Past Winners |
Harald Henning, CT
2005, 2008 |
Alan Sudy, VA
2006 |
Bill Crenshaw, VA
2007 |
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Ed Kendrick ... beware the designer
shark looming to your right. |
Arthur Field gets a payout from banker
Tedd Mullally. |
Manifest
Destiny finally moved off the 46-entrant level that it had
drawn like clockwork for three years in predictable fashion by
dropping 15% in reaction to shaving one of its four heats. It
had no visible effect on the outcome as the usual suspects continued
to dominate. Four laurelists returned and all six added to their
former totals.
Aside from Louisiana, which was shut out, winners were evenly
distributed among the starting positions, with Mexico and Pennsylvania
each having four wins, and Quebec and Virginia three each. Bill
Crenshaw (Mexico), Arthur Field (Va.) and Jeff Mullet (Pa.) each
won their semi-finals and advanced to the Final with John Coussis
(Louisiana) and Harald Henning (Quebec), who, although finishing
third in his semi, was closer to the winner than Pete Pollard
or Kevin Sudy, the other semis runners-up. Harald made the most
of the opportunity.
The Final started with a wide variety of bids: $10 (Jeff);
$10 (John); $0 (Bill - holding both California Gold Rush and
Natives); $0 (Arthur); $15 (Harald). Pa. dumped Hudson's Bay
Company on T1 after being disappointed in not getting Quebec.
La. cashed Louisiana Purchase on T2, and Mexico's PT Barnum gave
him a high enough # to go first and cash CGR for $70 in Gold
on T3. Breakthroughs started slowly, but Quebec finished Patriotism
before Pa. could steal it with TJ and Yankee Ingenuity. Pa. nailed
Mech on one roll instead. Mexico floundered with Storytelling,
with two costly misses, as he continually took profit hits while
holding World War, Spy and two Destiny cards. Late-moving Va.
was late into the Pioneer game and collaborated with Pa. on T4
for Turnpike and with Mexico on T6 for Motion Pix.
The board grew congested with La. rushing west as usual. Quebec
took a few lumps after cashing RTA on T4, but still had a solid
position. La. took Arizona and later built a tourist-filled city.
Mexico stayed south except for some Livestock in the Northwest.
Va., starting with no tobacco, eventually got Mexico to cash
tobacco for livestock.
La. got a jump on Electricity, moving last and buying an Era
2 card and eventually finished it. Mexico drew Edison and went
for Motion Pix. Amazingly, Think Tank was left open for Quebec
when Va. and Pa. collaborated on Turnpike instead. Quebec responded
by nailing Think Tank in two rolls, and the powerful Patriotism-Think
Tank combination ultimately proved insurmountable.
La. hit Quebec with Civil War, which temporarily slowed Q's
progress. Mexico kept pace with timely leader draws and when
Va. got the missing step to Motion Pix, Mexico staked out Urban
Renaissance, later collaborating with Va. on the former and Quebec
on the latter. La. and Pa. did their best to stay close with
various Ore runs, but Pa.'s hot Breakthrough dice rolls were
more than offset by lame competition rolls and La.'s card draws
were not exciting.
Va., sitting on a pile of cash after a double tobacco payout,
made a big move by paying full freight for Airplanes and gobbling
up three foreign markets, but Trustbusters and Depression prevented
the big score. La. went for e-Commerce and despite drawing both
Urban Ren leaders agreed to stick with e-Commerce instead in
exchange for a trustbusted Gold, which paid out. On the next
to last turn, Quebec negotiated an Urban Ren collaboration with
Mexico during turn order that enabled Quebec to get Urban and
still expand last. After that card play phase, Mexico had enough
cash to get to 29 VPs, but the missing Storytelling rolls proved
fatal as he couldn't get to 30.
In the last expansion Mexico used most of his tokens taking
Northern California from Quebec, but otherwise Quebec, who had
most cities nailed, emerged largely unscathed. When the dust
settled, Quebec used Patriotism to cash Prohibition for $100
in Gold (even after losing Northern California) and ballooned
to 38 VPs (five points more than have been scored in any other
MFD WBC Final), buying all progressions for 30 VPs, six VPs for
B/Ts and two more for most cities, turning a nailbiter into a
blowout. The closeness was reflected by the remaining scores,
with Mexico at 32 and $55, Pa. at 30 and $105 ($5 short of 33),
Va. at 30 and $55 and La. at 30 and $50.
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If that guy is going to have a lucky
stuffed tiger, Kate, go get my teddy bear! |
Could this really be the finalists?
Ok, never mind, Stein is just passing by. |
Manifest
Destiny 2008 PBeM Tournament Results
Bill Edwards, as
Mexico, riding a combination of timely collaboration and good
research rolls, rolled to victory in the second Manifest Destiny
PBeM tournament. Bill overcame a rough start, as defending
PBeM champion Tom Taaffe, holding Monroe Doctrine and Remember
the Alamo, paid $10 to pick Virginia. Bill held Native
Sovereignty but his $10 pick netted him Mexico instead
of Virginia. Pete Staab, who held California Gold Rush
and was hoping for Mexico, settled for Louisiana (and later discarded
CGR). Stefan MeCay chose Pennsylvania (starting with Louisiana
Purchase), leaving Bill Crenshaw excited to get Quebec for
free (since he was holding Revolutionary War and Manifest Destiny).
Quebec got off to a dominating start, collaborated with Pa. to
get Patriotism, and had an obscene amount of cash after $150 in
Fur payouts. Virginia embarked a one-man Crusade to bring
Quebec back to the pack. Although successful in slowing Quebec,
Quebec's retaliation limited Virginia's progress despite Virginia's
normally potent Mechanization-Electricity combination.
At the end of Era 2, Quebec narrowly avoided Civil War as
Virginia held the card rather than risk it boomeranging.
Quebec than played Spy stealing Martin Luther King from Louisiana and
breaking up a planned Louisiana-Virginia collaboration.
Louisiana retaliated by sabotaging Quebec's e-Commerce start.
In the meantime, Pa. (who was doing well but done in by a lack
of Pioneers) and Mexico collaborated on a 3-leader deal that
vaulted both close to the lead.
On the next to the last turn, four players played priority
chits, leaving Quebec, who had played Supreme Court (#64), choosing
last. La. and Mexico played early to finish breakthroughs
as Pa. chose last to plan for expansion, leaving Va. fourth and
Quebec third. Quebec then made his second big cash in of
the game, using Immigrants to take over Virginia's Oil and Tourist
City in Oklahoma and cashing $150 in Tourists, plus another $70
in Technology. Quebec and Pa. tried to put together a deal
that would have allowed one of them to have an excellent chance
of winning, but any combination would have put Mexico over the
top as well as the latent Mexican President guarded against bad
cards. Quebec generated enough money to buy to
30, forcing Pa. to play World War and the $60 hit held Quebec
back.
In the meantime, Mexico drew JFK to finish Urban Renaissance
in one turn (acing out La. and Quebec), played Yankee Ingenuity
to start Rock n Roll, and then rolled all four missing steps
to pick up Rock and Roll as well and vault him over the top with
32 VPs. Bill Crenshaw's Quebec was second with 27, followed
by Pete Staab's Louisiana with 26, Stefan Mecay's Pennsylvania
with 25 and Tom Taaffe's Virginia with 22.
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