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Mark Yoshikawa and Jon Lockwood chase
each other around new England. |
Paul Gaberson battles eventual champ
Keith Wixson in the semi-finals. |
An Evolving Revolution
Breaking ground as the first of what became a wildly successful
genre of Card Driven Games, We The People is one of the
longest continuously running national level wargame tournaments.
Over the years WTP has attracted and held a loyal following,
many of whom made it a point to participate in this, the final
year in which the game will be the title event of the tournament.
Beginning in 2011, having paid its penance in the transition
year of 2010, Washington's War (WWR) will become the default
game for this contest at WBC.
This year both coexisted and in a surprisingly smooth fashion.
Eight contestants preferred to play WTP, but they were a strong
contingent that stayed for multiple games, 22 of the total 78
games played. In contrast, the new Washington's War had 50 players,
25 of whom stayed for only one or two games; many coming primarily
to have designer Mark Herman teach them the differences between
the two games in person. There were also seven true tyros who
had played neither game before but who were intrigued by the
opportunity to learn about CDGs in our famous coached division
and to leave WBC with new experiences. Two of these contestants,
Dan Hoffman and Edward Rader, were playing in the full tournament
pool by the second Swiss round and stayed through all four Swiss
rounds and then played each other for fun and honor after that.
It was a very tough call, but Dan Hoffman was awarded the tournament's
annual Minuteman Militia Award as the top performing and most
persistent novice.
Of the 56 games of Washington's War played, the Americans
won 28 and the British 26. That's a swing of one game (and far
more than one were close) to having this newly published title
being perfectly balanced during its first year. Needless to say,
Mark Herman, his development team and playtesters were ecstatic.
There was no bidding for sides for Washington's War.
With such a large number of participants this year, four Swiss
rounds were needed to fill out the quarter-final bracket in the
Single Elimination portion of the tournament. Seven players had
identical 3-1 records, so as previously announced, five were
selected by lot to fill out the bracket. Unfortunately, two strong
players, Joe Collinson with multiple laurels for top notch showings
and Marvin Birnbaum, three-time defending champion, were the
two scorned by Lady Luck and excluded. However, the brackets
were filled with worthy competitors, and we enjoyed some very
intense games. Eric Kleist, who preferred the default WTP version
of the game, was defeated by three-time champion, George Young.
Matthew Ellis, attending WBC from Cheshire UK for the first time,
was taken out by John Faella. Gray beard CDW journeyman Bill
Edwards was bested by Paul Gaberson, and long time WTP AGM Randall
MacInnis fell to Keith Wixson.
The semi-final round found George Young facing John Faella.
John is a grad student at University of Rhode Island and has
been playing and continually improving in WTP since high school.
We were thrilled to see him have a chance to knock off three-time
champion George Young. In the end, however, experience and superior
cards told the story and the youngster fell to defeat. Paul Gaberson
opposed Keith Wixson in the other semi-final. Long time friends
who have dueled in multiple CDG titles at WBC and the Winter
Activation Meetings (WAM) for years met one more time mixing
conservatism and opportunistic risk taking. In this case, it
was Keith who got another chance to win his first WTP championship...,
if he could only beat George Young.
Starting at 11 PM, the two titans dealt out the cards, with
George taking the British. George was toying with the idea of
using a British Southern strategy. When Keith boldly leveraged
the use of a Battle Card to drive Howe out of Boston early in
1775, George took the opportunity to try that strategy. By the
end of 1776, the British had five colonies well in hand. Anyone
who has played George would easily recognize the situation. He
had completely locked down GA, SC and NC with red PCs and had
four generals with armies enjoying the protection from attrition
provided by the Winter Attrition line. He continued to inexorably,
deliberately and carefully advance the British armies in mutually
supporting positions in an attempt to take Virginia. However,
by this time, Keith had marched Washington down from the North
to provide competent leadership and was symmetrically opposing
George's inexorable advance. Sideshows and distractions were
attempted and foiled by both sides as the British continued to
edge forward. With the war ending in 1782, George was dealt a
hand that could not be used to advance the British cause, four
American events, one minor British event and two OPS-1 cards.
Keith Wixson managed to seize the WBC We the People title for
the first time after many years of contesting strongly for it!
We are nominating Paul Gaberson as the WBC Sportsman of the
Year. For more than a decade, Paul has been one of the most genteel,
knowledgeable, patient, unflustered, and fun to play opponents
at WBC, WAM or BPA sponsored PBeM tournaments. He is always willing
to help the GM or another player in anyway. He plays hard regardless
of the situation, so even if he is out of the running, he gives
his opponent a great game and the other players in the tournament
know that he never gives out an unofficial bye. Paul accepts
both good and bad luck with equal grace. In short, Paul Gaberson
is the wargamer that you want your kids to use as a role model.
WTP offers additional prizes. Publisher GMT provided merchandise
credit for each plaque winner. Dan Hoffman was presented with
a copy of Thomas Fleming's Washington's Secret War as The Minuteman
Militia Award. Vermonter George Young received a copy of Benedict
Arnold's Navy by James Nelson, which chronicles the nearby Battle
of Valcour Island as a consolation award. Both the champion Keith
Wixson, and the John Paul Jones Sportsmanship award winner, Paul
Gaberson received handsome copies of David McCullough's 1776:
The Illustrated Edition which features period replicas of key
documents, engravings, art, letters and maps.
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From left to right, the World Boardgaming
Championship We The People winners: Paul Gaberson, third place;
first time winner Keith Wixson, and George Young, second place. |
The top performing novice in
the coached division, Dan Hoffman (L), receives The Minuteman
Militia Award from GM Don Chappell who graciously funds extra
prizes for his event. |
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