So desperate to save their sovereign were they that some of Princess Ryan's Star Marines went into battle bare-handed, without weapons ­ and with predictable results. Other squads, frustrated and thrown back time and time again by overwhelming numbers of Black Guard defenders tried the old "do or die" attempt. Few did, more died. But as they say in Princess Ryan's Star Marines: "It's better that way!

Eighteen valiant players showed up at the WBC to save the princess for whom the game is named. Each played two games, with scores from the two rounds combined. Although Ashley Collinson took a commanding lead with a near-record one-game score of 105 at the end of round 1, a tough second game left her open to be overtaken by David Brooke. His two-game total of 178 gave him undisputed victory in the tournament ­ and possession of the single plaque awarded to this former (and hopefully once again someday) centurion event.

Ashley, with 143 points, still managed to keep second place, for which she was given a painted miniature marine courtesy of the game designer's son, Campbell. Nick Henning, a former champion, came in a close third at 130. Dan Hoffmann and Eugene Pappas were right behind him, almost literally, with 127 each. As Dan had won a game as the Black Guard, that was considered the tie breaker for fourth place. Jon Gemmel was sixth with a very strong 110 points.

Of the six games played, the Guard won twice. Dan Hoffman faced the "Old Guard" of marine players ­ including that venerable veteran and noted "thwacker" Paul Bolduc (a centurion winner of this event) and the ever charming and devious some-time princess herself, Alex Henning. Not that age or experience was much help, as 45 minutes into the game the Marines were still on the beach.
"It's a good morning to be a guard!" quipped veteran Chris Villeneuve, another member of that team so pounded by Dan's guards. The defeat was of such epic proportions that when points were counted Paul announced what he was sure was "an all time low score" that, for the sake of all marines everywhere, shall not be published. Suffice it to say that young Ms. Henning was the only marine in the party NOT to have a negative score, and she had all of eight points.

By contrast, Ashley Collinson and her marines could do no wrong. Erika Kirchner, a lovely and sportsmanlike teenager who has been playing since she was half her current age, managed to kill 11 of the 24 marines ­ and that was kill, not merely capture or wound ­ but her Black Guards just could not beat Ashley's luck.

Despite the occasional whine of "we did the math and we can't win;" "five dead marines out of six ­ we're going DOWN," and the ever-popular "this SUCKS for us," the marines managed to pull it off.

"They made the stupidest moves ever," Erika said of her marine opponents, "but had the best luck ever. They kept running out of weapons then finding ways to get more!"

Matthew Beach, another guard commander on round 1, found the marines led by David Brooke, Eugene and Daniel Pappas and Jordan Flawd just as tough as those Erika faced. Toughest of all of his opponents, however, was his own sister ­ Natalie.

At first things sounded grim, as those marines were heard to call out "we kinda got clobbered here" and "whatta ya mean there are FOUR colors!," to which another marine responded "we got a lot of DUMB marines here." Still, despite some initial trouble, things started to look up for them about mid-board. Natalie's mid-game quip "we're doing much better now" pretty much summed up the second half of the contest.

In the second round, Karl Henning took the guards on one table. Reports of four out of five marines dying while running the gauntlet or in a special weapons attack were common in his game. Jon Gemmel's stirring marine battle cry of "we're all gonna die anyway" was matched only by the reply another team member made when asked how they could face 108 points of guards in one fight. The reply of "I suggest we lose" was ignored by a marine who threw down the holographic card (that lets the marines escape the fight) ­ only to enter into another combat where 80 points of guards appeared. To that, Ashley Collinson just shrugged "Oh well, forget it, we're down."

In Paul Bolduc's second game, the marines fared much better. As Erika Kirchner noted, when the front door to the palace was closed by the Guards "we went down to the back doort hen sniffed for the smell of perfume to save the princess."

Chris Villeneuve, who had been with Paul in the first game, did not have any easier of a time in round 2. Teammate Matthew Beach's questioning exclamation that "you're stunned and you're still in charge?" proved more accurate a picture of events than Alex Henning's hopeful "well, we're doing so much better this game" Black Guard Nick Henning put up a tremendous fight, and one so tough and hard that his sister Alex and her fellow marines Paul, Chris, Matthew Beach and Alex Bell had no option left but to attempt to board their mother ship and attempt to crash into the prison to "save the princess."

It is, appropriately enough, called the "do or die" option. You either "do" and win, or well, you "die" and don't. But, as the marine motto exclaims with pride: "It's Better That Way!"

Top Six Performances
First David Brooke 178 Points
Second Ashley Collinson 143 Points
Third Nick Henning 130 Points
Fourth Dan Hoffmann 127 Points* (Won With Black Guard)
Fifth Eugene Pappas 127 Points
Sixth Jon Gemmel 110 Points

 18 pint-sized star marines showed up for the Juniors version of Princess Ryan's Star Marines, allowing Dan Collinson to gather genuine Junior Wood as the hero. The other finalists were:

2nd - Kaleigh Jaeger

3rd - Sydney Engelstein

4th - Jacob Hebner

5th - Daniel Long

- all of whom fell just short of rescuing the princess. But as everyone who plays Princess Ryan's Star Marines knows, "It's better that way."