Steve Packwood (right) watches to see who will oppose him as Jim Lawler (left) and Matt Burkins battle in the semis.

The 1776 tournament format was the first nine months of the Campaign Game with all optional rules except hidden and decoy counters. The players bid the number of strategic towns (out of a total of 24, including Montreal and Quebec) that the British player must control on the last turn. All bidding this year was at 14-15 towns with victory often decided by a single town.

The recent use of chess clocks have kept the playing times to the four-hour limit for all games. While both sides had 90 minutes on the clock for movement, the British player often ran the time down to just a few minutes while the American player often had 30 minutes left on the clock at the end of the game. Since the British player was attempting to manage offensives in four areas, his use of additional time was not surprising.

The championship game found Matt Burkins challenging 10-time winner Steve Packwood, who bid 15 towns to play the British. During the first quarter, the British moved 4 British Regulars (BR) by sea from Boston into the South (1BR to Norfolk and 3BR to Charleston). The Continental Navy then blockaded the British transport fleet inside Norfolk. The British March reinforcements landed in Baltimore to threaten Philadelphia but avoided actually entering the Middle States area. This maximized Tory reinforcements and minimized Rebel Militia during the first interphase.

In April, both British battle fleets attacked the blockading Continental Navy at Norfolk but failed to sink it. The Continental Navy then fell back to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, thus trapping the British fleets for another turn until they destroyed it. The American screening force south of Philadelphia was overwhelmed by the British moving North from Baltimore and a force of Tories moving South from Philadelphia. The Tories also took Ticonderoga and reduced the fort before the American relief force could get there. The British "C" reinforcements entered at Philadelphia and marched toward Wyoming and the South Central area. In June, the British withdrew all BR from the South Central and Deep South areas. While this allowed the Americans additional supply units in these areas during the next interphase, the Rebel Militia numbers were reduced to minimum and the Tory numbers were maximized for the last quarter.

In the final quarter, the British August reinforcements landed at Charleston and fanned out through the Deep South, while the forces in southern Pennsylvania took over most of the South Central area. The additional American supply units were not much use with these areas almost devoid of RM and CA factors. In the final turn, the British controlled 18 strategic towns and the American was forced to make attacks on six towns: Ticonderoga, Hartford, and Wyoming at 1:1 odds and Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Hillsboro at 1:2 odds. Only the Hartford and Wyoming attacks succeeded, thereby giving Steve Packwood 16 towns - one more than he needed for his record 11th 1776 championship.

2003 PBeM RESULTS:

Jan Orband of Belgium faced Doug Pratto of Massachusetts for the first ever BPA 1776 PBeM championship using the first nine months of the campaign game and the Boardgamer's Guide leader rules. Doug bid 13 towns to play the British in an exciting, but relatively bloodless, game of maneuver and counter-maneuver. Both players showed a superb grasp of using troops and terrain to block their opponent. Small, well placed British forces impeded American reinforcements to Charleston in March. In May, after Charleston fell, small American forces then impeded British expansion out of the city. The British maintained a few BRs aboard ships at all times, thereby forcing the American to spread his forces thin in order to counter this constant threat to his coastal towns. By August, the American had formed four main blocking forces: Greene in Albany, Arnold in New England, Lincoln in South Carolina, and Washington in Virginia. Although the British player controlled the 13 towns he needed for victory at the end of his September turn, the wily American found a back door into Alexandria and overran the British garrison. Coupled with seizing Newport, Jan Orband reduced the British to 11 victory towns and became the champion.

Others earning laurels in the 20-player event were:

2nd: Doug Pratto, MA
3rd: Stan Buck, MD
4th: Jim Engler, MD
5th: Stu Bieber, WI
6th: Rod Coffey, GA