Confederates by a whisker ...
54 players answered the call to arms in the second WBC Battle
Cry tournament. This lead to 13 groups of four for the round
robin after Jim Vroom and Ken Whitesell both agreed to drop to
make the numbers work. A big thank you to those two for their
kindness and generosity. This meant that the winner of each group
and three at-large players would advance to the second round.
The scenario for the round robin was a choice between the published
First Bull Run and a new scenario from designer Richard Borg
which had been available on the tournament website. Players were
grouped based on their preference. Only one group was needed
for First Bull Run.
Eight of the 13
groups were won by players winning all three games. This was
substantially less than the 11 of 14 from the previous year.
Bidding for sides was in the form of extra discards; a definitely
less harsh penalty, but still only two of the games by the 16
players who advanced involved a bid and those were both in the
First Bull Run scenario. The total records of the 14 players
who played Glorietta and advanced to the second round were Confederates
25 wins and Union 15 wins with the average number of flags being
4.2 to 3.6 and the median flags being 5-4. This scenario is fought
to only five flags. Pretty closely fought.
The second round was head-to-head single elimination Glorietta.
The Confederates took this round relatively easily winning six
of eight games. Only two were won by more than two flags so close
games were commonplace.
Round 3 was Pea Ridge where you were competing against the
other players on your side, not your opponent. We almost had
a disaster in this round because one of the tables played the
wrong scenario, First Bull Run, by accident. Fortunately, we
had two wins on each side.
The
semi-finals were Murfreesboro again with competition against
the other player on your side, not your opponent. Ryan Duncan's
Confederates faced Philip Shea's Union, while George Sauer's
Confederates faced John Koski's Union. The Union won both battles
so the players who advanced were decided by flags lost. Philip's
Union had only lost three flags while John's had lost five so
Philip advanced. This again showed the weakness of the competing
against your own side format since John was eliminated although
he hadn't lost a game all tournament. This format will be dropped
from the tournament next year.
Ryan Duncan as the Confederates faced off against John Koski's
Union for 3rd place in Glorietta. The Union won this match-up
5-2.
The finals matched George "Bud" Sauer against Philip
Shea in a two-game match of Glorietta. Philip took the first
game 5-3. This put Bud in a bad position and although things
started out well in the second game for him, Bud just couldn't
get that final flag and so in the end was beaten in both games.
Philip Shea thus became the second Battle Cry champion.
I want to thank the players in this tournament for the last
two years. It's been a fun one to run. I especially appreciate
Jim Vroom and Ken Whitesell for allowing me to be able to play
this year. Bud Sauer will be taking over next year as the GM
of this tournament. The tournament will be in very capable hands
and I hope to see you all again at it when I can solely concentrate
on playing.
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