2008 WBC Team Tournament Winner's Circle
Nov. 11, 2008

Odds | History | Rules

St. Paul's Rejects - Minnesota

John Pack—3

Steve Packwood—7

Mike Backstrom—0

Rich Moyer—9

Nesters Nailed by Finn

Nest of Spies teammates mug Riku Reikkinen,
who singlehandedly stopped their three-year winning streak.

Three-time defending champion Nest of Spies, a coalition of Card Driven Wargamers from four different states, reinforced by the addition of Chris Byrd into what was—on paper—their strongest team ever, was an overwhelming favorite at 25-1 odds to continue their dominance of the Team Tournament in 2008. However, they hadn't counted on the visit of Riku Reikkinen of Finland, who snatched victory from their outstretched hands in the Finals 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, a team with its roots in Minnesota—that had an anchoring streak of their own as Steve Packwood 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 and were anchored by multiple champions Doug James and Rob Beyma winning their fifth and third titles in their respective specialties. Both teams earned two points in bonuses for not having won their respective events previously.

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 Handicapper. Despite the record field of 90 teams, 14 of his top 25 picks (56%) made the Top 25up 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 shutoutan 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 whose 103 total entrants averaged under 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 Carcassonne 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 he Pacific, and Commands & Colors Ancients which were each selected by six teams.


2008 Top 25 Teams in Order of Finish

Rank
Name
Odds
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
Points
Entrants
1
St Paul's Rejects
41-1
J Pack/VIP/3 S Packwood/776/7 M Backstrom/SET/0 R Moyer/SSB/9
19
208
2
The James Gang

43-1

D James/TRC/7 J Eliason/VIP/2 R Beyma/WAT/2 R Beyma/RBS/7
18
103
3
Three Men & A Canadian

73-1

B Dyer/FDE/0 B Johnson/RRY/9 J Abrams/LID/0 G McMaster/DUN/8

17

371

4
Forced Laughter

81-1

R Drozd/WPS/0 T Drozd/CFC/7 C Drozd/VIP/9 J Drozd/CAR/0

16

175

5
Cavemen Rejoice

70-1

D Meyaard/ELC/9 K Henning/QGB/2 N Henning/GSR/4 J Gemmell/ADV/0

15

254

6
Extraordinary Gentlemen

53-1

A Warszawski/HWD/2 R Lehrer/POE/2 H Hochboim/SET/0 H Henning/EPB/10

14

249

7
Greenville Mafia: War

52-1

J Githens/CMS/9 B Collars/CBC/4 D Field/TKL/1 D Gantt/ACQ/0

14

226

8
Nest of Spies

25-1

J Pei/FTP/3 D Dockter/POG/3 S MeCay/TWS/8 C Byrd/HRC/0

14

173

9
Champagne Room Gamers

28-1

B Reiff/FBS/7 J Mullet/GOA/2 N Hoam/ALH/4 M Stanley/CMS/0

13

242

10
Baby Seals

39-1

G Young/WTP/3 P Reese/POG/2 E McNay/BRI/8 D Nicholson/MMS/0

13

158

11
Smortal

128-1

S Nerney/FMR/0 J Shaheen/BCY/3 C Gormly/PDT/0 R Kircher/AGR/9

12

215

12
Three Beers & A Chardonay

2300-1

J Thorne/AE3/0 R Jenulis ACV/0 M Galandiuk/CBC/9 P Sampson/TWS/3

12

172

13
Go Flank Yourself

55-1

C Withers/TWS/0 R Doane/GCA/3 S Likevich/B81/7 J Rice/HIS 2

12

137

14
Polish Lancers

46-1

R Young/TWS/4 P Gaberson/WTP/2 B Wigdor/UPF/0 D Metzger/812/6
12
126
15
Team Viagra

50-1

T Dunning/RA/0 R Winslow/GXY/0 N Thompson/BKN/7 S Cuyler/ACS/4

11

330

16
Old Guard

53-1

R Heller/BWD/2 B Morse/QGB/0 F Pafenberg/B81/2 B Ryan/ANZ/7

11

113

17
Pixel Juice

2300-1

B Sherwood/PRO/0 K Shaud/ACS/0 C Petruzelli/MED/10 A Suszko/960/0

10

448

18
El Chupacabra

75-1

Bru Bernard/VNC/3 Bra Bernard/ABN/0 Bri Bernard/TTR/0 G Deutsch/AOA/7

10

328

19
AREA

58-1

E Menzel/GBG/8 J Sharp/VIP/0 B Wolff/TT2/0 B Thompson/SQL/2

10

123

20
Band of Fools

41-1

G Dickson/TRC/2 R Freeman/TIM/1 T Gregorio/BWD/7 M Kaye/VIP/0

10

104

21
Triple Crossers

210-1

A Latto/T&T/9 C Perry/SPG/0 C Brosius/LST/0 S Brosius/ELC/0

9

456

22
Too Liittle, Too Late

145-1

C Mitchell/SET/0 R Mitchell/CAR/9 T McCorry/TWS/0 M Christensen/M44/0

9

313

23
MIT SGS

51-1

A Applebaum/VIP/0 M Sample/ ACS/0 D Finberg/TTN/2 A Fuegi TT2

9

226

24
Gang Greene

92-1

R McCracken/TRC/0 M Miklos/BAR/7 A Lewis/SSB/2 J Miklos/HWD/0

9

125

25
Kromp on Krewe

143-1

P McCarthy/VNC/0 R Taylor/MMS/0 L Rodrigues/KRM/9 P Rodrigues/SUC/0

9

118

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