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ENLIGHTENMENT X: The 10th annual meeting of our Age of Renaissance Mini-Con gaming conference convenes March 23-25 for four Swiss rounds of dedicated play at our new location in Days Hotel in Timonium, MD. The deadline for reservations is past, but you can still get rooms at 1-800-235-3297 or 410-560-1000 weekdays between 8 AM and 7 PM EST. Reservations will be accepted on a space or rate available basis. Alternately, you may contact Days Hotel, 9615 Deereco Rd, Timonium, MD
21093. Be sure to identify your affiliation with our group—both to get the best rate for yourself and to credit our group with your stay. Room rate includes daily continental breakfast served from 6:30AM-9:30AM on second floor. A Chili’s restaurant is attached to the hotel and open for lunch and dinner. See the Enlightenment page for more details.

WBC CLOSES TO NEW EVENTS: WBC is now closed to new events for the summer 07 session. Many thanks to all the members who again turned out to man the necessary GM slots for all eligible Century and Continuing Trials slots as well as to our generous sponsors who selected from our Alternates list to further supplement the summer offerings. We are now hard at work formulating a combined schedule that best uses the available space at the newly renovated Lancaster Host. Special thanks to Eric Freeman and Keith Wixson who took an active role in co-ordinating the Euros and CDW tracks and to all the participating GMs who co-operated with them in their efforts to reduce conflicts.

HOST UPDATE: Speaking of the Host, be advised that all renovations at the Host are nearing completion and the transformation is remarkable. All guest rooms have been renovated and now come with complimentary wireless internet. But the changes don’t stop there and include floor to ceiling makeovers of many meeting rooms, rest rooms, and even the restaurant. Get Hotel information on our Accommodations page. Note that we do not use online reservations at the Host—you need to phone to make your reservation.

MINIATURES PRE-CON: The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society’s flagship convention HISTORICON runs immediately prior to WBC in Lancaster Host this year. While this has forced us to push our Pre-Con starts back to 2 PM Sunday afternoon (July 29) as Historicon ends, it gives members of both organizations a convenient chance to see how the other half lives with one combined travel expenditure for an extended 12-day gaming extravaganza. HMGS and BPA are co-operating by sharing facilities and advertising to reach a wider audience. See the details at our Confluence page.

SAMPLER SHOWCASE: This year’s version of the WBC Sampler Showcase organizers are looking for GM volunteers for the Pre-con event to

Particpate in discussion and voting for events for the WSS via e-mail.
Run game demonstations and coordinate playing of thier event during the designated scheduled time.
Provide at least one copy of the game to be available for use in demonstration.
Additional on site assistance will be needed to complete a variety of tasks.

GM Deadlines: Voting for the first five events is already underway but the deadline for the last five events is June 1, 2007. If you are a publisher who would like to submit samples of your game for consideration, see our Publisher page. To volunteer, contact Keith Levy at gcom@gamesclubofmd.org

WBC EMPLOYMENT: Those who would like to be considered for temporary employment during WBC as Junior Room Monitors or Security staff should contact Don Greenwood at doncon99@toad.net. Junior Room Monitor applicants should include references and resume pertaining to employment as teachers, counselors, daycare or other applicable work dealing with children. Compensation will be based on qualifications and is negotiable.

PBeM NEWS:

MARCH MADNESS UPDATE: As that “other” basketball tournament gets underway today it is interesting to note that the BPA version is into the Sweet Sixteen phase down from an original 80 teams (no bubbles bursting in the BPA event). Our Sweet 16 survivors include Marvin Birnbaum (Cincinnati), Debbie Bell (Michigan State), Jeff Martin (Michigan & Cincinnati), Don Greenwood (Ohio State), Derek Landel (Ok State & Indiana State), Tom Dunning (Florida), Alan Heath (Georgetown), Jeff Finkeldey (Louisville), Bill Romaniecki (Villanova), Bruno Passacantando (UCLA), Bob Menzel (Utah), and John Coussis (Illinois). Check out our brackets.

HERE I STAND: The first BPA PBeM tournament for this game will commence in mid-April. Your Game Master will be Bryan Collars, a HIS playtester, and finalist at the 2006 Here I Stand WBC Tournament. Assistant GMs will be the designer Ed Beach and Mark Greenwood. Read the full Tournament Details. Those interested in playing should email the GM at jbcollars@att.net no later than April 10 and indicate experience with HIS, ACTs, and Cyberboard.

WAR AT SEA: Our 6th PBeM tournament for War at Sea gets underway March 21. The tournament format will be similar to the Swiss Elimination format used at WBC, with five Swiss rounds advancing the top eight scoring players to the single elimination quarter-finals. Each round will have a time limit of ten weeks. Check out the details. Contact GM Kevin Shewfelt at kjlshewfelt@aol.com.

TWILIGHT STRUGGLE: A play-by-email tournament of Twilight Struggle, GMT’s card-driven game of the Cold War, will begin on April 1 utilizing ACTS. It will use a Swiss Elimination format with a set number of 12-week rounds to determine six players who advance to the knockout stage. For details and signup information, see the tournament website. The deadline to enter
is March 29.

WE THE PEOPLE: Round 4 of the We the People PBeM Tournament started recently and concludes in June. The six-round Swiss tournament should finish early next year. After three rounds the leaders are James ("The Master") Pei, Peter Reese and Dan Leader with perfect 3-0 scores. Six players with two wins and a draw each also have a realistic shot at
the wood. Check out the action.

NAPOLEONIC WARS: Congratulations to the following players for qualifying for the BPA TNW PBeM tournament final by surviving the swiss rounds:

Steven Payne (won semifinal #2 with 11 VPs as France),
Jimmy Eaton (won semifinal #1 with 4 VPs as Russia),
Bruce Young (won semifinal #3 with 4 VPs as Britain), and
Phil Barcafer (finished second in semifinal #3 with 3 VPs as Russia – pipped Steve Pleva for the final spot, as Steve had 3 VPs but finished in second as France).

Anyone interested in running an email tournament is invited to inquire. BPA members who would like to see an email tournament for their favorite game are encouraged to step forward as the GM of such an event. BPA does not run tournaments. Rather, we are an organization of gamers lending support to one another so such events can happen. No one cares as much about your hobby as you do. Get involved. See the requirements to host a BPA email tournament at http://www.abovethefields.com/top_pbem/pbemgm.htm.

All BPA PBeM tournaments require current BPA membership when the event starts. All multi-day paid attendees to WBC are current BPA members for the balance of that calendar year. Associate Calendar year memberships enabling play in all PBeM events starting in that year cost only $10. You need not keep your membership current in order to finish a PBeM event. Players may join the BPA throughout the year. Members are reminded they can upgrade their current memberships at any time by remitting the additional funds. See http://www.boardgamers.org/bpaterms.htm for details.

Don Greenwood
WBC Convention Director

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