Boardgame Players Association - World Boardgame Championships Newsletter

TRIAL EVENT ELECTION RESULTS: Battleline again garnered the most support in BPA's annual Second Chance election for events lacking sufficient players, player-hours, or both to qualify for the Century. The Annual Survey of the membership admitted two new events (Dominion and Stone Age) while welcoming back 22 returning favorites in the New and Continuing Trials category. Also rejoining the menu for 2009 was a surprising veteran from yesteryear as Tyranno Ex made its return after a three-year absence. The seemingly annual exception to the rule that once its gone, its forgotten seems to be gaining ground. 22 events from 2008 failed to make the cut including such long standing favorites as ASL, Republic of Rome and Tikal. Some of those events falling short may yet return via Vendor/Sponsor support, or the failure of qualifying events to generate the necessary GM commitment by Feb. 28. View the current WBC 2009 lineup on the Orphans Page which will be updated weekly between now and March when GM submissions end. Check out complete vote totals at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/trialvote.htm.

ENGELMANN WINS SPORTSMANSHIP FOR SECOND TIME: There are those who liken the Sportsmanship vote which is held during our Annual Membership Drive to a popularity contest. If that's so, there's no doubt remaining who is WBC's Belle of the Ball after this year's vote. Coming on the heels of her overwhelming victory in the latest Board elections, the BPA webmaster has proven herself to be one popular lady at WBC. Kaarin Englemann won handily in what was basically a two-horse race between herself and Sean McCulloch. Kaarin, nominated for accepting outrageous fortune with aplomb in the Here I Stand semis, took 21% of the 280 votes caste to become the first two-time winner of the award. Runner-up Sean McCulloch garnered 19% of the vote for stepping in to GM a Junior's event for a no-show. Rounding out the top six finalists were Tom Dunning, Barry Shutt, Craig Moffit and Jonathan Lockwood. For more details, see http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/sportsman.htm.

GM RESERVATIONS: All WBC GMs are reminded that their event "reservations" for the events they ran in 2008 expired on Jan. 1. To retain GM status of an event, you must submit a new event form at http://www.boardgamers.org/forms/EventForm.htm and renew your membership before Feb 28th. Please check the Orphans List to confirm that requested times are current. All qualifying events currently without GM commitments are now listed as OPEN on the Orphan's List at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/orphans.htm. Events without GM commitments will be replaced by events from the Alternate list on Feb. 28. If you want to be considered for such a vacancy or recommended to a sponsor, submit an event form and be a current member by Feb. 28. Vendors/Sponsors are likewise reminded to submit or authorize their 2009 Trial Events by Feb. 28. We also are in need of a few Juniors events and Seminar speakers. Contact acd@boardgamers.org with any suggestions for same.

HOST CONTRACT EXTENDED: The BPA Board of Directors is pleased to announce they have extended their contract with Lancaster Host to remain the site of WBC through the year 2015. Details are available in the annual summation of the fall Board Meeting which is now available at http://www.boardgamers.org/tenthseat.htm

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 1 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 on line at http://www.boardgamers.org/bpanom.htm.

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

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

ENLIGHTENMENT XII: The 12th annual meeting of BPA's Age of Renaissance mini-con is March 20-22 at the newly renovated Day's Hotel in Timonium, MD. Coming off its best attendance in recent years wherein it actually outdrew the tournament at WBC, Enlightenment will retain its new dual event format in its effort to draw a minimum of 25 players or host its farewell performance in 2009. Manifest Destiny will join the program as two four-round events are held in three full days of gaming. Only one of the eight rounds will conflict on Sunday morning - giving players a choice as to which event they want to play the extra round. Note that it will be possible, but more difficult, to win both events since each tournament allows players to drop one of four scores.

BPA has obtained a very favorable group room rate of $89 per night plus taxes. To obtain this rate you must identify your affiliation with the BPA's Enlightenment gaming conference and make your reservation before March 1, 2009 (or when our roomblock sells out, whichever occurs first) at 1-800-235-3297 or 410-560-1000 weekdays between 8 AM and 7 PM Eastern Time. For full details, see http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/aor09ann.htm.

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PBeM NEWS:

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

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC PBeM: The third and fourth rounds continued the bloodbath among the top seeds which began in the second round. Almost half the games went to the bottom seed in the third round while a majority did so in the third round. Of the original 42 players, only three remain - the 7th, 15th, and 23rd seeds. Ed Paule (the 23rd seed) has four upsets to his name already - having played from the bottom half in every round. He’s also the only one who could win the tournament without having received a bye at some point. He’s up against Larry Meyers (7th seed) in the semi-final. In the just-completed rounds, the IJN are doing even better than their historical average (58%) - with 63% of the wins. It helps that our upset champion is 4-0 as the IJN. Larry is 3-0 as the IJN with one round as a bye. Joe Dragan (15th seed) is taking a bye this round; he’s 3-0 as the IJN and 1-0 as the USN. Will the fact that Joe’s the only one left who’s won as the USN work in his favor? How high will Larry and Ed go in the bidding to stick with their favorite side? Keep an eye on http://www.gameaholics.com/vitp_bpa/vitp_bpa_single_elim_07.htm to find out!

ADEL VERPFLICHTET PBeM: The third preliminary round of exhibiting artwork at castles around Europe, stealing that artwork, buy new works of art, and fruitlessly trying to put the thieves in jail is under way. Just one jackrabbit game from the first round is complete at the moment - leaving winner Anthony Daw and second-place Kevin Wojtaszczyk in good shape. Most other first round games are in the final stretch (and will probably be done by the time you’re reading this). I hope everyone else had as wonderful a holiday season as the Adel Verplichtet tournament players! See all the action at:
http://www.gameaholics.com/adv_tournament.htm

TWILIGHT STRUGGLE: Congratulations to Stefan Mecay, who successfully defended his three-year streak of WBC TWS crowns by defeating Chris Withers to become the winner of what proved to be the 2007-2008 BPA PBeM TWS tournament (not 2007-2009 as expected!). 86 players composed the field and contested a total of 218 matches with the top six players advancing to Single Elimination format. Others earning laurels were Darren Kilfara. George Seary. Bill Edwards. and Suzanne Tuch in that order. Stefan's combined BPA TWS tournament record is now 25-1, with the sole loss having come to Chris during Round 4 of the Swiss phase of this tournament. I plan to run another tournament in 2009 - probably a straight Single Elimination format this time - so stay tuned to the BPA newsletters for more details! See the laurel totals and more details at http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbook/twspge.htm

MARCH MADNESS: As the calendar nears that magic time of year for hoops fans, all of the second round games are completed in the BPA March Madness tournament being conducted on ACTS. Eight of the Sweet 16 spots are already filled, while Marshall Collins’ Texas 2006 has advanced all the way to the Elite Eight. Follow the action in the brackets at http://www.nktelco.net/bdmonnin/mm-brack-2009.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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Don Greenwood
WBC Convention Director