Boardgame Players Association Newsletter February 2015
Feb. 19, 2015

WBC History | Medals/Laurels | Sustaining Membership | Events | Memorial | AHIKS
GM Committments | GM Support | Membership Status | BOD nominations | Patrons List | PBEM

WBC HISTORY UPDATED: Our Annual Year in Review summary and pictorial listing of top Centurions is now posted.

Most Wood (Excluding PBEM and mini-con tournaments)
Bruce Reiff
OH
46

James Pei
VA
27
Dave Metzger
NY
27
Rob Beyma
MD
26
Nick Henning
DC
20
Ken
Gutermuth
NC 19

BPA MEDALS/LAURELISTS LIST UPDATE: Our annual compilation of events won (Medals) and career totals is now posted, with arch villain Bruce Reiff (Boo! Hiss!) again leading the parade in most categories! See our Top 25 Gamers. BPA's complete list of Laurelists is also now current through 2014.

SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP COST INCREASE: Less than two weeks remain to purchase Sustaining memberships for all of WBC Week at the bargain price of $70. Rates increase $10 on March 1. Complete your membership form.

2015 EVENT LINEUP: The lineup of eligible events for the 2015 Century and 25 Continuing Trial events has been updated with preliminary GM commitments. It is now closed to all but Vendor and Sponsor supported entries. However, event forms for additional events seeking Alternate status to fill any vacancies and/or troll for Sponsor support will still be accepted until March 15. Now is the time to step forward if you want to see an event offered at WBC this summer.

PAUL VAN BLOEM: We sadly report the passing of longtime member Paul Van Bloem, 53, of Sykesville, MD on Jan. 14. Paul founded the computer consultancy, Little Green Software, which he ran for three decades before taking employment with Lockheed Martin. An avid bicyclist and boardgamer, Paul was an active railgamer—playing supporting roles in the administration of Rail Baron and Empire Builder tournaments for many years, and placing second in both, but never achieving the grand prize. He amassed 104 laurels while playing in WBC rail events and will be sorely missed by his fellow train gamers.  Paul now joins too many of our friends taken too early who are remembered on our Memorial page.

AHIKS IRONMAN AWARD RETURNS TO WBC: As part of the 50th anniversary of the AHIKS gaming organization, Randy Heller will be returning the former wargaming metaprize to WBC using the tournament scenario of Bitter Woods. Prizes augmenting the unique perpetual trophy include a subscription to War Diary, a Compass Games gift certificate and AHIKS club shirt. For details, contact Randy at RGHeller50@aol.com. 

UNDER 30 DAYS LEFT TO MAKE GM COMMITMENTS: There are many qualifying events still looking for a GM commitment. GMs are reminded to make their memberships current AND submit an event form by March 15. At that time, events without a satisfactory GM claim will be replaced by those events from the Alternate list for whom we have a satisfactory event form on file with a current GM commitment. You can now claim any qualifying OPEN event by completing the required Event Form after reading the GM Guidelines linked from the start of that event form. Nothing happens at WBC without a willing GM behind it. But please…do NOT volunteer unless you are going to fulfill the entire obligation. 

GM SUPPORT:  If you'd like to help out but don't feel confident enough to run an event on your own or don't want to make too long a commitment, you could still be of great assistance. Perhaps you are good at teaching games and would be willing to run a demonstration for a GM who lacks the time or skills to teach. If so, contact conventiondirector@boardgamers.org with a list of games you'd be willing to teach, and we will pass along the offer to  a grateful GM. Conversely, if you are a GM who uses a laptop at WBC to run their event, you should contact Andy Latto at andy.latto@pobox.com. Andy has developed a spreadsheet that speeds sign-in, does automatic badge-checking for pre-registrants, calculates the qualifying/seeding order for semifinalists, including verifying whether a win is in the first heat entered, and does most of the preparation of the event report form. He even promises it will generate a report suitable for sending in AREA results. 

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP STATUS: As the years blur together, it becomes easy to remember sending in that membership application/fee but forget that it was for a year other than the current one. Those wishing to check their current membership levels may do so on the Preregistration page. Note that only Sustaining level members and above will be listed until General memberships become available with the appearance of the Pre-Reg form in May. 

LAST CALL FOR BoD NOMINATIONS: All BPA members are hereby notified of their right to nominate members for the three Board seats whose terms expire at the next WBC. To appear on the ballot, a member must be nominated in writing by at least three members; one of which must be himself/herself. Nominations must be signed and received at BPA, 7766 Valley View Court, Hickory, NC 28602 no later than February 28th to be eligible for election in that year. NOTE: Email nominations are NOT acceptable, nor can a member nominate more than one member for the Board. When contemplating nominations, members are urged to consider that the BPA conducts most of its business by email and needs Board members who are able and willing to offer their time and skills to the organization in a timely manner. Board members should be considered more for their ability to contribute to the running of a successful company than for their attachment to any particular game or genre. Besides forwarding a signed nomination, each nominee should submit by March 1st a statement not to exceed 100 words summarizing what they can contribute in service to the Board of Directors of the BPA. The nomination form is on line at http://www.boardgamers.org/bpanom.htm

LAST CHANCE TO CHECK 2014 PATRONS: BPA's list of 2014 Patrons is now posted. Please report any inaccuracies to conventiondirector@boardgamers.org no later than Feb. 28 to ensure an accurate listing in the upcoming Yearbook.

PBeM NEWS:

ADVANCED CIVILIZATION: It's Advanced Civilization in ten minutes a day! The fifth annual Advanced Civilization pbem tournament is now taking signups with 24 already committed. Each entrant will get to play in two concurrent games, with the top eight players moving on to the Final. Games are played at http://civ.rol-play.com/ (play is free, but registration is required). Full tournament information is available at http://bpa-civ.rol-play.com/. To sign up, email the GM at kevinyouells@gmail.com by Feb. 26. Play begins on March 1. The 2014-15 Final continues. After seven rounds of play Jonas Lundgvist's Iberia holds a nine-point lead over Javier de le Fuente's Africa. Of course, it is way too early for any lead to be of any consequence, but we aren't going to let that stop us from finger pointing at the leader.

MARCH MADNESS: Only 38 of the original 96 teams are still alive in the current tournament with real life conference tournaments still a month in the offing. GM Bruce Monnin's 2000 Cincinnati Bearcats have sprinted ahead into a sweet 16 berth by besting Sean McCulloch's UCLA '74 Bruins 70 - 54, Chris Bauch Louisville '80 squad 71-64 and Bill Edwards' Oklahoma State '04 team 72-56. Track the progress of the event at http://www.nktelco.net/bdmonnin/mm-brack-2015.htm.

*****************************

Remember…all of the above PBeM fun is free to current BPA members. Others may qualify with a $10 Email membership in the year the event starts. All multi-day paid attendees to WBC are current BPA members for the balance of that calendar year. You need not keep your membership current in order to finish a PBeM event. Players may join the BPA throughout the year. See the BPA Terms page for details.

*****************************

BPA members who would like to see an email tournament for their favorite game are encouraged to step forward as the GM of such an event. BPA does not run tournaments. Rather, we are an organization of gamers lending support to one another so such events can happen. No one cares as much about your hobby as you do. Get involved. See the requirements to host a BPA email tournament at http://www.abovethefields.com/top_pbem/

Visit the BPA website at http://www.boardgamers.org

If you are not already receiving our monthly newsletters, please subscribe by visiting http://lists.boardgamers.org/mailman/listinfo/bpamail to confirm your address. Subscribing is free, takes only a moment and ensures your privacy. We are unable to add you to our mailing list otherwise. 

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Keep up with WBC electronically by joining the World Boardgaming Championships (WBC) Facebook group and the BPA_WBC Twitter Page. You can also easily find us in the Boardgame Geek Forums  under Gaming Related, Conventions, WBC.

If you are not already receiving our monthly newsletters, please subscribe by visiting http://lists.boardgamers.org/mailman/listinfo/bpamail to confirm your address. Subscribing is free, takes only a moment and ensures your privacy. We are unable to add you to our mailing list otherwise.

Go to Archive

Boardgame Players Association Last updated by kae.
© Copyright 2015 by the Boardgame Players Association.
Trademarks are property of their respective holders.