1999 World Boardgaming Championships

War at Sea Tournament

WBC Tournament Newsletter #3 (Summary and Results)

Final 1999 WBC Tournament Results | 1999 WBC Summary of Games

WBC Tournament Newsletter #1 | WBC Tournament Newsletter #2

Seedings (as of April 9, 1999) | Final Seedings (June 23, 1999)

Past Tournament Top Finishers | Final 1998 Avaloncon Results

Rules Clarifications (as of July 1, 1999)

Vince Meconi is the Gamemaster for the WBC War at Sea Tournament.

Links to Boardgame Players Association, BPA WaS PBeM Tournament, WaS AREA PBeM Ladder

War at Sea WBC Tournament Newsletter #3

World Boardgaming Championships 1999

In This Newsletter

1999 Tournament News
Miscellaneous News
1999 Final Standings
Thanks
Analysis and Statistics
Preliminary Seedings for 2000
1999 Game-by-Game Results
Changes for 2000

Freeman Grabs 2nd Plaque

Ray Freeman of Berkeley, CA bested fellow Californian and defending champion Mike Kaye (San Pedro, CA) in the finals to become the 2nd player to win the War At Sea event twice. Ray previously nabbed the top prize in 1995. Former champion Phil Rennert of Gaithersburg, MD finished 3rd, while veteran competitor and Mediterranean strategy specialist John Pack of Sandy, UT came in 4th.

A Record 45 Players Enter

The tournament attracted a record field of 45 entrants, 10 more than last year's previous all-time high, from 20 states and 3 countries. It was a quality field, too, with 5 previous champions entered (Freeman, Kaye, Rennert, Tim Hitchings, and Steve Packwood), as well as 8 of the top 10 AREA-rated players, 3 current/former War At Sea PBEM ladder champs, and last year's Rookie of the Year, Dave Zimmerman. We even had 3 members of the Boardgame Players Association Board of Directors competing, and Don Greenwood himself stopped by to play a round.

Swiss Rounds Competition

Competition opened with 19 matches in Round 1, and form held slightly more than last year. The top 10 seeded players won 6, lost 2, and tied 2 of their games, compared with 1998 when the top 10 went 5-4-1 in the first round. Thanks to the new rule allowing players to enter late and/or return after skipping a round or rounds, there were actually more players competing in Round 2 than Round 1, 40 in all. After 2 more rounds, there were still 9 players with a chance to advance to the single-elimination Final 4 via a Round 5 win. Phil Rennert was the only player with 40 Victory Points. Ray Freeman and newcomer Johnny Hasay had 35, while 6 others, Mike Kaye, John Pack, Bryan Eshleman, Bob Hamel, Alan Applebaum, and Greg Berry had scored 30. These 9 players joined the next highest-scoring player, Steve Packwood (who at 27 VPs had been mathematically eliminated from the Final 4, but was more than willing to play a spoiler's role) for 5 tough games to determine the semifinalists.

Bob Hamel squared off against Alan Applebaum, with each seeking his first appearance in the final 4. Bob eliminated Alan, but Alan held the margin to 1 POC, meaning that Bob could only reach 38 VPs, just shy of the 40 necessary to make the semis. Mike Kaye handed Johnny Hasay his only defeat of the tournament, leaving Hasay stranded at 35 VPs thanks to a 2nd round tie. Mike totaled 40 and a shot at the final 4. The 2 highest bracketed players, Ray Freeman and Phil Rennert, tangled in a down-to-the wire match. Each player played carefully, avoiding risks in an effort to guarantee enough VPs to advance. Ray paid 2 POC to play the Allies, and the final 3-POC margin for the Allies thus became 1 POC, an 8-point win that put him at 43 VPs and a mathematical lock on one of the 4 semifinal slots. By snagging the 2 VPs for a 1-POC defeat, Phil finished with 42 VPs and he ensured himself a berth as well. In the 4th match, Greg Berry decisioned Bryan Eshleman, thus posting 40 POC. Greg and Mike Kaye now each had 40 VPs, good enough to reach the final 4--depending on the result of the last game to be completed: John Pack vs. Steve Packwood. John could make it a 3-way tie at 40 VPs, but only if he defeated Steve by 2 POC or more. A 1-POC win or a draw would leave him short. John employed his trademark Mediterranean strategy to good effect, but Steve, playing the Axis straight up (no bid) hung tough throughout the game. On Turn 8, with spectators ringing the last Swiss match of the day, there was action in almost every sea area but the Baltic. Combat had been so bloody in the Mediterranean Sea that each side had only a single ship. With the outcome in doubt until the last die roll, John prevailed by the 2 POC necessary to put him into a 3-way tie with Greg Berry and Mike Kaye for the remaining 2 final 4 spots.

Tournament rules state that ties for final 4 berths are resolved by strength of schedule (VPs scored by a player's opponents divided by the number of games played by a player's opponents). Using that calculation, John Pack, with a strength of schedule of 6.05, and Mike Kaye, with 5.52, edged Greg Berry's count of 5.16. Greg, unfortunately, became just the 2nd player in the history of the tourney to score 40 VPs and not make the final 4. (A similar fate befell Steve Packwood in 1995.)

Pause For Editorial Comment

Dice at sea, Yahtzee at sea, too much luck--not that I hadn't heard it before; maybe it was just the fact that I'm now the GM that made me more sensitive to it. Of course there's a lot of luck in War At Sea. Everyone has had games where we can't buy a die roll and others where all the dice are falling our way. However, for those who believe that luck is all that matters, somebody needs to explain why our Final Four consisted of 3 former champions and the guy who "wrote the book" on the Mediterranean strategy. Not only that, 2 of the 4 semifinalists happily explain their favorite strategies (and other strategies) in articles in the General, the Boardgamer, and the Boardgamer's Guide to War At Sea, and on the internet. Yet, they still come out on top.

Results of Semifinal and Final Games

Normally, the semifinals would have matched top-ranked Ray Freeman against player #4, Mike Kaye, with #2 Phil Rennert vs. #3 John Pack. However, Ray and Mike had already squared off in Round 4, as did John and Phil in that same round. Therefore, #1 Ray Freeman faced #3 John Pack and #2 Phil Rennert duked it out against #4 Mike Kaye.

In the Freeman-Pack matchup, Ray bid 2 POC for the Allies and employed a variation of the Barents on 1 strategy. Playing conventionally, John went up +4 POC after 2 turns by winning (narrowly) a big battle in the South Atlantic on Turn 2. The Allies clawed back from there, leading to a tie game going into Turn 7. Both players agree that John erred on that turn by relying only on the LBA in the Barents to sink Convoy 3C instead of sending his nearly intact U-boat fleet as well. The Luftwaffe bombs went astray and the Allies surged to a 5-POC win. In the 2nd semifinal, Phil Rennert took the Allies with a 1-POC bid and also opened with a Barents on 1 deployment. Mike sailed his entire fleet into the Barents and sank the Ark Royal, Renown, and 6 cruisers with the loss of only a 1-2-7. Although only down 1 POC at the end of Turn 1, Phil's ship losses were too much to overcome and Mike coasted to a 5-POC victory.

The final thus featured Mike Kaye vs. Ray Freeman, a game that anyone who has played either of them would agree matched 2 players who register 8.0 on the intensity scale. Ray took the Allies with a 2-POC bid and opened with yet another Barents on 1 variation. Ray's deployment enticed Mike to send the entire German fleet to the Barents but with the opposite results from his previous match. The British sank all 3 pocket battleships and a cruiser, disabling the other 3 ships, while losing the Hood and 2 cruisers, to control the area. Veteran War At Sea players recognize the triply bad situation facing the Axis at this point: blockaded, with heavy ship losses, and trailing in POC. Mike played very aggressively, forcing battles in the South Atlantic on Turn 2 and the Barents again on Turn 3, but his efforts only widened Ray's lead. At one point Mike was heard to moan, "I used up all my bombs against Phil--my pilots can only drop propaganda leaflets on the Royal Navy's decks!" Later, Mike's LBA did sink one convoy and his U-boats got another, but Ray made no mistakes in driving his initial advantage to a 6-POC victory and his 2nd championship. The 1999 finale clearly matched this year's 2 top players. Ray's 6-0-1 log was marred only by a tie against Johnny Hasay, while the 2 losses in Mike's 5-2 mark were both inflicted by Ray.

1999 Best Axis and Allied Players and Rookie of the Year

I meant to announce, either in a newsletter or at the event itself, that I'd be passing out a few extra awards besides the 4 WBC plaques. But, it being my first year as GM, I just plain forgot. Fortunately, having complete game-by-game record slips allows me to remedy that failing after the fact. Ray Freeman, the overall champ, also had the best Allied record at 6-0-1. Mike Kaye and John Pack were runners-up with 3-0-0 records. On the Axis side, Bob Hamel was undefeated at 3-0-0, while Johnny Hasay finished 2nd best with a 3-1-1 log. As for the 13 first-year players, Nick Markevich joined Johnny Hasay with a 3-1-1 finish. Johnny got the award for Rookie of the Year on the basis of his tougher strength of schedule. Next year I'll try to have physical manifestations of these honors.

Our Own Website/Other WAS Websites

Don't forget that the WBC War At Sea Tournament now has a website created and maintained by our own Nick Markevich. It contains all the material from our newsletters, including the 1998 and 1999 final standings and game-by-game results. You have found it at <www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/wbc99.html>.

Nick has also created web pages for the War At Sea PBEM ladder and the Boardgame Players Association War At Sea PBEM tournament, at <www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/ladder11.html> and <www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/bpapbem1.html>, respectively.

Whither Hasbro

Most of you at WBC probably saw the new Hasbro game box mockups and/or heard the one ex-AH-er still employed by Hasbro talk about that company's plans. Hasbro's first 5 offerings are Diplomacy, Acquire, Axis & Allies Europe, a Stratego variant, and Battle Cry. Battle Cry is an out-and-out miniatures game and the other 4 feature metal playing pieces. That gentleman answered 2 of my questions for me. Q. Why is Hasbro so slow? A. They're a massive bureaucracy; every decision is made by committee. Q. Why metal playing pieces in every game? A. Remember that Hasbro is a toy company. No information on whether Hasbro itself will republish some of our favorite boardgames; however, Hasbro has licensed Multi-Man Publishing to reprint and expand the Advanced Squad Leader and Great Campaigns of the American Civil War game series. Glenn Petroski probably summed it up best when he said, "Some people are saying that Hasbro is the best thing that could have happened to Avalon Hill; others say it's the end of gaming as we know it. I tend to think the truth is somewhere in between."

1999 World Boardgaming Championships Final Standings

The 1999 WBC final standings can be found at <htttp://www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/results99.html>.

Thanks All Around

Let me first thank the 3 people who had official roles in the tournament. John Pack again gave of his time to run the beginner training session one hour before competition started. Some might complain that John teaches too well. His only pupil, Johnny Hasay, finished 7th in his first outing! Assistant Gamemasters Alan Applebaum and Nick Markevich handled adjudications flawlessly, allowing me to concentrate on the results and pairings. And that was after I misstated Alan's name in the prematch introductions. Thanks, guys.

I'd also like to thank my 5 opponents, Mike Ussery, Allen Kaplan, Steve Packwood, Bryan Eshleman, and Chuck Stapp. While most of you were playing your opponents for the first time, in my case I had previously played everybody but Bryan. Mike and I shared a laugh; I had just defeated him in the BPA PBEM Tournament, in a game where I had all the dice. Mike conceded graciously and signed off with "Maybe we'll play each other at the WBC." "Not too likely," I thought to myself. So what happened? He waxed me in the first round. All of my opponents were completely understanding as I popped up and down from our games to handle GM duties. They even set up the games at the start. Their cooperation allowed me the luxury of being a playing Gamemaster.

1999 Analysis: Do the Allies Have an Advantage?

In my opinion this year's competition was tougher than ever. As one veteran entrant remarked, "There are no easy opponents any more." Another lamented that "My opponent bought The Boardgamer's Guide to War At Sea at 8:30 AM and was using it to beat me by 9:00!"

It's been my personal view for a number of years that War At Sea is one game which is truly balanced. Based on this year's tournament, it's clear that quite a few players now hold views to the contrary. Of the 32 games where a bid was offered, 27 players bid for the Allies and only 5 bid for the Axis. (47 of this year's total of 79 games had no bid.) As recently as 2 years ago, more players bid for the Axis than the Allies. Overall, the Allies had only a 39-36 edge in games won, with 4 ties, but look at the results of our top 4 finishers, Ray Freeman, Mike Kaye, Phil Rennert, and John Pack. The final foursome had a 15-1-1 ledger playing the Allies, but only a 4-5 mark as the Axis. Obviously, these guys have made up their minds! Even more interesting, Ray, Mike, and Phil favor variations of the Barents on 1 stratagem, while John is the leading practitioner of the Mediterranean approach. Of course, the counter-argument might be offered by our 5th through 8th place finishers, Greg Berry, Bob Hamel, Johnny Hasay, and Nick Markevich. This quartet checked in at 10-1-1 as the Axis, while registering a 4-3-1 log as the Allies.

Statistical Notes

Although Greg Berry lost a tiebreaker to finish 5th, as a consolation prize he now has the highest all-time winning percentage (.833) of any player.....Besides Greg, 3 other players had personal best-ever finishes: Bob Hamel (6th), Allen Kaplan (14th) and Pat Mirk (23rd).....Ed and Kem Bappe became the first husband and wife team to enter War At Sea.....With Bruce Monnin sitting this one out (his lame excuse: he entered Across 5 Aprils--and finished 2nd), Tim Hitchings is now the only player to have competed in all 9 WBC/Avaloncon War At Sea events.....Tim's weird streak of finishing in the top 4 every odd-numbered year--but only the odd-numbered years (91-93-95-97)--finally came to an end.....In addition to Tim, 5 other players who competed in the very first Avaloncon War At Sea tourney back in 1991 entered this year: Mike Ussery, Steve Packwood, Chuck Stapp, Alan Applebaum, and Andy Maly.....In Andy's case, he skipped all 7 intervening years.....They don't call it the World Boardgaming Championships for nothing. We welcomed our first overseas entrants ever: Ed Kendrick from Great Britain and Anders Egneus from Sweden. We hope to see them again!....Johnny Hasay was the only player in the tournament who played all 5 games as the Axis; Ray Freeman and Mike Ussery played all 5 games as the Allies.....Ray Freeman's 1898 AREA Rating (see below) is the highest rating for War At Sea ever recorded.....The previous record was Tim Hitchings' 1883 following his 1997 Avaloncon victory..... Your Gamemaster finished 3-2 for the 5th time out of 8 tries. The other 3 years I finished 2-3, 2-2-1, and 3-1-1. I'm either a model of consistency or stuck in a rut, take your pick......

Preliminary Seedings For 2000 World Boardgaming Championships (as of September 2, 1999)

Rank	Name	AREA Rating
1	Ray Freeman	1898 (Defending Champion)
2	Mike Kaye	1836
3	Phil Rennert	1815
4	Steve Packwood	1722
5	Rob Mull	1720
6	Tom Scarborough	1708
7	Vince Meconi	1698
8	Andy Maly	1698
9	John Pack	1696
10	Pat Richardson	1659
11	Ron Artigues	1650
12	Andy Gardner	1649
13	Bruce Monnin	1647
14	Tim Hitchings	1644
15	Bryan Eshleman	1635
16	Bob Hamel	1627
17	Bruce Reiff	1625
18	Johnny Carpenter	1623
19	Wes Letzin	1618-i
20	Glenn Petroski	1612
21	Matt Romaniecki	1612
22	Greg Berry	1611
23	Johnny Hasay	1604
24	Scott Sirianna	1601-i
25	Jim Cavallari	1596
26	Joe Beard	1588-i
27	Frank Cunliffe	1584-i
28	Alan Applebaum	1577
29	Sharee Pack	1566
30	Rusty Pywtorak	1566
31	Mark Smith	1564
32	Jim Eliason	1562-i
33	Phil Van Wiltenburg	1560
34	Thomas Walsh	1557
35	Paul Bolduc	1548
36	Michael Peck	1548-i
37	Tony Guido I	1546
38	Nick Markevich	1543
39	Jonathan Lockwood	1539
40 tie	Eric Pass	1538
40 tie	Glen Kuhns	1538-i
		i = Inactive AREA status.

Italicized players have not previously entered an Avaloncon/WBC War At Sea event.

The post-convention wrap-up has customarily included AREA ratings which establish the seedings for next year's tournament. In previous years, it was likely that those rankings wouldn't vary greatly in the 11-month interval until the next convention. However, that was before the days of year-round PBEM competition. Defending champ Ray Freeman will automatically be next year's #1 seed, but other rankings are likely to change several times. In the meantime, you can look up War At Sea AREA ratings at <www.uwm.edu/people/bruno/AREA>.

The 1999 WBC final game-by-game results can be found at <htttp://www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/games99.html>.

Guide to War At Sea Available

The indefatigable Bruce Monnin has just published the The Boardgamer's Unofficial Guide to War At Sea. A wealth of information, available from Bruce for $7 at (e-mail) monninb@bright.net or (postal) 177 South Lincoln Street, Minster, OH 45865-1240.

Changes for 2000

Given the record turnout and the high level of competition, I don't expect to make a large number of changes. That being said, I'm always open to suggestions from past and/or future entrants. Several players pointed out that I had not specified how the 3rd/4th Place determination is made. For the record, 3rd Place goes to the semifinalist who had the higher Victory Point total in the Swiss rounds.

A couple of players suggested that this determination, the tiebreaker to determine the Final 4, and the tiebreaker in case players tie in the semifinals and final, include the results of any Swiss round head-to-head competition. Also, there was a suggestion that half-point bids be allowed in choosing sides. Currently, the rules specify that bids be made in whole numbers only. Finally, I did not feel that time was a problem, although we did run slightly behind. Round 5 began about 15 minutes later than planned (about 5:30 PM instead of 5:15 PM). Bucking previous trends, Round 4 took longer than Rounds 2 or 3. For next year, I could either allow slightly longer per round or get tougher on adjudications. By Round 4, I admit to being reluctant to adjudicate a close game that affects the top bracket.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on all of these items.

Vince Meconi
P. O. Box 6346
Wilmington, DE 19804-0946

War at Sea WBC Tournament Newsletter #2

World Boardgaming Championships 1999

In This Newsletter

News
Tournament Format
Rules Clarifications
Final Seedings

WBC War At Sea Event Kicks Off at 9:00 AM on Thursday, July 29

I hope that as many of you as possible will be entering this year's tournament. Last year we had a record number of entrants, 35, and based on the comments of many of you that you'll be entering, I hope we can top that this year. I look forward to seeing you in Hunt Valley!

Our Own Website

Nick Markevich has created a website just for the War At Sea event at the World Boardgaming Championships. All the material from our newsletters will be located there, plus the 1998 final standings and game-by-game results. Of course, the 1999 results will be posted as soon as this year's WBC is over, and with the help of previous Gamemasters Bruce Monnin and Alan Applebaum, I have compiled a listing of every player who has ever entered an Avaloncon/WBC War At Sea event and his or her won-lost record. More than you ever wanted to know, no doubt. You can find it at: www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/wbc99.html.

Nick has also created web pages for the War At Sea PBEM ladder and the Boardgame Players Association War At Sea PBEM tournament, at www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/ladder11.html and www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/bpapbem1.html, respectively.

Assistant Gamemasters Still Needed

As of press time, I still have not received any volunteers to be Assistant Gamemasters. As before, the only requirements are the willingness to play all 5 rounds and a knowledge of the rules. If no one volunteers before tournament time, I will be forced to dragoon 2 individuals into service; it's a WBC requirement that I designate 2 assistants.

Additional News About Hasbro

Well, there really isn't any, except that War At Sea is now one of the games still available from the Hasbro/AH inventory. You can get it at their web site, www.avalonhill.com, or by fax at 1-431-8082. Before its sale to Hasbro, Avalon Hill had announced that War At Sea was a discontinued game no longer available.

1999 Tournament Format

I have rewritten the format, but only the completely changed or new portions are in italics.

Rules. Second Edition rules will be used, supplemented by the attached clarifications.

Requirements. Please bring your own copy of the game. If there are not enough copies of the game available, those bringing their own copy will have priority. Badges will be checked.

Schedule. The first round will commence promptly after the GM's instructions, which will begin at 9:00 AM on Thursday morning. There will be 7 rounds. The first 5 rounds will be preliminary qualifying rounds and the last 2 will be single elimination rounds matching the top 4 finishers. Subsequent preliminary rounds will begin at 11:15 AM, 1:15 PM, 3:15 PM and 5:15 PM on Thursday. Players may play any one round, any combination of rounds, or every round. They may drop out and reenter for any round, as long as they are present for the start of that round.

To keep the tournament flowing smoothly, players are asked to please notify the Gamemaster if they know they will not be playing in the next round.

The semifinal games will be held after the preliminaries on Thursday night, and the finals will be held at the convenience of the two finalists, starting no later than 8:00 PM Saturday night.

Format, Preliminary Rounds. The preliminary portion of the tournament will be conducted via the Swiss System. Pairings for each round will be determined by a seeding system. For the first round, defending champion Mike Kaye, should he enter, will automatically receive the #1 seed. All other players will be seeded by their AREA ratings, as of June 23, 1999. No distinction will be made between active and inactive ratings. Any player without an AREA rating will be assigned a rating of 1500. The highest seeded player will be paired against the lowest, the second highest against the second lowest, etc.

In subsequent rounds, each player will be matched against a player with an identical or similar Victory Point (VP) score (see Scoring, below). For example, if after Round 2 there are 8 players tied with 20 VPs, these players will again be seeded using AREA ratings, and the highest seeded of these 8 players will be matched up with the lowest seeded, the 2nd highest seeded with the 2nd lowest seeded, etc. If there are only 7 players with the same VP total, then the next highest scoring player will be added to that group and the pairings will be made. Pairings then continue with the next highest scoring set of players, etc. until all players are matched. The only exception to the seedings will be that two players will never play each other twice in the 5 preliminary rounds.

All players will have their own cards detailing their progress in the tournament. These cards will have a magnetic backing so that they can be stuck to a sheet metal standings board. After each round, players' cards will be adjusted to reflect their current positions in the standings and to make clear who they may be paired against in the next round.

Scoring. Each game in the preliminary rounds is worth 10 Victory Points (VPs). If the game is decided by 2 or more POC, the winner gets all 10 VP and the loser gets 0 VP. If the game is won by 1 POC, the winner gets 8 VP and the loser 2 VP. Each player gets 5 VP for a draw. In every case, VPs are awarded after any POC-incentive is applied. The GM reserves the right to adjudicate any game not completed 15 minutes before the next round begins.

Byes. If there is an odd number of players available for a round, one player will receive a bye, and get credit for a win (10 VP) that round. Byes will be determined as follows. In the first round, the lowest seeded non-preregistered player will receive the bye. In subsequent rounds, the player with the lowest VP score up to that point will receive the bye. If a number of players are tied for the lowest VP total, the lowest seeded player will receive the bye. No player will receive more than one bye during the tournament. (If any of you are not competing this year, please feel free to stop by during a break in your other action to help us avoid byes.)

Sides. Players simultaneously reveal which side they wish to play, by using the Axis and Allied control flags provided in the game. If opposite sides are chosen, play proceeds. If both want the same side, the players bid for the right to play that side. Players determine who has the first option via a die roll. The player winning the roll may either accept the non-preferred side or bid a POC-incentive to play the preferred side. The bid may be any integer, including zero. If the first player bids to play the preferred side, the second player may either accept the POC-incentive to play the non-preferred side or bid a higher POC amount for the preferred side. The option passes back and forth in this fashion until one player accepts the non-preferred side and the POC-incentive. The incentive is applied to the final POC score of the game.

Qualification for Final 4. The qualifiers for the semifinals will be the players with the top four VP totals from the preliminaries. Ties will be broken based on strength of schedule (# of VPs earned by one's opponents divided by the # of games played by one's opponents); the second tiebreaker will be highest AREA rating.

Format, Semifinals and Final. The semifinals and final will be single elimination; the winners of the two semifinal games will play each other in the final for the championship. Pairings for the semifinals will be determined by performance in the preliminaries; the #1 ranked player will play the #4 player and the #2 player will play the #3 player, unless such pairings would result in a rematch.

Bidding for sides in the semifinals and the final will be handled as in the preliminaries. If any of these games end in a tie, the following tiebreakers will be used, in this order: 1) disregard any bid, 2) highest total of VPs in the preliminary rounds, and 3) highest AREA rating.

Die Rolling. It is customary (though not required) to roll all dice in a box lid; dice landing outside the box are rerolled. Other methods such as dice towers are fine as long as they are mutually agreed upon.

Spectators. Spectators are welcome to observe the matches in progress. However, spectators are not permitted to participate in any way. Spectators may not point out the legality or illegality of any move, nor be consulted on rules clarifications. Such inquiries should go to the GM or an assistant GM.

Conduct. Abusive behavior and language are not permitted. However, it wouldn't be War At Sea without a lot of whining about poor die rolls.

Results. The results of all games will be given to Glenn Petroski so they can be recorded in the AREA rating system.

Final Seedings For 1999 World Boardgaming Championships (as of June 23, 1999)

Rank	Name	AREA Rating
1	Michael A. Kaye	1784 (Defending Champion)
2	Philip Rennert	1800-i
3	Stephen Packwood	1765
4	Timothy Hitchings	1723
5	Robert Mull	1720
6	Ray Freeman	1718
7	Thomas Y. Scarborough	1708
8	Vince Meconi	1693
9	Glenn E. L. Petroski	1679
10	Andy Gardner	1674
11	Patrick Richardson	1668
12	Ron Artigues	1650
13	Bruce A. Monnin	1647
14	Andrew R. Maly	1641
15	Jonathan S. Lockwood	1634
16	Bruce Reiff	1625
17	Johnny Carpenter	1623
18 tie	John R. Pack	1618
18 tie	Wesley Letzin	1618-i
20	Matthew Romaniecki	1612
21	Scott Sirianna	1601
22	Bryan D. Eshleman	1599
23	Jim Cavallari	1596
24	Joseph Beard III	1588
25	Frank Cunliffe	1584-i
26 tie	Sharee Pack	1566
26 tie	Rusty Pywtorak	1566
28	Mark Smith	1564
29	James L. Eliason	1562-i
30	John Elliot	1560
31	Thomas Walsh	1557
32	Michael Peck	1548
33	Alan Applebaum	1547
34	Tony Guido I	1546
35 tie	Glen S. Kuhns	1538-i
35 tie	Eric Pass	1538
37 tie	Philip Bryers	1535-i
37 tie	Warren T. Day	1535-i
37 tie	Robert E. Dietz	1535
37 tie	Rory Majerty	1535-i
37 tie	Scott Nedza	1535-i
37 tie	Aaron G. E. Petroski	1535-i
37 tie	Michael J. Sanches	1535
		i = Inactive AREA status.

Italicized players have not previously entered an Avaloncon/WBC War At Sea event.

War at Sea WBC Tournament Newsletter

1999 World Boardgaming Championships
War At Sea Tournament Information

Out: Avaloncon -- In: World Boardgaming Championships.

As just about everybody knows by now, The Avalon Hill Game Company has been sold to Hasbro. Exactly which games Hasbro will issue or reissue is still uncertain. Scanning the internet, I found an interview with a Hasbro official in which he stated that Hasbro would release Diplomacy, Advanced Squad Leader, Acquire, and "a Civil War game that was about to be released by AH before the changes" -- maybe he's referring to For the People or On To Richmond? -- beginning in late September or early October. He also spoke of releasing variants of two Hasbro games, Axis & Allies and Stratego, as AH imprints.

More relevant for readers of this bulletin, Hasbro will not continue to sponsor Avaloncon, leading Don Greenwood, bless him, to form the Boardgame Players Association (BPA), which will sponsor the World Boardgaming Championships (WBC). It'll be everything Avaloncon was and more. This year's convention will be held from Tuesday, July 27 through Sunday, August 1 at the same location, the Hunt Valley Marriott in Hunt Valley, Maryland. From now on, if you win, you not only get a wooden plaque, you get to call yourself the world champ.

Come Back -- Or Come for the First Time

I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to participate in the annual War At Sea tournament at the 1999 World Boardgaming Championships. If you've entered previously, you know it's a great event. If you haven't, especially if you have not heretofore attended Avaloncon/WBC, I urge you to come. It's impossible to convey just how much fun, excitement, friendship, and competition there is to somebody who hasn't yet been there. Once you've attended, you'll be back again and again. It's boardgaming nirvana!

New Gamemaster/Former GMs

This is probably the time to introduce yours truly, the new War At Sea Gamemaster for 1999. But before doing that, I want to pay tribute to our outgoing GM, Bruce Monnin. Bruce has given us 4 years of excellent leadership. The format, the rules clarifications, the newsletters, the "leader board," even the chocolate chip cookies last year, have always added up to fun and fair competition for everybody who attended. Bruce's competitive play probably suffered as a result, and will no doubt rebound now that he no longer has the burden of running the tournament. I will try to do as good a job as Bruce has done (except that I will not be providing any cookies, I can tell you that right now); I don't see how I can do better. Bruce is hardly leaving us -- see War At Sea PBeM Tournament and The Boardgamer, below. Bruce (and all of us) in turn had the benefit of building on the fine work of Alan Applebaum, GM for the first 4 years of Avaloncon. Bruce and Alan, thanks!

Two Sentences About Me

I'm 47 years old and live with my wife, 2 daughters, and dog in Wilmington, Delaware. I have a job with the State of Delaware which requires long hours, so (like many of you) my gaming is generally limited to after 10 in the evening, and my face-to-face gaming (again, like many of you) is mostly limited to Avaloncon/WBC. Besides War At Sea, at the WBC you'll find me entered in some or all of Afrika Korps, Gettysburg '88, Victory in the Pacific, and We The People. (Okay, that was 3 sentences.)

New for 1999

Due to the fine work of our previous GMs, I do not foresee making many changes to the tournament format. The one and only change I definitely will make to the rules will be to allow players to participate in as many or as few rounds as they wish to. In other words, individuals may begin playing in Rounds 2, 3, 4, or 5 even if they have not played in any previous round(s). Players may also skip a round or rounds and then rejoin the fray. Obviously, players who don't play in every round greatly decrease the possibility of their gaining the final 4, but that's their choice. Through this change, I'm hoping to increase the number of gamers participating.

As for any other changes, it has been suggested by several people that the amount of time between rounds be shortened inasmuch as most games take 2 hours or less. I have observed that the first round is usually the slowest, as many players who haven't played FTF in a while get into the rhythm of the game. Subsequent rounds seem to go much faster. Therefore, one possibility is to have the first round (only) take 2 hours, 15 minutes, and rounds 2 through 5 take 2 hours apiece. I'd like to hear from you on these and any other modifications you'd like to see.

Not New for 1999

Other than the aforementioned changes, things will be run pretty much this year the way they have been in previous years. Thursday will again be War At Sea day, with our event kicking off at 9 AM. The format will again be Swiss-Elimination; players play 5 rounds round-robin, with the top four finishers advancing to single-elimination semifinals and finals. I will not reprint the entire tournament rules in this bulletin, but I will print them in another newsletter that will be sent out closer to the WBC (say, June or July).

Another aspect of the tourney that won't change is the use of AREA ratings. Again, all games will be AREA-rated. The defending champion, Mike Kaye this year, will automatically be given the #1 seed. All other entrants will be seeded by AREA rating. Unrated players will be assigned a rating of 1500.

Preliminary Seedings For 1999 World Boardgaming Championships (as of April 9, 1999)

Rank. Name (AREA Rating)

1. Michael A. Kaye (1804) Defending Champion
2. Phillip Rennert (1800)
3. Stephen Packwood (1765)
4. Timothy Hitchings (1723)
5. Robert Mull (1720)
6. Ray Freeman (1718)
7. Thomas Y. Scarborough (1708)
8. Andy Gardner (1674)
9. Patrick Richardson (1668)
10. Vince Meconi (1666)
11. Glenn E. L. Petroski (1658)
12. Jonathan S. Lockwood (1646)
13. Bruce A. Monnin (1627)
14. Bruce Reiff (1625)
15. Johnny Carpenter (1623)
16. Wesley Letzin (1618)
17. Ron Artigues (1613)
18. Matthew Romaniecki (1612)
19. Andrew R. Maly (1611)
20. Scott Sirianna (1601)
21. Bryan D. Eshleman (1599)
22. Jim Cavallari (1596)
23. Joseph Beard III (1588)
24. Frank Cunliffe (1584) tie
25. John R. Pack (1584) tie
26. Eric Pass (1575)
27. Larry Neal (1566)
28. Mark Smith (1564)
29. Bob Hamel (1563)
30. James L. Eliason (1562)
31. John Elliot (1560)
32. Thomas Walsh (1557)
33. Michael Peck (1548)
34. Alan Applebaum (1547)
35. Tony Guido I (1546)
36. Glen S. Kuhns (1538)
37. Sharee Pack (1537)
38. Robert E. Dietz (1535) tie
39. Aaron G. E. Petroski (1535) tie
40. John Strand (1534) tie
41. Robert Kircher (1534) tie
    

Assistant Gamemasters Needed -- Pack to Conduct Beginners Teaching Session

I'm in need of two Assistant GMs for this year's tournament. Duties include assisting me in logistics, officiating on any rules issues which come up in a game I'm playing, and (especially) helping adjudicate any games not yet finished by the time limit. You needn't have been a former semifinalist, just be knowledgeable in the rules and be willing to stay for all 5 rounds. Also, I'm pleased to announce that John Pack will once again conduct a teaching session for beginning players one hour before the tournament starts.

War At Sea PBEM Ladder Tournament

For those like me who just can't get enough of WAS, and/or have limited opportunities to play FTF, Bruce Monnin is running a War At Sea PBEM Ladder Tournament. For details, contact Bruce at: <monninb@bright.net>.

The next round is scheduled to begin around June 15. The ladder tournament even has its own web site, thoughtfully maintained by tourney participant Nick Markevich. The current (Round 10) standings can be viewed at: <www.jps.net/nmrkvch/was/ladder10.html>.

Past Tournament Top Finishers

Year	Champion	2nd Place	3rd Place	4th Place
1991	Bruce Monnin	Chuck Stapp	Tim Hitchings	Steve Packwood
1992	Tom Scarborough	Bruce Monnin	Ken Shunk	Chuck Stapp
1993	Bruce Monnin	Tom Scarborough	Tim Hitchings	Chuck Stapp
1994	Phil Rennert	John Pack	Ray Freeman	Mike Knautz
1995	Ray Freeman	Tim Hitchings	Jonathan Lockwood	Phil Rennert
1996	Steve Packwood	Rob Mull	Phil Rennert	Gary Moody
1997	Tim Hitchings	Patrick Richardson	Bryan Eshleman	Scott Sirianna
1998	Mike Kaye	Matt Romaniecki	Rob Mull	Tom Scarborough

Examining this list reveals a couple of interesting things. First, 7 different players have won the tournament in the last 7 years. Indeed, Bruce Monnin is the only player to have won twice. And, 18 different players are represented in the "final four" list. If that doesn't prove that competition is tight, I don't know what would. In my opinion (and obviously, you don't see my name anywhere on that list), the caliber of play is improving, and getting more equal, every year. Some years back, the Bruce Monnins, Ray Freemans, Tom Scarboroughs, and the rest of the top players were quite a bit better than most of the rest of us. However, now that we've read all the strategy articles in The General and The Boardgamer, and played the best every year at Avaloncon, the gap has narrowed quite a bit. And as we all know, there's already enough luck in War At Sea that any player can beat any other in any given game.

Take special note of Tim Hitchings, the 1997 champion and my fellow Delawarean. Tim has been a semifinalist in each odd-numbered year (1991, 93, 95, and 97) while missing the final four in every even-numbered year. Far from abating, this peculiar trend is becoming more pronounced. In 1997, Tim became the first player in the history of the tournament to go undefeated at 7-0. Last year, Tim bowed out after losing his first three matches. From undefeated to unvictorious in just 12 months! 1999 being an odd-numbered year, look out everybody else.

The Boardgamer

Another byproduct of the sale of Avalon Hill to Hasbro is the demise of The General. In lieu of The General, however, you may want to try Bruce Monnin's quarterly, The Boardgamer. In its 4th year, it's a 32 (or more) page publication that focuses exclusively on boardgames, mostly Avalon Hill.

The Boardgamer represents improvement in two significant areas over what The General had become in its waning years. First, the issues come out when scheduled, and second, there are actually numerous articles on strategy for many different games, not just the most recent releases. Plus, AREA ratings and Avaloncon/WBC coverage. Available from Bruce at 177 South Lincoln Street, Minster, OH 45865-1240 for $14/year.

King George V

Other Interesting Web Sites

A site with AREA ratings for every player in every game is maintained by Bruno Wolff III at:
<www.uwm.edu/people/bruno/AREA>.

The Boardgame Players Association, which has all the latest information about the World Boardgaming Championships, is at: <http://www.boardgamers.org>.

Another good site is ConsimWorld, "the official news, information, and talk site covering the historical boardgaming industry," which includes discussions on a wide variety of gaming topics, including Avalon Hill, product releases from a number of companies, and specific games like War At Sea. The URL is: <www.consimworld.com>.

Finally, Web-Grognards advertises itself as "the site for wargames on the web." Check them out at: <www.grognard.com>.

Bismarck

The Boardgame Players Association