Another Brother Against Brother Final!

This is the 25th anniversary of the For The People (FTP) tournament at WBC, continuing strong at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. Even during a year where attendance was down for most of the wargame tournaments, FTP stayed strong. We had a good turnout of 30 participants, including 8 new players and a bunch of coached players from last year returning. Our librarian Taylor Golding made the trip from Canada and ably assisted AGM Nick Pei in the Demo and the following Mulligan round. This year, several notable players participated in the tournament, including Mark Herman, David Dockter, Bill Pettus, Mark Giddings, Chris Byrd, and Michael Mitchell.

I am continuing spreading the word of FTP, being a Class C coached event, with a Demo, Mulligan and the official start. It worked so well that we had 23 people entering the Mulligan round. For the first time in any wargame event at WBC, we did not have enough copies of the game and several players were told to either double up on the coaching games or come back for the 1st Round. Two new players that were left hanging, Ernest and Matt, were not fazed. The next day, they went to the Open Gaming library and signed out its copy to play for over 12 hours! A shoutout to Dan Leader and later, Taylor Golding, who happened to be there to answer questions. Ernest and Matt are two young lawyers from New York City who I met during the Hannibal event. This was the first time they’ve been to WBC. I mentioned to them about FTP and they said they’re interested, but don’t know how to play. I said no problem, come to the Demo and learn. They asked so many questions that Nick ‘s voice went hoarse!

A total of 30 games were played, with several winners declining to advance due to other commitments. Box score is 16 Union and 14 CSA victories.

Befitting the American Civil War, the 2025 Final was another brother against brother affair. This was a rematch of the 2023 Final, and the 5th time that Nick Pei advanced to the Final. Nick now matched Mark Giddings and David Dockter in meeting me in the final 5 times. Random die roll had Nick as the Rebel and James was the Union.

Here is a summary of the Final:

Turn 2: USA regrouped, raised Blockade and fortified Northeast. Both players sparred in KY and WV. CSA played 2 TN reinforcement cards and used the last card to bring KY into the Confederacy.

Turn 3: Both players repositioned and reinforced the Western theater as heavy action was evident. Union started off using Pope in another attack on Columbus KY. Failing that, he switched to marching down to TX. CSA spent several cards to reinforce and attack Union outposts in AR and TX. Unfortunately, Rebels bungled the corps stack with ASJ and Van Dorn both in Marshall TX, after winning a close battle. USA then played Glory Hallelujah which allowed it to place the 3 SP in a USA PC Shreveport, even without a LOC. With only 1-Op card available, Van Dorn cannot activate the whole corps. As a result, the OOS CSA corps cannot convert Marshall, thus cannot prevent TX from rejoining the Union.

Turn 4: USA drew a great hand, with lots of Ops and 2 Minor Campaigns. It launched expedition to FL and reoccupied KY. Union forces strike at multiple fronts to attrit Rebel units and cut their Line of Control (LOC). In a crucial attack, Union forces finally broke through the Columbus KY defense line, forcing CSA to play Emancipation. Rebel forces were reeling from all fronts and tried to defend as best as they could. There was lots of actions and maneuvering from both sides. Nick then decided to go for broke and used Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia (AONV) to attack Manassas. In a large battle with both sides at +7 drm, Rebel rolled a “6” while Union only got a “2”. Feeling elated, Nick then played the Shiloh concentration to pump in additional troops in order to swing around the Shenandoah Valley to raid. I pointed out that Manassas still has a USA PC, thus no concentration allowed. That took the air out of the Rebel celebration. In the end, USA was able to take FL, KY, and AR back and burned Memphis. Union SW = 93, CSA SW = 64.

Turn 5: Things now look bleak for the Confederacy. 3 CA states are gone, plus KY back to the Union. One blockade zone is closed, and EP already played. A big Union corps is about to break out from FL. Another Union force is positioned to take Jackson and Vicksburg. AOP is defending in a fortified Frederick with interlocking interception by cavalry and corps units. After looking at his cards and seeing no clear path, Nick graciously resigned.

Thanks to all who showed up and played. I had a great time at 7S, spending 9 days with so many friends and playing some of my favorite games. WBC has become an annual gathering of friends, old and new. The whole week was spent gaming, socializing, meeting new people and reacquainting old friends. Playing in tournaments was just icing on the cake. Bonus was the wonderful mountain weather. While the rest of USA was baking in the 80’s and 90’s, temperature at 7 Springs was in the low 70s, with cool nighttime in the 50s.

See you all next year!