war at sea [Updated October 2003]  

 2003 WBC Report  

 2004 Status: pending 2004 GM commitment

Ray Freeman, CA

2003 Champion

2nd: Bill Thomson, TX

3rd: Bruce Reiff, OH

4th: Joe Collinson, MD

5th: John Strand, CO

6th: Vince Meconi, DE


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek Recommended:

Event History
1991    Bruce Monnin      20
1992    Tom Scarborough      23
1993    Bruce Monnin      28
1994    Phil Rennert      18
1995    Ray Freeman      33
1996    Steve Packwood      27
1997    Tim Hitchings      33
1998    Mike Kaye      32
1999    Ray Freeman     45
2000    Pat Richardson     42
2001    David Finberg     43
2002    Andy Gardner     51
2003     Ray Freeman     47

PBeM Event History
1999    Vince Meconi      22
2000    Ed Menzel      39
2001    Jonathan Lockwood      43
2002    -      44

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Ray Freeman

CA

03
113
 2. Pat Richardson

VA

01
  80
 3. Bruce Reiff

OH

03
  59
 4. Andy Gardner

VA

02
  50
 5. David Finberg

MA

01
  50
 6. Rob Flowers

NC

02
  36
 7. Ed Menzel

CA

01
  32
 8. Bill Thomson

TX

03
  30
 9. Steve Packwood

MN

00
  30
10. Jonathan Lockwood

VA

02
  29
11. Michael Kaye

CA

99
  24
12. Vince Meconi

DE

03
  16
13. Phil Rennert

MD

99
  16
14. Joe Collinson

MD

03
  15
15. Michael Ussery

MD

01
  15
16. Ron Dietz

OH

00
  15
17. John Pack

CO

99
  12
18. Bruce Monnin

OH

01
  11
19. John Strand

CO

03
  10
20. Glenn McMaster

ONT

01
  10
21. Michael Knautz

WI

00
  10
22. Greg Berry

VA

99
   8
23. Dave Streams

OH

00
   5
24. Bryan Eshleman

NC

01
   4
25. Alan Applebaum

MA

00
   4
26. Bob Hamel

CT

99
   4
27. Dan Henry

IL

01
   3
28. Nick Markevich

CA

99
   3
29. James Pei

TX

99
   2
30. Sean McKenzie

AK

99
   1

Past Winners

Bruce Monnin - OH
1991, 1993

Tom Scarborough - MO
1992

Phil Rennert - MD
1994

Ray Freeman - CA
1995, 1999

Steve Packwood - MN
1996

Tim Hitchings - DE
1997

Mike Kaye - CA
1998

Pat Richardson - VA
2000


David Finberg - MA
2001


Andy Gardner - VA
2002
     
 


Dice At Sea

Ray Freeman of Berkeley, CA won the championship with a 6-1 record, becoming the first player to win three crowns. Ray defeated Bill Thomson (5-2) of Austin, TX (a veteran gamer making just his second appearance in the War At Sea event) in the finals. 3rd place went to all-time Avaloncon/WBC plaque leader Bruce Reiff (5-1) of Lewis Center, OH, who was the only player to win all five Swiss rounds, while Joe Collinson (4-2) of Friendship, MD took 4th place in his best finish to date. Before the semi-finals could begin, Ray, Bill, and Joe had to win a strength of schedule tiebreaker over last year's Rookie of the Year, John Strand (4-1). All four had identical won-lost ledgers and 40 victory points at the completion of five Swiss rounds. Unfortunately for John, he had the lowest of the four schedule strengths and took home the 5th place plaque as consolation.

In the semi-finals, Bill Thomson's Allied forces, bidding 2.0, upset Bruce Reiff's Axis flotilla by a mere 1-POC margin. Meanwhile, Ray Freeman's Allies (bidding 1.0), edged Joe Collinson's Axis fleet, also by a single POC. Joe may have had the day's hardest luck when his U-boats torpedoed Convoy 3C in the North Atlantic, hitting it for one damage point, then bombed the same convoy with his LBA on Turn 8 in the Barents, scoring a second hit - for another single damage point. That convoy landed and provided the margin of victory for the Allies. Ray got the Allies in the finals for a bid of 1.5 and beat Bill's Axis by 3.5 POC. In the final, the Axis disabled three convoys in a row, but the Allies landed one convoy in Russia and another in England on Turn 8 to turn a narrow lead into a solid victory.

The Gamemaster lucked his way into 6th place, and rounding out the top10 were Dennis Nicholson, 4-1, (7th), Glenn Petroski, 4-1, (8th), defending champ Andy Gardner, 3-2, (9th), and Rob Drozd, 3-2, (10th). Rob also won Rookie of the Year honors. After winning Best Allied Player three times in the past, Ray Freeman garnered Best Axis Player laurels this year with a 3-0 log. Bruce Reiff copped Best Allied Player with a 5-0 mark. Bob Jamelli earned the title of giant killer supreme. Fresh off his recent PBeM victory over Ray Freeman, Bob defeated AREA leader and current BPA PBEeM champion Jonathan Lockwood in Round 1, then knocked off reigning WBC champ Andy Gardner in Round 2!

Upsets seemed more prevalent than in other years, with half of the top 10 seeds going down in Round 1. For the first time in memory, only one player was undefeated after four rounds. 47 players entered this year, the second highest total ever. The 90 total games played was also the seconnd highest total ever. The tournament was again conducted using a Swiss-elimination format and chess clocks, with the Allies having 65 minutes and the Axis 50 minutes. Clock time expired in only one of the games, and even that was due to inexperience with the clock rather than slow play.

The Axis and Allies each won exactly half the 90 games; there were no ties. Bidding was more prevalent than ever, with 57 games featuring bids for the Allies and one iconoclast bidding for the Axis. here was no bid in 32 contests. Players seem to be employing the bidding system to successfully balance the games. The 45-45 split came after two Allied wins and four ties became Axis wins when the bid was applied.

The official War At Sea FAQ and Errata in effect for this event can be found at: http://www.markevich.com/was/rules99.html.

 GM      Vincent Meconi  [5th Year]   105 Churchill Ln, Wilmington, DE 19808-4355 
    vmeconi@aol.com   NA

2003 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page