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Michael Confoy tries to find Bin Laden. |
Steve Huskey and Phil Rennert try
out the terrorist CDW. |
A Whole New Class of Jihadists
...
The 2012 tournament drew 34 players to a Friday Mulligan and
Saturday elimination rounds for a total of 43 exciting games.
As in 2011, the scenario used was "Let's Roll" in a
single deck configuration. Among the unusual occurrences was
a US victory that eliminated every Jihadist cell -- an unheard
of accomplishment. We also saw an entirely new class of laurelists
as Jessa Burdett made her debut by downing last year's champion
Christopher Yaure. Jessa's husband, Jeff, finished third so it's
obvious the two have been practicing, but not so obvious who
talked who into playing.
Play balance changed markedly from the 2011 debut. Last year,
the US won 29 of 44 games for a win rate of 65.9%. This year
the results were decidedly more even; the US won 22 of 43 for
a win rate of 51.1%. I attribute this to evolving Jihadist play
featuring a more patient approach. It is the US player who has
the burden to change the board by making countries advance to
Good governance before game end.
As always, events like this do not work without players who
go above and beyond. This year we had quite the honor roll. Roger
Taylor not only taught other players, but even sacrificed his
own advancement by giving his opponent a takeback and pointing
out a game winning play. All of the players deserve kudos for
playing under less than ideal conditions in an AC-less Lampeter
Hall. This year truly proved the adage that the players more
than anything else make the tournament. And last but by no means
least, credit must go to Labyrinth designer Volko Ruhnke
who again appeared and acted as a sort of "Yoda" for
rules inquiries while showing off some intriguing new projects.
Having him there is a real treat. Planning for the 2013 event
will as always start soon and will be open to discussion and
debate in the ConSimWorld Labyrinth discussion board.
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Tom Vickery and GM Joel Tamburo on
the humt. |
Dan Hoffman checks out the action
as Michael Confoy moves. |
 The first ever WAM LBY tournament drew 12 players in
15 games. Of the 12 participants we had six who played in at
least three of the four rounds. The remainder were just trying
out the game or were focusing on the more established tournaments.
Only one-deck games were played so play time was generally less
than two hours making LBY an excellent game for tournament
play. Due to travel schedules we only had three games in the
first round (even given the all day Thursday mulligan opportunity).
For the opening games sides were determined randomly and the
results were totally dominated by the Jihadist players who won
all three. The second round saw more action as five games were
contested and the US was able to claim two victories. Side determination
for subsequent round was selected by the GM in order to assure
that all players played both sides as much as possible. Setting
a WMD in the US was not the predominant path to victory for the
Jihadists, controlling resources was more popular. We had four
games in the third round with the GM sitting out due to an odd
number of players. With increasing experience and fewer newbies
in the field, three of the four Round 3 games went to the US.
With one round left to play we had three players who had participated
in every round - two of whom were tied with two wins. In the
fourth round, three games were played and the Jihadists claimed
two of them. The champion with a record of 3-1 was Greg Ottoman
who guided the Jihadists over Jeff Finkeldey's US forces with
a resource win at the end of one deck in the last round. Jeff's
loss in the fourth round dropped him into a tie for fourth place.
Second place went to young Evan Harris who crushed GM Gaberson
as the Jihadists with a quick resource win. Evan had to miss
the first round which denied him a chance at first place (you
can't cut school for game playing). The other Round 4 game saw
Larry Fryer's US best Kirk Harris (Evan's dad) making Larry the
other fourth place finisher.
2013
WAM Laurelists
Evan Harris, MD
2nd |
Jeff Finkeldey, OH
3rd |
Larry Fryer, MD
4th |
Kirk Harris, NJ
5th |
Paul Gaberson, PA
6th |
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Joel Tamburo [2nd Year]
NA
NA