As Others See Us: I have played in this event all seven times I've attended Avaloncon/WBC, and it is always the best of the best, no matter which one of the four different TDs run it. The tournament director of this produces two four-page newsletters each year, one mailed shortly before WBC to promote the event, and one mailed shortly after WBC to distribute the results. These newsletters go to anyone who has ever played in a War at Sea tournament at a prior Avaloncon/WBC. For those at the convention he provides a handout of rules questions and answers, and a half-inch thick booklet of War at Sea tournament results and statistics, both from past Avaloncon/WBCs and from play-by-email events. During the event one can follow the tournament on magnetic boards where each player has a magnetic strip with his name, rating, results and opponent pairing numbers on it. Chess clocks are used to prevent lengthy games, and the players start with different amounts of time. This is because it should be quicker to play the Axis, as each turn he goes second and gets to plan his response while the Allies make their move. Furthermore the event is "Swiss-Elimination", where entrants can play in all of the first five rounds, being matched against opponents with equal scores. Then only the top four players get to participate in the knock-out semifinals and finals. Finally, the current director runs a second tournament at WBC and is too busy to hold a demo session, hence he recruited another player to run the demo in his stead. ... Frank Cunliffe in EPGS' HEROICS newsletter

Dennis Nicholson of Pawling, NY won the 2005 War At Sea championship plaque in his first Final Four appearance. Dennis finished 6-1 and bested former champ Pat Richardson of Warrenton, VA (5-2) in the Final. Pat hadn't been to the WBC in four years, but obviously hasn't lost his touch! Third place went to Greg Berry (Fairfax, VA, 5-1). Greg missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker a few years back, but left nothing to chance this time, as he was the only player to go unbeaten in the five Swiss rounds. Still another Virginian, former WBC champ and current PBeM Ladder champ Andy Gardner (Fairfax, VA, 4-2) finished 4th. Three-time semifinalist Chuck Stapp (4-1) took the 5th and final plaque with a 4-1 log after losing a tiebreaker for a semifinal slot. 6th and 7th places also went to folks with 4-1 records who lost the tiebreaker to get into the playoffs: Bruce Monnin and Jim Kramer, respectively. Yet another 4-1 got 8th place for Ed Menzel. Rob Drozd took 9th at 3-2 and Alan Applebaum placed 10th (also 3-2).

No semifinalist repeated from 2004. Dennis Nicholson beat Greg Berry in one semifinal while Pat Richardson edged his neighbor and frequent at-home opponent, Andy Gardner, in the other. The woofing on that one started before the last die stopped spinning. In the final, Pat Richardson looked to have the edge until attempting to speed roll the two 4-9-6 German BBs to the South Atlantic on Turn 7. Pat was overheard saying to Dennis, "I'll bet you want me to roll boxcars," then did just that. The final margin was a mere 1.5 POC.

Pat Richardson was our best Allied player with a 5-0 mark, while Ed Menzel earned Best Axis Player honors at 4-1. Matt O'Connor, all of 13 years old, was our Rookie of the Year with a 3-1 record. He is, not surprisingly, our youngest Rookie of the Year ever. John Sharp was our sportsmanship nominee. After allowing his opponent to re-do a potentially fatal mistake, he said it was nothing, he would have done it for anyone. No doubt he would have.

The 55 entrants this year (including 13 first-timers) represented yet another all-time high, the third new record in the last four years. The 91 total games played was the second highest ever. After a one-year hiatus, play balance was back, as the Axis won 45 games and the Allies 46; no ties. One game featured a bid for the Axis, compared to 34 no-bid contests and 56 with an Allied bid.

There was an unprecedented 6-way tie for second through 7th places in the Swiss rounds, meaning that half of that sextet failed to qualify for the playoffs on a tiebreaker. For this reason, switching from the current four players advancing to semifinals to a new system of eight players advancing to quarterfinals is under active consideration. There are so many entrants each year that it's a mathematical certainty that tiebreakers will be needed to determine multiple placings. If this change were adopted, the quarterfinals and semifinals would be held on Thursday and the Final played later.

The official War At Sea FAQ and Errata in effect for this event can be found at: http://www.markevich.com/was/rules99.html.

PBeM Tournament 2004 Results

Don Greenwood earned his first WAS laurels, besting a field of 44 in the fourth BPA War At Sea PBeM Championship. The sole player to go 5-0 in five swiss rounds, he went on to defeat Tim Tow in the semi-finals and Ed Menzel for a second time in the final. Having never advanced past the first round in the previous tournaments, Don rode a rare hot streak to seven straight 10-point wins. Also collecting laurels were:

2nd - Ed Menzel
3rd - Darren Kilfara
4th - Tim Tow
5th - Vince Meconi
6th - Kevin Shewfelt