Contents 1 is an association of boardgame enthusiasts incorporated as a non-profit company BPA in the state of South Carolina for the express purpose of hosting the annual gaming conference known as the World Boardgaming Championships, or WBC for short. It offers tourna- ments, vendors, an auction, demonstrations, seminars, open gaming, and Juniors programs. In addition, for those who can’t get enough, we offer Play-by-Email-Tournaments. We love boardgam- ing competition—from wargames and Eurogames to racing, sports, and rail games, and we make no apologies for it. It’s what we do. And we’ve done it better than anybody else by default for decades. This yearbook documents BPA events of the previous year. Aside from the back cover, it does not contain scheduling information for the upcoming convention. Schedules and event previews will appear in a separate program and online at boardgamers.org. In fact, on our website, you’ll find more pre- and post-event information than any place on the net—over 1,000 pages of it. It’s not very lucra- tive or cost effective, but we think it demonstrates our commitment to this hobby. To help support BPA, take a moment to subscribe to our FREE e-mail newsletter via the web- site and continue to spread the good news about our association and its activities. Credits Convention Director: Don Greenwood Webmaster & Publicity: Kaarin Engelmann Board Chairman & Treasurer: Ken Gutermuth Secretary: Bruce Monnin Assistant Treasurer: Peter Stein Incorporator: Scott Pfeiffer Contents BPA Logo: Mark Simonitch Team Tournament Top 25 .............Inside Front Cover Cover Art: Kurt Miller 2014: Year in Review .................................................2 Photography: Debbie Gutermuth, Charlie Kibler Century Events ..........................................................3 PBeM Coordinator: Hank Burkhalter Trial Events ..............................................................58 Online Discussion Board: John Kranz Play-By-Email Champions .....................................64 Kiosk Prints: Jeff Billings Board of Directors ...................................................67 Legal Counsel: Ralph Gleaton Team Champions ....................................................68 Printing: Lost Battalion Games Hobby Service Award ............................................69 Insurance: Phil Barcafer Caesar Award ..........................................................70 Exclusive Show Vendor: Decision Games Consul Award ..........................................................71 Security: Ken Whitesell GM of the Year .........................................................72 Juniors Room Monitors: Joanna Melton, Sportsmanship Award ............................................73 Crystal Shipley Looking Ahead ........................................................74 Juniors Program Coodinator: Laurie Wojtaszczyk Patrons ......................................................................78 AREA Ratings: Glenn Petroski, Bruno Wolff Things to do in 2016 ................................................80 Team Handicaps: Stuart Tucker, Jeff Cornett 2014 Pre-Cons ..............................Inside Back Cover Auction: Bruce Reiff, Ken Gutermuth, Jeff Omens; Event Starts .......................................Back Cover Mullet, et al Religious Services: John Poniske Proof Reading: Bruce Monnin Signs and Tech Support: Roy Gibson Web Personal Scheduler: Steve Okonski Team Logos: David Dockter, Kaarin Engelmann Open Gaming Monitor: Paul Bean Library Coordinator: Keith Levy Social Networks Answer Person: Scott Nerney Registration Staff: Charlie Kibler, Judy Kibler, Jessica Greenwood and Tara Greenwood Sponsors: Alliance Distributors, Nicolas 1541 Redfield Rd., Bel Air, MD 21015-5739 Benedict, Bill Crenshaw, David desJardins, www.boardgamers.org • [email protected] Chris Easter, Ken Gutermuth, Rick Northey, August 4-10, 2014 • August 3-9, 2015 Rio Grande Games, and Jerald R. Tracy Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster, PA 2 2014: Year in Review Century Events 3 2014 may well be remembered as the year Nick Henning who won FIVE titles—a hereto- the public forums changed from pillorying fore never achieved total that rendered my usu- 2014 Results 2014 Results the Lancaster Host to criticizing the decision al baseball analogies obsolete. The accomplish- Bruce Beard, MD David Platnick, VA to leave it. Venue changes are always contro- ment was even more impressive because Nick Anthony Lainesse, qc Karl Buchholz, MI versial and this one was no different. The an- had won only one of those events previously. Mason Murray, VA Sean Maher, WV nounced change of location to Pennsylvania’s As one might expect when someone wins Andy Roosen, MD Steven Alfierei, PA Seven Springs Mountain Resort two years five tournaments in one WBC, Nick was to be S. Hamblen, MD O Joe Millovich, PA hence aroused much comment, pro and con, as a prominent and recurring name in the various F. deBellefeuille, qc O Erik Schlosser, PA was expected. Much of it predictably was pred- metagaming honors of WBC 2014. He start- Tom McCorry, VA Nick Ferris, MD icated on whether the change in venue moved ed by anchoring his team’s record breaking WBC closer to or farther from those offering 30-point performance as his Now Playing team 55 1991-2014 151 2011-2014 an opinion. The oft repeated amenity concerns took the Team Tournament with a dominating of prior years took a decidedly subdued posi- performance by his fellow young Turks (Dave Top Laurelists Top Laurelists tion in the ensuing discussions. Virtual tours Meyaard, Jon Gemmel, and brother Karl) by Bruce Beard, MD 512 Andrew Emerick, CT 58 of the new venue in repeated looped presenta- besting the previous scoring record by 25%. Jim McDanold, TN 120 David Platnick, VA 56 tions calmed more than a few fears and most The 22nd ranked 50-1 entry bested the third Spencer Hamblen, MD 108 Matthew Beach, MD 50 left with a hopeful wait and see attitude about ranked Harry B’s by six points—a virtual land- Jon Kwiatkowski, NC 104 Kelly Czyryca, MD 40 Paul Hakken, NJ 103 Luann Stubbs, PA 30 what this latest turn in WBC evolution had in slide in Team Tournament scoring. Barrington Beavis, uk 90 Bill Zurn, CA 30 store for them. Another peek at that future is But there’s where the magic ended. The Mark Neale, RI 72 Dominic Blais, qc 30 contained on pages 74-80. biggest surprise of the post-WBC Award an- Akihisa Tabei, jp 58 Karl Buchholz, MI 24 Meanwhile, we set another attendance re- nouncements came when Nick was NOT pro- Bruce Beard, MD Andrew Roosen, MD 54 David Platnick, VA Dan Shmueli, NY 24 Jeremy Vipperman, TN 54 Lissa Rennert, MD 24 cord during our ninth year in Lancaster. In claimed Caesar—or even Consul—finishing all, players from over 50 states and Canadian second in both categories to James Pei and Rich- provinces plus a record 21 nations attended ard Beyma respectively. Nick’s 169 laurels were 18XX (8XX) Seven Wonders (7WS) in 2014. 24 events drew triple-digit participa- 7 less than Pei’s total which benefitted from a 1830 remained the game of choice As in 2013, the tournament favored smaller, more tion—another all time high! All of the sched- 36-laurel boost from the preceding year’s email with 20 plays. 1862 generated nine plays, strategic table groupings. And as in the year before, uled 159 events achieved tournament status event results—which had, in turn, cost James followed by 1846 (4), 1880 (4), 1861 (3), preliminary round matches consisted of two games with fields ranging from a minimum of eight the Caesar award in 2013 when they were not 18EU (2), 1856 (2) and 1870 (1). awarding advancement points to players depending to a record 303 players for Ticket to Ride. credited to 2013, but delayed to 2014. Simi- Bruce Beard and Andy Roosen entered Round on their finishing places. With 4-player games return- 2 unbeaten in four games to claim the top seeds. ing as the preliminary round matchup of choice, 151 14 reigning WBC champions successfully larly, Nick’s 109 WBC laurels finished second Italian Fabio Pellegrino took the third seed at 3-1. players at 38 tables took part in the 7 Wonders quali- defended their titles, led by the Master, James to Richard Beyma’s 128, when Nick’s Through Nine players tied with two wins. 20 of 22 win- fiers in 2014 without benefit of multiple heats. The Pei, who extended his latest streak in For The the Ages win was judged a Pre-Con event while ners persevered for the semifinal so no alternates preliminaries continued to be tight with all but six of People to six years to maintain his hold on Richard’s Grognard laurels were not. made the cut—disappointing former champion the 50 advancing players winning at least one of their WBC’s longest current winning streak. Curt With upsets the order of the week, it was Barrington Beavis and Andy Lewis with seven first two games--and nearly a dozen winning both. Collins II remained his closest pursuer with tough sledding for prognosticators again with seconds between them. Two 1830 semifinal games As in the previous year, the single quarterfinal match his fourth straight Union Pacific title. Other Andrew Maly winning the Annual Team Tour- were played, one 1862 game and one epic 1880 proved a far tougher trial with some players adopt- contenders in this 14-member pack were Pe- nament Bracket Busting contest with just four game that seated the last two champions Bruce ing meta-gaming strategies to increase their chances ter Gurneau (Combat Commander) and Eric correct picks—albeit the top four. That proved Beard and Spencer Hamblen,