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A monopoly can be a wonderful thing.
Blessed with a protected timeslot opposite no other events, Maneuveur
drew players from every spectrum. Here JR Tracy, Greg Thatcher,
Scott Moll, and Terry Coleman cross paths not normally trod. |
And then there were just two. John
Miklos of Georgia battles Chris Byrd of Connecticut for the first
championship of this new event. Chris won to improve his chances
as a strong contender for the 2008 Casear Award. |
Impressive Debut
The Manoeuvre tournament benefitted from an ideal schedule
slot in being offered with little competition from other ongoing
events on Tuesday morning. It was designed for both those looking
to just try out the game and those looking to win it all. The
mapboard was set for each round. The first round was an open
affair with little terrain in the middle of the board and the
later rounds offered new challenges with terrain. Since the game
comes with eight different countries, the tournament was designed
for the winner to show their skill with the game. The players
were allowed to play one country twice throughout the tournament
and all other countries no more than once. This allowed those
looking to check out the game to just play Britain and France,
the more straightforward countries, if they wanted.
The first round saw the players broken up into groups of four.
Each player played everyone in their group. This guaranteed everyone
at least three games. The top eight scores would advance to the
elimination rounds. Points were awarded for the type of wins
and losses with there being penalties for not completing the
battle before the time limit. Not surprisingly, the French were
the most played with a record of 27-14. Britain was next at 17-12
following by Russia 9-17, Prussia 9-9, Ottoman Empire 8-9, Spain
5-5, United States 2-4, and Austria 1-5.
Five
3-0 players advanced along with three 2-1 players to the single
elimination portion. The country records of these eight players
were France 9-0, Britain 5-0, Russia 3-0, Prussia 2-0, Austria
and Spain 1-1, United States 0-1 and the Ottoman Empire was not
used.
The Quarter Finals saw the following results:
Mark Giddings' US defeated Nathan Trent's Spain at nightfall
9-8
Scott Moll's Britain killed five of Bob Heinzmann's Austrians
Chris Byrd's Prussia defeated Marc Berenbach's Britain at
nightfall 8-5
John Miklos' Britain killed 5 of Rob Winslow's Prussians
The semis saw Chris Byrd's Russians edge Scott Moll's Prussians
9-8 at nightfall while John Miklos' French killed 5 of Mark Gidding's
Austrians.
The Final was a two-game match. In the first game Chris took
the British vs John's French. John gained an early advantage
in kills and was pushing down the open side of the board into
British territory. The French losses came as they were inflicting
steep losses on the British who always seemed to have the right
card to restore those losses. As the momentum swung, the British
started an incursion to isolate the French towns. The French,
teetering on the verge of routing, gave ground rather than risk
contact. In the end, night fell with a 12-5 British victory and
a 4-2 loss lead going into Game 2 putting John's back up against
the wall to really rout the enemy.
In the second game, John took the Russians in hopes of routing
Chris' Austrians. The Austrians drew first blood as O'Reilly's
cavalry chewed up the Russian Guard wrecking the column as it
retreated frm the attack in the hills. The horses were very effective
causing two pursuit losses. Orlov's Regiment went down next.
The Russians are just timid on offense as they can't muster much
firepower even when they do exert pressure (i.e.. low die rolls
vs no good cards). The crushing of the Russian left was completed
when Kexholm's Regiment fell to a three-pronged Austrian attack.
A massive charge by the Russian 1st Cavalry overwhelmed the Austrian
4th Regiment and the mop-up of the fleeing troops destroyed the
unit. Koursk died due to the relentless pushing of the Austrians
and the fate of the Russians was sealed. John managed to prevent
a rout, but did not have enough troops left to challenge. Chris
won both games to be crowned the first WBC Manouevre champion.
He went 7-0 while playing Britain twice, He didn't play either
the Ottoman Empire or the United States.
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