07report

'07 National Block Party Report:

Twenty-six gamers gathered along the banks of the Ohio River in New Albany, IN outside of Louisville, KY to celebrate a weekend of gaming. This was the first Block Party that was not organized by the BPA. The event drew gamers from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. The Ohio Valley Gamers hosted the event and attendance did not decrease from when it was hosted by the BPA! We had our struggles with some last minute cancelations by the F2F Gaming Guys and the Louisville Game Shop, but we made some adjustments and had a terrific con. Columbia Games was there to support their titles as well as participate in the gaming.

The weekend featured eight tournament events and an open gaming tourney of Twilight Struggle hosted by Kevin Rohrer. Block Games may have been the main course, but there was a lot of other fare to nibble on over the weekend. The weekend saw the play of Combat Commander, Axis & Allies Minis, Union Pacific and a demo of a fantasy based game. The event was terrific and the Ohio Valley Gamers have already began discussing ways to improve the weekend.

Diplomacy: Ten players competed over the weekend. The games had a secret time limit known to the GM. Players did not play the same country twice over the tourney. The scoring system was developed at Prezcon and proposed by Tom Pasko. We want to thank Ric Manns stepping in to GM and Scott Bowling for making the best country awards. We had some "old hands" such as Scott, Bowling, Charles "Ducky" Stucker, Mike Sims and Mark Fassio, but the weekend was dominated by the young players. We had three players under the age of 18 and one player that is a student at the University of Louisville. Michael C. Sims (The younger Sims) edged Charles "Ducky" Stucker for the plaque by a single point 57-56!

The order of finish was 1st Michael C. Sims, 2nd Charles "Ducky" Stucker, 3rd Mark Kuisner, 4th Ric Manns, 5th Mark Fassio, 6th Ferkin Doyle, 7th Mike Sims (The Older) 8th Jacob Bush, 9th Scott Bowling and 10th Wesly Chapman

Best Countries: Austria - Mark Fassio, England - Mike Sims (The Older), France - Mark Kuisner, Italy - Mark Kuisner, Germany - Michael C. Sims (The Younger), Russia - Charles "Ducky" Stucker and Turkey - Michael C. Sims (The Younger).

Commands & Colors: Thirteen players participated in the free form event. Players were required to play at least three rounds to qualify for the finals. Competitors were allowed to play a mutually agreeable scenario. Zama was the clear favorite over the weekend. Players were allowed to choose sides in any way they deemed fit for the earlier rounds. The Romans won a majority of games over the weekend and by late Saturday there was Mike Updike and the all the others! Three players tied to qualify with a 2-1 records, but Ric Manns bested both Pete Stein & Scott Bowling bsed upon points. The contestants chose randomly for sides and the scenario was Zama. Ric drew the Romans and an unbelievable hand. He was able to play two mounted charges, a clash of shields, two inspired leaderships, two double times and no movement lower than a two! Mike wethered the initial onslaught and was looking like the Elephant charge was going to save Carthage's center when Ric was able to respond with a double time to finish Carthage off with the Roman Heavy & Medium Infantry and steal the plaque from Mike.

Crusader Rex: Crusader Rex made its Block Party debut in '07. This is the latest game from Jerry Taylor, the designer of the award winning Hammer of the Scots! The game recreates the Third Crusade that pitted Saracen and Frankish forces in the titanic struggle for the control of the Holy Lands. Players bid the number of blocks that would be removed from the Saracen draw and added to the Frankish initial draw. The tourney drew ten players and saw few bids, but it also demonstrated that the Franks are not hopeless as they won the majority of games played over the weekend. Two newcomers to the Block Party Mike Updike from KY and Chris Rueber of MO qualified for the finals. The final round began Sunday morning and was a tense game. Mike played the Saracens and took an early lead in the Victory Point Cities. Chris slowly drew the Crusaders and had a shot at winning in the end, but to no avail. Mike was able to take the first Block Party title in Crusader Rex home to Kentucky.

Liberty: This year saw Liberty drop to its lowest attendance since the first Block Party. Nine players vied for the destiny of the original thirteen colonies. The British won the majority of games for the second straight year. There was no instances of French reluctance to throw the blame on. French entry was usually by 1778, yet that did not deter the King's men in their pursuit of the rebels! Players bid Victory Points to play the Americans. Rob Taylor of Michigan rolled to an early lead and qualification for the finals. The best of the rest was Pete Stein from Columbus, Ohio. The final was a one sided affair as Rob was able to take an advantageous combat dice and cards to finish off Pete in short order. This was Rob's first triumph at the Block Party, but not his last!

Game of Thrones: This was the second multiplayer game featured at the National Block Party. Game of Thrones is based upon the highly successful fantasy series of the same name by George R. R. Martin. The board game is published by Fantasy Flight Games. It is a five player game and drew only five for its first and possibly last tournament. GM Kevin Rohrer from Ohio demoed the game and ran it after the second round of Diplomacy on Saturday evening. The game has a lot of similar concepts to Diplomacy. Dip players that have tried the game love its balance and quick playing time. The players take on the role of one of the great houses and try to stake claim to the throne. Players make and break alliances as they try to claim the Iron Throne of Westeros. Mark Fassio and Mike Updike both of KY made a southern alliance that served them well. This created an opening for Mike and the House of Baratheon. Mark playing the House of Tyree decided that his interests did not follow the same path as Mike's and broke the alliance at the end. This brief disagreement created an opening for Jacob Bush playing the House of Greyjoy to take the Iron Throne and the Plaque! Jake was able to build his lead by quickly dispatching the GM's own House of Lannister while make an ally of Michael C. Sims (the Younger) and the House of Stark.

War of 1812: This is one of the most successful of the block games in its draw. 1812 is over thirty years old and still is going strong at the Block Party and the WBC. Ten players competed for this year's crown. The beauty of War of 1812 is the ease of play and the quickness in learning the rules. There were a few new players that tried it for the first time including David Burris of Indiana, who applied the labels to the blocks right before the tourney began. Players used the three long standing variants from the WBC and the past Block Parties. Mike Sims (The Older) and his long time nemesis Charles "Ducky" Stucker reached the finals. Mike played the Brits and Charles took the upstart Americans. Charles had a real trial as the unruly and undisciplined US Militia as they would pick the most inopportune times to refuse to invade Canada. Mike was able to bloody the Americans and rode that to his third straight War of 1812 title.

Clash for a Continent: Worthington Games popular tactical series made its debut at Block Party. It's short playing time and quick rules and two published titles Clash for a Continent (French & Indian War and American Revolution scenarios) and For Honor and Glory (War of 1812 scenarios) made it a great filler game. Worthington is also publishing its third game in the series on the Mexican-American War. Eight players gave it a whirl. There were a lot of people that enjoyed the game. Rob Taylor of Michigan stepped in for the sick GM Barry Smith to run the tourney. The majority of games played used the French & Indian War scenario on Quebec. Mike Updike and Kevin Rohrer of Ohio were the two to qualify for Saturday night's final. Kevin took the French and tried to drive the British back with his wings. Mike was able to keep the French back with his artillery and Kevin was unable to bring his reinforcements to bear and Mike took the Plaque.

Hammer of the Scots: The most popular block game was still a draw for tourney play. Twelve players tried to control the destiny of Scotland over the three days. Players bid the turns they were willing to play without the Edward I block. Ric Manns last year's champion stood undefeated on Sunday morning. Rob Taylor of Michigan was the other qualifier and he took the English. The game was a rematch of a game that was played on Friday afternoon. The game was one that saw three turns end early due to the playing of events. Rob was able to quickly dispatch the rebellious Bruce and Galloway. He was then able to move north consolidating his strength around Mentieth. Ric was able to make a quick stab towards the end of the game by taking Argyll, but the King was able to gather his knights and moved up the Angus/Fife highway to take the majority of the nobles and his second Block Party Plaque!