for selected games, including
1960: The Making of the President, Adel Verpflichtet,
Age of Renaissance, Amun Re, Breakout: Normandy,
For the People, Empire of the Sun, Gettysburg ‘88,
Here I Stand, Manifest Destiny, March Madness,
Monty’s Gamble, Panzergruppe Guderian, Paths of
Glory, The Russian Campaign, Saratoga, Shifting
Sands, Sword of Rome, Twilight Struggle, Victory in
the Pacific, War at Sea, and We the People.
56
2008 Trial Events
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
1776 (776)
1960 (960)
17  1993-2008
55  2008
 Steve Packwood, MN
O Robert Frisby, VA
O Chuck Leonard, PA
O Matt Burkins, MD
O Greg Smith, FL
O Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
 Chris Byrd, CT
O Chris Withers, CA
O Jean Francois Gagne, QC
O Keith Schoose, CA
O Phil Rennert, MD
O Raphael Lehrer, MD
Matthew Burkins, MD
AGreg Schmittgens, KS
Ace of Aces (AOA)
ASL Starter Kit (ASK)
29  2004-2008
13  2004-2008
 George Deutsch, MD
O Grant LaDue, NY
O Chris Villeneuve, MI
O Craig Yope, MI
O Richard Irving, CA
O David Zande, MI
 Pete Pollard, TN
O Jonathan Squibb, PA
O Dan Leader, MA
O Andres Dunn, MD
O Gary Phillips, FL
O John Vasilakos, VA
Doug Porterfield, VA
Perry Cocke, MD
Age of Empires III (AE3)
Agricola (AGR)
33  2008
48  2008
 Evan Davis, IN
O Jacob Hebner, CO
O Alex Gregorio, PA
O Bill Morgal, MD
O Kaarin Engelmann, VA
O Doug Mercer, MD
 Rob Kircher, RI
O David Platnick, VA
O Rodney Bacigalupo, MD
O Jeff Bowers, UT
O Joshua Cooper, MD
O Mike Kaltman, PA
Karsten Engelmann, VA
Tom McCorry, VA
Amazing Space Venture (ASV)
Athens & Sparta (A&S)
27  2008
13  2008
 Roger Knowles, OH
O Bob Menzel, VT
O Connor Davis, MD
O Barry Shutt, PA
O Brandon Bernard, PA
O Mike Davis, MD
 Fred Bauer, VA
O Phil Rennert, MD
O Harvey Harmon, NJ
O Michael Dauer, TX
O Brian Mountford, NY
O Dave Metzger, NY
Steve LeShay, DE
Jeff Cornett, FL
2008 Trial Events
57
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
Battleline (BAT)
Candidate (CDT)
45  2001-2008
11  1992-2001, 2008
 Bruce Reiff, OH
O Kate Taillon, SC
O Chris Yaure, PA
O Austin Walzl, VA
O Eric Kleist, MD
O David Burkey, PA
 Bruce Reiff, OH
O Leonard Omolecki, PA
O Peter Staab, PA
O Jason Levine, NY
O Mark Love, MD
O -
Bruce Reiff, OH
Jeff Mullet, OH
Clash for a Continent (CFC)
Conquest of Paradise (CQP)
21  2005-2008
19  2008
 Ted Drozd, IL
O Stan Hilinski, MD
O Bill Morgal, MD
O Matt O’Connor, NJ
O Philip Yaure, PA
O Grant Wylie, VA
 Mark McCandless, LA
O Ed Beach, MD
O David Cross, VA
O Alan Sudy, VA
O Jack Stalica, ON
O Daniel Pappas, MD
Grant Wylie, VA
Kevin McPartland, MD
Crusader Rex (CRX)
Cuba (CUB)
16  2007-2008
20  2008
 Joe Pabis, VA
O Scott Moll, VA
O Fred Bauer, VA
O Michael Dauer, TX
O James Miller, VA
O Wesley Chapman, IN
 Nick Palmer, UK
O Mike Kaltman, PA
O Michael Sosa, FL
O Kevin Brown, GA
O Stan Hilinski, MD
O Bruce Bernard, PA
Ric Manns, IN
Michelle Hymowitz, MD
Die Macher (DIM)
Downfall of Pompeii (POM)
17  2003-2008
21  2008
 Chris Trimmer, TX
O Steve Simmons, NJ
O Jim Castonguay, PA
O Tom Browne, PA
O John Weber, MD
O Tom DeMarco, NJ
 Jonathan Squibb, PA
O Larry Lingle, PA
O Dan Hoffman, NC
O John Ellsworth, IL
O Rick Kirchner, KY
O Steve Shambeda, PA
Steve Simmons, NJ
Larry Lingle, PA
58
2008 Trial Events
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
Elchfest (ELC)
Empire of the Sun (EOS)
64  2001-2008
11  2005-2008
 Dave Meyaard, CT
O Jon Gemmell, CT
O Dan Dolan Sr, NJ
O Andres Dunn, MD
O Rebecca Hebner, CA
O Bruce Monnin, OH
 Dennis Culhane, PA
O Mark Popofsky, DC
O Pablo Garcia, CH
O Paul Gaberson, PA
O Bob Heinzmann, FL
O -
Dan Dolan Jr., NJ
Mark Herman, MD
Euphrat & Tigris (E&T)
Fast Action: Bulge (FAB)
43  1999-2008
25  2008
 Alfred Smith, NC
O Jeff Cornett, FL
O Craig Moffitt, NJ
O Rob Kilroy, PA
O Aaron Fuegi, MA
O Matt Calkins, VA
 Bob Heinzmann, FL
O Scott Moll, VA
O Kevin Garber, VA
O Grant LaDue, NY
O Jack Stalica, ON
O Stu Hendrickson, VA
Craig Moffitt, NJ
Rick Young, NC
Hamburgum (HBG)
Hammer of the Scots (HOS)
19  2008
23  2003-2008
 Chris Trimmer, TX
O David Burkey, PA
O Joshua Ostrander, NY
O Luke Koleszar, VA
O Dan Hoffman, NC
O Steve Cameron, PA
 George Seary, NY
O Lyman Moquin, DC
O Joe Pabis, VA
O Phil Rennert, MD
O Steve Lollis, MD
O Mike Dauer, TX
Chris Trimmer, TX
Lyman Moquin, DC
Ivanhoe (IVH)
Kaiser’s Pirates (KPR)
69  2001-02, ‘05-’06, ‘08
41  2007-2008
 Andy Latto, MA
O John Ellsworth, IL
O Ed Beach, MD
O Donna Balkan, ON
O Bobbi Warczak, CA
O Forrest Speck, MD
 Phil Barcafer, PA
O Joel Tamburo, IL
O Stan Buck, MD
O Rob Winslow, NY
O John Emery, SC
O Bruce Young, SC
Jeff Senley, PA
Jim Day, MD
2008 Trial Events
59
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
Manoeuvre (MAN)
Monty’s Gamble (MGM)
57  2008
14  2003-2008
 Chris Byrd, CT
O John Miklos, GA
O Scott Moll, VA
O Mark Giddings, NY
O Marc Berenbach, MA
O Bob Heinzmann, FL
 David Long, NC
O Andrew Cummins, UK
O Jim Eliason, IA
O Ken Dunn, MD
O Mark Gutfreund, KY
O Tod Whitehurst, VA
Andy Lewis, DE
Dave Long, NC
Mystery of Abbey (MOA)
Notre Dame (NTD)
46  2003-2008
47  2008
 Chuck Halberstadt, IN
O Josh Githens, SC
O Gene Pappas, MD
O Alexandra Henning, CT
O Allyson Field, SC
O Chris Yaure, PA
 David Platnick, VA
O Cary Morris, NC
O Geoffrey Pounder, ON
O Nick Page, ON
O Robb Effinger, ON
O Greg Crowe, VA
Ellen Hoam, OH
Jim Vroom, PA
Nuclear War (NUC)
Pro Golf (PGF)
25  2008
67  1994-2008
 Blair Morgen, NJ
O Scott Beall, OR
O Bill Peeck, NY
O David Weinstein, NY
O Paul Camina, NJ
O Gary Schaefers, PA
 Brian Farrelly, IL
O Rod Weaver, PA
O John Coussis, IL
O Keith Hunsinger, OH
O Charles Drozd, IL
O Nick Kramer, PA
Rick Loomis, AZ
Bruce Monnin, OH
Race for the Galaxy (RFG)
Republic of Rome (ROR)
103  2008
14  1991-2008
 Robert Renaud, NJ
O Aaron Fuegi, MA
O Rob Kircher, RI
O Ben Stephenson, MD
O Raphael Lehrer, MD
O Lyman Moquin, DC
Chris Bartiromo, NJ
O Chris Greenfield, NY
O Kevin Barry, PA
O Sean Larsen, NJ
O Steve Bachman, NY
O Matt Miller, NJ
Winton LeMoine, CA
Sean Larsen, NJ
60
2008 Trial Events
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
San Juan (SJN)
Santa Fe Rails (SFR)
44  2004-2008
43  2003-2008
 Tom Browne, PA
O Eric Freeman, PA
O Jason Levine, NY
O Debbie Gutermuth, NC
O Jeff Mullet, OH
O Eric Brosius, MA
 Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
O Phillip White, MD
O Bob Wicks, CT
O Ken Rothstein, NY
O Laurel Stokes, NJ
O Steve Cuyler, NY
Jeff Mullet, OH
Rob Kircher, RI
Shogun (SHG)
Successors (SUC)
20  2008
12  1998-2008
 John Emery, SC
O Bruce Hodgins, ON
O Pete Pollard, TN
O Craig Moffitt, NJ
O Arthur Field, SC
O Greg Thatcher, CA
 Doug Smith, PA
O Dan Dolan Jr, NJ
O Rob Seulowitz, NY
O Ahmet Ilpars, TU
O Francis Czawlytko, MD
O Craig Melton, VA
Eric Freeman, MD
Rob Seulowitz, NY
Through The Ages (AGE)
TransAmerica (TAM)
39  2008
56  2004, 2006-2008
 Jason Ley, WA
O David Metzger, NY
O Eric Brosius, MA
O Raphael Lehrer, MD
O David des Jardins, CA
O Aran Warszawski, IS
 Laurel Stokes, NJ
O April Gardner, VA
O Matt Calkins, VA
O Virginia Colin, VA
O Janet Ottey, PA
O Daniel Ottey, PA
Raphael Lehrer, MD
Lisa Gutermuth, TX
Union Pacific (UNP)
Vegas Showdown (VSD)
32  2000-2008
56  2008
 Paul Bolduc, FL
O Fred Minard, PA
O Max Jamelli, PA
O Cliff Ackman, PA
O Tom Johnston, IL
O Steve Shambeda, PA
 Andrew Gerb, MD
O Sceadeau D’Tela, NC
O Kevin Brown, GA
O Robb Effinger, ON
O Chris Robbins, UT
O Anne Murphy, MA
Joe Lux, NY
John Weber, MD
2008 Trial Events
61
To read after-action reports, visit www.boardgamers.org/yearbook08.
War of 1812 (812)
Waterloo: Fate of France (WFF)
12  1999-2008
9  2008
 David Metzger, NY
O Mark Miklos, GA
O Rob Doane, MA
O James Miller, VA
O Brad Raszewski, MD
O Wesley Chapman, IN
 Rob Beyma, MD
O Allen Kaplan, NJ
O Chris Orszak, CT
O Richard Beyma, MD
O O -
Frank Cunliffe, PA
Richard Beyma, MD
Winds of Plunder (WPL)
Wooden Ships (WSM)
16  2008
16  1991-2008
 James Tyne, NJ
O Danielle Zack, MD
O Ryan Myslinski, NJ
O John Ellsworth, IL
O Chris LeFevre, AZ
O Forrest Speck, MD
 Evan Hitchings, DE
O Dale Long, NC
O Rob Doane, MA
O Tim Hitchings, DE
O Katherine Hitchings, DE
O Keira Herzfeld, DE
Chris LeFevre, AZ
Year of the Dragon (YOD)
25  2008
 Rod Spade, PA
O Rob Effinger, ON
O Robert Kircher, RI
O Tom McCorry, VA
O Jessica Crandell, FL
O Geoffrey Pounder, ON
Keith Levy, MD
Yspahan (YSP)
42  2008
 Nate Hoam, OH
O JR Tracy, NY
O Scot Palenshus, OH
O Chris Trimmer, TX
O Paul Bean, MA
O Matt Peterson, MN
Jeff Mullet, OH
Tim Hitchings, DE
WBC 2008 Vendors
Our vendors help make the WBC possible.
We encourage you to support them.
Against the Odds
Belle & Blade War Video
Clash of Arms
Columbia Games
Decision Games
Flying Buffalo
GMT Games
Harmony House Hobbies
L2 Design Group
Lock ‘N Load
Lost Battalion Games
Mayfair Games
Multiman Publishing
Our Game Table
Rio Grande Games
SherCo Games
THe GAMe PLACe
Worthington Games
Z-Man Games
62
Juniors Events
12
Matt Leader, 12
32
20
Jaclyn Sands, 12
17
10
Jordan Shea, 11
16
16
Lissa Rennert, 11
20
Joanna Melton
Thomas Melton, 9
19
James Confoy, 8
15
Jordan Shea, 11
11
Rebecca Melton, 12
Rebecca Melton, 12
18
Thomas Melton, 9
17
Rebecca Melton, 12
20
Jordan Shea, 11
Brian Sherwood, 11
19
David Rennert, 12
17
Rebecca Melton, 12
12
Brian Pappas, 11
Ben Gardner, 12
11
Virginia Melton, 12
17
Jaclyn Sands, 12
12
Matt Leader, 12
Teen Events
63
14
I
David Pack
11
Natalie Beach
9
Pam Gutermuth
8
Special Event
15
Michael Wojtaszczyk
WBC 2009 Logistics
t’s easier than ever to get to WBC this
year. Cape Air (flycapeair.com) offers
five round-trip flights daily between Lancaster and BWI airports for $50 each way.
Cape Air has ticket and baggage agreements with most major airlines. The hotel
offers its guests complimentary Shuttle
Service to and from the Lancaster (LNS)
airport. It must be booked in advance.
For additional transportation details, see
boardgamers.org/hotellan.htm.
All WBC events take place at the Lancaster Host Resort, 2300 Lincoln Highway East (Route 30), Lancaster, PA (lancasterhost.com). $99/night, plus 11% tax.
One night’s deposit, $109.89, which will be credited to the guest’s last
scheduled night of stay, is required with each reservation. It is possible
to cancel 30 days prior to arrival at no penalty, but any reservations
canceled after 30 days prior to arrival will forfeit one night’s deposit.
In addition, there are a number of convenient hotels at every price
range within walking distance. BPA has negotiated favorable group
rates with the following hotels which offer especially good value for the
budget conscious with free breakfast packages. However, WBC occurs
during the tourist season and sellouts are common so make your reservations early. Cancellation policies are more lenient than at the Host.
The walk to the Host is short, but it crosses a busy highway.
The Continental Inn is directly across the street from the Host. The
amenities include indoor and outdoor pools and jacuzzi, remote, color
cable tv, free wireless internet, refrigerators, coffee makers, and more.
A complete, complimentary hot breakfast is included to start your day.
The special WBC rate is $94 per day plus 11% tax per single thru quad
occuancy with 1 King or 2 Double Beds. Rollaways beds, if requested,
$7 additional. A three-night minimum stay is required for this special
group rate. One night’s deposit will be required upon booking. The deposit is refundable up until 48 hours prior to arrival. Phone 717-2990421 to make your reservation or email [email protected] for a
callback by the reservationist. Alternatively, you may book on line at
continentalinn.com at the regular rates and identify yourself in the comments as claiming the WBC rate, providing you are booking the threenight minimum stay. This offer is valid until July 11 or our room block
sells out, whichever occurs first.
The Red Roof Inn is across the street and a short walk away from
the Host, next to some excellent restaurants. The amenities include an
outdoor pool, a free Deluxe Continental breakfast, complimentary USA
Today newspaper, free local phone calls, wireless internet, and voicemail, Cable TV with HBO, microwave and mini-fridge in every room,
and discounts at the aforementioned restaurants. The special WBC rate
is $89.95 per night plus 11% tax per single thru quad occuancy with
1 King or 2 Double Beds. No deposit is required, but the reservation
must be confirmed with a valid credit card. Any reservation that is not
canceled by 3 pm on the date of arrival will automatically be charged
for one night’s stay. Call 866-225-2066 toll free to make your reservation. This offer is valid until June 1 or our room block sells out, whichever occurs first.
64
Team Champions
John Pack, CO
Steve Packwood, MN
Mike Backstrom, MN
Rich Moyer, MN
Victory in the Pacific • 3
1776 • 7
Settlers of Catan • 0
Superstar Baseball • 9
T
hree-time defending champion Nest of
Spies, a coalition of card-driven wargamers
from four different states reinforced their team
with Chris Byrd in 2008. On paper, it was their
strongest team ever and an overwhelming favorite, with 25-1 odds to continue their dominance
of the Team Tournament. However, they hadn’t
counted on Riku Reikkinen of Finland, who
snatched victory from their outstretched hands
in the Final of Paths of Glory and For the People,
costing them 10 points. The latter win was especially noteworthy, as it ended a seven-year reign
of terror by Master Pei in his specialty.
Thus humbled, the mighty Nest fell to 8th
place. They were replaced by the St Paul’s
Rejects—no slouches themselves—fifth ranked
at 41-1 odds. The team, with its roots in Minnesota, included Steve Packwood, who won his
sixth straight 1776 title and 12th overall. But the
points that put them in contention came from
Rich Moyer, whose first win in Superstar Baseball yielded nine big points. John Pack’s steadily
improving Victory in the Pacific prowess netted
three more points to put them over the top and
edge The James Gang by a single point.
The latter team, ranked seventh at 43-1, and
composed entirely of traditional hex wargamers, scored at every position. The team was
anchored by Doug James and Rob Beyma who
won fifth and third titles in their respective
specialties. Both teams earned two points in bonuses for members not having previously won
their respective events.
The year’s biggest over-achievers were
Three Beers and a Chardonay and Pixel Juice
who both overcame 2300 -1 odds to finish 12th
and 17th respectively and thumb their respective noses at the Happy Handicapper. However,
overall, it was an up year for the Happy Handi-
capper. Despite the record field of 90 teams, 14
of his top 25 picks (56%) made the Top 25—up
4% from 2007.
Buoyed by a record-breaking field of 90
teams, scoring was up considerably with the
points needed to break into the Top 25 up four
points. The other side of that coin saw 30 teams
shutout—an even third of the field. The highest ranked squad to post nothing but goose
eggs, and thereby earn the 2008 title for Most
Overrated, was Galaxy Quest at 65-1, which
had been the 29th ranked team. However, the
Greenville Mafia’s third-ranked Famine squad
at 37-1 was the highest ranked team to fall out
of the Top 25.
No other teams were able to join the James
Gang in scoring across the board at every position although the Greenville Mafia’s War squad
came closest. David Gantt came up one player
short in Acquire, which kept him from scoring
and giving his team sixth place.
The Wonder Women team won the Misery
Loves Company title with 484 entrants for an
average of 122 entrants per event. On the opposite end of the scale, claiming the Big Fish in the
Small Pond title was The James Gang, with a
total of 103 total entrants, averaging fewer than
26 players per event.
The most frequently named choice for the
Team Tournament was Carcassonne which was
the selection of nine of the 360 players in the
tournament. In all, 129 of our 154 events were
selected by someone with 18XX and Ticket to
Ride tying for second with eight each. Other top
choices were Queen’s Gambit and Twilight Struggle which were named by seven teams each and
Atlantic Storm, Puerto Rico, Robo Rally, Victory
in the Pacific, and Commands & Colors Ancients,
which were each selected by six teams.
PBeM Champions
65
P
lay-by-e-mail tournaments are the answer to many players’ most common complaints—lack of time and inability to find skilled opposition. BPA does not run
PBeM tournaments; rather, we provide support for hobbyists willing to host events.
E-mail tournaments are counted the same as face-to-face action in BPA’s prestigious Caesar competition, with Laurels based solely on size of the field and the average face-to-face playing time.
Entry in these tournaments is free to current BPA members. For anyone who is not already a
member, an associate membership costs only $10 to cover the costs of this program. (Players have
no obligation to keep their memberships current once the tournament begins.) For information
about running a PBeM tournament, contact the BPA PBeM coordinator Hank Burkhalter at [email protected] or check out his webpage at www.abovethefields.com/top_pbem.
Previous Winners
Event Results
None
 Ken Gutermuth, NC
O Sharee Pack, CO
O Tom Browne, PA
O Alex Bove, PA
O Greg Thatcher, FL
O John Pack, CO
John Pack, CO
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Ken Gutermuth, NC
34  2007-2008
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Mark Neale, RI
O Jeff Mullet, OH
O Mark Frueh, IL
O Harald Henning, CT
O Ken Gutermuth, NC
O Tedd Mullally, NJ
2004 Arthur Field, SC
2006 Harald Henning, CT
Greg Stripes, WA
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Mark Neale, RI
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
O Ed Menzel, CA
O Barry Smith, NY
O Jon Lockwood, VA
O Ted Drozd, IL
O Mark Gutfreund, KY
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
48  2007-2008
2003 Ed Menzel, CA
2009-2011 PBEM
Tournament underway
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
26  2005-2008
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
O Mike Kaltman, PA
O Alex Bove, PA
O Eric Freeman, PA
O Tom Browne, PA
O Tom Dunning, NY
None
Arthur Field, SC
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
30  2007-2008
66
PBeM Champions
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
O Buddy Sinigaglio, CO
O Bill Morse, VA
O Steve Likevich, OH
O Jeff Lange, JP
O Frank Sinigaglio, NJ
2001 Bob Ryan, MI
2002 Tom Gregorio, PA
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
2009-2011 PBEM
Tournament underway
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK
Previous Winners
Event Results
2006 Barry Shoults, MI
 Vince Meconi, DE
O Ed Menzel, CA
O Bill Place, PA
O Allen Kaplan, NJ
O Ted Drozd, IL
O Robin Chiang, CA
Vince Meconi, DE
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Vince Meconi, DE
Event Results
None
2009-2010 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Dan Gallagher, MD
2007 Tom Taffe, VA
2009 PBEM
Tournament scheduled
Bill Edwards, VA
35  2008
Previous Winners
Event Results
2006 Bruce Monnin, OH
2007 Jeffrey Martin, GA
 Bruce Monnin, OH
O Pete Staab, PA
O Harry Flawd, PA
O John Coussis, IL
O Jim Gutt, AZ
O Bob Jamelli, PA
Bruce Monnin, OH
54  2007-2008
Previous Winners
Event Results
 Bill Edwards, VA
O Bill Crenshaw, VA
O Pete Staab, PA
O Stefan Mecay, TX
O Tom Taaffe, VA
O Harald Henning, CT
Bill Crenshaw, VA
28  2007-2008
Previous Winners
 Dan Gallagher, MD
O Rob Seulowitz, NY
O Steve Caler, OH
O Mike Brophy, NC
O George Young, VT
O Jeremiah Peterson, IL
Bryan Collars, SC
32  2006-2008
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Bruce Monnin, OH
38  2007-2008
PBeM Champions
67
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Tom Gregorio, PA
O Ed O’Connor, NJ
O Gary Dickson, CA
O Doug James, NC
O Larry Hollern, TX
O Roy Walker, UK
2003 Tom Gregorio, PA
2006 Doug James, NC
George Karahalios, IL
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Tom Gregorio, PA
31  2007-2008
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Tom Drueding, MA
O Scott Burns, UK
O Ottore Cossuta, IT
O Sergio Montagner, IT
O Nick Frydas, UK
O Dennis Nicholson, NY
None
Tom Drueding, MA
2009-2010 PBEM
Tournament scheduled
Tom Drueding, MA
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Stefan Mecay, TX
O Chris Withers, CA
O Darren Kilfara, UK
O George Seary, NY
O Bill Edwards, VA
O Suzanne Tuch, NY
Darren Kilfara, UK
35  2007-2008
None
2009-2010 PBEM
Tournament in progress
Stefan MeCay, TX
86  2005-2008
Event Results
Previous Winners
 Darren Kilfara, UK
O Alan Applebaum, MA
O Ewan McNay, NY
O Dennis Nicholson, NY
O Ed Menzel, CA
O Scott Beall, OR
2004 Don Grenwood, MD
2006 Andy Gardner, VA
Kevin Shewfelt, CA
2009-2010 PBEM
Tournament scheduled
Darren Kilfara, UK
Previous Winners
Event Results
2003 James Pei, VA
2006 John Buse, IL
 James Pei, VA
O George Young, VT
O Adam Deverall, AU
O Ron Fedin, PA
O Bill Edwards, VA
O Peter Reese, VA
Keith Wixson, NJ
46  2007-2008
2008-2009 PBEM
Tournament in progress
James Pei, VA
62  2007-2008
68
EuroQuest
VI
PBeM
Champions
D
Brian Reynolds • MD
espite concerns about the economy and
incomplete renovations at the Days Hotel, the sixth rendition of EuroQuest managed to hold steady, with approximately 250
in attendance. Top individual honors for the
weekend went to Alex Bove, the 2007 runnerup to Rob Kircher, who reached four tournament finals and compiled 24 points to 22 for
the reigning Caesar, Raphael Lehrer. Alex won
the Harald Siegelman
Award despite winning no events to Raphael’s two by scoring in six of 11 main
event tournaments.
The award goes to the
top overall individual
performer in all conAlex Bove, PA
vention events.
For the second
Harold L. Siegelman
straight year, it was
Award Winner
Raphael who won the
most games overall (18), but because he posted
wins in two fewer events, Alex scored higher.
Defending Siegelman champ Rob Kircher competed well also, winning a total of 17 tournament games and placing fifth in the Wild Card
tourney. He also won games in seven tournaments to place third, two points behind Raphael
and four behind Alex.
Wild Card specialist Eric Freeman became
the first three-time EQ Champ in the same
event. His margin of victory was much closer
this year. He was hard pressed by a number
of challengers, including two EQ I winners,
former Wild Card champ Anne Norton and
Ohio’s Jeff Mullet. In the end, though, Winton
Lemoine, a California native came the closest.
The final Wild Card standings were: 1. Eric
Freeman 242; 2. Winton Lemoine 210; 3. Jeff
€43
€32
Michael Brazinski • MD
J.J. Jaskiewicz • MD
€20
Sam Atabaki • CA
€16
Raphael Lehrer • MD
€42
Lyman Moquin • DC
€26
EuroQuest
VI
PBeM Champions
Mullet 190; 4. Michael Thompson 189; 5. Rob
Kircher 159; and 6, Anne Norton 156.
A duo of two-time defending EQ champs
fell just short in attempting to become the first
three-time consecutive winners in the same
tournament as Virginia Colin reached the Final
in Ticket to Ride (finishing second to Donna Davis) and two-time defending Goa Champ Alex
Bove was third. Mike Brazinski (Puerto Rico),
Donna Davis (Ticket to Ride), Mark Delano (Race
For the Galaxy), Tom DeMarco (Saint Petersburg)
and Raphael Lehrer (Goa & Thorn & Taxis) were
first-time winners, while Sam Atabaki (Caylus),
Tom Dunning (Settlers of Catan), J. J. Jaskiewicz
(Ra), and Lyman Moquin (Power Grid) proved
their adaptability by winning different events
this year. Brian Reynolds repeated his 2004
Princes of Florence win, after having won the
Settlers title last year.
Euro Quest provides a competitive forum
for the play of popular “European” style boardgames in a focused, in-depth format not available elsewhere. All tournaments are run to provide multiple opportunities to compete in the
same game, with a minimum of three preliminary heats preceding the elimination rounds.
The Wild Card is a unique, free-form event that
includes up to 15 titles. In addition to the tournaments, EuroQuest provides a game library
and space set aside for Open Gaming.
EuroQuest VII will be Nov. 12-15 at the Holiday Inn in Timonium, Md. The Wild Card event
will return, as well as up to 11 different main
event tournaments, including Caylus, Power Grid,
Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, Ra, Race for the Galaxy, St. Petersburg, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride
Combo, Thurn und Taxis, and one other as yet-tobe identified game, plus a “Hot New Game” to
be announced at the 2009 World Boardgaming
Championships in Lancaster, Pa. For additional
information see euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org.
69
€242
Eric Freeman • PA
€48
Donna Davis • PA
€42
Raphael Lehrer • MD
€56
Tom Dunning • NY
€36
€39
Mark Delano • CT
Tom DeMarco • NJ
70
Waterloo VI
B
y the end of the weekthe tune of ten units. John, gazing at what would
end, players had com- be his worst Russian hand of the day, immedipleted 39 official games (us- ately offered Submission and one key. Onlookers
ing second edition rules) and raised a few eyebrows as the chances of retaking
89 turns. Only four of the ofVienna seemed far from hopeless.
ficial games went more than
Surprised by this easy victory and a guar3 turns. Ken Gutermuth and
anteed Turn 1 lead, Rich accepted—a choice he
John Nestor played the
later regretted. Austria, safe from French attack,
most official games, with
now plied the diplomatic track and soon bought
eight each. Ken also lay claim to the most turns Prussia, while Britain consoled itself over the
in the lead, with nine. Rich Shipley gained the
loss of Napoli and Lisbon with a Swedish Pact.
most points from defeated winners, with 11,
It became apparent that there was method
while Kevin Sudy and
to John’s madness. Subject
2008 Results
Ken Gutermuth had 10
Neutral Austria equalled
each. Kevin Emery took John Emery, SC
the card draws of both
the Horatio Hornblower O Russia and Britain. By
Kevin Sudy, VA
award for playing the O Turn 3 the Austrians
Rich Shipley, MD
Brits seven times.
were back in the war
O Bruce Young, SC
After the dust of the O accompanied by their
Ken Gutermuth, NC
preliminaries settled, KevPrussian allies. The
O Melvin Casselbury
in Sudy, Rich Shipley, and
Austrians ended the
23
Bruce Young had each
Turn with the lead and
won four games, while
a chance to roll for vicJohn Emery had won three. However,
tory. Turn 4 opened with
John edged out Bruce on tournament
France threatening AusPast Winners
points. In the Final, Rich grabbed the
tria and Russia’s denuded
2003 – John Emery, SC
French, who he had already led to three
rear. Undeterred, Kutuzov
2004 – John Emery, SC
victories. John opted for the Austro-Rustook Paris, followed by Na2005 – Ken Gutermuth, TX
sians, leaving Kevin with the English. It
poleon and then Charles
2006 – Kevin Sudy, VA
appeared that Waterloo was in for a retaking the French capital.
2007 – Kevin Sudy, VA
run of the 2007 Final when the French vaMeanwhile, the Turks took
porized the Austrians on their way to a
Vienna but were unable to
Turn 2 conquest of Russia and an automatic win.
flag it and were driven out by Ferdinand. As the
With the British occupied by three Foreign turn drew to a close, Napoleon retook Paris and
Wars, Napoleon met Kutuzov at Linz in a 21-19 then routed Kutuzov’s attempt to take it back.
Army Group clash. He routed the Coalition to John had a chance to win with a roll of 4 or better,
but he only managed a 3.
By Turn 5 the French had been bled
white. Which of the two jackals picking at the French carcass would come
out ahead? Britain landed Wellington
on the continent to grab keys from the
defenseless French countryside and
another army under Hill landed in
Spain and failed several sieges. He was
never able to go for Madrid. Wellington took Paris. France was down to one
Rich Shipley, MD • &Best French
unit and Napoleon. Kevin rolled a 5 for
Bruce Young SC • &Best Austro-Russia
the maximum number of French keys
in the conquest. With a count of the VPs
Ben Sternick, SC • &Best British
John had 8 to Kevin’s 7.
WAM VII
W
71
AM VII in Timonium, MD was a rousing success, drawing 40 players. There
were four formal tournaments with scheduled
rounds: Paths of Glory (POG), Wilderness War
(WNW), Twilight Struggle (TWS), and 1960: The
Making of the President (960). There was also the
annual informal March Madness tournament. In
Paths of Glory, the mean bid was just over 2 to
play the AP, though one player bid 4 to keep
the AP from Tom Drueding! It was to no avail,
as Tom worked his way through the ladder to
meet up with Chris Byrd in the Final. Tom won
the AP with a bid of 3. By Turn 5 it was looking
bleak for Chris. By Turn 10 he realized that his
CP forces were in an untenable position and,
being the sportsman that he is, conceded.
Three-time defending WBC Champ Stefan
Mecay made his WAM debut and surprised nobody in besting a field of 28 to win the Twilight
Struggle five-round Swiss tournament with a
perfect score. Mecay played the USSR in all five
games, bidding 3 IPs thrice and 4 IPs twice. The
Best Soviet Player award
went to Mecay and the Best
€12
American Player award
went to Sean McCulloch.
 Tom Drueding, MA
1960 continued its sucO Chris Byrd, CT
cessful run at WAM. In what
O Ken Gutermuth, NC
turned out to be probably
O Charlie Hickok, PA
the event’s wildest game,
O Tim Hall, UT
Bill Pettus built a huge lead
O Bill Pettus, NJ
early versus Steven Brooks.
But Steve’s Kennedy performed well in the debate
and managed to eke out vic€28
tory. It was a big loss for Bill,
as he finished just behind the
 Stefan Mecay, TX
4-0 records of Texan Stefan
O Bill Edwards, VA
Mecay and Terry Coleman.
O Keith Wixson, NJ
In the Final, Stefan won goO Sean McCulloch, OH
O Marvin Birnbaum, NY ing away, 394-114.
After three rounds of
O John Wetherell, PA
Wilderness War, Sean McCulloch was the only unbeaten player, and he was
declared tournament win€17
ner. He defeated two former
 Stefan Mecay, TX
WBC champs, Paul GaberO Terry Coleman, CA
son and Keith Wixson.
O Bill Pettus, NJ
In the unofficial March
O Steven Brooks, FL
Madness tourney, Bill EdO Joe Yaure, PA
wards top-seeded 1956 San
O Marvin Birnbaum, NY
Fancisco squad went 3-0, defeating Bruce Monnin’s 1959
Cincinnati team in the Final.
BPA will host its next
€14
Winter Activation Meeting
(WAM VIII) in Timonium,
 Sean McCulloch, OH
MD, from Jan. 28-31, 2010.
O Paul Gaberson, PA
The event is designed for
O Tom Drueding, MA
experienced players, but
O Michael Sosa, FL
all are welcome. Additional
O Doug Mercer, MD
details are available on the
O Bruce Monnin, OH
boardgamers.org website.
72
Enlightenment XII
E
Manifest Destiny Results
Game designer and GM
Bill Crenshaw reclaimed the
Manifest Destiny crown with
back to back, last to first,
come from behind finishes
in the final two rounds. He
was the only three-game
winner, scoring an impressive 35, 36 and 36 VPs in those wins. In the third
round, Bill cashed all three Oil cards for $300 on
the final turn to come from
Age of Renaissance Results
worst to first.
Throughout the AOR tourPast Winners
In the final round, Bill,
nament, there were 17 games
playing Pennsylvania, cleverly
1998 – Bill Crenshaw, VA
played, with seven 6-player
1999 – James Pei, TX
lost eight consecutive expanand ten 5-player. After three
2000 – Tom Taffe, VA
sion attacks over two turns to
rounds, for the first time in
2001 – Bill Crenshaw, VA
seemingly fall out of contenEnlightenment history, the
2002 – John Coussis, IL
tion. He came back strong to
five contenders—Rodd Pol2003 – Chris Byrd, CT
cash $225 with two Ore paysky, Jeff Mullet, Tom Browne,
2004 – Jeff Mullet, OH
outs, plus $70 in Technology
2005 – Bill Crenshaw, VA
Ken Gutermuth, and Arthur
2006 – Jeff Mullet, OH
and $40 in Tourists to buy 14
Field—were at the same table.
2007 – Ken Gutermuth, TX
Progression VPs in the final
As the Final game entered
2008 – AOR Steve Simmons, NJ
Investment Phase and finish
the halfway point of Epoch
MFD Ewan McNay, CT
with 36 VPs and cash to spare.
III, it was a very close contest.
Two-game winner Pete
Ken made a speculative run on
Grain that paid off as he drew the grain card on Staab (Quebec) took second and was $5 short
the turn that saw all the leaders come out. Ken of winning the final game (and the tournament)
on the next to last turn. Since he was short, Pete
used the leaders and purchased Cathedral to take
sacrificed himself to grab Storytelling and prea lead that he never relinquished. With his three
vent Stefan Mecay (Mexico)
wins, Ken posted a score of
from winning. Stefan re329. Rodd Polsky took secturned the favor on the
ond with 313, followed
last turn using Yankee
by Jeff Mullet 302, ArIngenuity to snag
thur Field 299, Eric EsUrban Renaissance
hleman 298, and Tom
from Pete, dropping
Browne 291.
Pete to last. Stefan
Genoa led the
finished second in the
way with six wins folfinal game and fourth
lowed by Barcelona
overall. Ewan McNay
and Paris with five each.
(Louisiana) finished
Venice, had only one
win while London
2009 AOR Results
2009 MFD Results fourth in the game
and fifth overall.
and Hamburg went Ken Gutermuth, NC
Bill Crenshaw, VA
winless. Eight playTom Browne—third
&Rodd Polsky, PA
&Peter Staab, PA
ers bought all of the
overall and the only
&Jeff Mullet, OH
&Tom Browne, PA
advances. For the first
two game winner
&Arthur Field, SC
&Stefan Mecay, TX
time in recent history,
beside Pete—and Ar&Eric Eshleman, PA
&Ewan McNay, NY
no one reached the
thur Field, sixth over&
Tom Browne, PA
&
Arthur Field, SC
CHAOS space on the
all, sat out the final
30  1998-2009
25  2006, ‘08-’09
misery track.
round to play AoR.
nlightenment XII had
30 diehard players in
attendance, with 28 of them
participating in at least one
round of Age of Renaissance.
It is the second straight
year that Enlightenment
has outdrawn WBC’s AOR
tournament in both total
players and games played. There were 25 players in the Manifest Destiny tournament.
Caesar Award
73
A
lex Bove, in his sixth year of WBC competition, laurelled in nine Euros competitions
to claim the Caesar title by topping all players
with 159 laurels in the 2008 season. He owed his
victory to persistence by scoring in every tournament possible, save Pre-Cons, although he
won only three tournaments overall. His
margin of victory was razor slim, edging
Ewan McNay by a single laurel. Alex
had 46 laurels coming into WBC from
his play at Euro Quest, and 25 more
from e-mail tournaments, but he still
trailed several other contenders entering WBC. But Alex had a good week,
winning two events (Princes of Florence
and Ra) outright
while laurelling in
two more. The only
question remaining
is how does he look
in a toga?
As good as his
year was, it wasn’t
good enough to
rule the BPA roost
alone, however, as he finished sixth in WBC
statistics for Consul honors. Rounding out the
top six BPA competitors for Caesar were Chris
Byrd, Andy Latto, Ken Gutermuth and newcomer Riku Riekkinen, in that order. Eleven of
last year’s Top 25 players managed to repeat in
2008, led by Bove who rose from 21st to lead
the pack. Byrd, Gutermuth, Harald Henning,
Eric Brosius, Kevin Sudy, James Pei, Tom Dunning, Tom Browne, reigning Caesar Raphael
Lehrer and Bruce Reiff all managed to retain
Top 25 status another year also while 14 new
names graced the leader board.
Commencing in 2002, the Caesar Award became the crowning achievement of BPA’s many
Ewan McNay, NY
158
Chris Byrd, CT
144
competitions. This honor goes to the player who
accumulates the most Laurels over the course of
the BPA year (including the pre-WBC weekend,
mini-cons and PBeM events), as
measured from one WBC to
the next.
Laurels are earned
for each of the top six
places in every event
offered. The level of
points earned for a
given event are directly related to the
event’s length and
field size. Thus, bigger and longer events
offer more Laurels. WBC
events, whether Century
or Trial, mini-con, or PBeM
all count in determining the BPA’s
top annual competitor and no matter what the
genre, all are weighted fairly using Laurels.
Every member is automatically entered into
this championship hunt. The more you play, the
more chances you have to score. Scoring is automatic and requires no extra effort by either GM
or player. Laurels are awarded by multiplying
the player hours category times the finish rank
value to yield Laurels earned. Recent and total
Laurels are displayed on your badge.
Andy Latto, MA
135
Past Caesars
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Marvin Birnbaum, NY
Nick Benedict, CA
James Pei, VA
Arthur Field, SC
Jeff Mullet, OH
Raphael Lehrer, MD
Alex Bove, PA
146
113
293
224
166
170
159
Ken Gutermuth, NC
Riku Riekkinen, FN
126
122
- The 2008 Caesar Line of Succession -
74
Consul Award
W
e turned to Roman history for inspiration in creating our twin leader honors
to keep one top honor always up for grabs at
the World Boardgaming Championships. The
Consul Award goes to the individual who earns the most laurels
during WBC week. Taking
away the points for email
tournaments, mini-cons,
and Pre-Cons provides
a very different picture of who was king
of the roost for those
six days in August.
Should our Caesar winner also dominate WBC,
as happened in 2007 with
Raphael Lehrer, no Consul
award is given.
Andy Latto won four events
outright at WBC 2008—Ingenious, Lost
Cities, Thurn & Taxis, and Ivanhoe—and missed the
first ever WBC Grand Slam only because Ivanhoe
was not a Century event (although it earned that
status in 2008 for 2009). Including those wins and
a fourth-place finish in Kremlin, Andy earned 129
laurels at the convention and finished in fourthplace in the Caesar Line of succession.
Alex Bove, the new Caesar, was only the
sixth best statistically—earning 88 laurels at
WBC by winning Princes of Florence and Ra and
Past Consuls
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Devin Flawd, PA
None
Jeff Cornett, FL
None
Andy Latto
Harald Henning, CT
114
Nick Page, ON
99
111
134
129
finishing third in Pillars of the Earth and fifth in
Amun Re. Harald Henning, who placed sixth in
the race for Consul in 2007 and eighth in 2004,
moved up to second. He scored 114 laurels by
winning Empire Builder and Manifest Destiny
for a whopping 90 laurels and finished off by
placing third in Settlers of Catan. Canadian
Nick Page finished third on the back of
two wins, in Puerto Rico—one of the
largest events at WBC—and Queen’s
Gambit. The rest of his 99 laurels came
from a fourth place finish in Notre
Dame and a sixth-place in two-player
Titan. Eric Brosius managed to move
up five places from his ninth-place finish in the 2007 Consul standings. He
was just one laurel behind Nick. Eric
had only a single win, in Power Grid—a
Euro with triple-digit attendance, but also
he amassed 38 laurels from a second in Empire
Builder and a third in Facts In Five. Although
Ewan McNay was second in the Caesar race,
he finished ahead of Alex in the Consul Line
of Succession. Ewan took first in Britannia and
Merchant of Venus, third in Kremlin and fifth in
War at Sea.
Laurels serve to give all boardgamers at
WBC a common language whether we play
ASL or Puerto Rico. The common denominator of laurels earned in BPA competition is all
part and parcel of that magic “focus” that sets
the WBC apart from other gaming conventions. Laurels provide a metagame competition beyond individual events. Even those of
us who are not in one of the lines of succession
can benefit from a look back at our own personal best and give ourselves a mark to shoot
for while having a good WBC—whether that
be measured in the enjoyment of the moment
or chances at wood.
Eric Brosius, CT
98
Ewan McNay, NY
90
- The 2008 Consul Line of Succession
Alex Bove, PA
88
GM of the Year
W
75
BC exists as a result of the efforts of dedi- Although Carcassonne’s attendance has actually
cated volunteers serving as GMs. They declined under Tom’s control, that is because
keep their motives pure by refusing remuhe has abandoned the four-heat format of his
neration and are some of the first dues-paying predecessor’s for a more condensed one-start
members. Every year we select one GM
format using two-player games. As a comto single out as WBC’s GM of the
promise to those who favor multi-playYear. This GM is awarded a free
er games, Tom introduced a format
room for the five days of WBC.
change that used a multi-player
Players nominate their fafirst round to thin the field before
vorite GM. The Convention
switching to two-player games
Director reviews the recfor the advanced rounds.
ommendations of the playEvery nominee scored at
ers and then nominates 12
least as high as 9th and as low
GMs of Century events for
as 6th, with the Board splitting
the honor. Each member
its votes in a wide cross section
of the Board of Directors—
based on the importance each
armed with the Convention
member gave the various catDirector’s detailed recommenegories. The Board’s eight 1st votes
dations—then casts a weighted
were split among four nominees. Finvote for each of the nominees
ishing second in the voting—and taking
ranging from 12 points (most worthy)
his second Top Six nomination—was Eric
down to 1 point (least worthy) based on cri- Brosius, who garnered a score of 70 for hostteria that include size of event, suitability of ing Princes of Florence. Kevin Wojtaszczyk garevent format, prompt submission of required nered his first Top Six honors with 62 points.
paperwork, firmness and
He took about half of the
fairness, player comments/
1st place votes for hostPast Winners
complaints, scheduling cooping the Middle Earth
eration, bonus services above
pre-con (War of the Ring).
1991 – Russ Gifford, NE – ASL
and beyond the call (newsletThe other GMs in the
1992 – Jim Burnett, TN – WPS
ters, extra prizes, supporting
Top Six were John We1993 – Glenn Petroski, WI – VIP
AREA, etc.), length or quanber (Puerto Rico & Vegas
1994 – John Ellmann, MD – MMS
tity of service (running mulShowdown) and Kathy
1995 – Ken Lee, PA – GCA
tiple events), and degree of
Stroh (Settlers of Catan)
1996 – David Terry, MD – B-17
1997 – Will Wible, VA – ROR
difficulty. GMs may score a
who both scored 56, and
1998 – Bruce Monnin, OH – WAS
maximum of 96 points and a
Ed Beach (Here I Stand)
1999 – Bruno Wolff, WI – TTN
minimum of 12.
who scored 52.
2000 – Vince Meconi, DE – WAS
We are pleased to award
Well done all. Our
2001 – David Terry, MD – B17
the Best GM honor for 2008
sincere thanks to you
2002 – John Jacoby, VA – CMS
to Tom McCorry with a score
and all others like you
2003 – Chuck Foster, TX – EPB
of 81 based on four 1sts, two
who try to make WBC a
2004 – John Coussis, IL – ACS
thirds, a 5th, and a 6th. Overlittle more special every
2005 – John Sharp, FL – VIP
all, scores ranged from Tom’s
year. If you encounter
2006 – Don Chappell, TX – WTP
81 to a low of 16. This was
an exemplary GM that
2007 – Ivan Lawson, MD – LST
Tom’s first Top Six GM perforyou would like to recom2008 – Tom McCorry, VA – CAR
mance although he has long
mend for consideration
been active at WBC as a GM
as GM of the Year, proand especially as a purveyor of the top new Euvide feedback about his or her performance to
ros based on his annual field trips to Essen.
the registration desk, via e-mail to cd@boardThis year Tom drew the attention of the gamers.org or via mail to 1541 Redfield Rd, Bel
judges for running two events; the brand new Air, MD 21015. Do not leave GM evaluations
Agricola and the always popular Carcassonne. with the kiosk.
76
T
Sportsmanship
he third and final leg in the BPA Triple
land. The only thing left to resolve was an unCrown is its Sportsmanship Award. likely French voyage of exploration. It would
Coupled with the Caesar for prowess on the
have had no effect on a roll of 2 to 9, but the
gameboard and our GM of the Year which
French player rolled a 10, gaining 1 VP and tyhonors those who sacrifice their time to
ing Kaarin for the lead. Applying stanmake the events possible, the Sportsdard HIS tiebreakers, the French
manship winner completes our
took the win. Still, Kaarin’s VP
virtual Hall of Fame by remindtotal would normally have been
ing us that there is no fun to be
enough to advance her to the
had with these games without
Final; however, the Natuan affable and enjoyable opral Enemies rule penalized
ponent with which to cross
her 4 VP, knocking her out
vicarious swords.
of contention. She took this
While some get caught up
last-minute triple whammy
in the quest for “wood,” our
exceptionally well, quietly
Sportsman of the Year always
moving on to her next event.
subscribes to a higher standard…a
Even if she didn’t agree with
shining example of sportsmanship
the published tournament rules,
that we should all aspire to. These
she knew the right thing was to
folks are the ones that make it all bearenforce them (and then help us make
able for our GMs and contribute most to the
sure they are fixed before next year).”
“club” atmosphere of the convention. Their
Kaarin took 21% of the 280 votes caste to beshining example contributes to
come the first two-time winner
the remarkable esprit de corps
of the award. Runner-up Sean
Past Winners
and camaraderie for which the
McCulloch garnered 19% of
Chuck Stapp, NJ – 1992
WBC has always been noted by
the vote for stepping in to GM
Tiger Von Pagel, FL – 1993
those in the know. We believe
a Junior’s event for a no-show.
Rob Kilroy, PA – 1994
the Sportsmanship Award is
Rounding out the top six finalIan Lange, AE – 1995
our most important plaque.
ists were Tom Dunning, Barry
Jim Matt, MI – 1996
There are those who likShutt, Craig Moffit and JonaEd Connery, NJ – 1997
en the Sportsmanship vote
than Lockwood.
Frank Sinigaglio, NJ – 1999
which is held during our AnGMs nominate players
Robert Sacks, NY – 2000
nual Membership Drive to a
who demonstrate outstandBret Hildebran, OH – 2001
popularity contest. If that’s so,
ing sportsmanship in their
Kaarin Engelmann, VA – 2002
James Jordan, MD – 2003
there’s no doubt remaining
respective tournaments. PlaySteve Okonski, MD – 2004
who is WBC’s Belle of the Ball
ers may also be nominated
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK – 2005
after this year’s vote. Coming
by other players in a tournaPhil Barcafer, PA – 2006
on the heels of her overwhelmment. If you encounter an exRebecca Hebner, CO – 2007
ing victory in the latest Board
ample of outstanding sportsKaarin Engelmann, VA – 2008
elections, the BPA webmaster
manship that you would like
has proven herself to be one
to recognize, provide details
popular lady at WBC. Kaarin Englemann won
to [email protected] or via mail to 1541 Redhandily in what was basically a two-horse race
field Rd, Bel Air, MD 21015.
between herself and Sean McCulloch.
Everyone has a different sense of what conKaarin was nominated by Here I Stand GM
stitutes sportsmanship; however, nominations
Ed Beach: “We introduced a new ‘Natural En- are not accepted for individuals who concede a
emy’ rule in 2008, which was quite effective in
victory to allow a beaten opponent to continue
some regards but there were unfortunate side
in their place, as it is contrary to the purpose of
effects, and they happened to nail Kaarin Ena tournament and is grossly unfair to particigelmann. When the last card in her semi-final
pants of the event who had to win their right
game fell, she was sitting in the lead with Engto advance.
Hobby Service
B
PA exists solely on the basis of its members’
willingness to give of themselves for the
greater good and their voluntary efforts to support the hobby. Consequently, we have chosen
to honor that spirit of volunteerism by singling
out those who have done the most to improve the
World Boardgaming Championships.
In all, 12 nominees are annually selected by
the Conference Director for the Board’s consideration. Although service as a GM is the most
common qualifier, it is not the only factor with
major consideration given to other behind-thescenes volunteer tasks.
The BPA Board of Directors
then votes by secret ballot,
weighing their votes according to their own
particular values as
to what constitutes
the greatest contribution, by ranking
each nominee from
12 (strongest) to 1
(weakest). The result
is a good cross section of the nominees.
We repeat the process
each year, adding one
new volunteer to our
Honor Roll (after the
initial six). BPA applauds the efforts of
these members and
the shining example
they provide for the
spirit of volunteerism
that drives WBC.
The Board has
long had an unwritten rule to exclude
itself from any voted
honors decided by the Board. In 2008 and after
much discussion, Debbie Gutermuth overcame
the burden of her association (as spouse) of
BPA Board Chairman Ken Gutermuth and was
selected by the Board to win the BPA’s Hobby
Service Award. (Ken abstained from the vote.)
She garnered a record 73 votes, including four
first-place votes—double her nearest competition—to claim her rightful place among WBC’s
most deserving heroes.
77
Not just another
suffering spouse who
makes the best of her
2005
husband’s weekly vaStuart Tucker
cation, Debbie is one
Kathy Stroh
of the organization’s
Steve Okonski
hardest
working
Vince Meconi
volunteers and comMark McLaughlin
petitive players. She
Ken Whitesell
starts her week sort2006
ing and assembling
Keith Wixson
kiosks and then joins
2007
the CABS crew to asBruno Sinigaglio
sist with running the
2008
Auction. Further, she
Debbie Gutermuth
continues to work
deep into the night
on the financial payout that makes our Games
Auction one of the very best in the hobby.
Aside from taking a turn as a GM every year—including Empire Builder and
five years running Alhambra, she also combines her other hobby interest photography to take literally thousands of photos
annually to document each
and every event as the official BPA photographer. (The
candid here is one of the few
that actually portrays Debbie.) Her photos grace the
results pages of virtually every event on our website.
Winner of her share of
events—with championships
in Carcassonne, Formula Motor
Racing, and March Madness,
and laurels in Auction, San
Juan, Lost Cities, and Union Pacific—one wonders how many
more plaques she’d earn were
she not constantly working the
camera all week. (She creates a special schedule
so as to catch at least one early round and the Final of all events, plus she catches the board at its
early morning meetings in order to document the
group for the current year.) Even long after WBC
ends, she labors on the editing of those photos
to illustrate our web coverage and create a WBC
highlight “movie.” Debbie is truly one of the “behind the scenes” stalwarts that makes WBC our
favorite week of the year.
Past Winners
78
Top Laurelists
James Pei,
VA
1,253
Arthur Field,
SC
1,067
Bruce Reiff,
OH
987
Ken Gutermuth,
NC
909
Harald Henning,
CT
826
Marvin Birnbaum,
NY
822
Chris Byrd,
CT
818
Ewan McNay,
NY
764
Jeff Mullet,
OH
744
Bill Crenshaw,
VA
718
Tom Drueding,
MA
674
Stefan Mecay,
TX
627
John Emery,
SC
616
Peter Reese,
VA
614
Tom Dunning,
NY
575
Tom Gregorio,
PA
553
Nick Benedict,
CA
546
Dave Metzger,
NY
538
John Coussis,
IL
529
Ed Menzel,
CA
524
Doug Gallulo,
FL
523
Nick Anner,
NY
508
Keith Wixson,
NJ
507
Bruce Young,
SC
499
Aaron Fuegi,
MA
497
Tom Browne,
PA
493
Jason Levine,
NY
489
Andy Gardner,
VA
487
David Dockter,
MN
486
Don Greenwood,
MD
458
Jeff Cornett,
OH
454
Nick Henning,
CT
442
George Young,
VT
439
Robert Kircher,
RI
422
Josh Githens,
SC
421
Bruno Sinigaglio,
AK
420
Phil Rennert,
MD
420
Andrew Cummins,
UK
417
Rob Beyma,
MD
416
Pete Staab,
PA
409
Jim Eliason,
NY
400
Devin Flawd,
PA
400
Winning Streaks
79
I
ndividuals pictured in this section display excellence in gaming ability. We
salute them. Devin Flawd extended his
winning streak, now just one short of his father Harry’s record. Two long current steaks
were stopped cold in 2008—in For the People
and Great Campaign of the American Civil War,
leaving only four players with streaks longer
than three years running, but five three-time
champs are hot on their heels.
S. Packwood, MN
4
Devin Flawd, PA
4
George Deutsch, MD
Longest Current Championship Streak at WBC
6
3
3
Ed Menzel, CA
3
Dave Long, NC
3
George Seary, NY
4
Rob Beyma, MD
3
Bruce Beard, MD
Doug Smith, PA
80
Boardmasters
Most Championships in One Event
A
Gr
ea
tC
am
pa
ig
ns
Steve Packwood, MN - 12
new crop of champions is crowned each year at WBC, but recognition of gaming prowess need not end there. There are higher honors
to be earned. Just as the different colored belts of jujitsu display different levels of achievement, we have multi-colored boards to measure the
ultimate masters of their craft. Those who have taken on all comers at
WBC and emerged triumphant in the same event not once, not twice—
but many times—truly merit respect.
Mike Sincavage, VA - 9
Bruce Reiff, OH - 8
James, Pei, VA - 8
Chris Withers, CA - 8
Phil Rennert, MD - 6
Harry Flawd, PA - 6
Rob Beyma, MD - 6
Bill Rohrbeck, NH - 6
Tim Dolan, NJ - 6
Steve Likevich, OH - 5
Devin Flawd, PA - 5
Mark Miklos, GA - 5
Vince Meconi, DE - 5
Doug Smith - PA - 5
Brad Johnson, MI - 5
Doug James, NC - 5
John Emery, SC - 5
Dave Metzger, NY - 5
Bruce Beard, MD - 4
Ray Pfeifer, MD - 4
Bruce Reiff, OH - 4
Paul Risner, FL - 4
Jim Doughan, PA - 4
Ewan McNay, NY - 4
Boardmasters
81
Bruno Sinigaglio, AK - 4
Brad Frisby, VA - 4
Kevin McCarthy, OH - 4
George Seary, NY - 4
Bruce Reiff, OH - 4
Robert Frisby, VA - 4
Peter Pollard, TN - 4
Steve Koleszar, VA - 4
Bruce Reiff, OH - 4
Doug Galullo, FL - 3
Joe Gundersen, IN - 3
Ewan McNay, NY - 3
Mike Lam, CA - 3
Tom Gregorio, PA - 3
Scott Pfeiffer, SC - 3
Ed Menzel, CA - 3
Steve Cuccaro, MD - 3
Terry Coleman, CA - 3
Marvin Birnbaum, NY - 3
Rob Lightburn, VA - 3
Gary Dickson, CA - 3
Tom Gregorio, PA - 3
Brian Sutton, MD - 3
Stefan MeCay, TX - 3
Bruce Young, SC - 3
Dan Henry, IL - 3
Bruce Monnin, OH - 3
Ray Freeman, CA - 3
82
Patrons
BPA 2008 Patrons
BPA gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following Sponsor,
Charter, and Tribune members. 2009 Patrons will be listed next year.
Sponsors ($500 contribution in 2008): Nicholas Benedict, David des Jardins, James
Doughan, Ken Gutermuth, Rio Grande Games, and Jerald R. Tracy.
Charter Tribunes (maintained Charter status since 1999 and purchased a $100 membership in
2008): Alan Applebaum, Alan Arvold, Matthew Bacho, Paul Bean, Mark Booth, Daniel BrohKahn, David Brooks, Steve Cameron, Terry Coleman, Gregory Courter, John Coussis, Bill
Crenshaw, Tom DeMarco, Bill Dyer, Roger Eastep, William Edwards, Jim Eliason, Kaarin
Engelmann, Eric Eshleman, Matt Evinger, Tim Evinger, Matt Fagan, Daniel Farrow IV,
Paul Fletcher, Ray Freeman, Paul Gaberson, Mark Geary, Fred Gosnell, Herbert Gratz, Don
Greenwood, Johnny Hasay, Mark Herman, Charles Hickok, John Jacoby, Robert Jamelli,
James Jordan, Allen Kaplan, Michael Kaye, Kevin Keller, Pierre LeBoeuf, Roderick Lee,
Jason Levine, Keith Levy, Jonathan Lockwood, Mark Love, Michael Mahady, Andrew Maly,
James Marousek, Dan Mathias, Thomas McCorry, Vince Meconi, David Metzger, Bruce
Monnin, Brian Mountford, Michael A. Mullins, Martin Musella, Bill Navolis, Ken Nied,
Steve Okonski, John Pack, Tom Pavy, Scott Pfeiffer, Peter Pollard, Joseph Powell, Bruce Reiff,
Paul Risner, Chris Roginsky, William Rohrbeck, Robert Ryan, Gregory Schmittgens, Robert
Seulowitz, John Sharp, Bruno Sinigaglio, Jerry Smolens, Peter Staab, Ray Stakenas, Mike
Stanley, Peter Stein, Kathy Stroh, Joel Tamburo, Roger Taylor, Bill Thomson, Stuart Tucker,
Sean Vessey, Jim Vroom, Ken Whitesell, Bruno Wolff, Bruce Young, George Young.
Charter Members (purchased Charter membership in 1999 and maintained at least a Sustaining
Membership since): Cliff Ackman, Barry Barnes, Ed Beach, Rob Beyma, Jeremy Billones, Rod
Coffey, David Cross, Mike Crowe, Pat Duffy, Robert Dwyer, Harry Flawd III, Tom Gregorio,
Mark Guttag, Randy Heller, Harald Henning, Tim Hitchings, Marc Houde, Chris Janiec, Brad
Johnson, Edward Kendrick, Ben Knight, Sean Larsen, Andy Lewis, Carrie Lewis, Larry Lingle,
Ric Manns, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Mitchell, Robert Mull, Theodore Mullally, Bill O’ Neal,
Forrest Pafenberg, Bruno Passacantando, Jeff Paull, James Pei, Peter Perla, Ray Pfeifer, John
Poniske Sr, Shantanu Saha, George Sauer III, Robert Sohn, Francis Spencer, David Terry, Justin
Thompson, James Tyne, Paul Weintraub, David Yoon, David Zimmerman.
Tribunes ($100 BPA membership in 2007): Joseph Abrams, Geoff Allbutt, Steve Andriakos,
Sam Atabaki, Steven Bachman, Mike Backstrom, Donna Balkan, Phillip Barcafer, Chris
Bauch, Fred Bauer, Scott Beall, Joesph Beard, Barrington Beavis, Bill Beckman, Marc
Berenbach, Daniel Blumentritt, Jesse Boomer, Evan Brooks, Claire Brosius, Eric Brosius,
Sam Brosius, Thomas Browne, Jeff Burdett, Philip Burgin-Young, David Burkey, Matthew
Burkins, Chris Byrd, Rick Byrens, Tom Cannon, Melvin Casselberry, Don Chappell, Carl
Copeland, Peter Corrigan, Greg Crowe, Steve Cuccaro, Andrew Cummins, Michael Dauer,
Debbie Davidson, Rod Davidson, Jim Day, David Denton, Gary Dickson, David Dockter,
Charles Drozd, Robert Drozd, Ted Drozd, Tom Drueding, Rick Dutton, Mike Dwyer, Charles
Eastman, Peter Eldridge, Christopher Ellis, John Emery, Karsten Engelmann, Ruth Evinger,
Brian Farrelly, Scott Fenn, Arthur Field, Barb Flaxington, Ed Foran, Andy Friedmann, Nick
Frydas, David Gantt, Andy Gardner, Jim Garvey, Pete Gathman, Michael Gentile, Alex
Gesing, Roy Gibson, Josh Githens, Ralph Gleaton, Chris Greenfield, Mark Gutfreund, Jeff
Hacker, Kevin Hacker, Robert Hamel, Chris Hancock, Victor Harpley, Chris Harris, Bronwen
Heap, Bob Heinzmann, Geoffrey Hill, Dan Hoffman, Lawrence Hollern, Keith Hunsnger,
Ahmet Ilpars, Richard Irving, Doug James, Rich Jenulis, Brian Jones, George Karahalios,
Paul Konka, Charles Krueger, Grant LaDue, Michael Lam, Rob Larkins, Andy Latto, Daniel
Patrons
83
Leader, Raphael Lehrer, Winton Lemoine, William Lentz, Chuck Leonard, Jason
Ley, Kathleen Lockwood, Steve Lollis, Larry Luongo, Randall Mac Innis, Mark Mahaffey,
Scott Marcotte, Mark McBride, James McCarthy, Robert McCracken, Sean McCulloch, Colum
McCurdy, Ewan McNay, Stefan Mecay, Craig Melton, Ed Menzel, Doug Mercer, Mark
Miklos, James Miller, Pat Mirk, Christian Moffa, Craig Moffit, Scott Moll, Lyman Moquin,
John Morris, Bill Morse, Richard Moyer, Jeff Mullet, Lane Newbury, Richard Northey, John
Ohlin, David Pack, Marie Pack, Aurora Pack, Sharee Pack, Nick Palmer, Steve Parrish, Jeff
Pattison, Linda Pattison, Joshua Pearce, Bill Peeck, Cally Perry, Roy Pettis, Richard Phares,
Doug Porterfield, Craig Reece, Pete Reese, Lloyd Richards, Lance Roberts, Paul Rubin, Henry
Russell, Martin Sample, Paul Sampson, Roberto Sanchez, Randy Sands, Frank Schmitt, Bert
Schoose, Keith Schoose, Brian Schott, David Schubert, Chris Senhouse, Jeff Senley, Richard
Shay, Jordan Shea, Lexi Shea, Lynda Shea, Michael Shea, Barry Shoults, Barry Shutt, Steve
Simmons, Buddy Sinigaglio, Frank Sinigaglio, Paul Skrabut, Alfred Smith, Gregory Smith,
Mark Smith, Nick Smith, Erica Snarski, Michael Sosa, Jack Stalica, James Stanard, Gordon
Stewart, Jamie Tang, Don Tatum, James Terry, Zack Terry, Nels Thompson, Janice Thorne,
Tom Thornsen, Matt Tolman, Alice Travis, David Travis, Chris Trimmer, Michael Ussery,
Lauren Vessey, Thomas Vickery, Jason Wagner, Patrick Walker, Charles Ward, Bill Watkins,
John Weber, Stephanie Welch, John Wetherell, Steve Williams, Jim Winslow, Keith Wixson,
Kevin Wojtaszczyk, David Wong, Chris Yaure, Joe Yaure, Phillip Yaure, Mark Yoshikawa.
Vendors: Against The Odds, Belle & Blade Video, Columbia Games, Decision Games, Flying
Buffalo, THe GAMe PLACe, GMT Games, Harmony House Hobbies, L2 Design Group,
Lost Battalion Games, Mayfair Games, Multi-Man Publishing, Our Game Table, Rio Grande
Games, SherCo Games, Worthington Games, Z-Man Games.
Terms and Conditions of Membership: Membership in the BPA secures voting rights. Also, different levels of
membership provide the specified number of votes. Membership is required for participation in Play-By-e-Mail
(PBeM) tournaments. Certain levels of membership provide admission to the World Boardgaming Championships
and a listing in the annual BPA Yearbook. Multi-day General Admission to WBC grants Associate Membership in
the BPA. Those who attend via Guest Pass are not BPA members.
•
Associate status is granted with all WBC Admissions, except Guest Passes. Associate status or higher is required
for participation in BPA-sponsored PBeM tournaments and grants one vote. WBC Admission is not included.
•
General status is extended to those who will not be attending the full week of WBC but would like to have
membership in the Association. This level of membership includes WBC admission for only those days purchased
and grants 1 vote. It is only available on the WBC Pre-Registration Form.
•
Charter status is applied to anyone who supported the BPA via a membership at the Charter, Team or Sponsor
membership levels during the critical start up year of 1999. Such early supporters can maintain their Charter
status by continuing their BPA membership at the Sustaining or higher level. Charter status is listed on the
BPA Patrons page in the Yearbook. This level grants 3 votes.
•
Sustaining members receive admission to the entire World Boardgaming Championships (Mon-Sun).
Yearbook and t-shirt are included ONLY if paid by Dec. 31. This level grants 2 votes.
•
Tribune members receive all Sustaining-level benefits, plus admission to all Pre-Cons. Tribune members may
transfer and/or accumulate unused admissions to WBC. In addition, they receive a listing on the BPA Patrons page
in the BPA Yearbook. Yearbook and t-shirt are included for payment by April 30. This level grants 3 votes.
•
Sponsor members receive all Tribune-level benefits. In addition, a Sponsor may introduce a new Trial event,
provided a Game Master volunteers to run that event by the deadline. This level grants 3 votes.
•
Vendor status is applied to all Vendors at WBC. They receive two admissions to WBC per space purchased. These
memberships are not transferrable. Yearbook and t-shirt are NOT included. This level grants 2 votes per space.
These terms and conditions may be changed by the Board of Directors at any time, provided that the Company shall
honor the benefits of any membership which were in effect at the time such membership was issued. Members are
accepted at the discretion of the Board of Directors pursuant to the by-laws of the Company.
84
Board of Directors
A
ll Boardgame Players Association (BPA)
members of record as of June 1, 2009, are
hereby notified of their right to vote for up to
three members to serve on the BPA Board of
Directors. Any BPA member may run for election as a Director. These individuals give their
time without recompense to ensure that WBC
continues on an even keel, representing all interests fairly.
All members have a vested interest in
the operation of BPA which can be exercised
through their vote for members to serve on
the Board in rotating three-year terms. When
contemplating their vote, members are urged
to consider that the BPA conducts most of its
business by email and needs Board members
who are able and willing to offer their time
and skills to the organization in a timely manner. Board members should be considered
more for their ability to contribute to the running of a successful company than for their attachment to any particular game or group.
You may vote for up to three candidates,
but only once per candidate. No votes will be
taken during the convention. This election will
be completed by mail and e-mail by July 15, so
that the newly-elected Board may convene to
2007 - 2009
Andy Lewis, DE
2007 - 2009
D. Greenwood, MD
2008 - 2010
Bruce Reiff, OH
conduct business during WBC. The three candidates receiving the most votes will be elected.
Note that all paying attendees of WBC—
other than one-day guests—are BPA members
with voting rights. Printed ballots will be
mailed separately from the yearbook. The ballot
includes a brief statement by each nominee.
Alternately, members may e-mail their vote(s)
to [email protected] from an e-mail
address on file with BPA as their official e-mail
address. An electronic ballot is available at
boardgamers.org/forms/boardballot.shtml.
All members are invited to attend the
Annual Meeting of the BPA at 3 pm on Tues.,
Aug. 4, 2009, in the Lancaster Showroom at the
Lancaster Host Resort in Lancaster, Pa. NOTE:
This meeting will take place during a break
in the auction. At that meeting, members will
meet the new Board and may make inquiries
and suggestions regarding the activities of the
association. This is your chance to influence the
decision-making process that drives WBC.
The Board would like to publicly thank
the three board members whose terms are up
in 2009. They have contributed greatly to the
success of this organization. We also appreciate
the candidates who are on the ballot this year.
2007 - 2009
Ken Whitesell, PA
2008 - 2010
B. Passacantando, CT
2009 - 2011
2009 - 2011
Bruce Monnin, OH Ken Gutermuth, TX
2008 - 2010
Keith Levy, MD
2009 - 2011
K. Engelmann, VA
J
Get the Party Started at WBC 2009 Pre-Cons
ust because the World Boardgaming Championships last an entire week in 2009, from
Mon., Aug. 3, through Sun., Aug. 9 doesn’t mean there’s no gaming to be had on August
1-2. In fact, it may behoove you to show up early for one of our pre-cons, which are sort
of an opening skirmish for everyone who can’t get enough of a good thing. Pre-con events
typically have long playing times that interfere with participation during the convention
proper. Tribune and Sponsors may freely partake in all BPA pre-cons for no additional
charge. The smaller of the two listed prices is for Sustaining level ($70) members; the higher
price is for all others.
Middle Earth (War of the Ring)
GM: Kevin Wojtaszczyk
Demo: 10 a.m. Starts: Sun., Aug. 2, 7 p.m.
Registration Fee: $10/$30
Features three guaranteed swiss rounds of dedicated play
of Fantasy Flight’s War of the Ring. The top four players
engage in Single Elimination play-offs.
Omens (Hannibal: Rome Vs. Carthage)
GM: Stuart Tucker
Starts: Sat., Aug. 1, 1 p.m.
Registration Fee: $20/$30
Features five 5-hour rounds of Swiss play of Avalon Hill’s
Hannibal: Rome Vs. Carthage. Wins and tournament points
determine final rankings.
Rising Sun (Victory in the Pacific)
GM: John Sharp
Starts: Sun., Aug. 2, 9 a.m.
Registration Fee: $10/$30
Features five rounds of Swiss play of Avalon Hill’s Victory in
the Pacific followed by 3 rounds of SE for the top eight. Uses
chess clocks courtesty of Alan Applebaum and John Sharp.
Guns of August (Paths of Glory)
GM: Pete Reese
Starts: Sun., Aug. 2, 2 p.m.
Registration Fee: $10/$40
Features three guaranteed rounds of Swiss play of GMT’s
Paths of Glory. The top eight players advance to Single Elimination play-offs. There is also a consolation round.
Time Machine (Through The Ages)
GM: Raphael Lehrer
Starts: Sun., Aug. 2, Mulligan at noon, 6 p.m.
Demo: 10 a.m. Registration Fee: $10/$40
Single elimination format with a mulligan round of FRED
Distribution’s publication of Through the Ages: A Story of
Civilization.
GrognardCon (ten classic hex wargames)
GM: Bruno Sinigaglio
Starts: Sat., Aug. 1, 2 p.m.
Registration Fee: $20/$40
Features Free Form Scheduling for preliminary rounds of
wargames. None of these events conclude during the PreCon. Elimination rounds scheduled later in the week.
See you at the
World Boardgaming Championships
August 3–9, 2009
Lancaster Host Resort • Lancaster, PA
Pre-Cons begin August 1
www. boardgamers.org • [email protected]
1776
1830
1960: Making of the President
Ace of Aces
Acquire
Adel Verpflichtet
Advanced Civilization
ASL Starter Kit
Afrika Korps
Age of Empires III
Age of Renaissance
Age of Steam
Agricola
Air Baron
Alhambra
Amun-Re
Anzio
Atlantic Storm
Attack Sub
Auction
Axis & Allies
B-17
Battle Cry
Battle: The Napoleonic Wars
Battleline
BattleLore
Bitter Woods
Brawling Battleship Steel
Breakout Normandy
Britannia
Bulge '81
Can't Stop
Carcassonne
Caylus
Chicago Express
Circus Maximus
Combat Commander
Commands & Colors Ancients
Conquest of Paradise
Crusader Rexr
Die Macher
Dominion
Dune
Eisenbach Gap
El Grande
Elchfest
Empire Builder
Empire of the Sun
Enemy In Sight
Euphrat & Tigris
Facts In Five
Fast Action Battles: The Bulge
Football Strategy
For the People
Formula De
Formula Motor Racing
Galaxy
Gangsters
Gettysburg
Goa
Great Campaigns of ACW
Hammer of the Scots
Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage
Here I Stand
History of the World
Imperial
Ingenious
Ivanhoe
Kaiser's Pirates
Kingmaker
Kremlin
Kutuzov
Liar's Dice
Lost Cities
Manoeuver
Manifest Destiny
March Madness
Medici
Memoir '44
Merchant of Venus
Monsters Ravage America
Monty's Gamble
Mystery of the Abbey
Napoleonic Wars
Naval War
Notre Dame
Nuclear War
Panzerblitz
Panzergruppe Guderian
Paths of Glory
Paydirt
Pillars of the Earth
Pirate's Cove
Power Grid
Princes of Florence
Pro Golf
Puerto Rico
Pursuit of Glory
Ra!
Race For the Galaxy
Rail Baron
Republic of Rome
Risk
Robo Rally
Royal Palace
Russia Besieged
Russian Campaign
Saint Petersburg
San Juan
Santa Fe Rails
Saratoga
Settlers of Catan
Slapshot
Speed Circuit
Squad Leader
Star Wars: Queen’s Gambit
Stockcar Championship Racing
Stone Age
Storm Over Stalingrad
Street Soccer
Successors
Superstar Baseball
Texas Glory
Through the Ages
Thurn & Taxis
Ticket To Ride
Tigers In the Mist
Tikal
Titan
Titan Two
Titan: The Arena
Trans America
Twilight Imperium
Twilight Struggle
Trans America
Tyranno Ex
Union Pacific
Up Front
Vegas Showdown
Victory in the Pacific
War At Sea
War of 1812
War of the Ring
Warriors of God
Waterloo
We The People
Wellington
Wilderness War
Win, Place & Show
Wooden Ships & Iron Men
World At War
Yspahan
Italics: Trial Event; Bold Italics: New Event; Regular: Century Event; Green: Pre-Con; see previews at boardgamers.org/yearbkex