The third WBC Wilderness War tournament successfully made the move from Friday to Wednesday. There was an increase in attendance from 30 players to 35, which will boost us up a prize level next year, and there appeared to be fewer problems with scheduling conflicts. Ten players were new to the tournament, although two of them were relatively experienced players who have had conflicts in the past. A dominant player has yet to emerge for this game, as only one of last year's Laurelists finished in the top six this year. Last year there were no repeats in the top six from the previous year.

A Swiss Elimination format was used again this year. There were four rounds of Swiss play on Wednesday with the top four players advancing to the semi-finals on Thursday. Players were seeded by AREA ratings and paired best against worst. Keith Wixson, James Pei and Jim Gutt advanced with perfect scores. A new tiebreak system based upon the average ratings of defeated opponents was used this year to determine who among the players with one loss was to advance as the fourth semi-finalist. Rob Winslow had the best such average. In the semis Pei defeated Gutt and Winslow, in a rematch against the player who had defeated him in the Swiss rounds, beat Wixson. The Champion's Warhawk went to Pei along with his 16th BPA wood. The Warclub went to runner-up Winslow (the 2002 Champ). An AAR of the championship game follows:

Pre Game: Both bid 1 VP to play the French. Pei won the roll-off.

1757: Early game saw Montcalm take Ft. William Henry and the French Indians launch many raids (there were six raid markers out at the end of 1757). The British, with no reinforcements in early season, concentrated on building up the frontier defenses. By the end of 1757, the "raiding problem" had ended but the French had VPs at 8.

1758: The British began receiving reinforcements, though not Wolfe. Ft. Edward fell to Montcalm, while Louisbourg fell to Amherst. The British won a couple of battles while moving back into the Champlain Valley, and VPs were French 5 at year's end.

1759: Wolfe entered the fray early, and began pushing up the Champlain Valley. On a Campaign Card, Wolfe moved into Ticonderoga while Amherst made an amphibious landing northeast of Quebec. Montcalm, using his interception ability, Indian allies, and Troop Transports, beat Wolfe in an even battle, replaced his losses, and then moved on Quebec to not only lift Amherst's siege, but to decisively defeat him (twice), sending his army retreating back to New York. To slow Wolfe down, the French forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Pointe were burned (as were the stockades outside Montreal), and quite a few auxiliaries were waiting in the mountains, forcing Wolfe's men to slow down and build a fort line. Time just ran out for the British, and Montcalm's now depleted force (no French Regular reinforcements had arrived) held New France at game's end.

All in all, an excellent game that hung in the balance until Montcalm's decisive battle victories in 1759.

French dominance of the tournament is now pretty much confirmed and most of the top players now bid one or two VPs for the right to play them. The French won 35 of the 49 games played (71%, up from 62% last year and 52% the year before). The combined record of the four semi-finalists was 14-0 as the French and 3-4 as the Brits. This imbalance is alarming, and discussions are underway to possibly address it with rule changes in time for next year's tournament. On the other hand, bidding is the usual way to address play balance issues, and a break down of the bidding in the tournament, while showing a general preference to play the French by many, indicates that a large number of players are either unaware or unconvinced of the French advantage in the Tournament Scenario. In the 49 games the bidding breakdown was as follows: 13 bids of 1 VP for the French, three bids of 2 for the French, two bids of 1 for the Brits, two bids of 2 for the Brits (!) and 29 games without bids.

Once again Keith provided splendid prizes to augment BPA wood in the form of his replica Indian weapons of the period - sending home two gamers very happy with nifty souvenirs of their victorious campaigns at WBC.