Membership Drive | Sportsmanship | New for 2012 | Online Payment | After-Action Reports | Century | WAM 2012 | Euro Coordination | EuroQuest Photos | 2011 Patrons | Board Nominations | PBEM

ANNUAL DECEMBER MEMBERSHIP DRIVE NOW UNDERWAY: Renew your Sustaining or Tribune membership for 2012 by Dec. 31 to get a free WBC souvenir T-Shirt or Cap and full-color yearbook. We urge you to renew memberships for 2012 NOW through the end of the year both to save money with our lowest rates and to vote your choice of the 25 Continuing Trial events and the winner of our annual Sportsmanship Award. Vote to retain your favorite events or introduce new ones when submitting your membership form. Your vote must be postmarked by Dec. 31 to count and be accompanied by payment of 2012 membership dues. Check the full terms of membership for payment deadlines and shirt size exceptions.

SPORTSMANSHIP NOMINEES: The list of 2011 Sportsmanship nominees is now online. Before renewing your BPA membership, please check all the worthy candidates there and select one to support on your ballot. Reward good sportsmanship with free lodging at the 2012 WBC. The background for the list on your membership ballot is on our Sportsmanship Nominees page.

NEW FOR 2012: BPA is pleased to once again hold the line on prices. The only change in pricing for the coming year is to increase the cost of Tribune memberships purchased after July 20 to $110 to bring them in line with walk-in rates. This obviously has no effect on pre-registrants or those not attending the pre-cons, but those upgrading their memberships on site to attend the pre-cons would be better served to just purchase a Tribune membership during pre-registration for $100. Other changes for 2012 include the following:

• The 2011-2012 Yearbook will not be mailed this year but must be picked up during WBC. Those not attending will have their copy mailed after the convention if residing in the U.S. Downloadable copies will still be available on our website before the convention.
• WBC has adopted a No Weapons or Modern Uniforms policy for 2012.
• WBC is experiencing enhanced interest from a variety of publishers. Expect to see some exciting new product lines this summer in the vendors room.
• No more searching for Host A & B rooms in the deep recesses of the Host. The Stitches comedy club will remain dark this summer so that we can use the Wheatland room for multi-player gaming all week long!
• The WBC Juniors will switch venues to the Vista room and open a day earlier so that the Juniors program will be in full swing from Tuesday onwards.

ONLINE PAYMENT AVAILABLE: Submit your membership application online (and vote at the same time). (Print a copy for back-up in case there is a problem with the submission.) Pay for your membership by mailing a check or money order payable to "BPA" to 7766 Valley View Court, Hickory, NC 28602. Alternatively, you can use a credit or debit card online using PayPal—whether or not you have a PayPal account. (Payment via credit or debit card is not available at the door.) Simply go to Paypal, log-in or click the link to "Send Money Online", and send the funds to paypal@boardgamers.org. If you will be sending the funds from a different e-mail address than the one used in the application, please indicate what and who the funds cover in the PayPal message section.

2011 AFTER ACTION REPORTS: The WBC 2012 After Action Reports complete with the latest Laurel counts and photos as only WBC does them are available and have been recently updated with corrections of any errors brought to our attention. Laurel lists have also been updated to include those granted at Euroquest. We suggest you peruse them to recall last summer's fun or see what you missed before deciding which events to support with your Trial event votes when renewing your 2012 membership.

2012 CENTURY: The initial lineup of eligible events for the 2012 Century and potential Trial events pending the Annual Membership vote and GM commitments has been updated to reflect the latest vacancies. It is now too late to add additional events to the Membership ballot but we are still accepting event forms for Alternate status which will be used to fill any vacancies and possibly gain Sponsor support. And, of course, you can now claim any OPEN event by completing the required event form after reading the GM Guidelines linked from the start of that event form. Many more events are likely to become OPEN after the New Year. Nothing happens at WBC without a willing GM behind it. But please ... do NOT volunteer unless you are going to fulfill the obligation. We set a bad record this year for events penalized due to GM failure to keep their commitment. Remember that the next time you lament why your favorite game is not an event at WBC.

GMs with current event reservations on the Orphans List are reminded to renew their memberships AND submit a new event form by Jan. 1 to keep their event. Those unable to do so are asked to let us know asap so that we can list the event as OPEN. Any recommendations for a replacement GM would be appreciated.

WAM X: Next up is the tenth Winter Activation Meeting for players of Card Driven Wargames to be held at the Holiday Inn in Timonium, MD, on Jan. 26–29, 2012. The four tournaments will once again be Twilight Struggle, Washington's War, Hannibal and Combat Commander, plus the usual open gaming opportunities. BPA has secured a group room rate of $99 per night plus applicable taxes for those making their reservations before Jan. 7, 2012, or when our roomblock sells out, whichever occurs first. Full schedule and pricing information is available on the WAM page.

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.

EUROQUEST PHOTOS: Euro fans can re-live all the fun of Euroquest 2011 with Eric Haas' photos on Flickr.

2011 PATRONS: BPA's list of 2011 Patrons is now posted. Please report any inaccuracies to conventiondirector@boardgamers.org 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, 7766 Valley View Court, Hickory, NC 28602, 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, 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 online.

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PBeM NEWS:

NAPOLEONIC WARS:

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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