1775 continues its popularity at WBC with attendance participation to 40. Academy Games Birth of America series, (1754, 1775, 1812), allows players for each side to strategize together either the British or American factions in an attempt to control the most colonies. Although the game can be played as either a two, three or four player game, 1775 in tournament format, each side as a faction controlling either the British or American moves his or her forces from a random draw bag each turn.
Once again, following the format of 2023, a mulligan round was held. Last time out the event drew 30 participants that mostly had never played the game. This year 22 folks showed up ready to test their skill and newfound education from the demo.
Given the high number of new players, pairings were made up of mostly experienced players with games verses those still learning without games. In the end, the British side won 5 of the 11 mulligan round matches with the two closest matches being Dave Tianen playing the Colonials beating Orin Bichard 5 to 4; and Chuck Canova as the Americans beating John Conlon 6-5. Of interest two of the mulligan matches were decided by a tie breaker, Morris (W) vs Scilzo and Raszewski (W) vs Mitchell. Both of these matches were tied in colony controls. The tie breaker being total number of forces under their control, with the first match 77-51 and the second 62-55, respectively.
In Round-1, many of the vanquished returned. Those that won the mulligan round were not required to play round-1, so many of the games had players with little experience playing opponents of similar skills. In all, 26 men and women faced off with the American side winning 6 of the 13 contests. Again, two more games ended in a tie and went to the tie breaker. Raszewski beat Manley 82-56; Ed Welsh beat Jeff Lange Jr. on the tie break 62-38.; Three of the contests in Round 1 were decided by a single colony.
In round-2, every Mulligan winner as well as Round one winners were now eligible to continue. So, 20 folks took their seats in the 10 games of Round 2. Six games went to the Americans and four to the British. Most games were quite close, with a single or two colony margin of victory.
Round-3 now began with mostly very experienced veterans. Five games, and ten contestants paired off. Jack Wolff as the Americans defeated Steve Raszewski 6-0; Brad Raszewski defeated Avery Abernethy 5-2; John Conlon as the Americans defeated Chuck Canova 7-3; Teddy Lange defeated Shawn O’Connor 5-2. David Schneider as the American defeated Pat Mirk 6 to 1.
Round 4: The round started with five players remaining. To even the bracket we used a volunteer eliminator to play the lowest seed in the round. Ian Lange as the eliminator lost to Bradley Raszewski 3-1; Teddy Lange lost to John Conlon 5-2; and David Schneider the defending WBC champion lost to Jack Wolff.
Semifinal: The three Round 4 players needed another eliminator so as to not resort to a bye. Ian Lange again volunteered and played the lowest seeded semifinalist and won. Jack Wolff who finished last year’s tournament as the runner up prevailed in his match.
Final: Interestingly this resulted in Jack Wolff winning the Final since the other elimination match resulted in an eliminator win. The benefit of this was no need to play the Quebec scenario after 12 hours of continuous match play.
Academy games will be listing the top two finishers on their web-site, presented the top three finishers with a discount coupons, and are listing the two finalists in future editions of the game rulebooks to honor their accomplishments.
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Ed Welsh leading the Rebellion against the Crown. |
The Battle rages on with GM and assistant catching up on paperwork. |
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The Rebellion rages on in Maple. |
The Battles for Control of the Colonies continues. |
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