The Hasbro version of the game replaced cardboard counters with plastic pieces, but WBC event attendance continues to decline.	The finalists settle down to business with four new faces contemplating their share of the laurels.

The numbers continued to drift down for History of the World which lowered its lparticipation level again this year. There were six first round games - with the winners of each advancing directly to the Final.  Former champions Haim Hochbaim and Craig Yope may have been victims of their prior success, with neither sirviving the first round while defending champion Greg Kulp posted a 31-point victory to continue his title defense. Jeff King, the 2007 runner-up, also returned to laurel land with a win.
 
Our honorary 'most hosed' award goes to Paul McGuanne.  His event cards included two that required both a capital and navigation, and had to be played between Epochs 2 and 5. Naturally, his opponents saddled him with the Scythians, Hsung Nu, Huns, and Mongols -- none of which had the required capital.  The only bright spot in his game was stellar defensive die rolling in Epoch 7 when he killed six of Russ Harley's Manchus and nine of Jef Halberstadt's Germans.  Unfortunately, fate had waited far too long to smile upon him.
 
The best quote of Day 1 belonged to Greg Kulp.  He was trying to calculate the best place to play a civil war, and said "I don't want to be in the way of the Khmers".  This may have been the first time in the History of the World where the Khmers were treated with any respect.
 
Our Final had several lead changes as Jeff King (Epoch 7), Greg Kulp (2, 3, and 4), Eric Kleist (6), and Jef Halberstadt (1 and 5) took turns in the forefront.  Eric held a six-point lead heading into the last Epoch.  For this sin, he was passed the United States as his final empire.  He scored a respectable 44 points with them, but it was not going to be enough and relegated him to third place.  The game came down to a rematch from last year's Final between defending champ Greg Kulp and runner-up, Jeff King.  Greg had the Manchu Dynasty, scored 54, and ended up with 199 points.  Jeff got France, and scored a terrific 58 points, putting him at 207.  The pre-eminence markers were then scored, revealing twelve points for Greg and six for Jeff giving him a three-point victory. 
 
For next year, we are planning on adding a second preliminary heat on Wednesday morning, which should return the need for a semi-final.  The other change in store is to change the event from Class A to C, hopefully encouraging some new blood.  See you in August!