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2013 proved to be an extremely competitive year for BPA's Top Gamer award with no one winning more than twice at WBC. That meant the issue would depend heavily on the results of earlier minicon and email tournaments under the BPA umbrella. Such was the case with the top 11 laurelists scoring at least part of their total outside of WBC week. Given BPA's recent divestiture of minicons, this should prove to be the last year the issue is so heavily influenced by events outside of WBC as Euroquest and WAM results will not be an issue in the future.

Andrew Emerick paired an 86-laurel headstart earned at the 2012 Euroquest with the eighth best WBC performance to emerge as our 2013 top gamer. His margin of victory over 2004 Caesar James Pei was actually much less than would appear by sheer laurel count. James had already placed second in an email tournament for his specialty For the People months before WBC, but because that format used concurrent consolation matches to resolve lesser places and those matches dragged on long after WBC, his 36 laurels for that event could not be credited towards 2013 totals. Had they been, James would have won the Caesar title over Andrew by seven laurels.

Rounding out the top six BPA competitors for 2013 were Robert Kircher, Sceadeau D'Tela, Ken Gutermuth and Stefan Mecay. For the fourth year in a row, only eight of last year's Top 25 players managed to retain that top billing led by Pei who alone of all BPA's Top Dogs has managed to remain in the Top 25 for each of the past five years. In fact, you have to go back seven years to 2006 to find the last time "The Master" did not place in the Top 25. The other top scorers to retain their Top 25 standing in 2013 were Robert Kircher, Sceadeau D'Tela, the defending Caesar Randy Buehler, Doug Galullo, Riku Riekkinen, Keith Wixson and Nick Henning.

The Line of Succession for Caesar 2013

James Pei, VA 2nd - 148 Laurels	Robert Kircher, RI 3rd - 139 Laurels	Sceadeau D'Tela, NC 4th - 131 Laurels	Ken Gutermuth, NC 5th - 126 Laurels	Stefan Mecay, TX 6th - 125 Laurels

 

Key: e = email (PBeM), q = Euro Quest mini-con, w = WAM mini-con, p = Pre-Con

2013 Consul - Hail Ken Gutermuth

Even mandatory Board Meetings, Auction finances, and other assorted convention management duties could not prevent our talented Chairman of the Board from posting the best results during WBC week to claim Consul honors for 2013 with wins in Auction and Empire Builder coupled with laurels for three other events. A mere four laurels separated him from Nick Henning who posted his third straight triple digit laurel week and was bidding for his third consecutive Consul Award with wins in A Few Acres of Snow and Galaxy Trucker plus laurels from four other events.

David Platnick was third, only eight laurels off the pace, with a win in Princes of Florence, two seconds and a third in an all-Euro performance. But perhaps the most eye-catching week was had by newcomer Trella Bromley in her first WBC. The Train Gamers exec and lone woman in the Top 25 proved she knew her stuff around the rail yard with an all-rails 98-laurel week. Improving either of her two thirds in Empire Builder or Ticket to Ride to runner-up status would have netted another 12 laurels and a Consul award. Robert Kircher finished fifth with wins in Amun-Re and Santa Fe Rails plus three also-rans. The defending Caesar, Randy Buehler, did not give up without a fight—scoring laurels in six events and winning two—but he was unable to record a signature win to finish sixth for the week with 94 laurels in six Euros.

Notably absent from the Top 10 resumes were wargame results—with only Bruce Reiff's claim to Battle Cry laurels presenting any balm at all to wargamers, slim though that may be.

The Line of Succession for Consul 2013

Nick Henning, DC 2nd - 104 Laurels	David Platnick, VA 3rd - 100 Laurels	Trella Bromley, FL 4th - 98 Laurels	Robert Kircher, RI 5th - 95 Laurels	Randy Buehler, WA 6th - 94 Laurels