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Circus Maximus (CMS) WBC 2022 Event Report
Updated March 23, 2023
50 Players Frank McNally 2022 Status 2023 Status Event History
20 Champion & Laurels
 

Rome Smiles Upon their GM: Republic of Rome GM Frank McNally Wins the Race!

The morning sunlight breaks over the mountains of Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, and after a two-year hiatus, the World Boardgaming Championships commence once again in late July 2022. Attendees from far and wide converge upon this quaint ski resort to partake in their favorite hobby, playing board games. Most importantly, they attend to connect with friends and forge new memories and camaraderie.

Throughout the colorful green valley mountainsides of Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, the attendees were busy back and forth between events in the hotel. However, those truly brave enough to test their merit in the great Circus Maximus know the long trek to Foggy Goggle is ahead of them.

During my 8 am on the first Sunday of the week of WBC lugging the wagon load of things to run the event, I thought to myself, “Josh, why are you doing this? Spending 50+ hours this week GMing two games, having virtually no time left to really play in any other events?” The air was crisp and a clear morning was upon us. A few other people could be seen in the distance, and after pulling that heavy cart up the long slope to the Foggy Goggle door and beginning my setup for the event, it hit me. It is like no time had passed at all. The usual cast of characters greeted me to sign up for the event, telling stories of how we had been. So, although it had been two years since we last spent time together, WBC is like a little oasis from the outside world for me, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I added a fourth Heat for this year and Semifinals to allow the most opportunities for people to play and visit with their gaming family. Those preliminaries saw a total of twelve qualifying races contested, generating the following list of drivers that would move on to the semifinal races.

  • Scott Sirianna
  • John Jacoby
  • Patrick Lafferty
  • Don Tatum
  • Frank Sinigaglio
  • Jacob Hebner
  • Barry Smith
  • Mike Stanley
  • Jim Bodenheimer
  • Missy Youells
  • Frank McNally
  • Jim Bell
  • Richard Bouchard
  • Claire Evans
  • Michael McKibbin
  • Steve Bachman
  • Alex McNally

Those two semifinal tracks advanced the Top three from each table to move to the Final. Adding the attendees that won multiple races (Doug Gallulo and Joshua Githens) to advance directly to the final gives us a final field of the following eight drivers. Listed in order of final finish:

  1. Frank McNally – Rhino
  2. Doug Gallulo – Alligators
  3. Patrick McLafferty - Skunks
  4. Barry Smith – Elephants
  5. Jim Bell – Unicorns
  6. Joshua Githens – Lions
  7. Don Tatum – Dogs
  8. Scott Sirianna – Skeletons

In what I believe to be a historical field, every driver was in a Heavy Chariot, ensuring a standoff of conflict through the first few laps. The race was off to a relatively standard start; no driver was eager to rush out to the lead, knowing that seven heavy chariots were not far behind. This proved to be one of the more interesting races that I have witnessed for that fact. But it was not terribly long before the drivers got restless, as usually happens in a game of Circus Maximus, and the combat began. While many of the details of the turn-by-turn account have been lost in the time since the event, let it be known that every year I am honored and grateful for everyone that joins this event that we love so much. A turn-by-turn photo story on the WBC Facebook group was posted by me, so you will have to scroll back to August 2nd to view it.

Congratulations to Frank McNally, for being a great WBC attendee and someone I am always happy to play games with, and for his victory in 2022!

2018 Laurelists Repeating Laurelists: 2
Doug Galullo Patrick McLafferty Barry Smith Jim Bell Joshua Githens
2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Charioteers plot their next move. Looks like she is dreading this roll on the charts.
GM Josh Githens providing the assist on charts.
GM  Josh Githens [2nd year]