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HOBBY SERVICE AWARD: Bruno Sinigaglio was named the 2007 winner of the
BPA Hobby Service Award at the 2007 BPA Annual Meeting. Bruno received
the most votes from among a dozen noteworthy nominees considered for
the honor. Details are available at http://www.boardgamers.org/service.htm.
WBC ATTENDANCE SETS RECORD: The just concluded World Boardgaming
Championships drew their highest attendance ever in 2007, topping 1300
paid attendees for the first time in addition to the usual assortment
of guests and significant others. Whether the record attendance was due
to the confluence of the HMGS Historicon convention the preceding
weekend or an increased Euro presence, or both, is a matter of
conjecture but in any case it is a good omen for WBC 2008 which is
already in the planning stages. Stay tuned to this newsletter for
upcoming announcements on how you can help shape the next WBC. A
preliminary list of event winners is available at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/champs.htm. Our usual extensive event by
event report—complete with photos and laurel totals—is under
construction and is scheduled for release in November when the 2008
Century lineup is announced. In the meantime, a DVD full of photos is
available for those who can’t wait, a selection of which is posted at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/photoscandid.htm.
WATERLOO: The next BPA convention is the Waterloo mini-con for play of
Napoleonic Wars to be held Oct. 19-21, 2007 in Timonium, MD. See http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/wat07ann.htm for details.
WBC AUCTION: The WBC Auction again forged a new sales record—aided by
a $3600 sale of a complete set of Avalon Hill Generals—despite the
greatly expanded Auction Store which likewise did a landslide business.
In fact, it did too well…doubling in size and causing our
accounting staff to work all night to keep up with the increased
volume. As a consequence, to give our auction crew the opportunity to
enjoy WBC also we will be forced to require pre-registration of all
Auction AND Auction Store lots in 2008. No walk-ons will be accepted.
For complete details of the Auction and Auction Store results,
including all Auction sales prices, see http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/auctionsales.htm.
WBC SEMINARS: 2007 was the first year seminars were promoted at WBC as a major part of the convention and were generally well received. Many thanks to all our speakers for their efforts. We will try to improve on this year’s offerings and have already received some offers to supplement the schedule next year. Several of the presentations are available on line in pdf or audio format for those who missed them at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/seminars.htm.
SPORTSMAN & GM NOMINEES: All WBC attendees are urged to nominate their
picks for this year’s Sportsmanship and GM of the Year awards by
sending your choices and the reason for your endorsement to the
convention director at doncon99@toad.net before Oct. 1. We want to
hear who you think deserves a free room at WBC 2008.
2007 BoD RE-ELECTED: All three incumbents were re-elected in the annual
Board of Directors election. For a list of the vote totals, see http://www.boardgamers.org/board/electionresult.htm.
THANKS!: Finally, Kaarin and I would like to publicly thank all who lent a hand
in making WBC 2007 the memorable event it was. Producing WBC every year
has become a major undertaking that would not be possible without a lot
of helping hands pitching in to make it happen. Obviously, we are
nothing without the efforts of 100+ volunteer GMs, but there are many
others who work tirelessly behind the scenes to contribute in other
ways. My gaming buddy Roy Gibson “gives back” to the hobby in
ridiculous measure by keeping this computer illiterate up and running,
loading the truck and delivering it to WBC before any of you even get
here. The Gutermuth family contribution to WBC is simply off the charts…between Debbie taking literally thousands of photos and Ken putting
in countless prime gaming hours making the auction/auction store a
possibility, their contributions are simply beyond measure. There are
many others to be sure—right down to Barry Shutt and the Henry
Richardson clan who make a point of helping me pack up every year. It
is all deeply appreciated and makes dealing with the inevitable
problems a little more bearable. Thanks again for another great year.
Don Greenwood
======================
PBeM NEWS
MARCH MADNESS: After 77 games, Jeff Martin emerged victorious over a 40
player field in the fourth annual BPA March Madness PBeM Championship.
After a trip to the Final Four last year, this time Jeff reached the
pinnacle, defeating Bob Menzel’s 1998 Utah squad 98-83 in the
championship game. Jeff’s 1989 Michigan team rolled through Bracket A,
with his closest game being an early seven point victory over Steven
Caler’s 1995 Virginia quintet. In Bracket B, Bob Menzel was having a
more exciting time of it, defeating Bruno Passacantando’s 1995 UCLA
team by one point in the Final Four and John Coussis’ 2005 Illinois
squad by two points in the Elite Eight. Alan Heath earned third place
laurels followed by Bruno Passacantando, Debbie Bell and John Coussis
in 4th thru 6th place.
In the final, Jeff took a two-point halftime lead thanks to a technical
foul on Rick Majerus. However, by being successful on five of seven
rolls for extra cards, he was extremely well positioned for the second
half. This was a good thing, since Jeff did not win his first scoring
roll until the last dice roll of the game. But the extra cards and
good timing on when to roll well (and not so well) allowed Jeff to
extend the second half lead to the final 15 point victory margin. Final
Four MVP is given to champion Michigan 1989’s right forward Glen Ride.
He averaged 28.8 points a game in the tournament and posted 33 points
in the championship game. Here is the rest of the All Tournament Team:
All Tournament First Team:
Center – Jerry Lucas (Ohio State 1960) – A Rating – 19.5 ppg
Left Forward – Larry Bird (Indiana State 1979) – AA Rating – 30.0 ppg
Right Forward – Glen Rice (Michigan 1989) – A Rating – 28.8 ppg
Left Guard – Juan Dixon (Maryland 2001) – B Rating – 25.0 ppg
Right Guard – Carl Nicks (Indiana State 1979) – B Rating – 23.7 ppg
Bench – Maryland 2001 – A Rating – 25.0 ppg
All Tournament Second Team:
Center – Patrick Ewing (Georgetown 1984) – C Rating – 17.0 ppg
Left Forward – Herb Jones (Cincinnati 1992) – B Rating – 26.0 ppg
Right Forward – Ed O’Bannon (UCLA 1995) – B Rating – 20.4 ppg
Left Guard – Juan Dixon (Maryland 2002) – B Rating – 22.3 ppg
Right Guard – Phil Ford (North Carolina 1977) – B Rating – 22.3 ppg
Bench – Utah 1998 – B Rating – 23.0 ppg
The tournament will be restarted this coming October. Come join us in
determining next year’s champion of the BPA March Madness world.
VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC: The next BPA Victory in the Pacific PBeM
tournament starts September 15th! For details see http://www.gameaholics.com/vitp_format/vitp_bpa_format.htm.
BITTER WOODS: The third round of the current tournament is underway
with eight survivors still in the hunt for laurels. The pairings
feature Frank and Buddy Sinigaglio, Jeff Lange vs Bruno Sinigaglio,
Bill Morse vs Larry Meyers, and Dan Tierney vs Steve Likevich. More
details are available at
http://members.aol.com/bobmryan/tourney_guidelines.htm
AMUN RE: A BPA PBeM tournament to be played on SpielbyWeb—a free and
dedicated site for the play of Amun Re—is scheduled to begin on
Oct. 1. For details, see http://arthurf.amunre.angelfire.com.
SHIFTING SANDS: A BPA PBeM tournament is slated for an Oct. 29
start. See http://home.mindspring.com/~drueding/shiftingsands/ for
details.
BREAKOUT NORMANDY: Round 5 of the BPA’s 5th PBeM tournament is underway
with three survivors from the 50 which began the Single elimination
event still battling. Steve Andriakos and Harvey Smallman are engaged
in what could be the final round if the eliminator can knock out Tom
Dworschak. Otherwise, a sixth and final round will ensue between the
winners. See the details at http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/bknpbem05.htm.
HERE I STAND: On Aug. 27 the first Here I Stand PBeM Tournament
started Heat 2 of Round 1. Three new entrants joined the fray to
replace three who dropped out, so we still have 51 players vying for
the coveted 18 slots in the Second Round. The Tournament format has
all games playing the tournament scenario enabling all to finish in the
alloted time frame. Of the nine games played in Heat 1, the Ottoman
were victors in three, the Hapsburgs in four, and the English and
Protestants secured a single victory each. Will the distribution of
wins in Heat 2 be as Ottoman and Hapsburg heavy? Only time will tell,
check back in January. The big winners in Heat 1 were John Emery whose
Ottomans brought home a healty 26VPs and a trifecta of players, Ken
Richard, Pawel Jarosz, and Dave Cross, whose power’s each scored
24VPs. Heat 2 has some great matchups. In one, the designer, Ed
Beach, as the Protestants goes up against Dave Cross as the Papacy in a
monumental struggle as these highly rated players face off in a game
sure to see plenty of Heretics burned at the stake and Papal priests
disgraced. For further information be sure to check out the Tournament
website at: http://home.comcast.net/~ebeach/HISBPATourney2007.htm.
Anyone interested in running an e-mail
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 and earn
discounts for admission to all BPA gaming conferences.
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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