up
front
[updated
October 2007] 
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2007 WBC Report
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2008 Status: pending 2008
GM commitment |
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Ray Stakenas II, CA |
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2007 Champion |
Offsite links:
  
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| Event History |
| 1991 |
 |
Mark Cohen |
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44 |
| 1992 |
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Maria Hawthorne |
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43 |
| 1993 |
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Bruce Young |
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53 |
| 1994 |
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Bruce Young |
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53 |
| 1995 |
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Herbert Gratz |
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48 |
| 1996 |
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William Edwards |
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46 |
| 1997 |
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John Emery |
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42 |
| 1998 |
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John Emery |
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55 |
| 1999 |
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Larry Davidson |
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42 |
| 2000 |
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John Emery |
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34 |
| 2001 |
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Bruce Wigdor |
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39 |
| 2002 |
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John Emery |
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50 |
| 2003 |
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Ray Stakenas II |
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38 |
| 2004 |
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John Emery |
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30 |
| 2005 |
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Bruce Young |
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33 |
| 2006 |
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Paul Wright |
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30 |
| 2007 |
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Ray Stakenas II |
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27 |
| PBeM Event History |
| 2000 |
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Jeff Matthews |
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32 |
| 2003 |
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Jeff Matthews |
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24 |
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Rank Name From Last Total
1. John Emery SC 07 155
2. Bruce Young SC 07 141
3. Ray Stakenas II MI 07 106
4. Bruce Wigdor NJ 07 68
5. Larry Davidson CA 02 46
6. Paul Wright PA 06 40
7. Ray Stakenas Sr MI 07 37
8. Jeff Matthews CA 04 30
9. Bari Herman NJ 04 26
10. Bill Edwards VA 05 24
11. Stefan Hess NY 01 24
12. George Young VT 06 18
13. Herbert Gratz Austria 07 16
14. Wade Fowble MD 06 16
15. David Wong NJ 05 16
16. Lance Ribeiro NH 05 16
17. Ken Katano MD 01 16
18. Ed Kendrick UK 00 15
19. Mike Stachowski NY 03 12
20. Jeff Paull OH 00 12
21. Dale Martin MI 04 10
22. Michael Johnson MA 03 9
23. Nick Vlahos IL 00 9
24. Erick Young SC 01 8
25. Scott Russell MI 00 6
26. Alan Arvold IL 00 3
27. Don Greenwood MD 00 3
28. Frank Arndt MD 99 3
29. Brian Carr VA 04 2
30. Brian Devitt CA 00 2
31. Robert Mull CO 00 1 |
| 2007 Laurelists |
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John Emery, SC
2nd |
Herbert Gratz, Austria
3rd |
Bruce Young, SC
4th |
Bruce Wigdor, NJ
5th |
Ray Stakenas, WI
6th |
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| Past Winners |
'91: Mark Cohen,
NJ
'92: Maria Hawthorne, VA |
Bruce Young, SC
1993-1994, 2005 |
Herbert Gratz, AUS
1995 |
Bill Edwards, VA
1996 |
John Emery, SC
'97-'98, '00, '02, '04 |
Larry Davidson, CA
1999 |
Bruce Wigdor, NJ
2001 |
Ray Stakenas Jr, MI
2003, 2007 |
Paul Wright, PA
2006 |
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Ray Stakenas, the unannoited champion-in-waiting.
goes up against former champ Bill Edwards in the prelims. Life
is tough in Up Front land. |
Two former champs vie for another
title as Bruce Young (left) and Herbert Gratz renew old rivalries.
Herbert took his first UPF laurels this year because his championship
preceded the advent of WBC laurels and he has been playing World
at War in the interim. |
Eight Rounds of Glory ...
27 players, an alltime low for this event which has been slowly
but surely reducing the field to increasingly grizzled sharks,
reported for Up Front. duty. Six new players were
present and willing to be schooled by six former champions representing
twelve plaques who had returned for the annual slugfest.
While last year's winner, Paul Wright, could not be present due
to book research in Italy, it was plain that most other recent
winners were anxious to carve another notch in their BARs (Boardgame
Achievement Results). Five Swiss Rounds and tie breakers
would promote the best squad leaders up front to an eight-man
single elimination gauntlet..
The perception of Up Front is that it is a game heavily
driven by the luck of the draw. Getting good cards is seen
as more important than skill by many neophytes. The results
of the WBC tournament would seem to belie that notion.
There were 32 games played between former winners and the rest
of the field during the tournament. 29 of those games resulted
in wins for the champions - an amazing result, made even moreso
when we note that last year's runner-up and perennial contender
Ray Stakenas was responsible for two of the three "upsets".
If we deduct unannoited Ray's two games and assume that the game
is even save for the luck of the draw, the odds of our former
champions winning all but one of 30 games is about 30,000.000-1.
Maybe there is more to this game than mere luck.
At any rate, the final field of eight contained five former
champions ready to fight it out in the single elimination gauntlet.
After the first round, four former champions Bruce Young, Herbert
Gratz, John Emery, and Ray Stakenas II were still around for
the semis. Even though Bruce and Herbert were not able
to prevail, they still provided the audience with good games
and then agreed to fight to the finish for third place.
In a close game using Scenario L (a particular favorite in the
elimination rounds), The US attackers of Gratz were able to overcome
Young's German defenders for the podium position.
In the Final, the players also selected the Outpost Line scenario
with John choosing the Germans as Attackers against Ray's Russian
Defense. Ray was able to get better work out of his radio
and hold off John's assault with artillery fire. When the
SPW 251 failed to perform in the assault, the German's fate was
sealed. Ray was able to cause too many casualties for John
to continue and joined the ranks of multiple champions with his
second plaque. John improved from last year's third to
second and still retains the overall lead with five shields.
Ray was also able to shame his teammates as this was his team
game.
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Two Brits come to the US to play Up
Front, Nicky Palmer, who wrote his "An Introduction
to Wargaming" before William Kendrick was born, schools
young William who is playing - naturally - the Brits and appears
to be a member of the Greenville Mafia's British chapter. |
GM Jim Burnett observes his finalists
in their Round 8 battle of champions as Alan Arvold watches in
the background. |
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Jim Burnett 2nd Year]
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