wooden ships & iron men 

Updated 11/26/2010

2010 WBC Report     

 2011 Status: pending 2011 GM commitment

Tim Hitchings, DE

2010 Champion

Offsite Links

 

Event History
1991    Jim Truit      23
1992    John Boisvert      29
1993    John Boisvert      36
1994    William Rohrbeck      28
1995    Larry York      21
1996    David Cross      16
1997    David Metzger      20
1998    Michael Brannaman      20
1999    Paul Risner       8
2000    David Cross     16
2001    Curtis Dietrich     26
2002    William Rohrbeck     23
2003    William Rohrbeck     27
2004    Arthur Davis     22
2005    William Rohrbeck     19
2006    William Rohrbeck     21
2007    William Rohrbeck     14
2008    Evan Hitchings     16
2009    Derek Whipple     19
2010    Tim Hitchings     25
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  William Rohrbeck   NH    07    116
  2.  Tim Hitchings      DE    10     95
  3.  Keith Hunsinger    OH    07     50
  4.  Arthur Davis       MI    04     41
  5.  Evan Hitchings     DE    10     40
  6.  Derek Whipple      WA    10     28
  7.  Larry York         CA    02     20
  8.  Curtis Dietrich    FL    01     20
  9.  David Cross        NJ    06     18
 10.  Dale Long          NC    08     16
 11.  Ron Glass          FL    09     12
 12.  Wade Fowble        MD    03     12
 13.  George Deutsch     MD    07     11
 14.  Rob Doane          MA    08     10
 15.  Paul Risner        FL    99     10
 16.  Benoit Groulx      qc    04      9
 17.  Mark McCandless    LA    03      9
 18.  Stephen Field      IL    02      9
 19.  Bill Thomson       TX    10      8
 20.  Isaac Clizbe       VA    10      6
 21.  Joe Pabis          VA    05      6
 22.  Kevin Boles        AL    04      6
 23.  Ed Majeski         IL    02      6
 24.  Joseph Belyeu      AL    10      4
 25.  Mark Sciera        NY    09      4
 26.  Kathy Hitchings    DE    08      4
 27.  Verity Hitchings   DE    05      4
 28.  Michael Bergt      FL    03      3
 29.  Joseph Abrams      CT    00      3
 30.  Stuart Smart       NY    99      3
 31.  Brian Wool         DE    09      2
 32.  Keira Herzfeld     DE    08      2
 33.  Stephen Shedden    TN    07      2
 34.  Joe Doughan        NJ    05      2
 35.  Jim Jordan         MD    04      2
 36.  Francis Czawlytko  MD    01      2

2010 Laurelists                                          Repeating Laurelists:

Evan Hitchings, DE
2nd

Derek Whipple, WA
3rd

Isaac Clizbe, VA
4th

Joseph Belyeu, AL
5th

Bill Thomson, TX
6th

Past Winners

William Rohrbeck, NH
1994, 2002-03, 2005-07

Larry York, CA
1995

David Cross, VA
1996, 2000

David Metzger, NY
1997

Michael Brannaman. SC
1998

Paul Risner, FL
1999

Curtis Dietrich, FL
2001

Arthur Davis, MI
2004

Evan Hitchings, DE
2008

Derek Whipple, WA
2009

David Brooks and Tim Hitchings trade broadsides as the GM goes the distance after 20 years!

Young Isaac Clizbe makes an impressive showing against defending champ Derek Whipple.

GM Makes Good at Long Last

The tournament field continued its trend of growing younger as most of its new players were in their teens which means many of them had not yet been borne the last time this out-of-print game was printed. One made the semi-finals and another narrowly missed doing so.

On Tuesday evening, Malcolm Smith showed his command of the situation in a single ship match with 2008 finalist Dan Long. The difference proved to be Malcolm's judicious use of the repair rule to give him a razor thin 35-33 point victory on damage.

On Wednesday, we may have seen the shortest Wooden Ships & Iron Men game in history in a single ship action played by Scott Smith and David Brooks. On Turn 3, David's initial broadside resulted in a critical hit, catching Scott's ship on fire. The subsequent die roll determined that the fire was out of control. Game over!

Friday saw the weirdest match of the tournament, between GM Tim Hitchings and Malcolm Smith. As Tim had all-but-clinched a playoff berth, he decided to experiment with a new strategy, firing nothing but chain shot at his opponent's rigging in hopes of forcing a "surrender by immobility" victory. Malcolm played it safe with the tried-and-true "pound-the-hull-into-splinters" strategy. On what was to be the second to the last turn of the game, Tim destroyed Malcolm's final rigging square. All that would be needed was to rake Malcolm's hull for the win. On the next turn, Tim succeeded in doing so, but Malcolm returned the favor by destroying Tim's last hull square! With both ships in a "surrendered" condition, the remaining suspense was whether Tim's ship would sink or explode, which would give Malcolm the win. Instead, Tim's ship surrendered by "striking its colors", resulting in a draw. Victory by timely surrender.

Saturday gave players the choice of sleeping in or taking part in the marquee engagement of the week, the traditional Fleet Action. Players lined up as either French or anti-French Russians and Turks for a 1799 battle for control of the Ionian Islands. The French held on for a narrow win, as they were able to sweep a Russian supply ship and transport from the field before the weight of the enemy fleets could be brought to bear.

One of the semi-finals featured a head-to-head reversal of fortune between 2008 champ Evan Hitchings and defending champ Derek Whipple. Derek played a very safe and conservative game, denying Evan the chance for any of the high-risk, high-reward maneuvers he's prone to make. Evan recognized his only opening mid-to-late game and capitalized on it. Damage paid off as, by the end, he was ahead by only a few hull hits.

The other semi-final saw perennial bridesmaid, GM Tim Hitchings, face off against rookie-of- the-year Isaac Clizbe. Isaac went for quantity over quality, as he chose a squadron of three average ships-of-the-line to Tim's two elite SOLs. Isaac's maneuvering was almost flawless, yet he could not overcome the superior gunnery of Tim's powerful ships. The higher rate of fire of Tim's elite crews resulted in all of Isaac's ships striking their colors before time ran out, with both of Tim's ships still afloat.

The Final was something of a family "rubber match". Evan had beaten his dad in the semi-finals in 2008 and Tim returned the favor in 2009. This time around, both commanded conventional squadrons of two British 74 gun ships-of-the-line and, from the outset, it was obvious that both were playing conservatively. With good players, that combination usually favors the luck of the die. This year was no exception, as Tim was able to take down a rigging section on one of Evan's ships and then concentrate both of his ships against the other to take the wood at long last after 20 years of servicing this event.

Isn't it a little early for Ebenezar or is this a Levy envy thing?

Father vs son for all the marbles and this time, dad wins!
 GM      Tim Hitchings  [9th Year]   330 Kemper Dr, Newark, DE 19702 
    hitchings@juno.com   302 593-4404

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