Hail Marvin Birnbaum!

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Card-driven wargames (CDWs) were the weapon of choice in the duel for the first Caesar title. Peter Reese scored all of his 129 laurels in that genre with WBC championships in Hannibal and Paths of Glory accounting for 120. He supplemented that total with only nine more laurels in Wilderness War and the Hannibal email tournament. Marvin Birnbaum trailed him after WBC by 55 laurels despite scoring 64 laurels in the same genre with a third in Paths of Glory and a We the People crown. But Marvin’s skills were more diverse and he used his considerable talents in the area impulse genre to overtake Reese in November by winning the D-Day mini-con for 60 extra laurels. A second in Paths of Glory at WAM in February cemented his lead and our first Caesar reigned triumphant at WBC 2003—complete with a Marriott provided toga via housekeeping as modelled at right by our ruler.

Four other competitors topped the 100-laurel mark in our initial year led by Phil Rennert with 112. Jeff Cornett finished fourth with 106 and proved to be the highest ranked Euro winner although his resume of laurels crossed many genres. David Metzger also topped the century mark with 104 laurels to finish fifth despite winning four events at WBC. Unfortunately for him, his events were all small and not top scorers. Debbie Gutermuth proved that Caesar is not of reach for the fair sex by breaking into the Top 25 rankings at 21st with 72 laurels to lead her gender. Indeed, with memories of Rebecca Hebner’s Grand Slam still fresh in many minds, one wonders if Caesar is out of reach of the young set as well.

These scores will no doubt be surpassed in the future as scoring opportunities increase via additional mini-con opportunities and the enhanced scoring of PBeM tournaments and trial events after 2002. Nevertheless, the bar has been set—who will be next to raise it?