gettysburg   

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report    

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Ed Menzel, CA

2014 Champion

Event History
1992    Michael Uhrich    19
1993    Kevin McCarthy    17
1994    Allen Kaplan    18
1995    Vince Meconi    10
1996    Allen Kaplan    16
1997    Kevin McCarthy    22
1998    Kevin McCarthy    22
1999    Vince Meconi    10
2000    Vince Meconi    12
2001    Kevin McCarthy    18
2002    Vince Meconi    11
2003    Vince Meconi     8
2004    Allen Kaplan    28
2005    Jim Tracy    27
2006     Ed Menzel    33
2007    Ed Menzel    31
2008    Ed Menzel    33
2009    Ed Menzel    35
2010    Richard Beyma    35
2011    Ted Drozd     42
2012    Ed Menzel    30
2013    Richard Beyma    34
2014    Ed Menzel    29

PBeM Event History
2006     Barry Shoults    26
2008    Vince Meconi    28
2011    Mike Pacheco    36

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Ed Menzel          CA    14    285
  2.  Vincent Meconi     DE    13    182
  3.  Richard Beyma      VA    14    145
  4.  Ted Drozd          IL    11    102
  5.  Allen Kaplan       NJ    08     91
  6.  Dave Zimmerman     PA    12     81
  7.  Greg D. Smith      PA    14     69
  8.  Jim Tracy          OH    13     66
  9.  Barry Shoults      MI    07     56
 10.  Mike Pacheco       CA    11     54
 11.  William Place      PA    08     31
 12.  Tom Gregorio       PA    11     27
 13.  Doug Porterfield   VA    11     24
 14.  Kevin McCarthy     OH    12     19
 15.  Bill Thomson       TX    11     18
 16.  Bob Jamelli        PA    14     12
 17.  John Sharp         FL    14     12
 18.  Dan Overland       MI    11     12
 19.  John Clarke        FL    09     12
 20.  Rob Doane          MA    08     12
 21.  Tom Grode          AZ    06     12
 22.  Michael Uhrich     PA    99     12
 23.  Chuck Stapp        NJ    03     10
 24.  Bert Schoose       IL    08      9
 25.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    11      6
 26.  Bruno Sinigaglio   AK    04      6
 27.  Ray Clark          CT    10      4
 28.  Wayne Morrison     FL    02      4
 29.  Devin Dausin       VA    14      3
 30.  Mark Gutfreund     KY    13      3
 31.  Robin Chiang       CA    08      3
 32.  Joel Ferich        PA    05      3
 33.  Buck Karpowitz     DC    03      3
 34.  Ken Whitesell      PA    00      3
 35.  Pete Pollard       TN    02      2
 36.  Bryan Van Nortwick NC    01      2
 37.  Roger Knowles      OH    01      1
 38.  Victor Hutcherson  MD    00      1

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists: 

Gregory D. Smith, FL
2nd

Bob Jamelli, PA
3rd

Richard Beyma, VA
4th

John Sharp, FL
5th

Devin Dausin, VA
6th

Past Winners

Michael Uhrich, PA
1992

Kevin McCarthy, OH
'93, '97-'98, '01

Allen Kaplan, NJ
'94, '96, '04

Vince Meconi, DE
'95, '99-'00, '02-'03

Jim Tracy, OH
2005

Ed Menzel, CA
2006-2009, 2012, 2014

Richard Beyma, MD
2010, 2013

Ted Drozd, IL
2011
   

Devin Dausin seems to have an interested oberver.

The finalists do battle over this hallowed ground.

You can't be me ... I'm me!

And you wonder why we ask for middle initials.

Six Times the Champ ...

It's Still a Rebel World ...

Ed Menzel defeated GM Greg Smith in the Final of the 23rd WBC GBG tournament. Ed, who finished 6-2 for the week, won his sixth WBC crown, the most of any player. For his part, Greg posted an 8-4 log. Third place went to journeyman Bob Jamelli with a 3-2 mark in his first playoff appearance. Defending champ Richard Beyma (4-1) fell all the way to 4th with his his lone loss in the semifinals and took home the book Gettysburg: A Battlefield Atlas, given to the highest finisher who did not win a plaque.

Preliminary games were played at the Grognard pre-con from Saturday through Sunday, and at the WBC proper from Monday through Friday. Friday night, the eight players who had played the required three games to qualify were ranked, with the top four advancing to the elimination rounds. The top qualifiers were, in order, defending champ Richard Beyma (4-0, 52 points), Bob Jamelli (3-1, 42 points), Ed Menzel (4-2, 38 points), and Greg Smith (7-3, 36 points). To make the playoffs, the latter won a strength-of-schedule tiebreaker over 5th place finisher John Sharp (3-0). Richard, Ed, and Greg all repeated from last year's final four. Other top finishers were 6th, Devin Dausin, 7th, Andy Davison, 8th, Mark Gutfreund, 9th, Bill Thomson, and 10th, Greg Smith.

By the way, GM Greg D. Smith is not to be confused with first-time (for Gettysburg) competitor Greg M Smith. The fact that they are both Pennsylvanians does not help. Perhaps we will designate them GameMASTER Greg and GameDESIGNER Greg, as the latter has created The Hunters: German U-Boats at War 1939-43 (Consim Press). Fortunately, the two namesakes did not play this year or Greg Smith beating Greg Smith might have caused all kinds of confusion.

In the Saturday morning semifinals, seed #1 Beyma faced #4 Smith and #2 Jamelli played #3 Menzel. The Beyma-Smith semifinal was a rematch of last year's semifinal, but with a different result. Greg's Union forced a Turn 14 resignation. Richard. who had bid 14.5, resigned once the Union had virtually assured a July 2 automatic victory. As a result, Richard missed the Final for the first time in six years. Meanwhile, Menzel's Federals stopped Jamelli's Rebels. A Confederate bid of 3.0 provided just enough to allow the Union to score a 47-32 July 2 automatic victory.

While the Final was the first ever between Ed Menzel and Greg Smith, the two are frequent opponents, having played at every WBC save one since 2005. Ed snagged the Rebels for a bid of 9.5. Both sides maneuvered cautiously through July 1, resulting in minimal casualties. Through Turn 11, the USA had suffered only five factors killed and four flips, while the CSA had lost no units and suffered three flips. But on Turn 12, the CSA eliminated Slocum's XII Corps and Robinson, suffering the loss of Jenkins cavalry in the process. On Turn 13, the CSA took the Peach Orchard, killing Gibbon. Sickles' III Corps successfully counterattacked on their half of Turn 13, blocking 3 CSA corps in the west. Federal attrition continued to mount through Turn 14, while Rebel infantry still remained completely intact. The Federals did get the chit on that turn. However, on Turn 15, a Confederate attack on the Peach Orchard at 10-10 odds resulted in a double flip of Sedgewick's VI Corps and the return of the chit. The reroll still cost the Union one step, and the Union's V Corps also lost a step in a different battle. At the end of July 2, the Confederate Victory Point advantage was only 0.5, but the Union's score was bolstered by the bid and territorial holdings. In contrast, the Confederates had a large casualty advantage and still had not suffered an infantry step loss. As a result of the South's force superiority, they continued to grind the Union down until the latter surrendered at the end of Turn 17.

Champ Ed Menzel shared Best Confederate Player honors with Richard Beyma at 4-1, and GM Greg Smith's 5-3 mark earned the Best Union Player designation. 7th place finisher Andy Davison was our Rookie of the Year.

This year's tournament again featured the mandatory Revised Order of Appearance for all campaign scenario games. In the revised version, the game begins on the 10 AM turn, or Turn 2. The Confederate troops which in the printed rules arrive on Turns 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 now are all delayed one turn, to Turns 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively. Union troops arriving on Turns 1, 2, and 3 arrive on Turns 2, 3, and 4 instead. Considering both the latest WBC results and the results of the ongoing PBeM Ladder and BPA PBeM Championship, it is clear that play balance has improved, though perhaps still favoring the South somewhat. We will probably need a few more tournaments to assess things fully.

29 total entrants played 36 games. Overall, the South and North each won 18 games. 32 games used the campaign scenario, with the Grey on top in 17 and the Blue in 15. Four games used the short July 1 scenario, with the Rebels winning one and the Federals victorious in the other three. There was a very wide range of bids this year. No player bid for the Union in the campaign scenario, six games had no bid, and 26 had Confederate bids ranging from 2.0 to 14.5. All 4 July 1 scenario games had bids, one of 2.5 for the Confederates and three ranging from 2.0 to 3.5 for the Union. In the campaign scenario games, the average bid was 4.30 for all games and 5.29 for the games in which there was a bid. Those numbers are higher and lower, respectively, than last year. The average Union bid in the July 1 games was 1.38. With the bids ranging so widely, there obviously is still no clear consensus on what the "right" range of bids should be - or even if bids have any value at all.

Average game length this year was 3 hours 34 minutes, a full half hour less than last year, but still the third longest on record. Devin Dausin and Bill Thomson polished off their July 1 scenario in just 30 minutes, while at the other extreme, Ed Menzel and Bob Jamelli slugged it out for 20 turns over 6 hours, 30 minutes.

Again this year, thanks go to Bruno Sinigaglio and Bill Morse for running the Grognard precon portion. Thank you also to Assistant Gamemasters Ted Drozd and Ed Menzel for helping run the tournament. Last but certainly not least, Bill Morse deserves continued appreciation for completely automating the scoring at the WBC for all the Grognard games, including Gettysburg. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your assistance.

Tim Miller takes on the five-time champ on his way to becoming the six-time champ.

 GM     Gregory D. Smith [1st Year]   NA 
   NA    NA

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