the napoleonic wars five-player  

Updated 11/23/2010

2010 WBC Report  

 2011 Status: pending 2011 GM commitment

Mike Casselberry, PA

2010 Champion

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Event History
2003    Forrest Speck     67
2004    David Gantt     64
2005    Ed Rothenheber     50
2006    Melvin Casselberry     55
2007    Scott Fenn     52
2008    Lane Hess     46
2009    Henry Russell     45
2010    Mike Casselberry     45

Waterloo Event History
2003    BruceYoung     24
2004    Scott Moll     14
2005    Mark Hodgkinson     24
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bruce Young        SC    10    146
  2.  John Emery         SC    09    138
  3.  Lane Hess          PA    09    132
  4.  Henry Russell      PA    10    102
  5.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    07     96
  6.  Scott Moll         VA    05     80
  7.  Melvin Casselberry PA    10     87
  8.  Mike Casselberry   PA    10     60
  9.  David Gantt        SC    04     60
 10.  Forrest Speck      MD    03     60
 11.  Scott Fenn         MD    07     50
 12.  Mark Hodgkinson    au    05     50
 13.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    08     48
 14.  Francis Czawlytko  MD    06     48
 15.  Bryan Collars      SC    04     38
 16.  John Haas          PA    03     36
 17.  Pat Duffy          VA    08     32
 18.  Harry Theodore     NY    09     24
 19.  Jesse Boomer       KS    09     24
 20.  Jason White        VA    04     24
 21.  Mark McCandless    CT    03     24
 22.  Daniel Broh-Kahn   MD    10     18
 23.  Joe Burch          MD    06     18
 24.  Josh Githens       SC    04     18
 25.  Charley Hickok     PA    04     17
 26.  Richard Beyma      MD    08     16
 27.  Keith Wixson       NJ    04     16
 28.  Brian Sutton       MD    07     15
 29.  James Eaton        LA    03     15
 30.  William Burch      MD    04     14
 31.  Lance Roberts      AK    06     12
 32.  Steve Jansen       MD    05     12
 33.  George Young       UT    03     12
 34.  Alan Sudy          VA    07     10
 35.  Fred Schachter     NY    05     10
 36.  Kevin Emery        SC    10      6
 37.  Jim Castonguay     PA    09      6
 38.  Robert Vollman     ab    06      6
 39.  Edward Kendrick    uk    03      6

2010 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists:

Bruce Young, SC
2nd

Henry Russell, PA
3rd

Dan Broh-Kahn, MD
4th

Melvin Casselberry, PA
5th

Kevin Emery, SC
6th

Past Winners

Forrest Speck, MD
2003

David Gantt, SC
2004

Ed Rothenheber, MD
2005

Melvin Casselberry, PA
2006

Scott Fenn, MD
2007

Lane Hess, PA
2008

Henry Russell, PA
2009

Mike Casselberry, PA
2010
   

Richard Beyma wonders which Mafia member is out of uniform for the day.

New GM John Emery marches against Matt Russell. At least he remembered it was yellow today.

Grinding dad beneath your heel ...

The five victors of the Nappy Wars semi-finals decided to get together one evening at WBC and hash it out to see who among them would take the crown home. Naturally, the highest finisher in the semis, Mike Casselberry, chose France, and wanted to see how far he could go in that spot again. In the wargamer's version of family feud, his father, Melvin Casselberry - one of two ex-champs amongst the survivors, chose Britain, so it was certain that there would be little harmony at the breakfast table the next morning! Rounding out the five finalists were Bruce Young as Prussia, defending champ Henry Russell as Russia and Daniel Broh-Kahn as Austria, playing in his first ever Nappy Wars Final.

Before the campaign started, Britain firmly laid down the law for the other members of the Third Coalition: The Parliament card in exchange for giving up a resource. It was an intriguing offer, but one that was ultimately ignored by both Russia and Austria, and Prussia too. Would it be to their peril? Read on and find out.

The first turn proceeded in the regular fashion, with Spain moving into Portugal, Russia coming to Austria's aide and France moving anywhere she wanted. As usual, france started things off swiftly by concentrating her forces for the inevitable assault on Vienna. Britain responded by applying pressure at sea, taking out as many fleets as possible and securing control of the all important six sea zones. Austria actually had some decent cards, and so was able to build defenses before tackling France in northern Italy. That campaign swung too and fro the entire game, with the French usually having the advantage. Russia brought as many forces as possible to the vicinity of Vienna, to make sure that any battles there would be costly for France. And Prussia, of course, manipulated the diplomatic track.

As the game progressed, there was a trend that was observed by neutral observers and active participants alike. France was sweeping all before her on land, while Britain was doing the same at sea. Other members of the coalition were dismayed that Britain was using her resource strength to beat up on Sweden and Denmark, instead of fighting the Corsican Ogre. In response, Britain reiterated her standing offer: The Parliament card in exchange for giving up a resource.

But for Austria, this was not a good deal. Although Austria could certainly use a fresh card from the draw pile at any time, there was no way she was going to burn her last reserve, the all important resource, while there were large standing French armies next to Vienna. Tactically, burning the resource for the Parliament card was a good deal, in that Austria would get two cards for the price of one resource. But strategically, it doesn't make sense to utilize one's last reserve when the enemy is at the gates.

Finally, Austria had enough. Russia also felt the same way, although Russia's situation was not nearly as precarious . And when Prussia failed to join the coalition at the golden opportunity, Austria acted rashly! Tired of seeing Britain earn keys while Austrian boys were dyin' Austria played a card that was "less than friendly" towards the nation of shopkeepers. Austria felt, rightly or wrongly, that Britain was more concerned about her own status than in defeating Napoleon, and this angered Austria somewhat! Apparently, it was a crack in the dam that was holding back a lot of resentment.

France saw the writing on the wall, and through a fortunate series of naval moves and combats, had managed to secure La Manche for a turn. Swiftly moving her forces back to the channel, she prepared to invade England for the second time since 1066. The results were predictable! Large French armies marched all across England, Scotland and Wales, eliminating everything in their path, and securing all the keys, including London. And with that, the game was over, with a decisive French victory, as poor Dad got beat up by his loving son! But hey, at least Vienna never fell!

In tribute to designer Mark McLaughlin who was the original GM for Nappy Wars these past seven years, GM John Emery gifted each of the finalists with spirits from their namesake countries.

The finalists pose for posterity.

The new champ and Peter Gurneau celebrate the fall of London.
 GM      John Emery  [1st Year]   115 Fairview Place, Greer, SC 29650
    dorajonry@aol.com   864-918-7820

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