the napoleonic wars   

Updated 2/5/2012
2011 WBC Report  

 2012 Status: pending 2012 GM commitment
Bruce Young, SC
2011 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
2011    Bruce Young     54

Waterloo Event History
2003    BruceYoung     24
2004    Scott Moll     14
2005    Mark Hodgkinson     24
2006    Kevin Sudy     32
2007    Kevin Sudy     28
2008    John Emery     24
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bruce Young        SC    11    206
  2.  John Emery         SC    09    138
  3.  Lane Hess          PA    09    132
  4.  Henry Russell      PA    10    102
  5.  Melvin Casselberry PA    11     99
  6.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    07     96
  7.  Scott Moll         VA    05     80
  8.  Mike Casselberry   PA    10     60
  9.  David Gantt        SC    04     60
 10.  Forrest Speck      MD    03     60
 11.  Francis Czawlytko  MD    11     54
 12.  Scott Fenn         MD    07     50
 13.  Mark Hodgkinson    au    05     50
 14.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    08     48
 15.  Bryan Collars      SC    04     38
 16.  Tom Eskey          MD    11     36
 17.  John Haas          PA    03     36
 18.  Pat Duffy          VA    08     32
 19.  Jim Castonguay     PA    11     30
 20.  Harry Theodore     NY    09     24
 21.  Jesse Boomer       KS    09     24
 22.  Jason White        VA    04     24
 23.  Mark McCandless    CT    03     24
 24.  Nick Frydas        uk    11     18
 25.  Daniel Broh-Kahn   MD    10     18
 26.  Joe Burch          MD    06     18
 27.  Josh Githens       SC    04     18
 28.  Charley Hickok     PA    04     17
 29.  Richard Beyma      MD    08     16
 30.  Keith Wixson       NJ    04     16
 31.  Brian Sutton       MD    07     15
 32.  James Eaton        LA    03     15
 33.  William Burch      MD    04     14
 34.  Lance Roberts      AK    06     12
 35.  Steve Jansen       MD    05     12
 36.  George Young       UT    03     12
 37.  Alan Sudy          VA    07     10
 38.  Fred Schachter     NY    05     10
 39.  Kevin Emery        SC    10      6
 40.  Robert Vollman     ab    06      6
 41.  Edward Kendrick    uk    03      6

2011 Laurelists                                             Repeating Laurelists:

Tom Eskey, MD
2nd

Jim Castonguay, PA
3rd

Nick Frydas, uk
4th

Melvin Casselberry, PA
5th

Francis Czawlytko, MD
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

Bruce Young, SC
2011
 

New Zealanders Llew Bardecki and Sara Sparks join Nicholas Benedict, Melvin Casselberry and Bill Burtless.

Nebraskan Steve Smith joins the BPA secretary Bruce Monnin in a game far removed from the stressful decisions of Pro Golf.

Austria uber France

The 9th rendition of the WBC Napoleonic Wars was won by Bruce Young, providing the "obligatory" representation of the Greenville Mafia in the Final. At the outset, Bruce had no expectation of an Austrian victory, but he minimized the damage from the early French onslaught and was able to lead the coalition to a prolonged victory over the French on Turn 4.

Rolling for sides, Nick Frydas used the first choice to select Britain, leaving the French to Melvin Casselberry. Tom Eskey, selecting third, opted for Prussia and Jim Castonguay wasted no time in selecting Russia. That left the low man on the dice roll totem pole to play Austria - the usual victim of Europe. Napoleon opened with a forced march to Venice and so Bruce immediately knew he was in for a long day. His Austrians fell back, reinforced by the arriving Russians, and Britain did its part by providing Parliament. So far, so good - the Coalition held central Europe. Despite blockading the French navy, the British fared poorly, losing both Naples and Lisbon. France led at the end of Turn 1 but British and Austrian card expenditures denied a French victory die roll.

Turn 2 dawned with much fighting in central Europe with Russian armies eventually taking Munich. Prussia remained neutral and enlisted Turkish allies. Britain landed in Spain, but a redeployed army under Davout ensured Spain's loyalty. Card sacrifices again denied France a roll for victory.

On Turn 3, Wellington took Madrid and other gains in Spain but before the conquest could be completed, Melvin played Dos de Mayo to break the pact with Spain and was able to retain control of Lisbon. The focus on Spain, however, enabled the Russo-Austrian armies to prevail and enter the easternmost duchies of France. Prussia still remained neutral and added Sweden to its allies. Russia failed an attempted roll for victory at the end of the turn, prompting Prussia to join the Coalition.

Attacked from three sides, Turn 4 brought about the French collapse. However, Napoleon remained elusive as the Austro-Russians entered Paris. The Emperor was not yet done. Melvin launched a desperate campaign in the east. Moving behind allied lines and removing Russian flags in Associate keys along the way, the French defeated the Prussians outside of Berlin. He then pivoted, taking out local garrisons and flagging Vienna and three other Austrian keys using Overruns and additional resources earned along the way to fuel the unlikely campaign.

However, it was all for naught. To the relief of everyone, France did not possess the Capitulation card, which would have forced Austria's immediate surrender and completed a remarkable comeback. Instead, due to the conquest sequence at the end of the turn, France was conquered by Austria before Austria could be conquered by France. So the end result of the French campaign was that Russia lost control of those associate duchies in France, the French lost all keys it controlled outside of France, and Austria regained its home keys.

The expanded format of an added third heat juiced attendance 20% while including players from six nations and maintaining a reunion atmosphere of old friends battling it out yet again. Most games lasted over six hours, with one running ten! The Final lasted eight hours, ending at 2 AM. Camaraderie, as always, was high with players rejoicing in the sudden changes of fortune which are so commonplace in The Napoleonic Wars.

Michael Rogozinski, Joe Woolshleger and Henry Russell

The finalists before their eight-hour campaign.

 GM      Non-Compliant  [1st Year]   NA
    NA   NA

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