war at sea   

Updated Nov. 23, 2012

 2012 WBC Report  

 2013 Status: pending 2013 GM commitment

Jonathan Lockwood, VA

2012 Champion

Event History
1991    Bruce Monnin      20
1992    Tom Scarborough      23
1993    Bruce Monnin      28
1994    Phil Rennert      18
1995    Ray Freeman      33
1996    Steve Packwood      27
1997    Tim Hitchings      33
1998    Mike Kaye      32
1999    Ray Freeman     45
2000    Pat Richardson     42
2001    David Finberg     43
2002    Andy Gardner     51
2003    Ray Freeman     47
2004    Bruce Monnin     51
2005     Dennis Nicholson     55
2006    John Sharp     46
2007    Andy Gardner     44
2008    Jonathan Lockwood     50
2009     Pat Richardson     43
2010    Vince Meconi     46
2011    Steve Packwood     42
2012    Jonathan Lockwood     47

PBeM Event History
1999    Vince Meconi      22
2000    Ed Menzel      39
2001    Jonathan Lockwood      43
2004    Don Greenwood      44
2006    Andy Gardner     46
2008    Darren Kilfara     46
2010    Jonathan Lockwood     43
2012    Dennis Nicholson     50

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Andy Gardner       VA    12    179
  2.  Jonathan Lockwood  VA    12    175
  3.  Pat Richardson     FL    11    158
  4.  Ray Freeman        CA    04    133
  5.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    12    127
  6.  Vince Meconi       DE    12    123
  7.  Ed Menzel          CA    10    116
  8.  Darren Kilfara     uk    12     99
  9.  Bruce Monnin       OH    12     97
 10.  Ewan McNay         CT    10     80
 11.  Bruce Reiff        OH    10     71
 12.  Don Greenwood      MD    12     70
 13.  Steve Packwood     MN    11     70
 14.  Michael Kaye       CA    10     64
 15.  Charlie Drozd      IL    12     60
 16.  Alan Applebaum     MA    10     52
 17.  Robert Drozd       IL    12     52
 18.  David Finberg      MA    01     50
 19.  Rob Flowers        NC    06     44
 20.  John Sharp         FL    06     40
 21.  Jim Kramer         PA    12     38
 22.  Andy Choptiany     PA    11     32
 23.  Tim Hitchings      DE    04     30
 24.  Bill Thomson       TX    03     30
 25.  Greg Berry         VA    05     28
 26.  John Pack          CO    12     21
 27.  Glenn McMaster     on    06     19
 28.  Chuck Stapp        NJ    09     18
 29.  John Elliott       MD    07     16
 30.  Rob Day            KS    06     16
 31.  Phil Rennert       MD    99     16
 32.  Jim Laws           WA    12     15
 33.  Tim Tow            TX    04     15
 34.  Joe Collinson      MD    03     15
 35.  Michael Ussery     MD    01     15
 36.  Ron Dietz          OH    00     15
 37.  Mark Gutfreund     KY    06     12
 38.  John Strand        CO    03     10
 39.  Michael Knautz     WI    00     10
 40.  Karl Bodenheimer   MO    10      9
 41.  Mike Brophy        NC    06      8
 42.  Scott Beall        OR    08      5
 43.  Kevin Shewfelt     CA    04      5
 44.  Mike Bailey        VA    02      5
 45.  Dave Streamo       OH    00      5
 46.  Bryan Eshleman     NC    01      4
 47.  Bob Hamel          CT    99      4
 48.  Phil Watkins       au    10      3
 49.  Dan Henry          IL    01      3
 50.  Nick Markevich     CA    99      3
 51.  James Pei          TX    99      2
 52.  Sean McKenzie      AK    99      1

2012 Laurelists                                             Repeating Laurelists:

Jim Kramer, PA
2nd

Charlie Drozd, IL
3rd

Bruce Monnin, OH
4th

Andy Gardner, VA
5th

John Pack, CO
6th

Past Winners

Bruce Monnin, OH
1991, 1993, 2004

Phil Rennert, MD
1994

Ray Freeman, CA
1995, 1999, 2003

Steve Packwood, MN
1996, 2011

Tim Hitchings, DE
1997

Mike Kaye, CA
1998

Pat Richardson, FL
2000, 2009

David Finberg, MA
2001

Andy Gardner, VA
2002, 2007

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2005

John Sharp, FL
2006

Jonathan Lockwood, VA
2008, 2012

Vince Meconi, DE
2010
   

AC woes or not, Lampeter filled on Thursday morning.

Bruce Monnin, our PBeM GM guru vs Ewan McNay

 Mike Brophy and Mark Gutfreund

 Joe Powell and John Shingara

47 Still in Convoy ...

Running the table for the second time ...

Jonathan Lockwood ran the table with eight wins to take his second WAS title. He had previously won the WBC crown in 2008 with an identical 8-0 mark, obviously preferring perfection to split decisions. He also made the playoffs for the fifth straight year, a new record. He beat Jim Kramer (6-2-0) in the Final. Charlie Drozd finished third at 5-1-1 and Bruce Monnin nabbed fourth with a 5-2 log. Andy Gardner (4-2), finished fifth and received a copy of the book Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater 1940-1945, given to the highest finisher not winning a plaque. The remaining playoff contenders were John Pack, Ben Gardner and Ray Freeman at 3-3.

At the conclusion of the Swiss round, automatic playoff qualifiers were: 1) Jonathan Lockwood, 48 VPs/5-0; 2) Charlie Drozd, 43 VPs, 4-0-1; 3) Bruce Monnin, 42 VPs & 4-1; 4) Andy Choptiany, 38 VPs/4-1; 5) Andy Gardner, 38 VPs, 4-1; and 6) Jim Kramer, 36 VPs & 4-1. John Pack, Ben Gardner, and Sean Druelinger tied for seventh place with identical 3-2 records and 32 Victory Points, but Sean withdrew due to family commitments. Andy Choptiany also withdrew due to a family emergency and Ray Freeman (3-2, 30 VPs) then won a schedule tiebreaker over Mike Kaye (3-1, 30 VPs) and defending champion Steve Packwood (3-2, 30 VPs) for the eighth playoff slot.

In the quarterfinals, top seed Lockwood's Allies handled Ben Gardner, Monnin's Allies beat Pack, Drozd's Axis stopped Ray Freeman, and Kramer's Axis cruised past Andy Gardner's Allies. In the semifinals, Kramer's Axis maxed out against Monnin while Lockwood's Allies overcame Drozd.

In the Final, Kramer took the Allies for a 2.5 bid. Jim deployed the Barents on 2 opening. It was a classic match in which the POC seldom strayed far from the 0 indicator. In fact, the match came down to the last die roll of Turn 8. Jim had seven ASW in the South Atlantic to remove Jonathan's seven U-boats, but could not come up with the great roll to do so -- taking out four but allowing the Axis to break control and deny the Allies 1 POC. With that result, the raw POC of Allies +2 became an adjusted POC after the bid of +0.5 Axis. It was our closest ever Final.

47 players entered and 85 total games were played; despite the engine room conditions in the Lampeter Room, both were the highest totals in four years. The favorite opening Allied strategy was again Barents on 1 by a wide margin; although no exact stats were compiled, it appeared that more Axis players were declining to sail on Turn 1and even Turn 2 if Allied deployments were not to their liking. One Axis player didn't sail until Turn 5! Kramer copped Best Axis Player with a 6-1 mark, while Lockwood nabbed Best Allied Player laurels at 5-0, the seventh time he has been so designated. David Anderson of Farmington Hills, MI took Rookie of the Year honors with a 3-2-0 record good for 14th place. Finally, John Welage was our sportsmanship nominee. In addition to being a long-time competitor, a real gentleman, and great opponent, he's always willing to be the odd man out if necessary.

Play balance couldn't have been better as the Axis and Allies each won 42 contests with one tie. It is very likely that the marginally increased bids for the Allies contributed to that balance. 81 of the 85 games featured an Allied bid; the remaining four games had no bid. The average bid was 1.72 (all games) and 1.80 (games with a bid), both all time highs. Bids either changed the outcome or the scoring of 19 games, another all-time high.

As always, putting on the tournament is a team effort. My thanks go to Assistant Gamemasters Rob Drozd, Ewan McNay, and John Sharp; John also provided the chess clocks. Also lending a hand were Charlie Drozd and Bob Hamel.

John sharp adjusts the standings on the magnetized leader board after finishing his game.

Jonathon Lockwood and James Kramer in the Final after finishing 7th & 8th in 2011.


 Play By Email 2012

Dennis Nicholson earned his second BPA War At Sea plaque, besting a field of 50 players in the 8th BPA War At Sea PBeM Championship. He had previously won the 2005 WBC tournament. Dennis went 6-0 to win the double elimination event. He began with a win over Philip Watkins, then continued to defeat Don Greenwood, Darren Kilfara, and Robert Drozd before taking down Vince Meconi twice to end the event.

Vince made it to the last stage of the winner's bracket, where a loss to Dennis forced him to defeat Don Greenwood in a come-from-behind thriller in the loser's bracket in order to earn his unsuccessful rematch with Dennis. Don Greenwood finished third while compiling the most victories in the event. He lost his second game in the winner's bracket to Dennis, then ran off a string of six wins in the loser's bracket before barely falling to runner-up Meconi. Jim Laws (4th), Robert Drozd (5th) and Darren Kilfara (6th) rounded out the laurelists for the event.

In the Final, Dennis, needing only one win in two tries, bid 2.0 POC for the Allies in Game I. He then deployed a version of the "Barents on One" opening with a weaker than normal force in the North Sea. Vince responded by sending everything to the North Sea, taking it at a cost of two 1-2-7 cruisers and earning a 2-POC lead.

He followed that with a successful Turn 2 Axis foray into the South Atlantic, building the Axis lead to 6 POC (8 after the bid). Turn 3 saw the Allies turn the tide with a small battle in the Barents to trim the Axis lead to 5. The Allies then successfully ran two convoys to Russia on Turns 4 and 5 to take a 1-POC lead. On Turn 6, the Axis won in the South Atlantic, and had a chance to cripple the Allies when a U-Boat put a torpedo into the last convoy. However, the dice were unkind to Vince and the convoy suffered only one point of damage. The Axis ended the turn up 1 POC (3 after the bid).

The Allies started repositioning forces on Turn 7 to challenge the Mediterranean on Turn 8 if necessary. The damaged convoy was hit by U-boats again, but took only one point of additional damage. The Axis managed to disable the convoy back to the United States, where it would sail on Turn 8 in an attempt to earn one vital POC. The Axis clung to a 1-POC lead.

The decision came down to Turn 8. Dennis' Allies managed to challenge every sea area except the Baltic, including a five-battleship force in the Mediterranean. Vince sortied to the North Sea, South Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The Allies won expected victories in the North Sea and South Atlantic, so it all came down to the Med. The exchanged airstrikes went in the Allied favor, reducing the Axis force to near equal strength and pitiful Italian gunnery gave the game and the championship to Dennis and his bold foray into the Med.

Final Results (50 Entrants ­ 97 Games Played):
1st ­ Dennis Nicholson (6-0)
2nd ­ Vince Meconi (5-2)
3rd ­ Don Greenwood (7-2)
4th ­ Jim Laws (5-2)
5th ­ Robert Drozd (3-2)
6th ­ Darren Kilfara (3-2)

 GM      Vincent Meconi  [10th Year]   105 Churchill Ln, Wilmington, DE 19808-4355 
    vmeconi@verizon.net   NA

2012 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page