|
|
Six years later, Ed Beach's demos
still draw a crowd. |
The sixth set of Here I Stand
finalists. |
Still Standing Room Only ...
In its sixth year at WBC, tournament attendance remained strong:
whether attracted by the Renaissance battlefield or theological
debates. Seven games were played in the opening heat for the
third straight year. We continued to use the play balance adjustments
to the tournament scenario first introduced in 2008, though this
year we added a new rule that delayed the addition of the Copernicus
card to the deck until Turn 5. Military powers dominated. The
winners were Justin Rice (Hapsburgs), Brad Merrill (England),
Dan Hoffman (Hapsburgs), Jeremiah Peterson (England), John Vasilaskos
(Ottoman), Henry Rice (England), and Nathan Hill (Hapsburg-Papacy
in a 3-player game).
The Protestants and French were able to join the ranks of
victorious powers in the second heat, but the Hapsburgs were
the dominant power that night. Victories for Charles V and his
Holy Roman colleagues were won by Kirk Harris, Justin Morgan,
and Andero Kuusi. The other Thursday winners were Dennis Mishler
(Protestant), Manuel Bravo (France) and Barry Setser (Ottoman).
All 13 preliminary games went at least two turns for the second
consecutive year and most were completed well before the allotted
five hours.
Ten of the 13 winners joined eight alternate players (those
with the highest preliminary round total VP accumulation) for
the semi-finals. Henry Rice was first to collect his ticket to
the Final, hitting on an amazing run of piracy results to secure
a one-turn Ottoman win. John Vasilaskos' Ottoman pirates also
did well in the second semi, scoring nine Piracy VP over two
turns, but it was not enough to defeat Barry Setser, who advanced
to his first Final with the Protestants. The closest game was
the only three-turn contest. Justin Rice could have won with
a successful conquest on Turn 5; it failed however, leaving Justin's
21 VP entering the last turn just 1 VP above four of the other
five powers. In the end Jonathan Tarquino squeaked out an English
win, besting Kirk Harris (another Ottoman) by 1 VP.
Power selection for the Final was as follows: Henry (Ottoman),
Jonathan (England), Barry (Papacy), Kirk (France), Justin (Hapsburgs),
and John (Protestant). Both Rices and Tarquino were playing the
same power that advanced them from the semi-finals. Justin Rice
is the only finalist with former HIS laurels to his credit.
Turn-by-turn highlights of the two-turn Final are included
below.
Turn 4
· Hapsburgs get cards on both their initial colony
rolls.
· Divorce granted for two cards from English (but Anne
Boleyn is a loving stepmother)
· Hapsburgs get two cards for phony DOW on Venice and
first impulse play of Paul III. They turn out to be Smallpox
and Andrea Doria, both received from the Papacy after he drew
them from England for the divorce!
· Hapsburgs get one card and two mercs for ceding Cologne
to Protestant
· France takes Milan; Hapsburgs capture Metz. Scots
tenaciously defend Edinburgh (hitting on all four dice).
· 11 CP are added to St. Peter's with the Michelangelo
event.
· Hapsburgs add a third colony, conquer the Maya, and
get the Mississippi and Great Lakes. End 1 VP from victory.
VP: Hapsburgs (22), Papacy (20), France (18), Ottoman (16),
Protestant (14), England (9)
Turn
5
· Hapsburgs get all four cards from colonies and the
Maya (Copernicus is included in those in his hand).
· Ottoman allies with France and receives a card from
the Papacy.
· Hapsburg cedes Trier to the Protestant.
· Genoa flips to France with Andrea Doria.
· Protestant plays Printing Press early for the second
turn in a row.
· Papacy plays Unsanitary Camp on his ally's stack
(the Hapsburgs) in Vienna. Will the Ottoman siege fail anyway
after Roxelana calls Suleiman home? No sir, Treachery is played
and Vienna falls! However a countersiege by the Hapsburgs late
in the turn flips it back to the Hapsburgs.
· Elizabeth is finally born to Anne of Cleves. No sign
of a male heir though.
· Hapsburgs play Copernicus and gain a 1 VP exploration
with Orellana for the victory.
VP: Hapsburgs (23), France (21), Papacy (19), Protestant (19),
Ottoman (16), England (13). Justin Rice wins his first WBC title
in just his second appearance in a HIS Final.
Next Year: The Rest of the Sixteenth Century
With the expected publication of Virgin Queen, sequel
to HIS, in early 2012, next year's tournament may offer the option
to play either HIS or VQN in the opening rounds. Players will
express their preference for one game or the other (or that they
are happy with either) and be paired accordingly. However we'll
continue to stick with HIS for all semi-final and final rounds
for the next few years (until sufficient play balance data can
be collected on Virgin Queen.)
Not Laurels but...
This year's event represented the game's sixth appearance
at WBC. For the second year in a row, our contacts at the Elias
Sports Bureau have computed a special statistic to evaluate the
best Here I Stand player of all time.
That rating of HIS prowess is called "The Here Everyone
Stands Evaluation System", or THESES for short.
How do you earn Theses? Well a victory in a semi-final game
at WBC is worth 10 Theses (with smaller awards of 6/4/3/2/1 for
2nd through 6th place). Appearances in the Final are worth 5
times as much, so 50 Theses for being the HIS champ (and 30/20/15/10/5
for the other finalists).
After compiling the totals through 2011, we still only have
three people who have cracked the 95 Theses barrier (though Justin
Rice did make a strong improvement in his standing). Here are
the totals for everyone with 6 or more Theses:
Player |
Final Appearances |
Theses |
Semi Appearances |
Semi Theses |
Total Theses |
Jeff Burdett |
3 |
105 |
3 |
26 |
131 |
AJ Sudy |
3 |
85 |
4 |
23 |
108 |
Dave Cross |
3 |
70 |
5 |
36 |
106 |
Bryan Collars |
2 |
60 |
5 |
27 |
87 |
Justin Rice |
2 |
55 |
4 |
17 |
72 |
Kirk Harris |
2 |
50 |
3 |
17 |
67 |
John Wetherell |
1 |
50 |
2 |
8 |
58 |
Ken Richards |
2 |
35 |
4 |
23 |
58 |
Chris Striker |
3 |
35 |
4 |
17 |
52 |
Dennis Mishler |
1 |
30 |
4 |
17 |
47 |
Allen Hill |
1 |
30 |
2 |
14 |
44 |
Barry Setser |
1 |
20 |
3 |
17 |
37 |
Charles Hickok |
1 |
20 |
2 |
12 |
32 |
Nat Pendleton |
1 |
10 |
3 |
19 |
29 |
Michael Rogozinski |
1 |
20 |
1 |
6 |
26 |
Dan Hoffman |
1 |
10 |
5 |
16 |
26 |
Rick Cambron |
1 |
15 |
1 |
10 |
25 |
Brad Merrill |
1 |
20 |
3 |
3 |
23 |
Nick Benedict |
1 |
10 |
2 |
13 |
23 |
John Vasilakos |
1 |
15 |
1 |
6 |
21 |
Paul McCarthy |
1 |
15 |
3 |
5 |
20 |
Henry Rice |
1 |
10 |
1 |
10 |
20 |
Tim Rogers |
1 |
5 |
2 |
12 |
17 |
Jonathan Tarquino |
1 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
15 |
Rick Byrens |
0 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
14 |
Peter Card |
0 |
0 |
4 |
12 |
12 |
Jeff Pattison |
0 |
0 |
4 |
11 |
11 |
Mark Mahaffey |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
9 |
Brian Mountford |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
Matthew Beach |
0 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
8 |
Manuel Bravo |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
Nathan Hill |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
Kaarin Engelmann |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
Jeremiah Peterson |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
Ted Drozd |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
John Emery |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
Mitch Lake |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
Jim Stanard |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
Phil Rodrigues |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
Jeromey Martin |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
The Second
BPA PBeM Tournament
The second BPA Here I Stand PBeM tournament was the
largest event in the game's history, either live or email and
generated more than double the number of player starts in any
previous tournament with players toeing the line 234 times.
The semi-final round advanced the five semi-final winners
and one alternate. Advancing were Rob Mull, Jeremiah Peterson,
Scott Burns, Kaarin Englemann, and Bryan Collars. Rob's brother,
Larry, advanced by virtue of winning the tie breaker of highest
VP scoring non-winner in the semi-final. Only Jeremiah and GM
Bryan were prior laurelists in the game.
Unlike the preliminary rounds, the Final was played using
the full campaign game. Power selection was decided in order
of the highest VPs scored in the semi-final. The powers selected
were Ottoman: Bryan; France:Jeremiah; Hapsburgs: Rob; Protestants:
Kaarin; England: Scott; and Papacy: Larry in that order. The
opening turns were typical of full campaign games as the Turks
cautiously advanced in Hungary, while the rest jockeyed for position
by snapping up the easily defeated independent keys and the Protestants
successfully spreading the gospel throughout Germany. An unlikely
Circumnavigation of the world by the French explorer Verranzano
gave Jeremiah an early advantage. Turn 3 saw things shift radically
as the Schmalkaldic League formed early, putting the Protestants
and Hapsburgs at war while the Turks were bearing down on Buda
with the large Hapsburg army biding its time in Vienna. Armageddon
was forestalled though as multiple complimentary card plays by
the Mull brothers dealt the Turk army a serious defeat that effectively
removed them from the game. Meanwhile the others were guiding
their powers through marriages, explorations, and religous publications
and slowly gaining VPs. Turns 4-5 were once again jockeying turns
as players tried to position themselves for the win. First came
the Protestants only to be beaten back by the Pope and Hapsburgs.
Then the Hapsburgs put Istanbul under siege, while the hapless
Turks could just sit idly by and watch. Turn 6, saw very intensive,
and at times contentious, diplomacy as the players feverously
tried to stop the Hapsburg juggernaught while at the same time
not allowing the French to benefit. After all the prayers had
been answered that were going to be, it was neither the Hapsurgs
nor the French who emerged victorious at game's end, but rather
the Papacy who reigned supreme. Larry's Papacy deftly charted
the last turn with timely religious actions coupled with outstanding
dice that saw him rise quickly to the top of the VP track with
25 points. Jeremiah's French scored 24 and held off Rob's ever
dangerous Hapsburgs with 23. Kaarin's Protestants scored 19,
followed by Scott's English with 17, and Bryan's Turks brought
up the rear with 16. So congrats to Larry Mull whose deft play,
good humor, and lucky dice brought home the wood of the second
BPA HIS PBeM tournament.
|