I BEAT BILL CRENSHAW WINS TEAM TOURNAMENT: 96 teams entered the 20th "run for the slivers" at the 2010 WBC and when the horses were led
back to their stalls, three were within one point of victory. Any bonus points awarded to those who had not won their event previously would change the outcome, but not only were none awarded, only one of
the12 competitors was even eligible for bonus points. The other 11 slots were filled by ex-champs of their chosen events. Thus it was that the fifth ranked "I Beat Bill Crenshaw" team gained WBC Team Tournament immortality by a single point over perennial favorite Nest of Spies and The Defectors. All three teams were heavy favorites, ranked in the Happy Handicapper's Top Six. For more details and a complete listing of the Top 25 Teams in the annual WBC Team competition see http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc10/teamtournamentresults.htm.
EUROQUEST VIII TO FEATURE ESSEN GAME DEMONSTRATIONS: We are pleased to announce that Alliance game Distributors will be exhibiting and offering demonstrations of the hottest new games from Essen. In addition to having many new games on hand, we expect to have some new game prototypes as well. Attendees will be encouraged to play these games and then rate them. Each game rated will be submitted for a prize drawing, and the prizes will include the games themselves! For more details, see http://euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org/EQ_EssenFest.aspx.
This added attraction comes on the heels of our move to larger facilities due to capacity attendance in recent years. The annual fall convention which offers a unique blend of open gaming and a dozen Euro
tournaments is scheduled for Nov. 4—7, 2010 at the Pikesville Hilton in Pikesville, MD. A special $99 convention rate has been obtained for reservations made by Oct 22, 2010. Hilton concessions will include a variety of on-site breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings in the gaming area in addition to a 10% discount at the Hilton's restaurant. Those staying at the Hilton receive free use of the Baltimore Fitness and Tennis Club during their stay. Get complete details at http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/eq10ann.htm.
GERALD LIENTZ MEMORIAL: WBC lost one of its longtime citizens on Sept. 27. Gerald missed his first WBC this past summer due to the illness that eventually took his life. He was especially active in
Circus Maximus and Speed Circuit, being one of only three people to win Speed Circuit more than once in its 20-year history at WBC. The Koleszar Lientz Plat team has long been a fixture of our Team Tournament. Gerald had retired at 52 and spent a good portion of his retirement years attending gaming conventions far and wide. He and longtime gaming friend Jake Jacoby made regular tours of flea markets to acquire games to resell at the WBC auction. He is memorialized with other past friends at http://www.boardgamers.org/memorial.htm.
BEN KNIGHT WINS TEAM TOURNAMENT BRACKET BUSTING CONTEST: Apparently our "Pick the Top Ten" Team Tournament contest isn't so easy after all. Despite a large increase in entries, the scores of our prognisticators fell drastically. On average, contestants correctly picked only 2.62 teams in ten guesses as making the Top Ten. Mark Love's 2009 winning score of six correct guesses in our initial contest proved to be setting the bar too high as this year's high score was a paltry four teams—selected by no less than six contestants who finished in a tie for first. Mark again was among the best handicappers though and he was joined by Bob Hamel, Andy Lewis, Ben Knight, Dave Meyaard and Terry Coleman who all correctly selected four of the Top Ten teams. To determine a winner we had to resort to tiebreakers. Hamel was the first eliminated since he failed to identify the winning team. Love was the next to go for missing the #2 team. All six entries had the #3 team—Nest of Spies—duh! ... but both Lewis and Meyaard failed to select #4, We Ain't Dead Yet so out they went—and rightly so! That left it between Knight and Coleman and both passed the fourth tie breaker by correctly naming the top four teams. So, on we went to the fifth tie breaker—the highest team selected outside the Top Ten. Coleman's next best choice was #12—Reese's Pieces, but Knight's was #11—The Corleone Family—so Ben Knight became the winner of our second Bracket Busting contest by the slimmest of margins on the fifth tie breaker. Congratulations to Ben Knight for winning a free 2011 BPA membership.
NEW EVENT SUBMISSIONS FOR WBC 2011: Potential GMs wishing to submit New events for WBC 2011 may do so now by using the Event Form located at http://www.boardgamers.org/forms/SubmitEvent.php. This submission is only for events not run at this summer's past convention (either old or new games) and is strictly for use in getting the event listed on the Annual Membership Drive ballot for Trial events. All qualifying events run at the 2010 WBC will be listed automatically on the ballot and need not have an event form submitted until December.
WAM IX: The lineup for the ninth pre-Super Bowl weekend Winter Activation Meeting is complete with the selection of the four tournaments to be offered in 2011. The new Washington's War headlines a quartet of CDWs including Hannibal, Combat Commander and Twilight Struggle. For more information on the Jan. 27-30 convention to be held in the Holiday Inn in Timonium, MD. See http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/wam11ann.htm.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH: WBC received a lot of media coverage this past
year. One of the best produced spots was a six-minute piece done for a Hazleton station entitled Off the Beaten Path. You can view it and other items at http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/publicity.htm#media.
DRUEDING REPEATS IN SHIFTING SANDS: Tom Drueding successfully defended his Shifting Sands PBeM title against a field of 28 players over 54 games in a swiss-elim format. The semi-final games pitted Drueding vs Stefan Mecay, and Andy Friedman vs Charlie Hickok—four experienced CDW players. Both games went the distance and came within a single VP resulting in Axis Victories. Stefan had a last turn last action roll to capture Gabes for the victory but fate was unkind. The Final thus matched Drueding in his title defense as the Allies against Andy Friedman, who reached the last round with Axis victories in all prior rounds of the tournament. Also scoring laurels for 5th and 6th place to preserve the event's international heritage were Scott Burns of the UK and Alberto Savi of Italy. More details including updated laurel totals are available at http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbook10/shspge.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 are
only $10. You need not keep your membership current to finish a PBeM
event. You can upgrade your current membership at any time by
remitting additional funds. See the BPA Terms page for details.
BPA members who would like an email tournament for a particular game
are encouraged to step forward to GM 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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