2015 Caesar Award Results — A Belated Hail to James Pei
Feb. 14, 2016

Caesar History | Consul History | Info

James Pei repeated as Caesar to become the third back-to-back BPA Top Gamer of the year while adding 186 to his leading career laurel total of 2,332. It was his third Top Dog performance which leads the BPA laurels universe. His 33-laurel margin of victory over runner-up Sceadeau D’Tela was tripled by his 100 laurel haul for his specialty For The People where he once again swept both the WBC event and its email counterpart. Over the years, Pei has amassed a staggering 862 laurels in all versions of For The People competition—nearly 37% of his career totals. A repeat win in Sekigahara and a pair of CDW thirds in Hannibal and Washington's War were enough to guarantee his third Caesar title.

Mini-con tournaments no longer played a role in the outcome but email tournaments did, enabling James to bank a 60-laurel headstart before WBC began. Runner-up Sceadeau D’Tela also benefitted from an email headstartwith 8 laurles in Tzolkin but that bonus was dwarved by the CDW mastery of Pei in his specialty. Even a pair of wins in Agricola and Egizia backed by three other lesser scores weren’t enough to overcome Pei’s initial advantage.

Rounding out the top six BPA competitors for 2015 were Ewan McNay, Andrew Emerick, Kevin Youells and Riku Riekkinen. Only six of last year’s Top 25 players managed to retain that top billing led by Pei, who alone of all BPA’s Top Dogs, has managed to remain in the Top 25 for each of the past seven years. In fact, you have to go back nine years to 2006 to find the last time “The Master” did not place in the Top 25. The others able to retain their Top 25 standing in 2015 were Sceadeau D'Tela (fifth year in a row), George Young, Keith Dent, Karl Henning and Randy Buehler (sixth year). Nearly half of this year's crop had not appeared in the Top 25 class in the past seven years.

The Line of Succession for Caesar 2015

Sceadeau
D'Tela, NC

2nd - 153 Laurels
Ewan
McNay, NY

3rd - 120 Laurels
Andrew
Emerick, CT

4th - 115 Laurels
Kevin
Youells, PA

5th - 114 Laurels
Riku
Riekkinen, fi

6th - 112 Laurels

 

2015 Rank Competitor 2015 Laurels 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2015 Tally Board
Total WBC
1 James Pei, VA 186 102 1 2 2 3 14 13 FTPe 1st 60, FMR 5th 6, FTP 1st 40, HRCp 3rd 24, SKG 1st 40, WWR 3rd 16
2 Sceadeau D'Tela, NC 153 109 15 4 9 12 - - TZKe 5th 8, AGR 1st 40, BRS 4th 9, CMK 2nd 24, EGZ 1st 30, EVL 5th 6, AGEp 2nd 36
3 Ewan McNay, NY 120 120 - - - 18 - 22 BRI 1st 40, ING 1st 30, RRY 1st 50
4 Andrew Emerick, CT 115 75 - 1 12 21 - - STAe 2nd 18, TZKe 3rd 16, EGX 4th 9, NVG 2nd 18, STA 4th 18, AGEp 6th 6, TZK 1st 30
5 Kevin Youells, PA 114 48 - 21 - 16 - - ACVe 3rd 24, DIPe 3rd 24, DIPe 4th 18, ACV 5th 12, HWD 2nd 36
6 Riku Riekkinen, fi 112 112 - 9 10 - - - 989 2nd 24, CCA 1st 40, RRR 2nd 18, TWS 2nd 30
7 Max DuBoff, NJ 106 106 - - - - - - 989 1st 40, GXY 4th 6, TTR 1st 60
8 Ryan Romanik, MI 106 106 - - - - - - CNS 5th 6, RA! 1st 50, SET 1st 50
9 Wade Campbell, on 99 99 - - - - - - ACV 1st 60, AOR 1st 30, POF 4th 9
10 Matt Calkins, VA 96 96 - - 11 - - - AUT 3rd 12, PGD 1st 60, TTA 1st 20, TAM 5th 4
11 Michael Dauer, TX 96 36 - - - - - - NW5 2nd 36, POG 1st 60
12 George Young, VT 92 32 7 - - - - - HRCp 1st 60, TWS 3rd 20, WNW 3rd 12
13 Ricky Boyes, WA 92 92 - - - - - - RFG 1st 20, RGD 1st 30, SMW 1st 30, VSD 4th 12
14 Keith Dent, KY 91 21 20 - - - - - STAe 1st 30, TZKe 1st 40, RRR 4th 9, TZK 3rd 12
15 Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY 88 76 - - - - - - BKN 3rd 16, HRCp 5th 12, RA! 2nd 30, WOR 1st 30
16 Tom Gregorio, PA 84 48 - - - 17 - - BWD 1st 40, POG 2nd 36, TRC 5th 8
17 Duncan McGregor, on 83 83 - - - - - - 7WS 4th 15, CNC 2nd 18, DOM 3rd 16, GXT 5th 4, SFR 1st 30
18 Karl Henning, DC 80 80 6 - - - - - B17 1st 60, GXT 1st 20
19 Nick Benedict, CA 80 68 - - - - - - HIS 1st 50, POGp 5th 12, ROR 2nd 18
20 John Emery, SC 79 79 - - - - - 4 ATS 4th 6, FIL 4th 9, MAN 5th 4, NW5 1st 60
21 Bob Hamel, CT 79 71 - - - - - - ADVe 3rd 8, NVW 4th 9, TIM 3rd 12, WAS 1st 50
22 Randy Buehler, WA 76 76 14 7 1 1 16 - CMK 3rd 16, CNC 5th 6, NVG 1st 30, RTT 5th 4, SPG 3rd 20
23 Haakon R. Monsen, no 76 76 - - - - - - AUC 3rd 8, FDE 2nd 24, RTT 1st 20, STA 3rd 24
24 Kirk Harris, NJ 75 25 - - - - - - HIS 6th 5, LLM 1st 20, VGQp 1st 50
25 Carolyn Strock, PA 74 74 - - - - - - ALH 2nd 24, QGB 1st 30, SET 3rd 20

Key: e = email (PBeM), p = Pre-Con


2015 Consul—Hail Ewan McNay

Ewan McNay vaulted over both James Pei and Sceadeau D’Tela to score annual metagaming honors for the first time in earning the 2015 Consul award. Stripping away email and Pre-Con laurels left McNay in the lead as all of his 120 laurel total was earned during WBC week wih a triple win in Ingenius, Britannia and Robo Rally. The movement of WBC to a full nine-day format in 2016 will remove the concept of Pre-Cons and, thus, make email tournaments the sole difference between Caesar and Consul honors in the future.

The Mighty Finn, Riku Riekkinen, finished second with 112 laurels—eight behind McNay. Three runner-up finishes in 1989, Russian Railroads and Twilight Struggle cost him the title, as a victory in any of them would have made him Consul. Sceadeau D’Tela was third—11 laurels behind—done in by the loss of his Pre-Con laurels for a second in Through the Ages. Caesar James Pei was sixth, 18 laurels off the pace and four behind relative newcomers Max DuBoff and Ryan Romanik, who tied for fourth. Completing the Top Ten were Wade Campbell, Matt Calkins, triple winner Ricky Boyes, and Duncan McGregor. All but Calkins were WBC newcomers of varying degrees.

The Line of Succession for Consul 2015

Rku
Riekkinen, fi

2nd - 112 Laurels
Sceadeau
D'Tela, NC

3rd - 109 Laurels
Max DuBoff,
NJ

4th - 106 Laurels
Ryan
Romanik, MI

5th - 106 Laurels
James
Pei, VA

6th - 102 Laurels

 

2015 Rank Competitor WBC Laurels WBC Tally Board
1 Ewan McNay, NY 120 BRI 1st 40, ING 1st 30, RRY 1st 50
2 Riku Riekkinen, fi 112 989 2nd 24, CCA 1st 40, RRR 2nd 18, TWS 2nd 30
3 Sceadeau D'Tela, NC 109 AGR 1st 40, BRS 4th 9, CMK 2nd 24, EGZ 1st 30, EVL 5th 6
4 Max DuBoff, NJ 106 989 1st 40, GXY 4th 6, TTR 1st 60
5 Ryan Romanik, MI 106 CNS 5th 6, RA! 1st 50, SET 1st 50
6 James Pei, VA 102 FMR 5th 6, FTP 1st 40, SKG 1st 40, WWR 3rd 16
7 Wade Campbell, on 99 ACV 1st 60, AOR 1st 30, POF 4th 9
8 Matt Calkins, VA 96 AUT 3rd 12, PGD 1st 60, TTA 1st 20, TAM 5th 4
9 Ricky Boyes, WA 92 RFG 1st 20, RGD 1st 30, SMW 1st 30, VSD 4th 12
10 Duncan McGregor, on 83 7WS 4th 15, CNC 2nd 18, DOM 3rd 16, GXT 5th 4, SFR 1st 30
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