washington's war * 

Updated 11/30/2011

 2011 WBC Report  

 2012 Status: pending 2012 GM commitment

Michael Mitchell, GA

2011 Champion

Links

  WAM 

* We The People prior to 2010

Event History
1994    Andy Lewis      60
1995    Roger Taylor      56
1996    George Seary      54
1997    Thomas Drueding      40
1998    James Pei      40
1999    Marvin Birnbaum     32
2000    Brian Mountford     45
2001    Brian Mountford     32
2002    Marvin Birnbaum     54
2003    George Young     41
2004    John Poniske     43
2005    Chris Byrd     43
2006    George Young     45
2007    George Young     39
2008    Brian Mountford     38
2009    Marvin Birnbaum     34
2010    Keith Wixson     58
2011    Michael Mitchell     68

PBeM Event History
2004    Paul Gaberson      46
2008    Dan Leader     50

WAM Event History
2004    Michael Ussery      16
2005    Marvin Birnbaum       24
2006    James Pei     13
2007    James Pei     20
2011    Tim Miller     28
 Laurels

Rank  Name                From  Last  Total
  1.  George Young         VT    11    260
  2.  Marvin Birnbaum      NY    11    221
  3.  Paul Gaberson        PA    11    192
  4.  Brian Mountford      NY    09    179
  5.  James Pei            TX    11    127
  6.  Keith Wixson         NJ    11    120
  7.  John Poniske         PA    09     91
  8.  Mike Mitchell        GA    11     61
  9.  Dan Leader           MA    08     60
 10.  Joe Collinson        MD    08     52
 11.  Tom Drueding         MA    11     46
 12.  Chris Byrd           CT    05     40
 13.  John Faella          RI    10     36
 14.  Bill Peeck           NY    08     36
 15.  George Seary         NY    06     36
 16.  Jim Gutt             AZ    04     36
 17.  Eric Kleist          MD    10     32
 18.  Tim Miller           GA    11     30
 19.  Michael Ussery       MD    11     28
 20.  Pete Reese           VA    08     27
 21.  Roderick Lee         CA    07     24
 22.  Michael Pacheco      CA    04     24
 23.  Anthony Burke        NJ    00     24
 24.  Henry Rice           NM    09     18
 25.  Jim Fardette         ae    01     18
 26.  David Dockter        MN    02     16
 27.  David Tianen         WI    00     16
 28.  Pat Mirk             FL    03     15
 29.  Philip Burgin-Young  VT    08     12
 30.  Bruce Monnin         OH    08     12
 31.  Rob Taylor           MI    05     12
 32.  Paul Barrett         uk    04     12
 33.  Terry Coleman        CA    11      9
 34.  Ken Gutermuth        TX    05      9
 35.  Jim Eliason          IA    05      8
 36.  Stuart Tucker        MD    04      8
 37.  Bruce Wigdor         NJ    02      8
 38.  Andy Lewis           DE    00      8
 39.  Randy MacInnis       NJ    10      6
 40.  Seth Fine            WA    04      6
 41.  Joe Stenken          KY    03      5
 42.  Bill Powers          VA    11      4
 43.  Mark Yoshikawa       CA    06      4
 44.  Bryan Thompson       MD    04      4
 45.  Randall Borra        NY    00      4
 46.  Jim Falling          IL    99      4
 47.  Matthew Bacho        MD    04      2

2011 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists:

Tom Drueding, MA
2nd

George Young, VT
3rd

Marvin Birnbaum, NY
4th

Michael Ussery, MD
5th

Bill Powers, VA
6th

Past Winners

Andy Lewis, DE
1994

Roger Taylor, VA
1995

George Seary, NY
1996

Thomas Drueding, PA
1997

James Pei, TX
1998

Marvin Birnbaum, NJ
1999, 2002, 2009

Brian Mountford, NY
2000-01, 2008

George Young, VT
2003, 2006, 2007

John Poniske, PA
2004

Chris Byrd, CT
2005

Keith Wixson, NJ
2010

Michael Mitchell, GA
2011
     

John Faella was part of the record field for the sequel of the first CDW.

Three-time champ Brian Mountford opposes Edward Rader in the new version.

A Brand New Revolution ...

As a rookie GM I want to thank all those who helped make this tournament run smoothly. Keith Wixson and George Young provided tremendous help throughout. They shared all duties and helped in the critical first round where our record number of entries threatened to overwhelm. Special thanks to volunteers Brian Mountford for running the demo and David Docktor for helping between the first couple of rounds.

RIP: We the People, only four people expressed a preference for the original. Therefore it will no longer be played in the tournament.

The first round got underway more or less by 9:30 am and the Final was completed at 4 am. Mike Mitchell's British bested Tom Drueding in a 1779 win for the championship - marking 15 years between tournament championships for Mike since the days when he dominated in Third Reich. The Final proved a bit of an anti-climax as the beginning was the usual PC placement fest. Then the British focused on New England while Washington ran around the board battling at Fort Detroit and the middle states to obtain French Intervention. Alas, the game ended before the colonists could make any progress with their newfound strength.

The result was rather typical for the tournament as a whole wherein the British held a 47-34 advantage. The most numerous bid was 0 in 48 games. In games with a bid the preference was a bid of 1 for the Americans 21 times followed by 1 for the British six times. There were only six bids greater than 1. There appeared not much correlation between bid and victory, which is to be expected given the skew between British wins and American bids.

The duration of the swiss segment was not determined until after the third round. Five players had earned quarter-final spots by virtue of a 3-0 start. That left 11 2-1 players vying for three slots. Per the event preview a vote was taken whether to add a fourth round or a dice off for the last three slots. The vote was secret and needed only one vote to play a fourth round. To my surprise the most popular response was I want to play but if I am the only one change my vote. Gamers are gamers. Ten elected to continue knowing that two of the five winners would be eliminated in a dice off following the fourth round. Champion Mike Mitchell won in the fourth round, rolled good dice and then produced three wins in the single elimination portion for his plaque.

The differences from We the People were highlighted in a semi-final game between former WTP champions Birnbaum and Drueding. Tom built a big lead on the first turn with a very skewed distribution of operations and Pennslyvannia Line Mutiny. Marvin then simply attacked with Washington at every opportunity, which eventually yielded French Intervention without a single French Event occurring. Ultimately the strategy failed as British were able to prevent political control of enough colonies even while being pummeled on the battlefield and the game lasting until 1782.

I believe Washington's War favors the British because the burden of control is squarely on the Americans so an early end of hostilities will often catch the Americans before they have had a chance to gain control of enough colonies even if they have developed a strong foundation. It also appears that a good British strategy is obvious while a good American strategy is more opaque. With repeat play perhaps the initial advantage of the Brits will disappear. However, let the record show that the inaugural event yielded a 7-5 British advantage during the last four rounds - similar to that of the first three swiss rounds.

Nick Avtges vs Michael Sosa

George Young loses to Mike Mitchell in the semi-finals.

In the biggest upset of WAM IX Tim Miller went unbeaten, besting a field that including defending WBC Champ Keith Wixson, the "Master" Pei, and several other sharks to win the 4-round tournament . He defeated in order Charlie Hickok (as the British), John Wetherell (as the Americans), Wixson (as the Americans), and Michael Mitchell (as the British). His biggest scare was in his Round 3 match against Wixson when he drew Western Offensive twice and was able to pull out an 8-5 victory with a Minor Campaign on the final card play of the game. There were three undefeated players after three rounds. In Round 4 Miller defeated Mitchell in a battle of 3-0 players and avoided a Round 5 showdown when the other undefeated player, James "the Master" Pei was defeated by Wixson. Wixson's Americans pulled out an 8-5 win with a Major Campaign on the final card play of the game.

There were a total of 38 games played with the Americans winning 23 and the Brits 15. The Americans went 6-0 in Round 4. Sides were random with the exception that each player was required to play both sides an even number of times.

2011 WAM Laurelists

Michael Mitchell, GA
2nd

Keith Wixson, NJ
3rd

James Pei, VA
4th

Paul Gaberson, PA
5th

Terry Coleman, CA
6th

 GM      Marvin Birnbaum [1st Year]  NA 
   marvinbirnbaum@hotmail.com   NA

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