virgin queen  

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report  

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

David Kiefte, ns

2014 Champion

Event History
2013    Mathieu Pare-Paquin    44
2014    David Kiefte    34

 Laurels

 Rank Name               From  Last  Total
   1. Mathieu Pare-Paquin qc    14     55
   2. David Kiefte        ns    14     50
   3. Kirk Harris         NJ    14     30
   4. Max DuBoff          NJ    13     30
   5. Chris Trimmer       TX    14     20
   6. Ed Rothenheber      MD    13     20
   7. Jim Stanard         NJ    14     30
   8. Joel Calden         MA    14     10
   9. Jeff Heidman        NY    13     10
  10. Justin Rice         VA    13      5

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Finalists:

Kirk Harris, NJ
2nd

Chris Trimmer, TX
3rd

Jim Stanard, NJ
4th

Joel Calden, MA
5th

Mathieu Pare-Paquin, qc
6th

Past Winners

Mathieu Pare-Paquin, qc
2013

David Kiefte, ns
2014


Jim Stanard, Max DuBoff, Al Hurda and Kirk Harris vie in the second heat.

Davi Kiefte on his way to vicory over to Lucas Rhodes and everyone else too.

Max DuBoff, Manual Bravo and Chris Trimmer seek divine favor.

Designer and GM Ed Beach with his finalists.

"What do you have Toulouse?"

Opening Heats
Attendance at the second Virgin Queen tournament was 34 players. We had five full 6-player games in the first heat; three full games and a 5-player game composed the second heat. Winners in these games were: defending champ Mathieu Pare-Paquin; former HIS/VGQ finalists Jeromey Martin, David Kiefte, Dennis Mishler and Max Duboff; and rising stars Manuel Bravo, Frank Morehouse, Joel Calden, and Joe Appel. Wins were divided between the Protestant (3), Ottoman (2), Spain (2), England (1) and France (1).

Semifinals:
Having warmed up with the opening heats on the first day of the tournament, seven of our nine game winners joined 11 alternates for the semifinals the next morning. The Ottoman military carried the day, with both Chris Trimmer and Joel Calden winning Ottoman military victories (but not until Turn 5). Jim Stanard triumphed in the third semifinal posting 28 VP in the semis as England for the second year in a row. The wildcard finalists were David Kiefte (runner-up as Ottoman in Jim's game) and Kirk Harris and Mathieu Pare-Paquin (England and Protestant respectively in the game that Joel won).

FINAL:
Power selection was as follows: Jim Stanard (England, picking first for the second year in a row), Joel Calden (Protestant), Chris Trimmer (HRE), David Kiefte (Ottoman), Kirk Harris (Spain), and Mathieu Pare-Paquin (France).

Turn-by-turn highlights of the Final are included below.

Turn 3

~ Spanish fleet at Messina defeated; Ottomans take Malta soon thereafter.

~ Dutch Revolt comes out in first Spanish impulse (+3 VP to Spain)

~ HRE prince is named the king of Poland in a Royal Election (+2 VP to HRE)

~ Francis Drake's piracy nets just 1 VP and he misses a passing Treasure Fleet.

~ Spain activates Portugal as a minor ally.

~ Spain attacks Morisco rebels and only defeats them on their third try.

~ Protestant Space count rises to 31.

~ Marriages are exceptionally profitable: Philip II to Elisabeth of Austria (+1 card); Henry Navarre to Marquerite de Valois (+2 VP); William of Orange to Anna of Austria (+2 VP). Only Henri III and a Spanish Louise of Lorraine fail to gain any benefit from marriage.

~ An Ottoman Palladio, Ronsard and HRE Bellaso each score 1 VP in Patronage. Herrera builds an Observatory at El Escorial in Spain.

VP: Spain (17), Ottoman: (17), France (16), Protestant (15), England (13), HRE (13)

Turn 4

~ Spain and Ottoman both ally with HRE. No weddings of note this turn.

~ HRE declares war on France and deploys to Trier.

~ France starts the turn by rolling back the Protestant's late religious gains from the previous turn. But the Protestant turns right around and declares a Huguenot Lent for the second straight turn.

~ Ottoman plays Sultan's Harem for the event and scores three hits in piracy, making them the first power to reach 20 VP. However the Spanish naval counterattack sinks the entire Ottoman fleet.

~ The Protestant continues to press forward. He plays Belgic Confession to flip three spaces in Netherlands, plays Gregorian Calendar to rewind for a double move, and then follows with Calvinist Zeal to capture Antwerp by rebellion. The Dutch Revolt event follows but Spain is still controlling enough spaces to gain two VP. However by the end of the turn we'll see the Protestant space count drop to just 22.

~ The Black Queen allows France to draw a card from the HRE but that doesn't stop the fall of Metz to the HRE (who received an assist from the Protestant whose German Recruitment Curtailed event eliminated much of the garrison at Metz).

~ England uses CP from the Walsingham card to complete Drake's circumnavigation.

~ With Walsingham busy, Spain now goes for the Gunpowder Plot win. With an Informant and two Jesuits it is 12 dice to 5. Spain rolls four hits to just one for England - only one shy of a victory! Bristol rebels and two Spanish regulars appear there.

~ Lots of successful patronage: Sinan (+1 VP), El Greco (+2 VP for HRE), Montaigne (+1 VP), Mercator (+1 VP), Seydi al Reis picks up the Excavation science bonus and Dee is the Father of Modern Science (+2 VP and Cryptography). Only Herrera fails (evidently it is cloudy over El Escorial).

VP: Ottoman (21), Spain (21), Protestant (18), HRE (18), France (17), England (16)

Turn 5

~ Spain declines an Ottoman peace offer. They do ally with and send a treasure to France. France and HRE agree to peace. France is now free to declare war on the Protestant.

~ Spain tries another English Catholic Rebellion but this time Walsingham is ready. He reduces the four Spanish hits (which would have won the game) to just two hits (which turns into one space converting).

~ Catholicism is ascendant: even the Huguenot capital at La Rochelle becomes Catholic. Next a French army moves on Toulouse. "What do you have Toulouse?" becomes Mathieu's catch phrase.

~ After play of Tridentine Catechism and Council of Troubles the Protestant space count is down to 12, only three spaces from a Catholic automatic victory. The Protestant responds quickly and boosts the space count to 22 by the end of the turn.

~ England besieges and retakes Bristol; Spain recaptures Antwerp from the Protestant through Treachery.

~ The HRE assassinates the Duke of Alva forcing Spain to discard the valuable Holy League card.

~ With the rest of Europe distracted, the Ottoman make his decisive move. With a new cobbled together fleet he gains a VP in a piracy hit. Then, thanks to the excavation science bonus, he constructs the Suez Canal (+2 VP). David will be at 24 VP going into Patronage rolls. He also cancels the HRE artist Tintoretto with the Index of Prohibited Books to limit the patronage competition. A final attempt to reel David back in with a City States Rebellion in Tunis falls a hit short.

~ In patronage three personages all gain 1 VP: Titian (Spain to 23 VP), Brahe (HRE to 22 VP) and Taqi al-Din (Ottoman gains the 1 VP they need for the win).

VP: Ottoman (25), Spain (23), HRE (22), England (21), Protestant (19), France (19)

David Kiefte becomes the first member of the Kiefte clan to win a Here I Stand or Virgin Queen tournament. Between himself, his brother (Andrew), and his father (Michael), the Kiefte family has appeared five times in the finals of these two events. Kirk Harris finishes in second place for the third time in these two events, having missed his victory by one hit on his Gunpowder Plot dice.

PLAY BALANCE

In the three years that Virgin Queen has appeared at WBC, we have now played 36 games. Victories by power are as follows:

~ Ottoman: 8 (including two by military victory and five in 2014)

~ Spain: 6 (including two by Gunpowder Plot and three by military victory)

~ England: 7

~ France: 4

~ HRE: 2 (both in 2013: one in the semis and one in the Final)

~ Protestant: 9 (including two religious victories and four military victories)

For the moment we'll hold off on any play balance tweaks to even out the powers. The Holy Romans are a tough power to master so I wouldn't expect many wins from them in the early years of our tournament. That theory is consistent with the fact that when they do win it has been late in the tournament when it really counts. The Protestant win total is high but that number has been inflated by a number of surprise military victories. Once players all know to focus on the number of non-Dutch keys that the Protestant is accumulating I expect the number of Protestant military victories to fall. And even though we had five Ottoman wins this year that comes on the heels of a 2013 when the Ottoman failed to score even a single win.

 GM     Ed Beach  [2ndt Year]  NA
   ebreach@comcast.net    NA

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