Melton Wins Second Air Baron Title After 10 Years

The 2025 Air Baron tournament held at the World Boardgaming Championships brought together a talented and competitive field of 39 unique players, all vying for control of the skies in one of Avalon Hill’s most iconic economic strategy games. Held over four Heats throughout the week, Air Baron tested players’ abilities to manage airline routes, navigate hostile takeovers, and strategically invest in market shares across the United States. Known for its blend of tactical decisions and unpredictable die rolls, Air Baron once again delivered high-stakes drama and exciting moments. In the end, it was veteran player Craig Melton who soared above the rest, claiming the championship title through a combination of sharp planning and large key payouts.

Over the four Heats, one thing started to become a tough trend. With the number of participants, the requirement to use four-player games started to show up. There was a four-player game in Heats two and four, and also in the Semifinal. Throughout the four Heats, it felt like the Strike was the most prevalent calamity affecting the players, but after careful inspection of the players’ reports the data shows that while the strike was the most pulled calamity at 21 pulls over the tournament - the local competitor showed up 20 times as well. Both Local Competitor and Strike were only missed in 5 games - while the most often missed calamity was probably a welcome site for the players - the fuel hike. Only 6 fuel hikes were pulled (7.2% of all calamity draws) and one of those was canceled by the WBC event timing rules.

High Heat scores for the year belong to Steve Scott and Patrick Shea, who each earned a score of 344. Max Jamelli (336), Jim Fleckenstein (331), and John Coussis (330) also topped the 330 mark. A funny story happened at John’s second Heat table as former GM Craig Melton and his wife Joanna were randomly seated together - but to show that the Air Baron tournament does not create alliances of any kind, Joanna had a chance to win the game but needed to roll against Craig to do it. Craig’s 11 stopped her chances of winning on that turn and despite Joanna being able to win that Heat with a roll of 13, there was a lot of laughs about Craig stopping her.

With 14 players showing up for the Semifinal, 3 games were set up. Two tables were the ideal 5-player games, and one four-player game. The method to place 5 players into the Final was to take the three winners and then alternates based on their percentage of finish. John Coussis, Bill Fellin, and Bruce Bernard earned Semifinal wins to clinch a spot in the Final. Tables 1 and 2 finished first and Craig Melton’s 89% looked good to clinch a spot in the Final as Table 2’s best percentage was Max Jamelli’s 82%. Table 3 went the distance to adjudication and after Fellin’s score was calculated - Bob Jamelli’s 93% finish bumped his son out of the Final. Like I said, there are no family alliances in Air Baron.

While the Final may have gotten a later start than anticipated, a banker roll of $5 and some early payouts for Craig in LAX made it feel as if the Final would end early. Craig’s early income allowed him to purchase two spokes in the LAX hub in the first two turns, giving him a market share of 50 right off the jump. The first calamity in the cup was the crash - and Melton, Fellin, and Bernard each pulled it in back-to-back-to-back rounds at high costs each. Melton’s consistent payouts allowed him to not only survive an $11 crash in round 3 but to complete the LAX hub in round 4 to put him at 100 market share. John’s early purchase of Philadelphia didn’t stop him from trying to slow down the Melton western attack by investing in the SF hub. In round 7, Coussis was the first to try a fare wars takeover and he completed the SF hub but was stopped in Phoenix.

In round 9, Melton was drawn last in the turn order and instead of going into fare wars to try to accrue market share, Melton seemed content to collect his money through profit draws - and he did. A draw of jumbo jets in the very next round (where Melton would have been in fare wars) resulted in $20 for him. He did attempt to make a fare wars run that very round and was stopped on his first roll by a 12-12 tie!

Bob Jamelli’s first purchase of Minneapolis-St. Paul was drawn a few times to boost his capital, but it was his investment in the government contract that paid him the most consistently. He won the $1 contract for a $3 bid and was paid $9 on it. He won the $2 contract on a $7 bid (trying to bid Melton up) and was paid $6 on it when the game ended. With a lack of large money payouts, Bob took a $20 loan and used that money to go on a memorable round 10 fare wars run that saw him win 9 straight die rolls to rack up 300 market share. He was able to pay the loan back but was not able to secure a large enough payout to claim a win.

Craig Melton’s steady payouts in LAX gave him the capital to attempt to win a fare wars in round 13. He took over spokes in Omaha and Salt Lake City to secure the Denver hub before taking over the Dallas-Fort Worth hub with 3 rolls in Oklahoma City, Little Rock, and Memphis (which was buffered with a defensive jumbo) for a market share of 280 coupled with $60 cash to claim victory.

Air Baron is always a fun event to run and I thank the players who came out to play this year.