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Updated 11/17/2011

2011 WBC Report   

 2012 Status: pending 2012 GM commitment

Bruce Wigdor, NJ

2011 Champion

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Event History
1991

  
Mark Cohen

  
44
1992

  
Maria Hawthorne

  
43
1993

  
Bruce Young

  
53
1994

  
Bruce Young

  
53
1995

  
Herbert Gratz

  
48
1996

  
William Edwards

  
46
1997

  
John Emery

  
42
1998

  
John Emery

  
55
1999

  
Larry Davidson

  
42
2000

  
John Emery

  
34
2001

  
Bruce Wigdor

  
39
2002

  
John Emery

  
50
2003

  
Ray Stakenas II

  
38
2004

  
John Emery     30
2005

  
Bruce Young     33
2006

  
Paul Wright     30
2007

  
Ray Stakenas II     27
2008

  
Ed Kendrick     22
2009

  
Jeff Spaner     23
2010

  
John Emery     25
2011

  
Bruce Wigdor     27

PBeM Event History
2000    Jeff Matthews      32
2003    Jeff Matthews     24
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  John Emery         SC    11    197
  2.  Bruce Young        SC    10    150
  3.  Ray Stakenas II    MI    07    106
  4.  Bruce Wigdor       NJ    11    104
  5.  Ray Stakenas Sr    MI    10     64
  6.  Paul Wright        PA    09     52
  7.  Ed Kendrick        uk    09     51
  8.  Ralph Gleaton      SC    11     48
  9.  Larry Davidson     CA    02     46
 10.  Herbert Gratz      aa    09     34
 11.  Jeff Spaner        MD    11     33
 12.  Jeff Matthews      CA    04     30
 13.  Bari Wigdor        NJ    04     26
 14.  Bill Edwards       VA    05     24
 15.  Stefan Hess        NY    01     24
 16.  David Wong         NJ    10     19
 17.  George Young       VT    06     18
 18.  Wade Fowble        MD    06     16
 19.  Lance Ribeiro      NH    05     16
 20.  Ken Katano         MD    01     16
 21.  Jeremy Billones    VA    11     12
 22.  Richard Irving     CA    08     12
 23.  Eric Taylor        NM    05     12
 24.  Mike Stachowski    NY    03     12
 25.  Jeff Paull         OH    00     12
 26.  Dale Martin        MI    04     10
 27.  Bill Alderman      VA    11      9
 28.  Kevin Emery        SC    09      9
 29.  Michael Johnson    MA    03      9
 30.  Nick Vlahos        IL    00      9
 31.  Jean-Luc Brouillet on    05      8
 32.  Erick Young        SC    01      8
 33.  Andrew Maly        MD    08      6
 34.  Scott Russell      MI    00      6
 35.  Alan Arvold        IL    00      3
 36.  Don Greenwood      MD    00      3
 37.  Frank Arndt        MD    99      3
 38.  Brian Carr         VA    04      2
 39.  Brian Devitt       CA    00      2
 40.  Robert Mull        CO    00      1

2011 Laurelists                                          Repeating Laurelists:

Ralph Gleaton, SC
2nd

Jeremy Billones, VA
3rd

Bill Alderman, VA
4th

John Emery, SC
5th

Jeff Spaner, MD
6th

Past Winners

Bruce Young, SC
1993-94, 2005

Herbert Gratz, Austria
1995

Bill Edwards, VA
1996

John Emery, SC
'97-'98, '00, '02, '04, '10

Larry Davidson, CA
1999

Bruce Wigdor, NJ
2001, 2011

Ray Stakenas Jr, MI
2003, 2007

Paul Wright, PA
2006

Ed Kendrick, uk
2008

Jeff Spaner, MD
2009

Greg Courter vs Steve Vance

2001 champ Bruce Wigdor vs Bill Alderman

8-0 on the 10th Anniversay of Triumph

The 2011 Up Front tournament started its usual Thursday run with another modest attendance increase. While most of the usual suspects were present, several newcomers continued to swell the ranks and demonstrated the popularity of this old classic. The strength of the field was represented by a total of 15 "woods" shared among seven contestants.

After the casualties were evactuated from the first five swiss firefights, eight were left standing with records of 3-2 or better. The 1991 vintage champ, Bruce Wigdor, led the field at 5-0. Frequent champions John Emery and Bruce Young joined '09 Champ Jeff Spaner and Jeremy Billones at 4-1. Journeymen Bill Alderman and Ralph Gleaton managed to make the cut at 3-2 along with Kevin Emery who represented the next generation. Not treated as kindly at 3-2 were Alan Arvold and former champion Ray Stakenas Jr. who failed to make the cut due to a low strength of schedule. Despite these cuts, the playoffs would include four former champs in possession of eleven Up Front shields.

Four different scenarios were chosen for the Quarter-finals as the four former champs paired off against those not yet so anointed. Those left standing were Billones' Japanese attackers in scenario "T", Alderman's Germans in "B", Wigdor's Japanese in "A", and Gleaton's Germans in "L" - all Axis winners that handed three former champs their walking papers.

The semi-finals got underway with Gleaton's Americans versus Alderman's Germans in scenario "C". A broken MG sealed Bill's fate as Ralph advanced. In the other bracket, Wigdor's Japanese broke Billones' British in a scenario "M" fight that ended early in the third deck. The two vanquished from those rounds were still game for a fight and fought it out for third place with Jeremy's Japanese besting Bill's British in a close scenario "N" match decided by time and Victory Points.

All that remained was to determine the new champion with former runner-up Gleaton's Japanese defenders taking on Wigdor's American attackers in the "Outpost" scenario. The initial shuffle was kind to Bruce as he received a Hill card on which to place his AFV. It promptly killed three of Ralph's squad as he desperately managed to pin it a couple of turns too late. This situation repeated itself for the remainder of the game as the AFV would briefly return to action, eliminate a couple of Japanese, and then pin or malfunction. This was enough, however, to ensure a return to grace for Bruce on the tenth anniversary of his initial title. At the end of the second deck, the Japanese squad broke - leaving Bruce with a perfect 8-0 slate and another "bridesmaid" finish for Ralph.

Alan Arvold vs Jeremy Billones

Richard Irving vs 2009 champ Jeff Spaner
 GM      Jim Burnett  6th Year]   NA
   jimallene@comcast.net   NA

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