Mike Pacheco and Bill Thomson	The soon-to-be champ and Eugene Riccio.

Andrew Cummins was on hand for the 2012 campaign given his consecutive wins in the previous two years. Having the awe and admiration of the community for being king of the hill is a subjective term as many were willing to replace Andrew in the top spot. Camaraderie and good-natured insults are commonplace in this community, which makes this event an enjoyable highlight of the summer. The field featured six past champions touting 16 of the previous 22 titles. Supplemented by the usual suspects, the player pool nonetheless had a few missing faces attributed either to real life or other priorities, but those on hand remained a prolific bunch. 48 matches were completed with 24 SQL, 20 COI, 3 COD, and 1 GIA games completed.

The tournament followed the free form format with preliminary rounds played Saturday through Friday night. Participants sought to maximize points for wins and bonus points for defeating other players with significant win totals. Unlike other Free Form events, the same player could be played if a different game module was used. The rules expansion in each SQL module imposes a new set of challenges while expanding the number of scenarios available. This helps identify the player's ability of the game, not the scenario.

The qualifiers for the elimination rounds were Phil Grasha in the top seed against #4 seed Pete Pollard, and Bill Thomson vs the defending champion. All four finalists sported titles in their resumes.

The first semifinal had Phil Grasha leading the German assault on Pete Pollard's Russian defense in COI WG200 'King of the Hill'. The Germans had a small arsenal consisting of a PzIII, PzJag, 81mm on board mortar and various SW to bolster the infantry force, which featured 548s with limited smoke capacity. The single Level 2 hill on board 18 dominated the various nearby terrain victory hexes. The Russian player's option of various fortifications bolsters the limited infantry force, supported by a 45L ATG and a 37LL AA gun. The Russian goal is to maintain a defense until the arrival of reinforcements in the form of a single T34C and a small infantry force of six 458 squads. The Russians demonstrated early success by killing and breaking units of the assaulting Germans, imposing a two-turn delay as the Germans regrouped. Forced by the limited number of turns, the Germans pushed extra hard later in mid-game to secure the VC's. The death blow was highlighted by the 37LL AA gun destroying the PzIII after the tank topped the hill. Following the loss of his last anti-tank weapon, Phil conceded the match.

The other semifinal had Andrew leading Americans in a SQL battle of WG104 'Eviction Notice'. The American force possessed substantial firepower but limited infantry strength and time. Victory would be determined by controlling the one key building [the infamous 3M3]. The German-held advantages including a HIP ATG, concealment, fanaticism in the objective building, limited OBA and late arriving AG with engineer support. Both side's forces possessed a limited number of squads. The American firepower advantages in the form of multiple AFVs including a M16 and onboard 81mm mortar support were blunted in the initial turns by concealment, terrain, and German fanaticism. The promise of the low die roll did not materialize. German shots were limited to preserve concealment and successfully bled the limited American infantry. The HIP German ATG was a threat that never materialized given the American axis of advance. In the end, German reinforcements in the form of two Stgs and engineers secured Bill's victory.

Long time rivals Pete Pollard and Bill Thomson advanced to the Final to contest the COI scenario TS2 'Pavlov's House' with Bill leading the German assault on the Russian building. Mental exhaustion was apparent in both players as WBC progressed into Day 8. For the first three of seven turns, Bill repeatedly attacked the same target hex despite a blocked LOS [as previously determined], maneuvered around non-existent buildings [by SSR], and under-counted the strength of the main German firegroup. The German assault force was whittled away by fire of the fanatic Russian defenders, while the German firebase achieved no success. This prompted the bold move of one of the two German tanks that was promptly turned into a burning wreck by the previously hidden Russian ATG.

Rather than concede, Bill took a short mental break hoping to increase his level of attention to the game and generate a new plan. The remaining German tank maneuvered to a weak point blank position on the opposing side of the building. To further relocate to a useful position, it successfully survived both an ATR immobilization and infantry immobilization actions. The Russian squad was eliminated on a rally attempt roll of 12, greatly depleting the Russian force.
Sensing the need to make a bold charge across open ground, it was found that Pete's tinkering with his few Russian defenders had created an opportunity. The German infantry stack composed of a 9-2 leader, and three squads dashed forward to Pavlov's House, surviving both a 4 IFT-2 crew manned LMG shot, and a sniper shot at the 9-2. Once in the building, a squad on each side was broken in the ensuing point blank mayhem. Victory conditions are based on the number of squads inside Pavlov's House. Since the Russian force was depleted, the small foothold that Bill's 'sprinters' achieved was enough to secure victory. The ensuing Russian move initiated a last ditch close combat, which also went in the Germans favor to end the game and hand Bill Thomson his third SQL title.

Phil Grasha and Scott Bramley	Defending champion Andrew Cummins and Peter Pollard.