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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. |
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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.
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