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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR GAMING FRIENDS ...

McCORRY WINS 2008 GM OF THE YEAR: We are pleased to award the Best GM honor for 2008 to Tom McCorry. This was Tom's first Top Six GM performance although he has long been active at WBC as a GM and especially as a purveyor of the top new Euros based on his annual field trips to Essen. This year Tom drew the attention of the judges for running two events; the brand new Agricola and the always popular Carcassonne. Tom was followed in the voting by Eric Brosius, Kevin Wojtaszczyk, John Weber, Kathy Stroh and Ed Beach. As our GM of the Year, Tom will receive free lodging at next year's WBC. More details are available at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/topgm.htm.

DECEMBER MEMBERSHIP DRIVE UNDERWAY: Only two weeks remain to renew your membership for 2009 and get a free WBC souvenir T-Shirt and full-color yearbook. We urge you to renew memberships for 2009 NOW through the end of the year both to save money with our lowest rates and to vote for the inclusion of 25 Continuing Trial events and the winner of our annual Sportsmanship Award. Check out the nominees for your Sportsmanship vote during the Membership Drive. Vote to retain your favorite events or introduce new ones. Give some deserving player a free room at WBC 2009 by electing the most deserving Sportsman of the Year. Your vote must be postmarked by Dec. 31 to count. The December membership application is posted with the 2009 Ballot for Trial events and Sportsmanship nominees.

GM RESERVATIONS: All GMs are reminded that their event "reservations" for the WBC events they ran in 2008 expire on Jan. 1. To retain GM status of your event, you must submit a new event form and renew your membership by the end of the year. Otherwise, those events will be listed as OPEN on the Orphan's List in an attempt to attract a new GM.

2008 PATRONS: The BPA's list of 2008 Patrons is now posted. Please report any inaccuracies to doncon99@toad.net no later than Jan. 31 to ensure an accurate listing in the upcoming Yearbook.

BoD NOMINATIONS: All BPA members are hereby notified of their right to nominate members for the three Board seats whose terms expire at the next WBC. To appear on the ballot, a member must be nominated in writing by at least three members; one of which must be himself/herself. Nominations must be signed and received at BPA, 1541 Redfield Rd, Bel Air, MD 21015 no later than Feb. 28 to be eligible for election in that year. NOTE: Email nominations are NOT acceptable, nor can a member nominate more than one member for the Board. When contemplating nominations, members are urged to consider that the BPA conducts most of its business by email and needs Board members who are able and willing to offer their time and skills to the organization in a timely manner. Board members should be considered more for their ability to contribute to the running of a successful company than for their attachment to any particular game or genre. Besides forwarding a signed nomination for himself/herself, each nominee should submit by March 1st a statement not to exceed 100 words summarizing what they can contribute in service to the Board of Directors of the BPA. The nomination form is posted online.

2009 CENTURY LINEUP: The initial lineup of eligible events for the 2009 WBC pending GM commitments is now posted at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/orphans.htm. Those 2008 Event After Action Report pages complete with the latest Laurel counts and photos as only WBC does them are available at http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbook/

NEW MEMBERSHIP POLICY: In 2009, we will be extending WBC to a full week, running from Monday morning through Sunday evening with assorted pre-cons during the previous weekend. This has been done to accommodate the growing number of early arrivals during the Sampler Showcase looking for Open Gaming opportunities. The Showcase will no longer be considered a Pre-Con and will be open to all paid WBC attendees along with the BPA Game Library. Additional space has been secured to handle the influx of open gamers this has created. A small number of events will continue to be run on Monday to augment the Sampler Showcase, but the bulk of Tuesday will remain dedicated to the Auction and Auction Store as in the past. All of this comes to you without a price increase—in fact, the new week-long Sustaining membership represents a price decrease for most attendees as it now incorporates several previous pre-cons.

A normal Sustaining Membership will now cover all WBC events from Monday thru Sunday for just $70. And, all members joining by the Dec. 31 deadline will receive both a free full-color Yearbook mailed in May and a WBC Souvenir T-Shirt upon arrival. Those joining after the New Year will be able to purchase these items separately only while supplies last. The convention schedule will remain separate from the full-color yearbook in a smaller, one-color booklet made available at registration. This policy ensures that everyone who attends WBC will get a printed schedule, while preserving one of the unique traditions that IS WBC—our full-color souvenir Yearbook. Check the full details on our membership terms page for payment deadlines and shirt size exceptions. Please note that the Juniors Room will not be available prior to 6 PM on Tuesday, as usual.

EURO COORDINATION: Eric Freeman is again volunteering to coordinate Euro events in an attempt to minimize scheduling conflicts. If you'd like to be part of this effort, contact freemaneric@comcast.net.

WAM VII: The next BPA gaming conference is the week before the Super Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 22 through Sunday, Jan. 25, 2008, in Timonium, MD, at the newly renovated Days Hotel. A fourth event and revised schedules have been announced so check out the new information on our website. The focus of this four-day event is to provide a gaming convention for the two-player historical "card-driven" boardgaming. This year we have abandoned the Open Play format of recent years in favor of a more structured event. While the "organized chaos" approach was popular with some, it was less so with others because the high number of tournaments diluted participation and also because it was confusing to new attendees and difficult for GMs to run. We will be offering the following titles as fully sanctioned BPA tournaments with laurels to be won: Paths of Glory, Wilderness War, 1960: Making of the President and Twilight Struggle. These are the only official events and all four will have a set schedule. Participants are also welcome to open game to their heart's content, so bring your other CDG titles along.

BPA has obtained a very favorable group room rate of $79 per night plus applicable state and local taxes (currently 13%). The hotel is newly renovated so enjoy this rate for the last time. Prices will be increasing next year. To obtain this rate you must identify your affiliation with the BPA's WAM gaming conference and make your reservation before Jan. 12, 2009 (or when our roomblock sells out, whichever occurs first) at 410-560-1000 weekdays between 8 AM and 7 PM EST. For the revised details, see
http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/wam09ann.htm

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PBeM NEWS:

AGE OF RENAISSANCE: Mark Neale directed Paris to a $67 victory over Jeff Mullet's Barcelona to claim the BPA's 6th Age of Renaissance PBeM tournament. Other laurelists in the three-round tournament were Mark Frueh, Harald Henning, Ken Gutermuth, and Tedd Mullally in that order. You can track the entire tournament at http://gregstripes.com/aor/2007_progress.htm or view the updated Laurels.

SHIFTING SANDS: The Shifting Sands PBEM Tournament has completed the fourth and final round of the Swiss format. Four players remain from the original field of 35 entering the Single Elimination semi-finals. After 57 games the results were farily even with 30 Axis victories and 27 losses, including an avergae bid of 1.35 VPs for the Allies. The finals will have an international flavor with one Yank, one Brit and two Italians still in the running. Scott Burns, Tom Drueding, Sergio Montagner and Ettore Cossutta are the final four. Track their progress at http://home.mindspring.com/~drueding/shiftingsands/

AFRIKA KORPS: What better way for grognards to celebrate the New Year than with the start of another email tournament. Jan. 1 is the target date for another duel in the sand dunes. See the details at http://www.bpaclassics.org/afrika_korps_format.htm and contact GM Bruno Sinigaglio to enter at brunofjs@hotmail.com.

DELUXE BITTER WOODS: Jan. 15 will be the start of a new BPA PBeM tournament featuring Patton's Relief of Bastogne scenario in a Single Elimination format. Seeds will be determined by AREA rating with no byes awarded. "Eliminator" opponents will be assigned in place of byes. For details go to http://home.comcast.net/~bitterwoodsweb/BWHome.htm or contact the GM at brunofjs@hotmail.com.

HERE I STAND: The next Here I Stand PBeM tournament is scheduled to begin on Feb. 15. Check out the details at
http://home.comcast.net/~ebeach/HISBPATourney2009.htm

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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 pre-registered 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.

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/

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If you are not already receiving our monthly email newsletters, please subscribe as directed below as we are unable to add you ourselves. To receive our free monthly newsletters you MUST join the BPA mailing list by visiting http://lists.boardgamers.org/mailman/listinfo/bpamail to confirm your address and your desire to be on this list. Subscribing takes only a moment, ensures your privacy, and increases likelihood of receipt. The newsletter will continue to be posted in the WBC folder in the Conventions section of Consimworld and on our website but will otherwise be unavailable to those who do not join the list in this fashion. If already receiving the BPA News you need take no additional action.

Don Greenwood
WBC Convention Director