The Strasburg room was filled for the first three of the four 18XX heats.

The recent upward trend in attendance continued this year when 45 came to play train games, a number not seen in 10 years. Eleven players were brand new to the tournament, joining 34 returnees from past years. Three of the new players qualified for the semi-finals, with Michael Fox making the Final as well. In the end, Bruce Beard's dominance came through yet again, and he won his third straight 18xx tournament.

The fourth preliminary round returned, as did the play of three additional games (chosen by respondents to an on-line poll) to the original three (1830, 1856, and 1870). The added games, 18EU, 18GL, and 1846 were in competition for both the second and third rounds, allowing for even greater variety of play. The tie-breaking rules were changed slightly from last year, more closely resembling the tie resolution in years past. 1830 remained the most popular preliminary round game, with nine games played, along with three games of 1856, and four of 1870 Among the newer games, there were two games of 18EU, and 1 each of 18GL and 1846. Players in the 1870 games were encouraged to use the alternate start rule (a draw for the RR that required only the president's share to open, and for the RR that had a share go with the KATY private), and most did. The 1830 games in the preliminary rounds were asked to include the alternate 6 train in games with newer players to make bankruptcies less common. This had the desired effect, as there were only 2 of 11 1830 preliminary games that didn't break the bank.

The first preliminary heat Wednesday morning was designated as the 1830 round, but there was a four-player 1870 and a five-player 1856 game to go with three four-player 1830 games. No bankruptcies ended any first round games. All five games were won by returning players, with both assistant GMs Bruce Beard and Barrington Beavis qualifying with wins, as did Paul Hakken, Chuck Krueger, and Mark Neale. Barrington easily won the five-player 1856 game over the GM and three other returnees. In that game, Wayne Schmittberger lost a RR with a 5 train to the government formation by less than $50, and ended up with no RR at all. Paul Hakken returned after a two-year absence to post a convincing 24% win over Jim McDanold in one 1830 game. Chuck Krueger won by 11% over returnees Chris Hancock, Jim McCarthy, and Chip Eastman in his 1830 game. Mark Neale won the third 1830 prelim, by 12% over three other returnees, even though he had to sell two stock shares just to buy a 4 train. Bruce Beard posted an 1870 win over returnees David Fritsch, John Haas, and newcomer Paul Stoecker, but it was a close 6% game. The results from round 1 are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 ­ Preliminary Round 1 Results
1830 Games
Paul Hakken (10040)
Jim McDanold (8124)
Mark Casiglio(7624)
Mike Brophy (5487)

Mark Neale (8786) 
Murray Cowles (7827)
Rick Dutton (7768)
Lane Newbury (6730)

Chuck Krueger (9465)
Chris Hancock (8503)
Jim McCarthy (8098)
Chip Eastman (8000)

1856 Game
Barrington Beavis (8427)
Herbert Gratz (6901)
Pierre LeBoeuf (6124)
Dave Metheny (4999)
Wayne Schmittberger (4803)

1870 Game 
Bruce Beard (10320)
Dave Fritsch (9731)
John Haas (7663)
Paul Stoecker (7415)

The second preliminary round on Wednesday night was designated for 1856, but any of the six games were eligible for play. As it turned out, no 1856 games were played in this round. The 24 attendees opted for three games of 1830, and one each of 1846, 1870, and 18EU, all with four players. Five returnees were joined by newcomer Akihisa Tabei in the winner's circle. GM Pierre LeBoeuf posted his first win in the 18EU game by running for half earnings until he had enough money to buy a second permanent train in each of his RRs. The extra trains enabled him to get runs as high as $1010, building up enough cash to catch Frank Haskell at the end for the win. Akihisa nosed out Chris Hancock by 5% to get a win in an 1830 game on his first try at the WBC. Craig Reece posted the first bankruptcy win in the second 1830 game, by only $106 over Jim McDanold, and only $215 over Barrington. Rick Dutton won a very tight 1830 game over Rich Atwater, Paul Hakken, and Mike Brazinski, where only $667 separated the four players. Bruce won by only 2% over newcomer Jeremy Vipperman in the 1846 game. Nick Anner had a solid 11% win over Jeff Bowers in the 1870 game, featuring newcomer Andy Roosen shuffling a train between two RRs at the end and finishing third.

Table 2 ­ Preliminary Round 2 Results
1830 Games
Akihisa Tabei (8056)
Chris Hancock (7649)
Chris Palermo (6900)
Mike Brophy (6207)

Craig Reece (1730)
Jim McDanold (1624)
Barrington Beavis (1409)
Lane Newbury (750)

Rick Dutton (6702)
Rich Atwater (6371)
Paul Hakken (6117)
Mike Brazinski (6035)

1846 Games
Bruce Beard (6183)
Jeremy Vipperman(6066)
Herbert Gratz (5400)
David Metheny (4801)

1870 Games 
Nick Anner (11731)
Jeff Bowers(10584)
Andy Roosen (10264)
Shantanu Saha (7613)

18EU Games 
Pierre LeBoeuf (7522)
Frank Haskell (7419)
Chris Robbins (6289)
Chip Eastman (5859)
                

The second heat played to a packed room with all six tables in use. The third preliminary on Thursday afternoon went to seven tables of four players and overflowed out into the hall. All games were available for play, and all but 1846 saw action. Three games of 1830 squeezed in with single games of 18GL, 18EU, 1856, and 1870. Bruce Beard totally dominated his GL game (a 61% win), with more cash on hand than Pierre's total value, and nearly more than Dave Metheny and Nick Anner as well. Mike Parsons won his inaugural WBC game, besting Paul Hakken by 4% in the 1856 game. Jeff Bowers beat Justin Rice by an even smaller 3% margin in the 1870 game. Mark Geary had a convincing 19% win over Chris Robbins in the 18EU game. In that contest, Mark got five of the 15 minor companies at the start. Chris recovered from a near bankruptcy to finish second by 6%. Past champion Richard Fox brought three of his sons along, with Michael and David playing in one of the 1830 games. A scoring error (not discovered until after the tournament) credited Michael with the win, though the corrected score put Jim ahead by $135 (out of more than $10000). Michael's score was close enough to the win to still earn a spot in the semis. Mark Neale won easily (by 16%) over Chip Eastman in the second 1830 game. Chris Hancock had another big margin, a 17% win over Mike Brazinski in the third game. Table 3 below contains the results from preliminary heat 3.

Table 3 ­ Preliminary Round 3 Results
1830 
Jim McDanold (10158)
Michael Fox (10023)
*David Fox (7702)
Tom Sessler (2880)

Mark Neale (8957)
Chip Eastman (7717)
Richard Fox (7686)
James McCarthy (7576)

Chris Hancock (8549)
Mike Brazinski (7305)
Lane Newbury (6696)
Dan Fox (5951)

18GL Game
Bruce Beard (11929)
David Metheny (7426)
Nick Anner (7394)
Pierre LeBoeuf (4950)

18EU Game
Mark Geary (8875)
Chris Robbins (7478)
Barrington Beavis (5864)
Glen Pearce (5002)

1856 Game
Mike Parsons (9547)
Paul Hakken (9181)
Frank Haskell (7672)
David Fritsch (6314)

1870 Game
Jeff Bowers (11238)
Justin Rice (10870)
Jeremy Vipperman (10326)
Rick Dutton (7275)
                

The last preliminary round on Thursday evening, designated for 1870, represented a last chance to win a slot in the 16-seat semi-final. With 15 winners in the first three heats, it appeared likely that there would be more qualifiers than slots. This last chance had two 4-player 1830 games, a 4-player 1856, and a 4-player 1870. On one 1830 board, Rick Dutton and Pierre each had a RR with no train and no track (the CP and the Erie), and they both let their companies drop to $10. Once Pierre had enough money for a 6 train, he connected track to Buffalo and ran the RR forward. He then connected up Montreal as well to force Rick to buy a diesel two turns before the bank broke. The result of all of this maneuvering was a $144 win by Pierre over Lane, with Rick another $200 behind. The other 1830 game ended in bankruptcy when Mike Brazinski was forced to buy a diesel for two RRs, yielding a $26 win by Johnny Hasay over Barrington, with David Fritsch only $140 out of first. The 1856 game also ended in bankruptcy, with Rick Northey getting his first win when Dale Groves went bankrupt. This was the only game Bruce lost all week. In the 1870 game, Paul Hakken was a repeat winner by 9%, over Andy Roosen. Table 4 below contains the results from preliminary heat 4. Fourth round wins by Johnny Hasay and Rick Northey qualified them for semi-final slots on their last opportunity.

Table 4 ­ Preliminary Round 4 Results
1830 
Pierre LeBoeuf (8613)
Lane Newbury (8469)
Rick Dutton (8203)
Jim McDanold (7959)

Johnny Hasay (1587)
Barrington Beavis (1561)
David Fritsch (1447)
Mike Brazinski (7959)

1856 Game
Rick Northey (1683)
Jeremy Vipperman (1500) 
Bruce Beard (1307)
Dale Groves (270)

1870 Games
Paul Hakken (12015)
Andrew Roosen (11004) 
Chris Robbins (9472)
David Metheny (9245)

The 22 preliminary round games (up from 18 last year) produced a triple winner (Bruce Beard), three double winners (Paul Hakken, Mark Neale, and Pierre LeBoeuf) and 13 single winners,. All but three posted for the semi-final round. This left us with 14 winners for 16 slots, and two open places for the semi-finals. The top 2 runner-ups, by percentage of winning score in their best game, Lane Newbury and Frank Haskell, thus moved into the semi-finals.

The players were seeded based on the results of preliminary round play and the multiple entry-single elimination tie-breaking criteria established by the WBC. Where players remained tied, they were placed according to their best percentage of the winning score or margin of victory. Best margin of victory percentage seeded spots 4 through 13 and 15 and 16. Second place finishes were seeded the same way as the wins. The next eight players were ranked by their best percentage of the winning score. Three winners did not choose to advance, so the next three players became eligible, reaching down to the best two runner-ups.

Once again, players were allowed to pick which game they'd like to play in the semi-final. Both 1856 and 1870 received only three votes; so all semi-finals were 1830 games. Players were seeded as 1st ­ 8th ­ 9th ­ 16th in game 1, 2nd ­ 7th ­ 10th ­ 15th in game 2, 3rd ­ 6th ­ 11th ­ 14th in game 3, and 4th ­ 5th ­ 12th ­ 13th in game 4. The first semi featured two-time defending champion Bruce Beard against perennial players Nick Anner, Craig Reece, and Lane Newbury. Bruce grabbed three railroads and posted an easy 14% win over Craig. The second game pitted last year's runner-up, Mark Neale, against returnees Chuck Krueger and Frank Haskell, and newcomer Akihisa Tabei. Mark backed the Penn into the brown, then bought 90% of it and racked up big diesel runs. Akihisa's B&O ran for nearly as much and tied for top stock value, but in the end, Mark won by the difference of his extra stock share, only $223 over Akihisa. Semi 3 had past champion Paul Hakken play returnees Rick Dutton and Rick Northey, along with newcomer Michael Parsons. This was the only semi that ended in bankruptcy, when Michael was unable to put permanent trains in his three RRs. Paul won by $105 over Rick Dutton in a low-scoring game. The last semi had the GM (Pierre LeBoeuf) and assistant GM (past champion Barrington Beavis) against returnee Johnny Hasay and newcomer Michael Fox, son of the 2004 champ. Johnny bought and sold both Pierre's Penn and Barrington's C&O, trashing their stock, then buying out Michael's NYNH. This served to counteract the tremendous advantage Pierre and Barrington got from getting the largest private companies with virtually no auction. Pierre and Barrington sold in their private companies, then started their second RRs (B&M and NYC), with Barrington eventually starting the CanPac as well. Johnny didn't initially start the B&O until the 3 trains were all gone, and when he launched the Erie, Michael stole it from him. It was evident that several players were in a cash-poor position for diesels, so a stall ensued for a few turns. Michael got two of the 5 trains and put onein each RR, winning the game on stock value by 7% over Pierre. Table 6 below contains the results from the semi-final games played, with the four winners advancing.

Table 6 ­ Semi-final Round Results
1830 Semi-final Games
Bruce Beard (8221) 
Craig Reese (7202)
Lane Newbury (6804)
Nick Anner (6573)

Mark Neale (8761)
Akihisa Tabei (8538)
Chuck Krueger (8302) 
Frank Haskell (7572)

Paul Hakken (1749)
Rick Dutton (1644)
Rick Northey (1441)
Michael Parsons (742)

Michael Fox (8170)
Pierre LeBoeuf (7653)
Johnny Hasay (6857)
Barrington Beavis (6718)
                

The four semi-final winners advanced to the 1830 final Saturday night. The final matched (in turn order) defending two-time champion Bruce Beard, last year's runner-up Mark Neale, 2003 champ Paul Hakken, and Michael Fox, playing 18xx at the WBC for the first time. Bruce had gone 3-1 in the preliminary rounds, with Mark, Paul, and Mike posting records of 2-0, 2-2, and 1-0 in the prelims.

In the private auction, Bruce got the Champlain & St. Lawrence for $55 and the Delaware & Hudson for $100, Mark took the Mohawk & Hudson for $150, Michael took the Baltimore & Ohio private at $225 (setting the B & O share price at $100), and Paul took the Schuylkill at cost and the Camden & Amboy at $225. With the option to buy the 1st company, Bruce opened the Penn at $67, as did Mark with the New York-New Haven. On the third operating round, Paul started the NYC at $82, and Michael chose the C&O at $67 to run in round 4. Also in round 4, Bruce bought three shares of B&O to force Michael to begin running it. Bruce subsequently sold his private companies into the Penn, and used the proceeds to take the B&O away from Michael. The other share companies (Boston & Maine-$67-Mark), (Erie-$100-Paul), and (Canadian Pacific-$100-Bruce) followed, leaving Bruce with three companies, two of them with lots of money, a strong position. The train distribution before diesels was Bruce ­ two 4's, a 5, and a 6 on three RRs, Mark ­ a 4 and a 5 on two RRs, Paul ­ a 4 and a 6 on two RRs, and Michael ­ a 5 on his only RR. A stall ensued while the players saved for diesels, which again benefited Bruce with two 4's. All RRs were able to get permanent trains, but in the end, Bruce's stock and train advantage resulted in a $1700 win over Mark.

I thank everyone for our biggest tournament in recent years, and I hope we keep increasing our numbers next time. We will vote again on which two games to include with 1830, 1856, 1870, and 18EU in 2008. We will keep the 16-player semi-final and 4 player Final. If you would like to participate in the discussion on ways to improve the 18xx tournament in 2008, drop me an email.

1830 Final
Bruce Beard (8645)
Mark Neale(6935)
Paul Hakken (6568)
Michael Fox (6403)