Blocks on the march ...	Richard Borg designed five of the games in the 2013 Century.
Nothing wrong with this game that figures can't fix.	Eric Martin loses the blocks.

Command and Colors: Napoleonics celebrated its third year at WBC with a format change. The tournament consisted of six rounds with an average setup, playing and clean up time just over 100 minutes for all games. It ran all day Wednesday, from 9 until 7. This year we switched to a single elimination format with a preceding mulligan round to allow a minimum of two opportunities to play if so desired. Winning the mulligan round allowed you to choose to play in the first round and win or lose still advance to the second. There were ten mulligan round games played, with most of the non-winners, and a few of the winners (who had already qualified for the second round) playing a second game. This seemed to provide a good balance between a "one and done" format and a tournament that tended to run too long, so the format will return next year.

With clear weather in Lampeter, the field showed modest stability over its 2012 sophomore effort. The mulligan, first, and second round again used the Rolica battle (French First Position) from the Core C&C: Napoleonics set. Overall, the French won 16 of the 22 battles, whereas they had only won 15 of 28 battles in 2012. Vive L'Empereur! The average scores were 5-2.36 for all the battles regardless of which side won, with 5-3 being the most common. Although the French seemed to have a statistical edge in the scenario, British victories of 5-0, 5-1, and 5-2 Victory Banners were recorded.

The quarterfinals used the Vimerio scenario, and six players advanced. A special shout-out goes to Eric Martin, who won all three of his games, including the mulligan, but decided he had had enough of C&C: Napoleonics for 2013. This serves to prove that if desired, the WBC is the best place to play the game you want without getting caught up in the quest for wood!

In the first Vimerio game, Chuck Stapp's British crushed Tony Curtis' French 6-2 for a convincing victory, while the other two games were much closer: Mikko Raimi's British barely beat John Grasse's French 6-5 for the win while for the third Vimerio game, Thomas Lee's Frenchmen squeaked by John Kirk's Redcoats also 6-5. Nothing quite like a close game in a tournament, one that comes down to the final die roll! Since there were three quarterfinal winners, a dice off was used to determine a fourth advancer into the semifinals. John Grasse lost the dice off to John Kirk, and while we are sure that this could not be called a game, it did go three rounds, with Mr. Grasse unable to score any hits!

The semifinals used the Czarnowo scenario, requiring us to bring out the Russian expansion to C&C:Napoleonics. Goodbye, Britain, (and perhaps good riddance too, with Austria and Prussia coming out soon? We shall see!) Four endurance tested players advanced to the semifinals. In the first Czarnowo game Chuck Stapp's Russians stomped on Thomas Lee's French 7 banners to 3, but in the second Czarnowo game, it was the opposite: Mikko Raimi's French crushed John Kirk's Russians, 7-2. Perhaps it was something about Finn Mikko's antipathy towards the Russians? Who knows?

At this point, Mikko and Chuck had each already completed five games in a row of Command and Colors, and they were both looking tired. It was getting late, but Bennigsen and Napoleon wanted one last effort. Finally, on the Eylau Plateau, Chuck Stapp, last year's runner-up, would not be denied a second time. He walked away with the most victory banners, not to mention a nice wooden plaque, for the win!

As this was my first year running the Command and Colors: Napoleonics Tournament, I was very grateful for all the help I could get. A special thank you goes out to my assistant GM, Mark Guttag, and also to game designer, Richard Borg. Trust me when I tell you that there is nothing quite like having the designer of the game answer any and all questions that might arise in a tournament, and there were quite a few I had no idea how to answer! It was nice having someone around who did. Thanks again for the help, gentlemen, and we will hope to see more of all of you, along with some Austrians and Prussians, perhaps, next year!

Joshua Coyle pushes plastic.	Thomas Lee vs Terry Cotter

UK's Sportsman of the Year Peter Eldridge gives yank Tim Hitchings a go as Austrian Herbert Gratz models his Avaloncon shirt.