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Steve Kelley runs into up and coming
Max DuBuff in the swiss rounds. |
Neither CDW shark Stefan Mecay or
Sean McCulloch went the distance. |
The Winds of Change ...
The winds of change were sweeping across the land fueled by
a younger generation. Some tried to ignore them, others tried
to resist them, and still others fought to aid them. No, I'm
not referring to Seven Springs, but to 1989: Dawn of Freedom.
In its first official appearance at WBC, 1989 was run
as four rounds of Swiss play. Six players stayed the course for
every round, four lasted three rounds, eight managed two and
eight more played but once for a total of 30 games. There was
no bidding; sides were determined randomly for the first round
and then alternated for the second. Thereafter, the players agreed
on sides.
Round 1 consisted of ten games, evenly split with five Communist
and five Democrat victories. Round 2 yielded another ten games,
with the Democrats pulling ahead 7:3. In Round 3, six games reinforced
the Democratic trend with five more wins. The last four games
were split 2-2 to give the Democrats a 19-11 advantage.
Round 4 dawned on two unbeaten players. Veteran Tom Drueding,
the 13th ranked WBC Laurelist closing in on a thousand laurels,
took the Communist side and made Poland a Red fortress - scoring
Poland for the Communists four times. This let young Max DuBoff,
looking for his first WBC title, take Hungary for the Democrats
in the Early Year, and East Germany in the Mid Year.
Going into the Late Year, the VPs were virtually even at +1,
and the Communists still held Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania.
On Turn 8, Max played Czechoslovakia Scoring and won the Power
Struggle but missed the die roll to take Power. After improving
his position in Czechoslovakia, he played Domino Theory,
which let him pull Czech Scoring out of the discards and
play it again. This time he had enough to Raise the Stakes,
win the Power Struggle, and take Power in the country.
Turn 9 gave Tom the scoring cards for both Poland and Romania.
Poland Scoring gave the Communists 15 Victory Points, but Romania
Scoring was a disaster for the Reds. Max had "The Crowd
Turns Against Ceausescu," a card that allows the Democrat
to adjust Communist holdings in the country before it is scored.
Tom won the Power Struggle and kept Power in the country, but
Max scored the points.
The 10th and last turn revealed no great surprises. "Fortress
Poland" scored for the Communists in Final Scoring,
but the Democrat scored everywhere else. Max had more than 20
Victory Points to claim the first-ever WBC 1989 crown as well
as his first WBC championship. Expect many more in this youngster's
future. Winds of change, indeed.
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