Micah Hultgren and Marty Sample waging war on Monday.	Acting GM Terry Coleman beats Lembit Tohver for the title.

When I was asked to fill in as GM for Warriors of God when the GM had a family emergency, I was happy to help out. WOG is one of my favorite games, and is well-suited to a SE tournament format. But I doubt that any of the fans, including me, could have predicted just how popular it would be in 2010. The first clue I had that the move to Monday was a good scheduling choice, to say the least, had to be when 22 gamers attended the 9 AM demo. Moreover, I was gratified that all of these nouveau Men-at-Arms (good sports all) actually played in the event, because it helped to boost us to 31 total participants - nearly four fold the debut's attendance in 2009. What a difference a year and a favorable schedule makes ... all the way to Century status.

Despite several players' relative inexperience with the game, there were a lot of close contests, especially in the early rounds. The game isn't that hard to learn, which leaves room for crafting strategic plans rather than fighting the mechanics. And never knowing on which side certain leaders in the game will pop up, along with the inevitable string of untimely leader death rolls every turn, tends to keep things hopping, to put it mildly.

Still, some players showed themselves to be more comfortable with chaos management than others, and a few started to break from the pack. Rob Winslow, Chad Mekash, Terry Coleman, Mike Ussery, Gary Phillips, and Lembit Tohver all showed proficiency from both sides, hence their Top Six finishes. It was interesting to note that the trendy choice in early rounds seemed to be France, armed with the lovely (and effective) Jeanne d'Arc leader (that's Joan of Arc in the American translation...). As the event wore on, however, the early trend slowly started to give way to a preference for playing the English, with their Sea Dog movement advantage and generally better leaders in the mid-game.

The game results themselves ran the gamut from English automatic victories to the same for the French side. Most wins were around 8 to 10 points for one side or the other, with the French holding the overall edge in wins, 60% to 40%. However, when we reached the semi-finals onward, when the most experienced players came to the fore, all of the games were English victories. Terry Coleman had a modest lead for most of his game vs. Gary Phillips, then built up a 24-point cushion - at which point Gary, sensing defeat, graciously resigned. In the other semi, Rob Winslow put up a tough fight with the French, but fell behind early when Lembit Tohver managed to successfully siege by tossing a couple of well-timed '6' rolls. Having seized Aquitaine, Lembit then used it as a base to move deeper and deeper into French territory. Unfortunately for Rob, his attempts at counterplay failed, as one Scottish noble after another failed to take England. Even the appearance of Jeanne could not stem the English tide of battle wins, and Rob eventually lost by 10.

Since Lembit had been virtually unstoppable with the English, Terry felt fortunate to get the English in the Final. Rather than direct assaults on England or Ile-de-France, both players skillfully maneuvered for much of the game, trying to gain control of high-value Flanders. Eventually, after consolidating Scotland and the west coast of France, Terry was able to break Lembit's control in Flanders, which meant Lembit couldn't employ his customary siege defense there. In the ensuing massive pitched battle, Terry managed to crush Lembit's main army and imprison two of his leaders. When the captives stubbornly refused to die in the Tower of London for several turns, this handed Terry a victory point margin he would never relinquish, along with the championship. It was a well-played Final and a fitting end to a great tournament.

Regardless of who runs this event next year, the GM should benefit from the newly increased pool of battle-tested players. And while it's unlikely that we'll be able to increase attendance fourfold next time around, I think it's a solid bet that Warriors of God will be a fixture for Mondays at many WBCs to come. Thanks to everyone for not only the excellent attendance, but the camaraderie and superb sportsmanship shown by all the participants - you made this event an absolute joy to run. See you next year.