Bruce, Braveheart and the Blocks
...
While
the number of participants were down, there were as many games
played with the switch to a Swiss elimination format. That format
seemed to be quite popular, as half of all participants played
in all three preliminary rounds.
Equally popular was playing the English side. All bids made
were to play the English. No one bid to play the Scots. That
may change next year though, as the Scots had a slight edge in
number of wins in the preliminary rounds.
After three rounds, the top eight players went to single elimination.
The bidding continued to favor the English, but the wins favored
them also. Three of four games in the first round were won by
the English, then they split the semi-final round.
The final saw a bid of 3 for the English by Lyman Moquin.
It was the highest bid of the tournament, but it turned out to
be the right one. Without Edward for the first four turns, Moquin
had to depend on a good levy to stay in it and he got it. He
immediately went north, while Stuart Pierce sent Bruce into England.
Breaths were held while a roll was made to see if the Irish would
defend England and they did, kicking Bruce back over the border.
Wallace had to run to stay alive and could not run a campaign
of conversion.
The next few turns saw Bruce and Galloway conquered, with
some northern nobles joining the Scots. In 1301, Edward finally
showed up and built a massive army (nine blocks total). Lyman
pressed the attack in 1302 and forced the Scots to retreat, losing
territory and units. Lyman's final card of the turn was a 3 and
he planned to use it to end the Scottish Rebellion. He turned
it to find Stuart's Truce card staring at him and Edward had
to go back to England to answer to his nobles there.
Even so, the onslaught left the Scots with only two nobles
and a turn later Moray died. The last couple turns saw the Herald
played successfully on Bruce, and the Scots holding on, but no
comeback was forthcoming.
Lyman Moquin was crowned the new WBC champ. Lyman earned the
Wood by not just beating, but crushing, everyone he faced. In
five games as the English, he killed Wallace three times and
Wallace and Moray twice. In his one game as the Scots, he killed
Edward.
PBeM Tournament commenced October 1st, 2004:
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