18XX

Updated 12/2/2008

2008 WBC Report  

 2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Bruce Beard, MD

2005-08 Champion

Offsite Links

  

Event History
1991    Mark Giddings      34
1992    Dave Harshbarger      46
1993    Robin Barbehenn      84
1994    Todd Vander Pluym      84
1995    Mark Giddings      51
1996    Christian Goetz      45
1997    Dan Vice      50
1998    Jon Kwiatkowski      45
1999    Barrington Beavis     32
2000    Barrington Beavis     28
2001    David Fritsch     33
2002    Jon Kwiatkowski     36
2003    Paul Hakken     32
2004    Richard Fox     37
2005     Bruce Beard     29
2006    Bruce Beard     37
2007    Bruce Beard     45
2008    Bruce Beard     35
 Laurels

Rank Name                 From  Last Total
  1. Bruce Beard           MD    08   230
  2. Jim McDanold          TN    08   104
  3. Jon Kwiatkowski       NC    04   104
  4. Paul Hakken           NJ    07   103
  5. Barrington Beavis     UK    06    90
  6. Mark Neale            RI    07    60
  7. Pierre LeBoeuf        MD    08    54
  8. Richard Fox           IL    04    50
  9. David Fritsch         VA    01    40
 10. Chuck Krueger         MA    08    28
 11. Dave Metheny          PA    05    25
 12. Brian Mountford       NY    99    24
 13. Akihisi Tabei       Japan   08    22
 14. Mike Brophy           NC    05    20
 15. Paul Johnson          MD    03    20
 16. John Chung            CA    02    20
 17. Robin Barbehen        MD    00    18
 18. Richard Martin        MD    99    16
 19. Jason Levine          NY    01    16
 20. Michael Fox           IL    07    15
 21. Herbert Gratz      Austria  06    15
 22. Lane Newbury          TX    05    15
 23. Johnny Hasay          PA    02    13
 24. Craig Reese           FL    01    12
 25. Harald Henning        CT    00    12
 26. Anthony Daw           UT    02    10
 27. Mark Frueh            IL    00     9
 28. Jim Munson            UT    08     8
 29. Ben Foy               MD    99     8
 30. Rick Dutton           MD    07     5
 31. Joe Ryshanan          MA    01     4
 32. Gerald Dudley         WI    00     3

2008 Laurelists                                             Repeating Laurelists 

Jim McDanold, TN
2nd

Chuck Krueger, MA
3rd

Akihisai Tabei, Japan
4th

Jim Munson, UT
5th

Pierre LcBoeuf, MD
6th


Past Winners

Mark Giddings, NY
1991, 1995

Todd Vander Pluym, CA
1994

Christian Goetze, CA
1996

Dan Vice, VA
1997

Jon Kwiatkowski, NC
1998, 2002

Barrington Beavis, UK
1999, 2000

David Fritsch, VA
2001

Paul Hakken, NJ
2003

Richard Fox, IL
2004

Bruce Beard. MD
2005
-2008


 Bruce Beard, sporting his custom 1830 Centurion shirt, stands for a better look at the board as Peter Elkridge from the UK, attending his first WBC, observes.

 GM Pierre LeBoeuf ups the ante on a stock payout as his international opponents Barrington Beavis (UK), Jim McDanold (US) and Jim McCarthy (Canada) watch.

Event Inflation ... 1830 ... 1856 .... 1870

A reversal of fortune for the 18xx tournament saw numbers drop from the recent high of 45 participants last year. Only 34 challengers came to attempt to deny three-time defending champion Bruce Beard his fourth consecutive title. Seven were new to the tournament, joining 28 returnees from prior years. Four of the new arrivals qualified for the semi-finals (though only two actually played). After a very narrow escape in his semi-final, Bruce Beard won his fourth straight 18xx tournament.
 
Once again, there were four preliminary rounds, with three additional games (chosen by respondents to an on-line poll) to the original three (1830, 1856, and 1870) played. The added games, 18EU, 1846, and 1861 were in competition for the final three heats, allowing for greater variety of play. The tie-breaking rules were changed again from last year, placing greater emphasis on number of wins, while still allowing a player to attend only one preliminary and qualify for the semi-finals, as long as they won. 1830 remained the most popular preliminary round game, with seven games played, along with three of 1856, and four games of 1870. Among the newer games, there were three games of 1861, and one each of 18EU and 1846. Players in the 1870 games were encouraged to use the alternate start rule (a draw for the RR that required only the president's share to open, and for the RR that had a share go with the KATY private), and all did. The 1830 games in the preliminary rounds were asked to include the alternate 6 train in games with newer players to make bankruptcies less common, but none did. Nonetheless, there were only three of nine 1830 preliminary games that didn't break the bank.
 
The first preliminary heat Wednesday morning was designated as the 1830 heat, and there was a four-player 1856 and a five-player 1870 game to go with three four-player 1830 games. Only one first round game had a bankruptcy. Newcomers Jim Munson and Dan Mathias joined three returning players (and both assistant GMs) in the win column. In Dan's game, last year's runner-up Mark Neale boldly grabbed four of the eight companies, and had 30 shares of stock, but had to pay $800 for two diesels out of pocket. Dan's only RR, the B&O, was good enough to give him a $369 win in a low scoring game. Jim Munson bested four others to win by $1091 in the 1870 game. The bankruptcy game ended when Chip Eastman went bankrupt and was won by Jim McDanold, who survived attacks from Craig Reece and Chris Hancock. The third 1830 game was an easy $1247 win by Chuck Krueger over Pierre LeBoeuf. No RR started higher than $76 in that game, and Chuck was able to take away the NYNH in the orange zone with $300 and a 3 train when Wayne Schmittberger sold shares to start another RR. The 1856 game featured past champions Barrington Beavis and Bruce Beard squaring off with two others. Bruce beat newcomer Peter Eldridge by $763 in a high scoring game, after Bruce allowed Peter to steal a RR with a 5 train in the endgame for better stock value.  

The second preliminary heat on Wednesday night was designated for 1856, but any of the six games were eligible for play. As it turned out, no 1856 games were played in this round. The 21 attendees played two games of 1861, and one each of 1830, 1870, and 18EU, all with four players, except a five-player EU game. Returnees won all five games. Herbert Gratz beat Franklin Haskell in the 18EU game when Pierre bought a share in Herbert's SNCF company before Herbert had fully committed all of his minor RRs to opening it. The fifteen minors split 4-3-3-3-2, with the owners of the most and least minors ending up fourth and fifth, respectively. In the 1870 game, Jeff Bowers and Andy Roosen each had 80% of RRs at 375 a share, but Jeff had a little bit extra to post a 3% win. In the 1830 game, Mark "only" had three RRs, and the increased RR sharing enabled him to best Mike Brophy in a comfortable 10% win. Bruce got his second win, over Peter in 1861, while the other 1861 game went to the other assistant GM, Jim McDanold, over Rick Dutton. 
  
The third preliminary round on Thursday afternoon had four tables of four players and a fifth table of three. All games were available for play, and four of the six saw action. Two games of 1830 and single contests of 1856 and 1870 were the four-player games, while 1846 had a three-player game. Chris Robbins overcame early advantages for Pierre (the KATY private with the SoPac single share operation at $100) and Andy (three 3 trains in the Cotton Belt when it made its destination) to win easily. Barrington went back to 1856 in this round, and bested newcomer Chris Byrd comfortably for his first win. In the two 1830 games, Rick Dutton's first win was by a sizable 21% when Chris Hancock went bankrupt, while Bruce Beard tried buying all four 4 trains in his game, a strategy that helped Mark Neale win his second game, beating Akihisa Tabei by 5%. Newcomer Peter Eldridge posted a win in the 1846 game, easily over Dave Metheny and Mark Geary.  
  
The last preliminary heat on Thursday evening, designated for 1870, represented a last chance to win a slot in the semi-final. With 12 different winners in the first three heats already, only four guaranteed slots remained in the 16-player semi-final. This opportunity had 4-player games in 1830, 1856, 1861, and 1870. The 1856 game was a wipeout, when Rick Dutton got control of the government RR with two 5s and a 4, easily beating Mark Neale (who had no RRs at the end) by 22%. The 1830 board had the final bankruptcy of the tournament, catapulting Jim McCarthy into the semis with a win. Peter Eldridge won a second prelim on the 1861 board by 10% over Jim McDanold. On the last board, Bruce returned to old habits both in game choice and result, winning 1870 by 25% over David Fritsch.  
 
The 19 preliminary round games produced a triple winner (Bruce Beard), four double winners (Rick Dutton, Jim McDanold, Mark Neale, and Peter Eldridge) and eight single winners. Two chose not to return for the semi-final round. This left us with eleven winners for sixteen slots, and five open places for the semi-finals. The second place players were seeded by number of seconds, followed by how early in the rounds they finished second, then finally by the percentage of winning score in their best game. This qualified Andy Roosen, Lane Newbury (two seconds), Akihisa Tabei, Mike Brophy, and Pierre LeBoeuf (second in their first prelim), when two other alternates did not appear.
 
The players were seeded into the semi-finals based on the results of preliminary round play and the multiple entry-single elimination tie-breaking criteria established by the WBC. Where players remained tied, they were placed according to their best percentage of the winning score or margin of victory. Best margin of victory percentage seeded spots 4 through 13. Second place finishes were seeded the same way as the wins. Number of second place finishes (and when) and best percentage of the winning score ranked the next twelve players. Absentees placed the 5th alternate (with a single second place showing) in the semi-finals.
 
Once again, players were allowed to pick which game they'd like to play. 1856 received only a single vote, but 1870 got four votes; so there was one 1870 and three 1830 semis. With the 1st ­ 7th ­ 8th ­ 9th players choosing 1870, the remaining 1830 games were seeded as, 2nd­ 10th­ 11th­ 16thin game 2, 3rd­ 6th­ 12th­ 15th in game 3, and 4th ­ 5th ­ 13th ­ 14th in game 4. The first (1870) semi featured three-time champion Bruce Beard against returnees Herbert Gratz and Chris Robbins, with newcomer Jim Munson completing the field. Both Bruce and Jim grabbed three railroads, but Bruce's $400+ cash advantage barely overcame Jim's superior stock position for a narrow $78 (0.9%) win. The second game pitted the other assistant GM (Jim McDanold) against the GM (Pierre LeBoeuf), along with past champion Barrington Beavis, and tourney veteran James McCarthy. Jim was able to open the Penn on the first round, despite winning an expensive auction for the C& A private, then made a substantial profit on the sale of the C&A to the Penn. Jim dumped Penn shares into the orange zone to open the B&M, and Pierre decided to take over the Penn (with a 3 train) and run it back to the brown for train cash. Pierre and James brought in the last two RRs with only a single 4 train remaining, but Jim had kept enough money in the B&M to get both the last 4 and first 5. Since James' CanPac was next to go, it got the last two 5's, forcing Pierre and Barrington to stall to avoid bankruptcy. Disaster was averted, but the game was not prolonged sufficiently for the diesels to make back their cost, and Jim was able to hang on for a $277 win (3%) over Pierre, despite having only one RR and fewer shares. Chuck Krueger faced returnees Andy Roosen, Mark Neale (last year's runner-up), and Mike Brophy, and his two RRs bested everyone else's pairs for a comfortable 7% win over Andy. The last semi had newcomer Peter Eldridge against veterans Akihisa Tabei, Rick Dutton, and Lane Newbury. Far East beat West, as Akihisa used four RRs for an easy 13% win over Lane.  
  
The four semi-final winners advanced to the 1830 Final Saturday night. It matched (in turn order) Jim McDanold, Chuck Krueger, defending three-time champion Bruce Beard, and Akihisa Tabei. Bruce had gone 3-1 in the preliminary rounds, with Jim, Chuck, and Akihisa posting records of 2-2, 1-0, and 0-1 in the prelims.
 
In the private auction, Akihisa took the Schuylkill at cost ($20), Jim got the Champlain & St. Lawrence for $45, Bruce got the Delaware & Hudson for $75 and the Mohawk & Hudson for $155, and Chuck won the Camden & Amboy for $250 and took the Baltimore & Ohio private at $220 (setting the B & O share price at $100). With the option to buy the 1st company, Bruce opened the Penn at $71. Akihisa bought five B&O shares, taking the presidency from Chuck. Jim then opened the NYNH at $67. In the first operating round, the B&O bought three 2 trains, the Penn one, and the NYNH one, leaving a single 2. On the next operation, the Penn bought the last 2, the first two 3's, and Bruce sold the D&H for $140. The NYNH also got a pair of 3's, placed the Hartford city tile (for $80), and Jim sold the CSL for $80. Thinking that Chuck would sell his three B&O shares to start his own RR, Jim sold one ahead of him, but Chuck bought the sold share instead. Jim used the proceeds to invest in the Penn, but Bruce then dumped it on him to open the B&M at $76. At that point, Chuck sold out his B&O to start the C&O at 71. The active market enabled Bruce's new B&M to run ahead of the B&O and get the last 3 and first 4 trains. The second wave of RRs began when Bruce started the NYC at $90, Akihisa opened the Erie at $67, and Chuck started the CanPac at $82. Jim and Akihisa essentially traded RRs when Jim took the B&O from Akihisa, and Akihisa took the Penn (now on its third owner) from Jim. Bruce split the trains on the NYC, Chuck bought a 4, and a 4 from the C&O. The 5 trains were split among the C&O (Chuck), B&O (Jim), and B&M (Bruce). The 6 trains went to the Penn (Akihisa) and the NYC (Bruce). This left Jim with a 4 in the NYNH and a 5 in the B&O, Chuck with a pair of 4's in the CanPac and a 5 in the C&O, Bruce had a 4 & 5 in the B&M and a 6 in the NYC, and Akihisa had a 6 in the Penn, but nothing in the Erie (with no track). When Chuck bought the first diesel, everyone but Bruce needed one too, which was good enough for Bruce to win by 7%.
 
I would like to thank everyone for playing, and I hope we can increase our numbers next year. We will vote again on which two games to include with 1830, 1856, 1870, and 1861 in 2009. We will keep the 16-player semi-final and 4-player Final, but I would like to move the Final to Friday night next year. If you would like to participate in the discussion on ways to improve the18xx tournament in 2009, drop me an email at the address below.

 Chuck Krueger moves in the Final as Bruce Beard and Akhisa Tabei watch. The Japanese player was the only returning laurelist to challenge Beard's title defense, but finished 4th.

 Jim McDanold en route to his second place finish. The Tennessee native is the second ranking laurelist behind Beard but has yet to win a championship.
 GM      Pierre LeBoeuf  [8th Year]   3043 Telegraph Rd, Elkton, MD 21921-2333
    PierreLeBoeuf@verizon.net   NA

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