Part I By: Mark Miklos

At the 2018 World Boardgame Championships (WBC) held in Seven Springs, PA in July, Mark Miklos’ Battles of the American Revolution (BoAR), published by GMT Games, celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The designer and publisher pulled out all the stops for this milestone event. Several players also volunteered to contribute prizes and memorabilia. Bruno Sinigaglio donated t-shirts, Chris Easter (even though he couldn’t attend) donated dice cups, and Tim Miller donated book marks. Mark Miklos donated couzies and collectible buttons, and all these items were emblazoned with a special anniversary logo created by Darlene Miklos exclusively for the occasion. Everyone that played in even a single heat was given ALL the aforementioned items.

BoAR Event Area at WBC 2018

GMT Games came through with raffle prizes and there was a drawing each evening during which we drew several winners daily. Prizes included counter trays, decks of cards from the various games in the series and shrink wrapped copies of Brandywine (2nd ed.) and the Tri-Pack!

The third place finisher, Bill Morse, took home a Rodger MacGowan autographed artist’s proof of the Savannah box cover. The 2nd place finisher, Jim Tracy, not only earned a gently-used Big Board Games copy of Guilford Courthouse but also a shrink wrapped Tri-Pack (which Mark Miklos earned as the champion but which he declined to claim.) We also awarded a special prize to the non-AREA-rated player who made it the farthest in the tournament. That was GMT’s-own Andy Lewis who actually qualified as a quarter-finalist as you will hear but who couldn’t advance due to his obligation to run the GMT booth once the vendors opened. Andy was awarded a numbered, limited edition collectible pewter and porcelain plate from a series done for the Bicentennial in the 1970’s.

A couple of tables at the BoAR Event.

Tables were festooned with Rev War flags to help set the mood and the only thing missing was fife and drum music.  It was quite an extravaganza!

To showcase the BoAR series, a total of seven heats were offered during the Swiss Elimination portion of the tournament.  Win, lose or draw, players came back as often as desired to earn one of the top-8 spots advancing into the single elimination quarter finals.

The first Heat was the new Freeman’s Farm scenario from Saratoga.  Saratoga is the flagship game of the BoAR series, launched originally in 1998 and it has withstood the test of time.  It was most recently re-released in a bona fide third edition as part of the GMT BoAR Tripack.  New units and new deluxe counters, a new hard mounted map with updated terrain features and a new scenario; “Freeman’s Farm” have been added to a game that keeps on pleasing.

Twelve players competed.  Note that there were three American and three British wins.  Two victories for each side were marginal and one for each side was substantial. Did someone say play balance?

Sixteen players battled in Heat #2; Lee’s Advance at Monmouth Courthouse. Monmouth was published in 2007 and is volume #5 in the series.  Monmouth introduced command & control rules that often hamper the American player in frustrating ways; not unlike the frustration experienced by Washington during the actual battle.  Monmouth also offers three short scenarios in conjunction with the full campaign game and we used two of these scenarios in this year’s tournament.

During “Lee’s Advance,” the British and Americans each won three games marginally. Two contests ended in a draw.  In BoAR games players can win decisively, substantially, marginally or end in a draw.  These levels of victory are taken into account during competition and yield varying amounts of tournament points which are used when seeding players in subsequent rounds.

Nineteen players showed up for Heat #3; The Holding Action at Monmouth. According to WBC rules, byes are awarded to past champions in descending order and in this case, given the odd number of players,  the bye fell to Mark Miklos. American players were out of luck this time. There were four British victories including the tournament’s first decisive victory by Tim Miller over Dick Boyes. The other five contests ended in a draw.

Twenty players met for Heat #4, the Guilford Courthouse historical scenario. Guilford was published in 2002 as volume #3 in the series.  Guilford was the first game in the series to include a bonus game; the Battle of Eutaw Springs.  By including a bonus game for the same price, GMT added value to a subject that offered a smaller battle situation with lower counter density.  This value-add formula was again used in 2013 for volume #8, the Battle of Newtown, which included the bonus game, the Battle of Oriskany.

Guilford, now in its 2^nd edition, is another of the games included in the BoAR Tripack.  For those who haven’t yet purchased a Tripack please note that the victory conditions for Guilford have been revised. Rather than needing a margin of +3 VPs for a marginal victory the British now only need a margin of +2. Failing that, the Americans are awarded a marginal victory.  During the tournament the British won five contests, four marginally and one substantially while the Americans also won five contests, all marginally. That rule-change in the 2nd edition has made all the difference in the world for play balance in Guilford Courthouse.

Thirteen players gathered for Heat #5; Eutaw Springs and Bruno Sinigaglio received the bye. There were three American wins, two draws and one British win when Derek Pulhamus defeated Roberto Sanchez marginally.  By acclimation and consent players universally consider Eutaw Springs to be the most balanced scenario in the entire BoAR series.  Decades of competition data back that up.  British wins, American Wins and Draws are roughly divided into thirds.  With its relatively straightforward tactical situation and low counter density it makes the best platform to introduce new players to the game system.

There were also thirteen players for Heat #6; Knyphausen’s Feint at Brandywine Creek and Jim Tracy received the bye. Brandywine is volume #2 in the series and was originally published in 2000.  It too has recently been released in a second edition and is also included in the Tri-Pack.  The British managed two marginal victories in this scenario while American players earned three decisive and one substantial victory.

In the final Heat, Howe’s Flank Attack at Brandywine, fourteen players contested the field. Only Chris Byrd’s Americans prevailed. In all other contests the British carried the day.

A total of 33 players entered the BoAR tournament despite the unavoidable absence of several cadre players including Rob McCracken, Rod Coffey, Rob Doane, Chris Easter and Don Hanle.  While they were missed, their ranks were compensated for by a total of seven new players plus Henry Russell who rolled-off the AREA-Rating “inactive list” by joining in this year’s competition.

After the heats, the top eight players were seeded as follows: Bill Morse, Jim Tracy, Bruno Sinigaglio, Mark Miklos, Dave Stiffler, Tim Miller, Marty Musella and Andy Lewis. Since Andy couldn’t advance as mentioned earlier, the first alternate, Father Todd Carter, got the chance to enter the quarter final as the #8 seed. Pairings were set as Morse v Carter, Tracy v Musella, Sinigaglio v Miller and Miklos v Stiffler.  The contest was the Battle of Germantown; volume #7 in the series published in 2010.  There were no upsets as the higher seed advanced in each pair. Morse’s British won substantially as did Tracy’s and Sinigaglio’s Americans.

Miklos’ Americans won marginally on a tie break. This match was heading toward a draw in which case victory would go to the player with superior Army Morale. Until the last two turns the Miklos’ Americans seemed to have that well in hand but drunken Adam Stephen’s division unexpectedly marched into the no-man’s land separating the armies and Miklos had to advance a portion of his line in order to protect those regiments from annihilation and certain defeat in the game.

For those unfamiliar with Germantown, one American division was commanded by Adam Stephen who was, in fact, drunk on duty and issued conflicting and contradictory orders to his troops.  The situation was exacerbated by the fact that dense fog covered the battlefield making coordination among the elements of the American army difficult at best.  Historically Stephen’s men wandered into the rear of the American line and, having lost their bearings, assumed the units in their front were the enemy.  A friendly fire incident ensued which led to panic among certain American regiments that then fell out of line and fled to the rear.  The potential for these circumstances to occur is reflected in the game mechanics and while never a certainty, every American player is forced to contend with this “wild card.”

Once Miklos advanced to cover Stephen’s exposed position he himself invited combat which led to a reversal in Army Morale.  On the last half turn he needed two rallies in order to reclaim a morale advantage. The dice were with him (even though it’s NEVER the dice) and he succeeded in both attempts to gain a 1-point morale advantage and the tie-break victory.

And speaking of Adam Stephen, his effect on play varied across all tables. In the game just mentioned he meandered harmlessly in the rear until the critical moment toward the end of play when he nearly cost the Americans the game by becoming exposed to the enemy. On another board he was a complete non-factor. On a third board he created a friendly fire incident that led to wide-spread panic in the American line. On the fourth board his units actually exited the map causing a one-time loss of American Army Morale but otherwise no lasting damage. Four games; four completely different outcomes.

The semi-final was the Battle of Saratoga, 3rd ed. Here Jim Tracy’s Americans won substantially over Bruno’s British while Miklos’ British won marginally over Bill Morse’s Americans. Thus after seven heats, a quarterfinal and a semi-final the combatants for the championship were culled from the pack; Jim Tracy and Mark Miklos.

NEXT WEEK: The BoAR WBC Tournament Finale AAR narrated by Dave Stiffler – Stay Tuned!

Articles in this Series: Part 1  Part 2

Author: Mark Miklos