History | 2006 Odds

2006 Team Tournament Champions: Nest of Spies—Rainbow Coalition

James Pei—7	Dave Dockter—8	Stefan Mecay—9	Nick Pei—0

Card Sharks Rule Again

Defending champion Nest of Spies, a coalition of Card Driven Wargamers from four different states, justifiying their high ranking by the odds makers as the 3rd ranked team, repeated as champions of the 2006 Team Tournament over a field of 78 four-member squads. They became the first team to successfully defend their title by replacing the absent Ron Fedin with Stefen Mecay who made his first WBC a memorable one by leading the team with nine points for winning Twilight Struggle. The team also got their usual seven points from James Pei who won For The People for the sixth straight time and eight points from Dave Dockter for winning Paths of Glory. Scoring was up for the entire tournament, with the top eight teams scoring enough to have won the tournament in the leanest years and Nest of Spies setting the all time record with 24 points to break the old record of 22 points held by 1994’s Team Dixie.

Finishing second with 18 points were the Baby Seals led by eight points each from George Young (We The People) and Ewan McNay (Britannia). Boarding Party took third with 16 points on the strength of nine points from Roy Gibson (Atlantic Storm) and seven from Mike Fitzgerald (Hacienda). One wonders how high they could have gone if teammate Ben Knight had even played in his team game.

The Moral Victory prize has to go to CABS #3 squad, Pete’s Angels, which rode eight points from long suffering Pete Stein’s Kremlin victory to 19th place and single-handedly outcscored the other three CABS teams—including the #1 ranked Manly Men which finished 25th.

The year’s biggest over-achievers, were El Cupachabra who overcame 290-1 odds to finish ninth and became one of only three three-digit odds teams to break into the Top 25 with nine points from Brandon Bernard (Air Baron) and three from Bruce Bernard (Vinci). The other side of that coin suggested that We Ain’t Dead Yet (48-1) actually may be as one of 18 teams that failed to score a point. Thankfully, CABS #2 squad, Nate and the Boys (46-1) saved them from the ignominy of being the top ranked team to get shut out.

No less than four teams showed depth with all four members scoring, led by Ye Olde Gaming Society and Central Florida Gamers with 14 points, Manly Men with eight and Team Euro with seven.

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. Just ask Bruce Reiff and Anne Norton who together won seven plaques this year but failed to win their team event.

The Kilroy Was Here team won the Misery Loves Company title for the second year in a row with 482 entrants for an average of 120.5 entrants per event. On the opposite end of the scale, claiming the Big Fish in the Small Pond category was Peck of Pickled Peppers squad whose 68 total entrants averaged only 17 players per event. Big or small, didn’t make much difference as both finished out of the money.

Which game was the most frequently named choice for the Team Tournament? Twilight Struggle led the selection as the pick of nine of the 312 players in the tournament.

So how did the Happy Handicapper do? Worse than last year. Of his top 25 picks in the field of 78 teams, 14 (56%) made the Top 25—down 4% from 2005 but still up 12% from 2004.

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2006 Top 25 Teams in Order of Finish

Rank. Name	Odds	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Points .Entrants
1. Nest of Spies	33-1	James Pei/FTP/7	Dave Dockter/POG/8	Stefan Mecay/TWS/9	Nick Pei/HWD/0	24.189
2. Baby Seals	41-1	Ewan McNay/BRI/8	Jason Levine/BAT/0	Pete Reese/POG/2	George Young/WTP/8	18.190
3. Boarding Party	79-1	Ben Knight/TYX/0	Roy Gibson/ACS/9	Rob Eastman/FDE/0	Mike Fitzgerald/HAC/7	16.234
4. Team Delaware	48-1	Tim Hitchings/WAS/0	Vince Meconi/GBG/1	Evan Hitchings/EIS/7	Bill Rohrbeck/WSM/7	15.129
5. Band of Fools	32-1	Rob Beyma/WAT/7	Doug James/TRC/7	Tom Gregorio/BWD/1	Ray Freeman/WAS/0	15.109
6. Ye Olde Gaming Socity	53-1	Doug Galullo/ACV/3	Chris Byrd/HRC/1	Inger Henning/RBN/8	Harald Henning/EPB/2	14.165
7. Ghosts	49-1	Dennis Culhane/EOS/6	John Wetherell/TWS/0	Charley Hickok/HRS/0	Larry Lingle/QGB/8	14.160
8. Central Flordia Gamers	72-1	Jeff Cornett/E&T/8	Scott Cornett/SCT/3	Kevin Youells/ACV/2	Nick Eckengren/SQL/1	14.125
9. El Cupachabra	290-1	Bruce Bernard/VNC/3	Brandon Bernard/ABN/9	Dave Earls/TWS/0	Brian Bernard/ST/0	12.299
10. AREA	69-1	Bruno Wolff/TT2/0	Bill Thomson/SQL/2	John Sharp/VIP/2	Ed Menzel/GBG/8	12.122
11. Shockers	75-1	Keith Schoose/TWS/0	John Popiden/PGG/7	Marty Musella/PZB/2	Bert Schoose/TRC/2	11.129
12. Three Men & a Canadian	61-1	Brad Johnson/RRY/8	Bill Dyer/DUN/0	Glenn McMaster/WAS/1	Joe Abrams/MOV/2	11.175
13. Greenville Mafia: Death	60-1	Davyd Field/TKL/8	John Emery/UPF/1	Ralph Gleaton/RRY/0	Bryan Collars/HIS/1	10.187
14. Da Boys	53-1	Harry Flawd/SSB/2	Devin Flawd/PDT/8	Jordan Flawd/FMR/0	Mark Yoshikawa/MMS/0	10.184
15. Greenville Mafia: Pestilence	88-1	Ken Richards/HIS/1	Dan Lawell/RRY/0	Art Field/L14/8	Kevin Emery/UPF/0	10.175
16. EPGS 3: Ocean’s Four	69-1	Justin Wagner/GSR/0	Jim Catsonguay/PGD/9	Duane Wagner/BRI/0	Alex Bove/Ra/0	9.318
17. CABS 3: Pete’s Angels	56-1	Pete Stein/KRM/8	Bud Sauer/CNS/0	Deb Gutermuth/EPB/0	Lisa Gutermuth/FMR/0	9.267
18. Jerseygamers.com	81-1	Shantanu Saha/ACV/1	Chris Storzillo/ABN/0	Ed O’Connor/TRC/0	Seth Gunar/SCC/8	9.208
19. Kromp-on-Krewe	180-1	Chirs Godfrey/FSE/0	Paul McCarthy/VNC/8	R Taylor/MMS/0	Phil Rodrigues/SUC/1	9.106
20. MVGA	119-1	Eric Brosius/MED/0	Rich Meyer/EPB/8	Jeff Meyer/CYL/0	Bob Menzel/SQL/0	8.233
21. Ray & Three Old Farts	90-1	Ray Stakenas/PRO/0	Ray Stakenas Jr/UPF/0	C. Villeneuve/AOA/0	Ken Whitesell/FBS/8	8.231
22. Shockers	43-1	John Pack/VIP/2	Steve Packwood/776/6	Mike Backstrom/SET/0	Rich Moyer/BCY/0	8.196
23. All the King’s Men	39-1	Paul Risner/B17/8	Bruce Monnin/WAS/0	Jim Jordan/BRI/0	Keith Hunsinger/ATS/0	8.151
24. Woodchucks	36-1	Nick Anner/TOC/6	Tom Dunning/EPB/0	Andy Lewis/SFR/0	Rob Winslow/GXY/2	8.143
25. CABS 1: Manly Men	23-1	Bruce Reiff/FBS/3	Ken Gutermuth/MMS/2	Dave Metzger/812/1	Jeff Mullet/SJN/2	8.133