For The People is a two player, strategic level, event card driven wargame of the American Civil War using the mechanics found in WTP, POG, and HRC. After developing a coherent overall strategy, successful players must adapt it to fate, fortune and opportunity during play. They must maintain popular support for the war from their constituencies while dealing with the vagaries of poor generals and insufficient resources. As was the case historically, battles, in terms of losses, are likely to be tactical draws, occasionally significant operationally, and on a rare exception of overwhelming strategic importance.

FTP was officially sponsored by GMT Games who, in conjunction with original designer Mark Herman, released an improved second edition at the WBC. They strategically placed the giant demonstration version of the game right next to the chow line! Judging from the number of 2nd Edition FTP games being carried about, it would not be a surprise to learn that it led the convention in sales. GMT Games provided $10.00 gift certificates both our champion and our nominee for the Sportsman Award as well as $2.00 gift certificates for each participant. We thank GMT Games, and Bill Alderman in particular, for their support!

There was near unanimous approval for both the tournament's new Swiss Duplicate format and the four qualifying scenarios. Check the Official FTP web page (http://members.tripod.com/~MarkHerman/index.html) for copies of the scenarios and the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (CABS) web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~cratex/) for an explanation of the format.

I salute Messrs. Sohn, Miller, Boomer, N. Firer, Schmittgens, Mitchell, Mason, and Ellsworth who played all four qualifying rounds even after it was clear that it would take a melt-down by the leaders for them to advance. They played for camaraderie and love of the game. The final qualification round opened with Doug Whatley being stalked by both John Firer and Mark Giddings in the USA pool. In the CSA pool Trevor Bender and defending champion James Pei shared a commanding lead, but due to the keen USA competition Paul Risner still had a chance to make the finals. When the dust settled after "Hours of Desperation", Whatley had defeated Bender cleanly which gave Pei his chance. However, it is Giddings that deserves the "Sherman Award". After a slow start in the initial round (ranked third from last), he bounced back to make a strong bid for the Union lead. Though he fell short of overtaking Whatley, he denied defending champion Pei his crack at repeating by a mere five SW points! The championship round rematched Whatley and Bender. Trevor Bender's CSA raiding strategy again proved ultra effective and he won at 2:20 AM, Turn 6 with the SW score CSA 131, USA 48.