Select
a year from the drop-down list for a low-down on the history
of Avaloncon and WBC.
See the champions for each year. Or choose to view the Laurels or Medals totals.
Attendance rebounded in 2006 despite being greeted by workmen instead
of bellhops as Host underwent major renovations with all the adventures
that entailed for some in the affected guest rooms. Nevertheless,
our 148 tournaments again included ten events with triple digit entries,
averaged 43 participants overall, and crowned champions from 28 different
states and provinces. Those winners included 13 incumbents who retained
their respective titles another year, 45 who won their first-ever
BPA championship, five GMs who won their own event, seven members
of the fair sex, and 11 who claimed multiple titles. One might say
that 2006 was the year of the slugger at WBC, as prodigious performances
abounded with seven double winners, two triple champs, and a pair
of rare four-baggers dominating the box score. Bruce Reiff, he of
the massive plaque collection, added to his string of always having
taken home wood, by toting home four more with wins in Auction,
Attika, Pro Golf, and San Juan. Alas, it could have been
even worse for those who root against WBC's lumber king were it not
for Ken Whitesell, who narrowly upset the five-time champ of Football
Strategy 17-14 in the Final to deprive him of an unprecedented
fifth wood and fourth Century event win. Thus, by the slimmest of
margins, was the never-achieved WBC Grand Slam, four Century championships,
averted.
Fate swung an even sharper double-edged sword for Jeff Cornett,
who also homered with titles in Euphrat & Tigris, Slapshot,
Battle Cry and Medici but was denied the Grand Slam moniker
on a technicality, as the latter two had lost their Century status
to probation rules. With both events returning to the Century in
2007, Jeff can't be blamed for cursing the umps. He wuz robbed, but
at least he had the title of Consul as the top WBC laurelist in 2006
to console him. And, thus, two more tales go into WBC lore to weave
the fabric of past glory and vicarious feats denied. Anne Norton
led the ladies with a triple win in Saint Petersburg, Cleopatra's
Society of Architects and Thurm & Taxis. Meanwhile
Nest of Spies managed a first by repeating as team champions and
thereby set the Board to work pondering rule alterations for the
long standing event to handicap the teams.
In the continuing ebb and flow of WBC game lives, there were the
usual winners and losers as the events themselves competed for the
players that meant another year in the WBC lists. Among events with
at least a three-year track record, ten raised their attendance bar
by posting their own personal best entrant numbers. The other end
of that spectrum, beset by the natural tendency of new events to
draw the curious and then begin a steady decline, saw 31 tournaments
drop to new attendance lows in the eight years since WBC sprung from
Avaloncon in 1999. Are these one-year scheduling aberrations or signs
of things to come?
Zenith: Those setting new high water marks were: Ivanhoe
+ 17, Slapshot +15, Superstar Basaeball + 14, Santa Fe Rails +8,
Gettysburg +5, Die Macher +4, Successors +4, Afrika Korps +4, Princess
Ryan's Star Marines +3, B-17 +2, Elchfest +2, Bitter Woods +1.
Nadir: Those sinking to new lows
in their WBC reign were: Monsters Ravage America -31, Attika -25,
Union Pacific -24, Memoir '44 -21, Puerto
Rico - 16, Goa -13, Merchant of Venus -11,
Euphrat & Tigris
-11, Battle Cry -10, Tikal -8, Princes of
Florence -8, Royal Turf -8, Breakout Normandy
-8, Rail Baron -7, Great Campaigns -5, Galaxy
-5, March Madness -5, Power Grid -5, San Juan -5, Adel Verpflichtet
-4, Attack Sub -4, Amun-Re -4, Brawling Battleships -4, Hammer
of the Scots -4, The Russian Campaign -3, ASL Starter Kit -2, Diplomacy
-2, Enemy In Sight -2, Age of Renaissance -1, Hannibal -1, Titan
-1.
