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Despite its age as the granddaddy
of the CDWs, the We the People demo hosted by George Young
draws many interested new players. |
Ray Freeman and Scott Fenn, veteran
gamers of other titles, compete in the beginner's bracket of
WTP under tutelage of Randy Mac Innis. |
The First of the CDWs
Seven of our 39 players were new or inexperienced. These
folks had a separate, coached bracket, with support provided
by Randall MacInnis and Ron Fedin. Otherwise, the tournament
used the same format as in previous years. Three swiss
rounds of qualifying games were used to reduce the field to a
final eight, who then advanced through a single elimination gauntlet
to produce a winner. As usual, after the first three rounds,
we had four undefeated players and five worthies with 2-1 records,
as well as the winner of the coached bracket, so a fourth round
was added to reduce the field to eight.
In the quarter final match-ups, we again played with special
tournament rules that allowed the British player to win ties
if the American player bid for the privilege. This meant
that, as long as Canada remained British, they only needed to
take five colonies, not the normal six. Paul Gaberson's
British were defeated by Bill Peeck's Americans. Eric Kleist,
playing the Americans with a bid of only 1, defeated Ray Freeman.
Ray had advanced to the quarter finals by winning the coached
event, then defeating Mike Ussery in the play-in round.
Joe Collinson managed to knock off two-time champ Brian Mountford.
And in the only pairing of undefeated players, George Young outlasted
another two-time champion, Marvin Birnbaum. Significantly,
in all of the quarter final match-ups, the Americans won, with
bids ranging from 1 to 4.
The semi-finals broke the colonial string of victories; with
the British successful in both matches. Eric Kleist, who
had had success with the British throughout the tournament, continued
his run with the redcoats, relegating Joe Collinson to third
for the second straight year. George Young likewise took
advantage of a bid of 4 by Bill Peeck, to knock off the Americans.
In the Final, Eric Kleist took the British yet again, with
a bid of 3. Eric played the New England strategy, focusing
on taking the four New England states plus Delaware. The
match was finally decided in 1782 -- in this turn, the British
finally managed to take all of New England. Unfortunately,
to do this, they had left Canada defenseless. The Americans
took advantage of the absence of forces to capture Montreal and
Quebec, giving the US the necessary nine colonies. Significantly,
despite the fact that the game lasted to 1782, neither the French
Alliance nor the Declaration of Independence occurred.
The majority of games were played using a bid of 3 for the
Americans. The American edge in these games was 18 to 5.
Bids of 4 reduced the edge to 5 to 3. Interestingly, 4-5
years ago, bids were typically 1 or 2. Even though players
have significantly increased bids in recent years, the American
advantage still exists.
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George Young on the way to his
third WTP title. |
Brian Mountford battles Pat
Mirk in the qualifying rounds. |
We The People Play By Email
Congratulations to Dan Leader for winning the second PBeM We the People Tournament. Leader, who was a relative unknown
among veteran WTP circles, compiled a perfect 6-0 score in the
six-round Swiss format. He defeated, in order, Kevin Klemme,
Brian Mountford, Ken Gutermuth, Pete Reese, James ("The
Master") Pei and Henry Rice and recorded an impressive four
wins as the British along the way (the Americans are generally
thought to have a not inconsiderable edge in the game). Check
out the final standings here: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4bc94/wethepeople/index.html.
The laurelists were
as follows:
1. Dan Leader
2. James Pei (only loss was to Leader)
3. Pete Reese (only loss was to Leader)
4. Bill Peeck
5. Henry Rice (only loss was to Leader)
6. Bruce Monnin
The tournament began in the Spring of 2006 with 50 players
(including five past WBC champs) and was played via ACTS.
A total of 133 games were played with the British winning
44 games (17 were automatic victories), Americans winning 74
and 15 games being draws. The average bid to play the Americans
was 2.93 PC markers added at the start of play, which given the
poor 33% British win percentage should probably have been higher.
The best British player was the Champ with his perfect slate
of four wins. The best American player was Bill Peeck (five wins
against a lone loss), who was able to avoid playing the British
entirely (shame on his opponents for not bidding him up!). The
best sportsman was Andrew Maly, who cheerfully compiled a "perfect"
0-6 record.
An AAR of the Round 6 game between Leader and Rice follows:
Americans: Henry Rice
British: Dan Leader
Bid: 4 PCs for the Americans
1775: The British had a definite advantage in strategy
cards with five ops cards to only three for the Americans (plus
Jane McCrae). As usual, most cards were used to place PC markers
on both sides, but the final British move put Cornwallis in Delaware
poised to disperse Congress in the beginning of the new year.
The British achieved control of NC, VA, DE and MA.
1776: This time the Americans had the card advantage
with a total of seven ops cards to five for the British. Because
Cornwallis could not be easily stopped from taking Philadelphia,
the Americans elected to go first to get some PC markers down.
Cornwallis dutifully dispersed Congress, but his attempt to capture
Maryland was rebuffed, resulting in his retreat to York without
an army. With Washington still in New England, Clinton ended
the turn by moving from Delaware to New York to convert NY to
the British and put some pressure on Washington. SC and NY were
added to the British total.
1777: Clinton's harassing move to New York increased
greatly in importance when the British were dealt both the major
and a minor campaign. Starting the year with the major campaign,
all exits from New England were successfully sealed off, trapping
Washington inside. However, Greene was still in Newport to provide
support, and the Americans still controlled much of the area.
Despite having only three ops cards, the Americans made excellent
defensive moves to prevent Washington's capture. Several battles
raged back and forth, particularly in New Haven, with the Americans
holding the tactical advantage but Washington still unable to
escape. An attempt at a British flanking move by landing Burgoyne
in Barnstable resulted in nothing but winter attrition losses.
However, NH was added to the British fold and Arnold was lost
to treason.
1778: At last, Washington was able to break out on
the second card play when Howe's attempt at a counterattack to
reseal the barrier was defeated. Washington immediately headed
south to Philadelphia. With all British generals but Cornwallis
in New England and Cornwallis in York without an army, the situation
quickly looked promising for the Americans to reclaim mid-Atlantic
and southern states. Cornwallis picked up a CU that had been
left in Baltimore and was subsequently reinforced while the Americans
put new armies into Virginia and North Carolina, retaking Virginia.
The DOI provided extra help for the Americans. On the last play
of the year, Cornwallis attempted to capture Maryland by advancing
to Fredericktown from an American PC marker. He was home-free
as long as Lee couldn't intercept. However, the interception
roll was the needed "1", and with the battle cards
4-6 for the Americans, the Americans amazingly managed to match
all four British cards and win the battle, capturing Cornwallis.
1779: The deck had not yet been reshuffled and four
"War Ends" cards had already been played. Both "War
Ends in 1779" and the French Alliance cards were still in
the deck and likely to be drawn. The British player had neither.
But, the British were blessed with both the last remaining minor
campaign and "Lord North Royal Amnesty", two killer
cards, and could afford to lose some ground and still win. American
armies continued to operate in North Carolina, so Cornwallis
moved south, leaving a CU in Norfolk and recapturing New Bern
to isolate a pocket of American PCs. When the Americans played
the "War Ends" card, it was time for decision. The
Americans had been saving the French Alliance card for a late
flanking move into North or South Carolina, but the move by Cornwallis
thwarted the advance, and Lord North protected British PCs from
isolation in the south. Washington recaptured Delaware, but it
was not enough. In the end, the British pulled out the victory
by controlling SC, NC, NY, RI, MA, NH, and Canada.
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