Nest of Spies, a coalition of Card Driven Wargamers from four different states justified their high ranking by the odds makers as the 6th ranked team took top honors in the 2005 Team Tournament over a field of 77 four-member squads. They were also the only team to display quality throughout the lineup by scoring at every position, led by Ron Fedin's remarkable come from behind exploits in Wilderness War to back up Mr. Automatic's (James Pei) annual win in For the People. James' brother Nick added four points by winning the aborted Barbarossa to Berlin event while Dave Dockter chipped in two for serving as the opposition to Steve Packwood's ninth wood in 1776.

Finishing second with 19 points (and EPGS's second straight Top 3 finish) was Beam Us Up Scotty led by nine points each from Rob Sohn (Air Baron) and Alex Bove (RA). EPGS also led in number of teams registered with five. The 2003 Team Champs and #1 rated squad at 22-1, Manly Men, finished well back in third with 15 points from the plaque collector, Bruce Reiff (Football Strategy,) and Dave Metzger (War of 1812), but the other three CABS squads could muster no better than 24th.

The mighty Greenville Mafia took fourth with 13 points but did so with their third of four teams, "Fallback Position," while the first two squads, "The A team" and "Plan B" finished 20th and 17th respectively. Even so, the mythical title for strongest multi-team club showing still belongs to the lads from Greenville.

Finishing fifth, and perhaps earning some respect in the process as the year's biggest over-achievers, were "Forced Laughter" as the Drozd clan scored 12 points behind Jennifer's 9-point Carcassonne win while defying 273-1 odds. Whose laughing now? But perhaps the most aptly named team was "Me & 3 Stiffs" as Marvin Birnbaum finally answered the oft asked question of who "Me" is by scoring all nine of his team's points - good enough for 9th place all by himself.

Defending champs, Team X, fell to 11th as the head moose, Dan Dolan, got flicked aside by Bob Runnicles in Elchfest.

Leading the bad news department was Ghost, the same squad which lost the original Team tournament in 1991 by not only a single point, but a single entrant tie-breaker for the closest possible runner-up status. This year the margin of loss was of a different magnitude as they led 21 white-washed teams as the highest ranked squad at 46-1 to fail to score.

In the Team Tournament it is not enough to be good. You also have to predict where you'll succeed. Some say that is a flaw in the tournament. Others say that is the genius in the format and that which keeps it from growing stale as evidenced by its growth and lack of repeat champions.

The Philly Amish team won the Misery Loves Company title with 485 entrants for an average of 121.25 entrants per event. On the opposite end of the scale, claiming the Big Fish in the Small Pond category was Team Prez Con whose 71 total entrants averaged only 17.75 players per event. Big or small, didn't make much difference as both finished out of the money.

So how did the Happy Handicapper do? Better than last year. Of his top 25 picks in the field of 77 teams, 15 (60%) made the Top 25 - up 16% from 2004.

 

James Pei - 7	Dave Dockter - 2	Ron Fedin - 8	Nick Pei - 4