We had another good turnout for this year's War of 1812 tourney with several new faces for this great opening event. It was great to be in Lampeter with the other wargames. Players bid VP's to play the Americans. Many players choose not to bid and choose sides randomly even with a slight statistical advantage for the US over the past several years.

We played with three variants this year. We played with a new variant that allowed players to tear down a naval unit on a lake as a choice for the player's naval phase. This was well received after the Block Party GM and I discussed it in Columbus. The feedback was positive and it will be back at the next BPA Block Party.

We played 37 games in a Swiss-elimination tourney. This year we returned to the tie breaker system instead of allowing draws like the original rules. This change was highly encouraged by our tourney director, which I agree is better for this format. There were only 12 bids this year with the average being around 1, though one player bid three to play the Americans. The Americans won 55% of the games that had a bid and 57% overall.

The Americans won most of their games in either 1812 or 1813. The Americans did win a few games in 1814 as well, but over two-thirds of the wins were in the first two years. While the British won 43% of all games, they did not win a single game in the single elimination portion of the event between the laurelists. The British won the most of their games in the year 1814. In the games that went to the last year, the British won 13 and lost six.

The Cornett's in their second year of competiition in this event both qualified for the semifinals. Perennial champion David Metzger & Saratoga designer Mark Miklos joined the father and son team in the elimination rounds. Jeff advanced to the Final by beating Mark as the US in the last turn of 1814 to face former champion David Metzger. David was able to defeat Scott Cornett in the semifinal. David bid one to play the US and took advantage of the early American success to win the game in the year 1813.

I want to thank everyone for their support over the years. I am going to step aside as the War of 1812 GM next year.