Using the same format as the previous 4 years, the competitors met in 4 preliminary heats on Friday and Saturday, organized as 3-player games to determine who would advance to the semi-final round held later on Saturday. The final heat on Saturday had the lowest turnout so far. As a result, next year we’re going to cut back to just 3 heats – 2 on Friday and 1 on Saturday morning. That should help all players by wrapping up the event a little earlier in the day.

As in the previous tournaments, the basic game system was used with the addition of two of the published optional rules: 6.4 Tournament Balance and 6.8 Additional Damage. The Tournament Balance rule assures that each player's initial German force contains at least one warship of equal capability as the opposing players. It also keeps some of the weaker German raiders out of the initial deal. That way each player starts with a German force of roughly equal strength. The Additional Damage rule helps to move play along by marking damage for every hit. Typically a ship only absorbs a single damage hit.

The qualifying semi-finalists played a single hand to determine which 4 would advance to the Final. The players advancing were all new finalists: Dan Lawall, Greg Schmittgens, Bill Beckman, and Matt Bacho. The Greenville Mafia gang continued their strong representation securing 2 of the 4 seats. It is readily apparent that they play a fair amount of The Kaiser's Pirates down in South Carolina.

These 4 finalists faced off in a complete game. Previously, they played only single-hands in the heats and the semi-finals, but now they would fight it out in a game composed of 3 complete hands. In this configuration, just one great hand could not carry a player to victory. The format for the Final retained the structure of the previous rounds with the addition of 4 additional optional Rules: 6.1 Coal Pile, 6.2 Sails, 6.3 Wölfchen, and 6.7 Warship and Raider Retention. These additional options added more tension to an already challenging game.

Each player started with a formidable force of German ships: Dan the Nürnberg, Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Wolf; Greg the Dresden, Möwe and Greif; Bill the Emden, Cap Trafalgar and Kronprinz Wilhelm; and Matt the Königsberg, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Leopard.

In the 1^st hand, Matt outpaced the next closest player by almost 20 points. The game's scoring system awards a maximum of 4 round points for winning a 4-player hand. There is never more than a 3-round point spread between the players for each hand, thereby keeping all players in the game.

In the 2nd hand, Matt’s German ships all seemed to be flying bull’s-eyes from their masts instead of Imperial German Ensigns as he went from first to last place. Dan, who had finished last in the previous hand, really turned it around and out distanced the other players by some 35 points. Going into the final hand, just 2 round points separated 1st place (Bill - 6 points) from (Greg - 4 points) 4th place.

The final hand was very close up until Matt pulled away in the last couple of turns securing wood as the champion with 9 round points. In the closet finish yet, the other three players were each tied with 7 round points. So, the game’s built-in tie-breaker system was used to seat the other players. The total victory points for all the hands were tallied, resulting in a 2nd place finish for Dan, 3rd for Greg, and 4th for Bill.

Throughout both days, the participants demonstrated great sportsmanship as well as solid and clever play. This year the game was dominated by experienced players, but those players were, as always, quick to show the new players the ropes and everyone seemed to have a great time. I am always pleased to see the level of camaraderie demonstrated by the participants.

I hope to see you next year.