Eight hardy Gettysburg '88 enthusiasts, led by Gamemaster Allen Kaplan, kept this event alive for another year.

Competition was conducted in a single-elimination format using the three-day campaign scenario with all optional rules except replacement Union generals.

First time entrant Ted Drozd scored the day's biggest upset when he knocked off two-time champ and frequent finalist Allen Kaplan in the first round. In Drozd's semi-final matchup against defending champion Vince Meconi, his aggressive Union play on July 1 had Meconi's Confederates backed up to the northeast corner of the board. However, the thin Union line could not hold and the Confederates scored a Day 2 knockout.

Meanwhile, in the other half of the draw, veteran Chuck Stapp blitzed his first two opponents to gain the other finalist slot.

In the final, Meconi took the Confederates for a bid of three victory points. On Day 1 it was all Union, as Stapp's forces surrounded and eliminated the Rodes infantry division, forcing Meconi to hand over the initiative chit in the process. With the initiative in hand, and after killing a Confederate artillery unit and sustaining almost no losses, while keeping the Rebels from
taking either Culp's Hill or Cemetery Hill, the Union looked to be firmly in the driver's seat.

However, as can happen in gaming, the dice went all one way on Day 2. The Confederate attacks carved up the Union ranks again and again, while their counterattacks could not crack the Confederate two-division infantry stacks. As the day wore on, the Union finally began to score, to the point where the end of the day found every Confederate infantry division flipped. However, so many Union troops had gone down by that point that the Rebels managed to score a Day 2 knockout. Meconi was very happy his chewed up troops did not have to fight on July 3.

The defending champion thus successfully defended his crown, winning Gettysburg for the fifth time overall.

Gamemaster Allen Kaplan had wavered between a single-elimination format, with a Saturday afternoon start to catch Civil War devotees after the completion of the Battle Cry event, and a switch to the freeform format increasingly favored by other 2-player wargaming classics. He indicated that a change to the latter format is likely for next year.