Jeff Coyle and Justin Rice exchange volleys.	Rob Doane beats three-time champ Ed Beach.

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.

Victory at Last ... Albeit a Small Skirmish ...

A Great Campaigns bridesmaid no longer! Rob Doane has his place among our tournament champions. Doane beat Greg Tanner in the Retreat to the James Final, earning his first Great Campaigns title. He's our first champion not named "Withers" or "Beach" since 1999, and his victory ended a long run of laurels but no wood. The 4th ranked Doane was third in 2011, fourth in '09, second in '08, third in '07, fourth in '06, and second in '05.

This was a Union year, featuring games from 1862, a tribute to the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. For preliminary rounds, we played Seven Pines from On To Richmond (Union won three of five), Warwick Line from the same game (Union won three of four), and McDowell from Stonewall in the Valley (Union won two of three).

Five players won two preliminary games to advance to the elimination rounds --top seed Ed Beach, Tanner, Dave Cross, Doane and Chris Withers-with Beach, Cross and Tanner receiving byes to the semifinals.

Doane eliminated perennial champion Withers in the play-in game of Johnston's Retreat from OTR, and then ousted the only other champion this event has seen in this century by topping Beach in their semifinal showdown of Jackson's March, played with the revised rules from Stonewall Jackson's Way II. No one can claim Doane's path was easy, but with his two wins and Greg Tanner's victory over Dave Cross in the other semifinal, we were assured of a new champion, quite an exciting prospect for all of us who have been knocked out of contention by Chris or Ed at some point over the last decade.

Doane took McClellan's Yanks in the Final. The scenario covers McClellan's attempt to disengage from near Richmond and pull back to a secure base around the James River (from where the Union army would eventually be withdrawn to Northern Virginia). On the first turn, the Union initiative rolls were good, and Doane was able to establish a good fish hook line running from the James to Portuguese Tavern. The Union gunboats were a factor, disrupting two Confederate units, and an assault by Jackson on II Corp was turned away.

On Turn 2, the dice turned in Tanner's favor. A string of initiatives and attacks allowed the Rebels to surround the Union II Corp, and a grand assault by Lee caused 11 casualties in one attack. Before that assault, Greg trailed by ten points; afterwards, he had a one-point lead.

Turn 3 saw another shift in the dice. Heintzelman led a counterattack in the center to force a Confederate retreat, Porter joined in the fun, and Keyes helped cause some retreat losses. They were able to pull all this off, despite Little Mac going 0-for-4 on grand assault attempts. More than half the CSA army was tapped out at this point. Jackson made a last-ditch attack on the Union center, but with another roll going the Yanks' way, Tanner conceded.

As we move forward to 2013, we continue to be open to ideas to restore our participation numbers. We know many Great Campaigns players are still at WBC; we've just been unable to convince you to join us! Please do shoot me an email and let me know what changes we can make to lure you back -- whether it's tournament format, scenario selection or round timing -- and return our numbers to Century level.

Dave Cross and Michael Kunin butt heads.	Rob Doane wins it all by besting Greg Tanner in the Final.