I bet your momma wouldn't approve of your using her tweezers for that.	The preliminary rounds draw the usual skirmishers.

The year 2000 brought change to The Great Campaigns of the American Civil War (GCACW) series tournament play. Instead of trying to pack an ever expanding series of games into a five-day tournament it was decided to consolidate down to two events. Additional campaign games were added for those who love truly looonnnng games. The first tournament was titled '1862' which encompassed four games: Stonewall Jackson's Way, Here Come the Rebels,  Stonewall in the Valley and On to Richmond. The remander of the series covered the later years of the war and was contested under the label 1863.

In 2005, the two events were merged into one due to declining attendance and now covers the entire series.

The Great Campaigns crown returned to familiar hands in 2010, as Chris Withers defeated Dave Cross in the Final to capture his ninth GCACW title (fifth since it was combined into one event). Chris' eight-year streak was snapped in 2008 with consecutive wins by Ed Beach, but Withers finally rebounded this year to navigate the sharks and regain his victory banner.

This year's preliminary rounds featured three scenarios from the recently-published Battle Above the Clouds. Crossing Chickamauga Creek had six Union versus four Confederate wins. The Union was 4-2 in Battle of Chickamauga, and again won both games where it was shark-on-shark action (Ed defeated Chris, and Dave Cross defeated Allen Hill). With pairings mostly settled, only two games of McLemore's Cove were completed - Chris defeated Brad Merrill, and Ted Drozd defeated Justin Rice - who conceded, so he could race back to Virginia and tend to the birth of his second child.

The tournament semi-final pairings were Dave Cross vs. Ed Beach, and Ted Drozd vs. Chris Withers. They faced off in the tense cavalry race, Sheridan Rides South.

Dave eliminated our defending champion in what Ed called his closest game of the week. Dave's initial movement rolls with Sheridan's cavalry were so poor, he was forced to leave one cavalry division behind. Still, the Union cavalry managed to score good victory points eliminating the Hanover Junction garrison, and Dave was at the gates of Richmond with 17 VPs to end Turn 3. Ed's attempts to pin the Union cavalry on Turn 4 failed, and the Union won by a single victory point.

That set up our Final, with Dave and Chris squaring off in a Grant Takes Command slugfest: Wilderness. It was Dave's first trip to the GCACW Final since 2003, when he won the 1863 portion of the then divided tournament.

Chris bid 4 to play the Union. Dave's Rebels started slowly with Hill rolling low and failing to reach Parker's Store. The Union raced to Parkers with Hancock and dug him in. Chris then began to surround Locust Grove. The Rebs came back by blocking further Union moves towards Locust Grove, and then routing the Union away from Parkers. Chris' counterattack retook the critical store, but Longstreet arrived on the scene and the VP location changed hands again. On Turn 2 - with Dave needing to offset some manpower losses - the Rebels advanced past Parkers to the crossroads beyond and routed the Union away. Chris managed to retake it, but the Rebs answered by capturing Shady Grove. This led to a series of lead changes from combat losses in minor battles. When the smoke of battle cleared, Chris' Yankees had squeaked out a one-point victory.

"Risen from the Ranks" honors this year go to Ted Drozd, whose semi-final appearance marked his best Great Campaigns showing. Congrats to Chris and Ted!

Great Campaigns 2nd BPA 2010 PBeM Tournament:

After four preliminary and three elimination rounds that sorted through a field of 51 players in 97 games, Ed Beach emerged triumphant to successfully defend his email championship in the Great Campaign series. Ed topped Rob Doane in the Rebels in the White House campaign game. His Yankees proved to be quite a speed bump to Rob's rebels. Early's raid turned to Baltimore, but Rob wasn't able to score enough victory points there to edge Beach. Also scoring laurels were Mark Booth, Patrick Pence, Mike Pacheco and Justin Rice who finished third through sixth respectively.

The next Great Campaigns PBeM tournament begins Feb 15th, 2010. The preliminary rounds will feature games from the newest games in the series; Battle Above the Clouds. Contact Justin Rice at gcacw.gm@gmail.com or see http://www.wargamereplays.com/gcacw/tournament/gcacw10pbem1.html for more details.