the napoleonic wars five-player [Updated October2006]  

2006 WBC Report  

 2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

Melvin Casselberry, MD

2006 Champion

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Event History
2003    Forrest Speck     67
2004    David Gantt     64
2005     Ed Rothenheber     50
2006    Melvin Casselberry     55

Waterloo Event History
2003    BruceYoung     24
2004    Scott Moll     14
2005    Mark Hodgkinson     24

PBeM Event History
2005    -     68

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bruce Young        SC    05     86
  2.  John Emery         SC    05     84
  3.  Scott Moll         VA    05     80
  4.  Melvin Casselberry PA    06     75
  5.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    05     66
  6.  David Gantt        SC    04     60
  7.  Forrest Speck      MD    03     60
  8.  Mark Hodgkinson  Auslia  05     50
  9.  Francis Czawlytko  MD    06     48
 10.  Bryan Collars      SC    04     38
 11.  Lane Hess          PA    06     36
 12.  John Haas          PA    03     36
 13.  Scott Pfeiffer     SC    05     30
 14.  Jason White        VA    04     24
 15.  Mark McCandless    CT    03     24
 16.  Joe Burch          MD    06     18
 17.  Josh Githens       SC    04     18
 18.  Henry Russell      PA    03     18
 19.  Charley Hickok     PA    04     17
 20.  Keith Wixson       NJ    04     16
 21.  James Eaton        LA    03     15
 22.  William Burch      MD    04     14
 23.  Lance Roberts      AK    06     12
 24.  Steve Jansen       MD    05     12
 25.  Jesse Boomer       KS    04     12
 26.  George Young       UT    03     12
 27.  Fred Schachter     NY    05     10
 28.  Robert Vollman     AB    06      6
 29.  Ed Kendricks       UK    03      6
 30.  Alan Sudy          VA    05      5
      

2006 Laurelists

Lane Hess, PA
2nd

Francis Czawlytko, MD
3rd

Joe Burch, MD
4th

Lance Roberts, AK
5th

Robert Vollman, AB
6th


Past Winners

Forrest Speck, MD
2003

David Gantt, SC
2004

Ed Rothenheber, MD
2005
 

 Bill Burch, Scott Moll, Bill Beckman, Kevin Sudy and Ed Rothenheber (clockwise from left) are shown in the midst of Round 1 action.

 The chance to play on Mark McLaughlin's giant map with his painted minatures is always a bonus in this event and the Waterloo mini-con.

 Finalists Joe Burch, Melvin Casselberry, Francis Czawlytko, Lance Roberts and Lane Hess (clockwise from left) battle in Round 3 for the wood

There's A Reason It's called The NAPOLEONIC Wars

That an English-controlled Sweden conquered Spain in a game of The Napoleonic Wars may strike some as a tad ahistorical and perhaps downright silly. To those who play the game, however, it is just one more example that ANYTHING, literally ANYTHING can happen, especially in a game with a full slate of players. Just ask Lance Roberts, who figured out how to get this rare feat accomplished.

Or ask the guy who as the French at 4 AM literally BEGGED to be conquered so as to be put out of his misery and be able to go to bed. (A special "good sport" pat on the back to that Frenchman, who could have just thrown up his hands in despair and walked away, but hung on to the bitter end to allow the allied vultures to continue picking his bones while fighting among themselves for the juicy bits).

If anyone needed further convincing, all they had to do was look to the remarkable achievement of Melvin Casselberry. He not only won the tournament - he won it as PRUSSIA. He says he did it basically by being everyone's whore. His words, not mine. In the best tradition of both Prussia and multiplayer gaming, he made sure everyone else had beaten themselves to a bloody and ineffectual pulp, and then he strode in and decided the issue—in his own favor. Frances Czawlytko, who as Russia in that Final admits that the allies basically bought Turkey and Sweden for Prussia, at one point noted that Prussia was "worth every penny we paid for him." That, of course, was when the Prussians forced Hess's French (who were winning) to leave Vienna. Frances had a different opinion, of course, when the game ended in a Prussian victory.

Even more astonishing, at least to veteran players, was the bashing handed out to the Greenville Mafia. That grand and glorious bunch of gentleman gamers, who arrived in great numbers and so generously poured libations from wine that bore their own club label only managed to grab one spot in the semi-finals—a ticket that remained unused due to a conflicting Final elsewhere. How the mighty have fallen! Suddenly the downtrodden mases have renewed hope. Or was it just a ruse to draw us down south to the beast's lair this month for Waterloo IV?

All told, 55 different guys played18 games—the longest of which lasted ten hours, and the shortest of which ended in 45 minutes! This would be a good turnout in the fourth year of any wargame to be sure, but with the onslaught of new CDWs led by the popular Twilight Struggle it was outstanding. Of the 18 games, the British won seven. The French won only four. Seems like only yesterday I was hearing that the poor Brits stood no chance. Times change—and so do tactics.

Russia also won four. Austria won two and Prussia but one - but it was the BIG ONE.

 GM      Mark McLaughlin  [4th Year]   NA
   mgmprsm@discovernet.net   NA

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