tyranno ex [Updated October 2006]  

 2006 WBC Report  

 2007 Status: pending December Membership Vote

Ewan McNay, CT

2006 Champion

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Event History
1992    William Patrick      16
1993    William Patrick      16
1994    Tom De Marco      21
1995    Carolyn De Marco      18
1996    Tom De Marco      25
1997    Carolyn De Marco      36
1998    Tom De Marco      39
1999    Mike Lescault     23
2000    Verity Hitchings     23
2001    Verity Hitchings     30
2002    Mark Love     26
2003     Gary Noe     38
2004    Pete Pollard     23
2005     Peter Staab     27
2006    Jeff Finkeldey     27

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Verity Hitchings   DE    06     74
  2.  Mark Love          MD    02     52
  3.  Tom DeMarco        NJ    05     51
  4.  Peter Staab        PA    05     48
  5.  Jeff Finkeldey     OH    99     42
  6.  Gary Noe           FL    04     36
  7.  Peter Pollard      TN    04     30
  8.  Mike Lescault      MA    99     30
  9.  Ewan McNay         CT    06     20
 10.  Francis Spencer    MD    04     20
 11.  Kathy Hitchings    DE    04     19
 12.  Skip Maloney       NY    05     18
 13.  David Farrow       PA    01     18
 14.  Matt Evinger       PA    00     18
 15.  Charles Davis      WV    02     16
 16.  David Fritsch      VA    06     12
 17.  Kaarin Engelmann   VA    06     12
 18.  Robert Eastman     NV    03     12
 19.  Ed Kendrick        UK    01     12
 20.  Tom Vickery        NJ    00     12
 21.  Christina Hancock  NH    99     12
 22.  Robert Drozd       IL    04      9
 23.  Sarah Buckmiller   OH    03      9
 24.  Mike Mahady        TX    00      9
 25.  Tamara Houde       VA    06      8
 26.  Marc Houde         VA    03      6
 27.  John Elbl          PA    99      6
 28.  Jordan Halberstadt IN    06      4
 29.  John Miklos        GA    05      3
 30.  Paul Barnett       UK    01      3
 31.  Dave Platnick      VA    99      3

2006 Laurelists

David Fritsch, VA
2nd

Tamara Houde, VA
3rd

Kaarin Engelmann, VA
4th

Jordan Halberstadt, IN
5th

Verity Hitchings, DE
6th


Past Winners

William Patrick, MI
1992-1993

Tom DeMarco, NJ
1994, 1996, 1998

Carolyn DeMarco, NJ
1995, 1997

Mike Lescault, MA
1999

Verity Hitchings, DE
2000-2001

Mark Love, MD
2002

Gary Noe, FL
2003

Peter Pollard, TN
2004

Peter Staab, PA
2005


 Kaarin Englemann shows some natural dice
wristage while battling for survival.

 Verity Hitchings, Ewan McNay and Tamara Houde
plot their turns in a Semi-Final game.

Evolution of the German Imports

This year two changes were made to boost attendance:  a demo session, and a heat change from Tuesday to Saturday.  Both appear to have helped somewhat, although the timing of the semi's and Final next year will definitely be changed (more on that later).

Overall attendance remained steady pretty good for a game which first appeared in 1992 and has long been out of print.  The initial heat Wednesday drew 24 participants, more than 2004's total count - but that was the end of the good news.  Random seating paired two past champions and two seasoned contenders at the same table.  Pete Staab, Tom DeMarco, Katherine Hitchings, and Kaarin Engelmann played a seesaw battle that saw the lead change three times in six turns with Kaarin winning by four points, showing again how evenly matched the top players are.  Another winner was Steve Cameron, who won the closest match of the heat with a mere eight points separating all four players.  Rob Drozd defeated yours truly, while Verity Hitchings won a three-player game going away.  Another perennial contender, Matt Evinger won his game, as well as Mike Fisher.  The second heat early Saturday afternoon managed only three tables, won by Tom DeMarco (in a rare four-turn game), Tamara Houde, and Ewan McNay, who literally ran into the room to enter just as the games were about to begin.

The semi-final Saturday evening had scheduling conflicts which led to only eight qualifiers being available, allowing the semi's runner-ups to advance to the Final.  In one game, David Fritsch rallied from last place after two turns to defeat Kaarin Engelmann, Jordan Halberstad, and Rob Drozd.  Kaarin took second place by virtue of the 'superior creature' tiebreaker over Jordan, a newcomer in the event.  In the other semi, Ewan McNay bested three ladies, Tamara Houde, Verity Hitchings, and Christina Hancock in a game in which 11 creatures died in one environmental change.  More evidence for modified scheduling next year was the dilemma for Christina and Verity, who were playing to advance but were also looking forward to playing in Slapshot.  Christina decided to make a risky attack to try and overtake Ewan, but her plan backfired (or did it?), giving Tamara second place and a seat at the Final.

So the Final matched Ewan, David, Tamara, and Kaarin.  Probably due in part to the (very) late night start, the game entered the double-advance stage on the second turn of the game with Kaarin slightly in the lead.  But as so often happens, leading early can be a curse, as the rest of the group concentrated on her.  Meanwhile, Ewan had remarkable rolls: in two separate situations he was able to defeat '6' strength (also known as  "auto-hit") creatures with weaker ones in battle (due to rolling more dice).  He steadily rose from second on Turn 2 to 1st in Turn 4, where he was able to hold on through the end of the game at Turn 5. 

The demo session brought some new players to the tourney, so will be continued.  I am going to keep the Wednesday heat, but will be reconsidering the day and time of the other heat and SE rounds to reduce conflicts and wrap up before the wee hours.  Comments and suggestions are welcome.

 GM      Jeff Finkeldey [3rd year]   NA 
    JFinkeldey@aol.com    NA

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