Which card to play ...	One row of many ...

As in 2008, a player could advance to the second Round Friday by winning a match during the Mulligan Round on Thursday or in Round 1 on Friday. In each case, players played a two-game match of the scenario for that round, with players switching sides between games.  Players advanced to the next round based on most total medals earned and most enemy figures eliminated in the two games.
 
The theme of this year's tournament was the Battle of the Bulge featuring Twin Villages in Round 1, St. Vith in Round 2, Baraque de Fraiture (Parker's Crossroads) in Round 3, Relief of Peiper in Round 4, Bastogne Corridor West in Round 5, and Bastogne Corridor East in Rounds 6 and 7.   Five of the six scenarios were from the Air Pack Expansion.   Baraque de Fraiture was published as a Winter 2007 Give-Away from Days of Wonder.

There was again a shortage of games for the Mulligan round on Thursday night.  However, by players volunteering to retrieve games from their rooms, we only had to turn away one player.  Nevertheless, the shortage of games did significantly delay the start of the Mulligan round.  Fortunately, players brought plenty of games for the 1st round on Friday.  In all, 62 players participated -- the same number as in the two previous years.

Because five players advanced to Round 5, the GM served as an eliminator in this round.  Playing against the GM, Eric Monte lost the first game 3-6 in medals as the Allies.  In the second game,  Eric was down to his last roll to avoid losing his 4th medal and the match, when he destroyed the sixth Allied unit to win the game 6-3 and the match 42-38 on figures eliminated.  In another Round 5 match, Allen Kaplan swept Mike Shea 6-3 as the Allies and 6-5 as the Axis. Mike had just eliminated defending champion, Scott Gibson 11-8 on medals in Round 4. 

The remaining match of Round 5 was the most exciting game of the tournament.  Sam Edelston, last year's runner-up, won the first game of the match 6-5 as the Axis against Gordon Rodgers, 2008's 5th place laurelist. This was the ninth straight game Sam had won in the tournament without a loss.  All of his previous victories in earlier rounds had been by at least two medals.  In the second game, it looked like Sam, leading 5-3, would take his 10th straight win and the match, when Gordon played "Their Finest Hour".  Not only did Gordon roll well enough to activate five units, the maximum possible, but he hit with every one of his die rolls, scoring three kills, including a 4-figure tank, and winning the game 6-5.  Because Sam and Gordon were tied 11-11 in medals and 41-41 in figures eliminated, Gordon advanced to the next round based on the tie breaker number he drew at the beginning of the tournament: 188 to Sam's 187.  It was that close.  Both had high tie breaker numbers because they had both brought their game.

With three players advancing, the sixth round turned into a three-game round-robin semi-final to advance two to the Final. Each player would play each other player once and each side once to eliminate one player.  In the first game, Allen as the axis defeated Eric 6-4.  As the loser, Eric switched sides and played Gordon in the second game and won 6-5 as the Axis, staving off elimination. In the third game, Gordon as the Axis beat Allen 6-1, leaving all three players with 1-1 records.  Gordon and Eric advanced to the Final Match with 11 and 10 medals, respectively, to Allen's seven.

In the first Final game, Gordon as the Axis jumped off to a 5-1 lead, before Eric killed three units on one turn.  However, Gordon was able to earn his final medal to win 6-4 before Eric was able to do further damage.  The game featured the first use of the Storch by any player in the Bastogne Corridor East scenario, as Gordon used the plane to evacuate a single figure infantry piece to avoid the potential loss of a medal.  In the second game, Eric jumped off to a 2-1 lead as the Axis, before Gordon rallied to earn four medals and win 6-2, sweeping the Final match.
 
The GM wishes to especially thank his Assistant GMs Sam Edelston, Gordon Rodgers and Stuart Hendrickson for their help in running the tournament.

Allen Kaplan played with a pedestrian out-of-the-box set. His CCAnients game boasts beautifully painted miniatures.	Finalists Eric Monte, Allen Kaplan, Sam Edelston, GM Mark Guttag and Gordon Rodgers at the Final.