Jesse Boomer, Melvin Casselberry and Martin Sample stir up the Spanish countryside.	Defending champ Henry Russell, Francis Czawlytko, and Darren Kilfara wage war.

New faces heard from ...

Who says novices can't give a good game? A young college student from the DC suburbs, Dorian Key, played in all three GMT Napoleonic CDW tournaments (Napoleonic Wars, Kutuzov, Wellington) for four days - spending more time in that part of the convention area than any other game - and almost as much time there as the respective gamemasters! Dorian played both heats of all three games, made it into the semis of all three and walked away with more than his share of the laurels - including fourth place in Wellington.

Getting there was a long hard fight.

Twelve games were played in the tournament over the course of four days. The Allies won five (three British and two Spanish wins). The French won seven (four victories for Armee du Nord, three for their southern cousins). Most of the games were close. There was only one 'perfect' game - a first-turn French conquest of Portugal in which not only was Wellington killed, but EVERY key and duchy in Portugal was flagged - and the game ended without a single British soldier on the map.

There were many excellent contests fought by both novice and veteran gamers alike, including a pair of father-son teams. The father in one of those teams, Phil Pendelton, wrote a letter afterwards thanking the GMs for running this and the other two GMT Napoleonic titles, which he dubbed "the Nappy family of games." (Phil added that "Wellington is probably my favorite board game"). He also wrote of he and his son's "enjoyment of being around the 'jolly gamesters' who play those family of games.

Phil made it to the semis in Wellington, but not to the Final. The four who got there - Peter Reese, Ed Rothenberg, Frances Czwaltko and Dorian Key - put on a show worthy of a tournament finale. The fighting was long, hard and brutal, with the later two as French grudgingly giving ground only when they absolutely had too. The defense they built for the endgame kept the issue very much in doubt until the end. The game went the distance, the Allies finally breaking into France as the first three cards played on Turn 3 were French disasters! This gutted what had been a strong defense, and the French finally collapsed - but not without a furious fight! The game ended with only five Spanish units left on the map - but with Spanish flags everywhere and the sacred homeland liberated. It was enough to give Spain, and its player, Peter Reese, the victory.

Pete Reese works his way to the title game over Stu Hendrickson and Greg Schmittgens.	Dorian Key, Matt Russell, Fred Schachter, Peter Corrigan and Dan Broh-Kahn let loose the four horsemen.