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As the first of the current
genre of Card Driven Wargames, We The People has done
an exceptional job of maintaining popularity while being out
of print. |
This event is unique in being
able to fold a novice bracket into the tournament that allows
newcomers to break into play without being fed to the sharks. |
The First of the CDWs
We the People enjoyed another very successful year. The
usual suspects amongst the perennial competitors were joined
by 11 (!) tyros in our coached division. Six former champions,
includng the last five, were on hand to stock the shark pool.
With such a nice turnout, it took four rounds of Swiss competition
to complete the Quarterfinals bracket of the Single Elimination
portion of the event.
The Swiss portion
featured many surprises and hard fought contests. Two-time
champion Marvin Birnbaum was ambushed in the first round by Mike
Brophy. Randomly drawing opponents did not suit Keith Wixson
who in three successive Swiss rounds faced three former champions
in John Poniske, Paul Gaberson and Marvin Birnbaum. The
defending champion, Chris Byrd, ran into a former champion on
a hot streak, George Seary, in the third Swiss Round. That
defeat forced Chris to face Marvin in the fourth Swiss round. Marvin,
keyed up and vigilant from that first round ambush, was able
to prevail and thus unseat the defending champion. John
Poniske, 2004 Champion, had a long day as well. His first
round match was against the always dangerous Keith Wixson.
Surprisingly,
these two played a game with a zero bid. Unsurprisingly,
the Americans defeated John's British. Back on track after
a second round victory, Poniske then encountered talented local
up and comer, Jonathan Squibb from nearby Carlisle PA. Squibb
dashed Poniske's hopes, but then, in the fourtth round, had his
dashed in turn by Brophy, the giant killer, whose victory over
Birnbaum was no longer looking like a fluke. Veteran Joe
Collinson, broke out of the pack this year with three victories
in the Swiss rounds to get one of the byes into the Quarterfinals.
Both
Gaberson and Seary also made it undefeated through the
Swiss Rounds, but they didn't take the easy path either. Seary
had to pass defending champion Chris Byrd. Gaberson had
to defeat both Wixson and former champion (and eventual winner)
George Young along the way. Two time champion Brian
Mountford met up with last year's "Rookie of the Year",
John Faella. They fought to a tie, but were undefeated going
into the fourh Swiss round and so also earned a bye into the
Quarterfinals. Another journeyman and all around good guy,
Mike Mitchell battled his way into contention, but drew George
Young in the fourth Swiss round. Having to face both Young
and the hot-handed Brophy proved to be too much for Mitchell;
but his steady improvement each year has everyone wary of this
veteran.
When the dead were buried from the Swiss rounds, the Quarterfinalists
were top seeds Gaberson, Collinson, Seary followed by Mountford
and Faella. Survivors of that brutal fourth Swiss round
- Birnbaum, Brophy and Young - completed the bracket. Gaberson
took the Brits plus four PCs, but Birnbaum prevailed anyway. Collinson
defeated Faella. Seary topped Brophy and Young ended Mountford's
day. The semi-final bracket saw Birnbaum end Collinson's
hot streak while Young did the same to Seary. Joe Collinson
earned his first WTP wood third) by defeating George Seary in
the consolation round. John Faella improved to fifth place
from last year's initial sixth place laurels by overcoming Paul
Gaberson to put the finishing touches on any possible team points.
The Final paired former champions Marvin Birnbaum and George
Young. Surprisingly, for those who thought they knew his
bidding style, Young drew the British and three PCs. The
Final saw considerable political action and reaction as the game
went into the '80's with the British enjoying a dangerously high
colony count. To disrupt the British hold on colony rich
New England, Birnbaum sent Washington to take control of Boston. Young
had the card he needed, and was able to chase and capture Washington
during his bold move. This was especially ironic. Last
year, Young lost the Final as the Americans when the British
were able to capture Washington; this year he in won in the same
fashion! So instead of crowning our first three-time champion,
we now have a trio of two-timers: Brian Mountford, Marvin
Birnbaum and George Young.
This year, We the People was a coached event and it
attracted 11 players with recruit status. Rob Olsson prevailed
in the pure Swiss coached division to win this year's Minuteman
Militia Award: a copy of Thomas Fleming's "Washington's
Secret War".
Our Valley Forge Award is presented annually to a player who
demonstrates remarkable fortitude and commitment by continuing
the struggle despite outrageous fortune and disappointing defeat. The
Von Steuben Award is presented to a player who most contributes
to the training and development of our newest players. This
year the awards were combined by tournament mainstay Randall
MacInnis. He received a copy of Jerome Green's "The
Guns of Independence".
Our Sportsman Award is named in honor of Captain John Paul
Jones. Captain Jones, as every school child knows, was a
high spirited warrior who was relentless in his pursuit of victory. What
is less well known is that he fought all of his engagements with
a strict adherence to the rules and customs of the day. He
was determined to acquit himself not only as the victor but to
bring honor to the Continental Navy and on himself. For
example, when he raided Whitehaven and St. Mary's Island, his
crew took as a prize the family silver of the Earl of Selkirk. It
was a legitimate prize and its taking caused considerable consternation
to British nobility and uproar in Parliament, which was his military
objective, Yet Jones' personal sense of honor was such that
"war should not be made upon the Fair". So at
the condemnation hearings of the Prize court, Captain Jones purchased
the silver with his private funds and had it returned to the
Lady Selkirk. As in the past, we look for nominees who walk
the fine line between competitiveness and a strict sense of personal
honor.
The winner of this year's John Paul Jones Sportsman Award
and our nominee as the WBC Sportsman of the Year is Greg Schmittgens. Greg
is a skillful competitor who keeps everything in perspective. He
not only plays a splendid game, he literally cheers when great
plays are made against him. For him, the enjoyment of the
game is the main reward, and seeing a game's "story line"
unfold by the twists and turns of fate causes genuine delight
that is, frankly, quite infectious. No one who plays Greg
has a bad time regardless of the final outcome! Greg also
engenders and nurtures WBC's growing sense of camaraderie by
making and distributing buttons featuring various events and
widely sharing his fabulous homemade jerky. The contagious
manner in which Greg savors good play, his ready willingness
to help GMs and WBC officials, the sense of amity that he encourages
throughout the tournament, make this nomination a no-brainer. It
came as no surprise to learn that he was independently nominated
as Sportsman of the Year by at least one other tournament. Greg
received a copy of Fred Anderson's "The War That Made America",
the companion text to the superb PBS documentary of the same
name.
Due to professional and family commitments, there is a very
good chance that Don Chappell may not be able to return in 2007. The
good news is that George Young has volunteered to perform those
duties. He volunteered well before play started and thus
did not realize that he would also be the defending champion. So
being the GM will make that defense more challenging! However,
our constituency is well behaved, the game is well understood,
and play (for the most part) keeps onpace, so it won't be
THAT hard on him either. Unfortunately, administering the
coached division while playing competitively is quite impossible. So
if we are to remain a Class C (coached) event next year, we will
need a true Von Steuben to step up and lead that division. We
definitely don't want the defending champion unable to defend
his title! Volunteers for the duty should contact Don Chappell
well before December so that the event proposal can be updated,
handed off to George and be submitted on time.
We The
People Play By Email
WE THE PEOPLE: The PBeM Tournament started on January 14 with
50 participants. The six round Swiss tournament should run for
approximately two years. A large number of top players are participating.
Favorites for the wood include past WBC Champs Marvin Birnbaum,
Brian Mountford, George Seary, James Pei and George Young and
defending BPA PBeM Champ Paul Gaberson.
Round 2 of the six round swiss tournament has just concluded.
Seth Fine, Ken Gutermuth and James Pei are tied for first with
two wins each. Also with two wins but worse tie breakers, are
George Seary, Peter Reese, Keith Wixson, Henry Rice, Michael
Mitchell, Dan Leader and Ron Jacobsen. Pre-tournament favorites
Marvin Birnbaum and Brian Mountford each suffered a Round 2 loss
(to Rice and Leader, respectively). Round 3 begins shortly. Check
out the action at ACTS and at http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4bc94/wethepeople/
This game served well again in its capacity as a time-filler
among the rounds of the other events taking place at WAM.
Twenty players entered the WTP event, run as a swiss, last-man-standing
elimination event with the plaque going to the final player
without a loss. In the winners bracket, the usual suspects
knocked down contenders. By Sunday morning, four players
remained undefeated: Paul Gaberson, George Young, James Pei,
and Pete Reese. With the Wilderness War plaque also
within his grasp, Reese decided to drop out of the WTP competition.
This left Pei to match up against Gaberson for the right
to play Young for the plaque. Pei reached this point via
a draw against Randall MacInnis and wins over James Terry
and Stuart Tucker. Gaberson had vanquished Chris Byrd, Pete
Reese (in the mulligan round), and Terry Coleman. Young had
defeated Terry, MacInnis, and Roderick Lee.
Against Gaberson, Pei (bid 3 PCs to be the Americans) managed
to draw Campaign cards in four of the first five turns. The
Americans had four unanswered plays at the end of 1777. The
British Regulars Advantage was lost in 1779. The War ended
in 1780 without a single colony under British control.
In the Final, Young won the bid at 4 PCs to be the Americans,
only to be hobbled by never seeing the Declaration of Independence
and French Alliance. Benedict Arnold turned coat in 1777.
The British Regulars advantage was lost in 1778, but on the
turn it mattered most, the final turn (1779), Pei had a Campaign
card and managed to control six colonies to win the game
and the plaque.
Over the course of the tournament, bids for the Americans
increased, to the 3s and 4s, while averaging just under 3
for the event. Tucker, upon losing to Pei, heard him say
that he believed 4 PCs was a fair bid to be the Americans.
Certainly, Pei showed his proficiency in keeping alive Washington
against Tucker. Tucker had established a 4-pronged attack
that established a loose ring around Washington in Albany.
But Pei managed to maneuver his other generals on the flanks
at the right times to catch the British advances in dangerous
terrain, killing many of them due to lack of a retreat. Despite
having overwhelmingly better cards than Pei, Tucker's British
managed to lose most of their CUs by 1778 and resigned--all
while Washington rested in Albany.
Of the 22 games,
the Americans won half (11), while two were draws and nine
were British wins.
The top six WTP players earning WAM laurels were:
1. James Pei, 4-0-D, 47 Tournament Points, 3 American wins,
1 British, 1 Draw
2. Geoge Young, 3-1, 37 TPs, 2 American wins, 1 British
3. Roderick Lee, 3-1, 33 TPs, 1 American win, 2 British
4. Paul Gaberson, 3-1, 28 TPs, 1 American win, 2 British
5. Terry Coleman, 2-1, 23 TPs, 1 American win, 1 British
6. Pete Reese, 2-0, 21 TPs, 2 British wins
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