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"Why even a died-in-the-wool
sports gamer like Harry Flawd will play Battle Cry"
seems to be the message here. |
Having designer Richard Borg
on hand with his beautiful painted terrain and miniatures is
a double bonus. |
Battle Cry attendance was off but survived a double hit - Trial
status due to GM error and omission from the program! |
Redeemed ...
The 2006 tournament began with three rounds of Swiss, matching
the leading players against each other in the second and third
rounds to whittle the field down to the last eight. The battles
were taken from the published game, Kernstown followed by Gaines
Mill and Newmarket for the 3rd round, with players bidding for
sides. The idea was that everybody would have the chance to play
at least three games before the final elimination stage, allowing
60 minutes to setup and play each battle. Draws were allowed
at this stage if time ran out. In practice, there was very little
slow play, although there were delays as the GM attempted to
collate the results and work out the match-ups for the next round
in a timely fashion. Kudos to the forebearance of the players,
and in particular Andy Lewis who stepped in with moral support
and a loud voice to help announce the second round assignments.
Next time, the administration will be optimised for speedy service!
After three rounds,
2002 Champion Philip Shea, Steve Lollis, Greg Berry, Ed Kendrick
and David Metzger had three wins, with Ben Knight, James Terry
and Jeff Cornett on two wins, just ahead of the pack to join
the last eight by dint of a superior record of flags taken and
then flags lost. Defending champion Robert Eastman was edged
out by a single extra flag lost.
For the single elimination stage, each battle was played twice,
with the players switching sides. The battles were taken from
the Jackson Campaign supplement originally produced for GENCON
2000, and available for download on BoardGameGeek.
The 4th round saw a series of double victories at McDowell
for Berry, Kendrick, Knight and Cornett, while the Semi-Final
saw a a blowout 6:1 victory by Greg Berry as the Confederates
at Winchester, followed by a concession from David Metzger in
the rematch as Greg ran up his second flag and reached an insurmountable
lead. The other Semi-Final was probably the outstanding clash
of the tournament. The tense second game saw Ben Knight one down
in the series, with his Union Army pulled back into a horsehoe
anchored on the town of Winchester and the nearby ridgeline,
daring Jeff Cornett's rebels to come and get him. In the end
Ben took the fight to the rebels and pulled out a victory, 6
to 3. That left it one game each, and nine flags apiece, but
Jeff had suffered fewer casualties and thereby advanced to the
Final.
Richard Borg had brought along his magnificent large-scale
Battle Cry settup for the Final, so it was waged with
beautiful painted 28mm scale miniatures on proper wargames terrain.
Unfortunately for Greg Berry his luck chose this moment to desert
him, while Jeff Cornett made brutally effective use of his powerful
cards, chewing up Greg's Confederates. It was over almost before
it started, leaving Greg facing an uphill struggle to come back
from a 6 to 1 deficit in the rematch. It was not to be however,
and Greg conceded after Jeff had taken two flags.
Thanks to all the players and congratulations to Jeff on his
plaque. A special thank-you to Richard Borg for his support,
and the use of his splendid miniatures and terrain.
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