Bill Thomson (left) takes time out from Squad Leader to push some rebels.	Is GM Vince Meconi (left) playing both Greg Smith and John Sharp simultaneously?

Ed Menzel of Fullerton, CA successfully defended his Gettysburg '88 crown, defeating Dave Zimmerman of Myerstown, PA in the Final. Ed finished with a 7-3 log while Dave ended 4-2. Dave has now been the runner-up five times at the WBC/Avaloncon Gettysburg tournament without winning. Defending PBEM Champ Barry Shoults (Attica, MI) took third with a 4-1 mark, and last year's Rookie of the Year, Doug Porterfield of Bristow, VA (3-1) had an excellent sophomore outing to finish fourth.

Preliminary games were played from Sunday, 7/29 (thanks to the Grognard Pre-Con) through Friday, 8/3. Friday night, the 13 players who had played the required minimum of three games to qualify for the Final 4 were ranked, with the top four advancing to single-elimination. The top four were, in order, Ed Menzel (5-3), Dave Zimmerman (3-1), Barry Shoults (4-0), and Doug Porterfield (3-0). Doug and Barry were the only players to go undefeated in the free-form Swiss rounds. The final foursome wasn't locked up until Barry Shoults defeated Jim Tracy late Friday night; had that game gone the other way, Jim would have advanced instead of Barry. The GM at 5-2 tied Doug for the 4th playoff spot, but Doug won the tiebreaker because he defeated the GM in a preliminary round game. Other players who won at least 3 games were 6th, Jim Tracy (4-2), 7th, Bill Thomson (5-2), 8th, Ted Drozd (3-3), and 10th, Greg Smith (4-7).

In the Saturday semi-finals, #1 Ed Menzel faced #2 Barry Shoults, and #3 Dave Zimmerman squared off against #4 Doug Porterfield. Due to previous games played between the semi-finalists, this was the only combination that avoided a rematch.

Ed Menzel took the Confederates against Barry Shoults without a bid. The two battled it out for six hours and 15 minutes - the tourney's longest game - before the South prevailed. Both players and spectators agreed that the game was a slugfest; no finesse involved. In the other semi-final, Dave Zimmerman, bidding 4.5 for the Confederates, prevailed over Doug Porterfield. The Rebels ground down the Federals steadily, scoring a 54-24.5 automatic victory at the end of July 2.

In the Final, Dave Zimmerman signed on for the Confederates in exchange for a bid of 5.5. Earlier in the tournament, Dave's Southern forces clobbered Ed's Yankees, but a repeat was not in the offing. This time, Ed's Union army had the Confederates on the ropes early, eliminating Rodes' infantry division on Turn 3. At the end of July 1, the Union still held all victory hexes on the board. Several more turns of heavy losses for the Confederates forced their resignation on Turn 10.

The field of 31 entrants (just short of the record), played 49 games, which was the highest ever. The South won 28 or 57%. 45 games used the campaign scenario, with the Confederates on top in 27 for a 60% winning %. Four games used the short July 1 scenario, with the Federals winning three. 30 games featured Confederate bids, ranging from 0.5 to 6 Victory Points, with the South prevailing 18 times or 60%.. There was no bid in 19 games, with the Confederates winning
10 or 52%. The average bid was 1.97 for all games and 3.22 for those games in which there was a bid.

Champ Ed Menzel also garnered Best Confederate Player laurels with a 5-1 mark, while Barry Shoults and the GM shared Best Union Player distinction at 3-1 each. Bill Banks was Rookie of the Year with a 2-2 mark and a 9th place finish.

Thanks go to a terrific quartet of Assistant GMs: Ted Drozd, Jeff Lange, Ed Menzel, and Greg Smith.

2008 PBeM Tournament:

BPA PBEM Championship II has now been completed, which means that BPA PBEM Championship III will be kicking off in the near future! I'll send details in a forthcoming e-mail.

As for the current tourney, your GM proved the oldest maxim in gaming, that it's better to be lucky than good, by defeating Ed Menzel of Fullerton, CA in the Final. It was a tale of two different days; Ed's Confederates, bidding 5.0, looked unbeatable on July 1, but it was all Union on July 2. At the end of turn 8, the Rebels had knocked the Federals off both Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, losing only Pegram (with McIntosh flipped) in the process. The Union had retreated to the Peach Orchard-H7 line, down two infantry, two artillery, and two cavalry divisions, with another four infantry divisions flipped, including Wadsworth, sitting forlornly on McPherson's Woods, surrounded by Confederates. Truly, things looked grim for the Union. The sole bright note for the North was that they had taken the chit from the South by attacking a 10-stack at even odds and rolling a 7-1. The reroll resulted in no losses for the Confederates, but the loss of that chit was to exact a heavy price on July 2.

From Turn 9 through Turn 12, the Confederates launched 12 attacks, winning only three. They lost two +5 attacks, a +4, a +3, and two +2s. The combined dice were 48-70 against them. Meanwhile, the Union made five 10-10 attacks on Turns 9-11, scoring a double flip on four of them and a single flip on the other! For good measure, they scored a double flip on a 10-8 battle on Turn 12. At that point, the Confederates surrendered with only five units left on the board.

Third place went to Bill Place of Pittsburgh, PA, followed by Allen Kaplan of Howell, NJ in 4th, Ted Drozd of Chicago, IL in 5th and Robin Chiang of Fremont, CA in 6th. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Barry Shoults, Doug Pratto, Greg Smith, and Doug Porterfield, in that order.

PBeM Championship II totaled 17 Confederate victories to 10 for the Union. 21 of the 27 contests had a Confederate bid, ranging from 0.5 to 5.0. The Confederates won 12 of the 21 games where they bid. Six games had no bid, with the South taking five. The average bid was 2.2 overall, or 2.8 if only the games where there was a bid were taken into account. Ted Drozd and Allen Kaplan shared Best Union Player honors with 2-1 marks, while the GM and Bill Place shared Best Confederate Player at 3-0 each. Dennis Nicholson was our Rookie of the Year in 15th Place.

I want to thank Ric Manns for maintaining our tournament website and Assistant Gamemasters Ted Drozd and Ed Menzel for their help. Fortunately, we had few if any rules disputes or adjudications.

Here is the final report for the tournament, with sides and bids:

Round 1 - All Games Completed
5 Ted Drozd (U) defeated 27 Brad Jones (C, 1.0)
8 Bill Place (C, 1.5) defeated 25 Bob Jamelli (U)
16 Dennis Nicholson (C, no bid) defeated 17 Bob Menzel (U)
18 Lance Roberts (C, 3.0) defeated 15 Alan Heath (U)
19 Doug Porterfield (U) defeated 14 Jeff Lange (C, 3.0)
20 Greg Smith (C, no bid) defeated 13 Bruno Sinigaglio (U)
21 Jean-Louis Dirion (U) defeated 12 Jeff Miller (C, 2.0)
22 Robin Chiang (C, no bid) defeated 11 John Dietrich (U)
23 Doug Pratto (C, 4.0) defeated 10 Mark Gutfreund (U)
24 Mark Guz (C, no bid) defeated 9 Joel Ferich (U)
26 Bill Thomson (U) defeated 7 Tom Grode (C, 2.0)
28 Charlie Drozd (U) defeated 6 Jim Tracy (C, 3.0)

Round 2 - All Games Completed
1 Barry Shoults (U) defeated 16 Dennis Nicholson (C, no bid)
2 Allen Kaplan (U) defeated 18 Lance Roberts (C, 3.0)
3 Ed Menzel (C, 4.0) defeated 19 Doug Porterfield (U)
4 Vince Meconi (C, no bid) defeated 20 Greg Smith (U)
5 Ted Drozd (U) defeated 21 Jean-Louis Dirion (C, 0.5)
8 Bill Place (C, 2.0) defeated 24 Mark Guz (U)
22 Robin Chiang (C, 3.0) defeated 28 Charlie Drozd (U)
23 Doug Pratto (C, 5.0) defeated 26 Bill Thomson (U)

Round 3/Quarterfinals - All Games Completed
2 Allen Kaplan (U) defeated 23 Doug Pratto (C, 4.0)
3 Ed Menzel (C, 3.5) defeated 22 Robin Chiang (U)
4 Vince Meconi (C, 1.5) defeated 5 Ted Drozd (U)
8 Bill Place (C, 2.0) defeated 1 Barry Shoults (U)

Round 4/Semifinals - All Games Completed
3 Ed Menzel (C, 3.0) defeated 2 Allen Kaplan (U)
4 Vince Meconi (C, 3.5) defeated 8 Bill Place (U)

Round 5/Finals - Game Completed
4 Vince Meconi (U) defeated 3 Ed Menzel (C, 5.0)