advanced civilization

Updated 11/14/2008

2008 WBC Report  

 2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Christina Harley, WA

2008 Champion

Offsite Links

  

Event History
1991    Alan Behrens    24
1992    Dan Vice    48
1993    Dan Vice    37
1994    Ken Rothstein    35
1995    Michael Neal    40
1996    Joe Gundersen    28
1997    Todd Vander Pluym     23
1998    Eric Gundersen    34
1999   Doug Galullo    38
2000   Eric Gundersen    27
2001   Doug Galullo    19
2002   Doug Galullo    20
2003   Joe Gundersen    28
2004    Harald Henning    31
2005   John Morris   34
2006   Joe Gundersen    33
2007   Kevin Youells    30
2008   Christina Harley    30
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Doug Galullo       FL    06    266
  2.  Joe Gundersen      IN    06    186
  3.  Kevin Youells      FL    08    174
  4.  Eric Gundersen     NJ    03    131
  5.  Shantanu Saha      NY    08    103
  6.  Christina Harley   WA    08     50
  7.  Harald Henning     CT    04     50
  8.  Ted Mullally       NJ    03     50
  9.  John Morris        MD    05     40
 10.  Chris Robbins      UT    07     30
 11.  Rodd Polsky        PA    01     30
 12.  Jeff Bowers        UT    06     29
 13.  Charley Hickok     PA    00     26
 14.  Peter Rauch        MA    00     18
 15.  Rachel Harley      VA    08     15
 16.  Russell Harley     WA    07     15
 17.  Ann Cornet         FL    02     15
 18.  Robert Vollman     AB    07     10
 19.  Joe Lux            NJ    08     20
 20.  Mike Musko         FL    03     10
 21.  Francis Spencer    CT    01     10
 22.  Robert Kircher     RI    05      8
 23.  Janice Thorne      OH    08      5
 24.  Rich Jenulis       OH    07      5
 25.  Harry White        TX    04      5
 26.  Jamie Tang         MD    02      5
 

2008 Laurelists                                                 Repeating Laurelists 

Kevin Youells, FL
2nd

Shantanu Saha, NY
3rd

Rachel Harley, VA
4th

Joe Lux, NJ
5th

Janice Thorne, OH
6th


Past Winners

1991: Alan Behrens, NJ
1995: Michael Neal, RI

Dan Vice, VA
1992 - 1993

Ken Rothstein, NY
1994

Joe Gundersen, IN
1996, 2003, 2006

Todd Vander Pluym, CA
1997

Eric Gundersen, NJ
1998, 2000

Doug Galullo, FL
1999, 2001, 2002

Harald Henning, CT
2004

John Morris, MD
2005

Christina Harley, WA
2008


Jennifer Drozd (left) and Jamie Tang, shown here giving Joe Collinson a tussle, were among six ladies who competed in seven-hour rounds of one of WBC's longest events.

Newcomers had their day and replaced the usual suspects as many of the usual laurelists were no where to be found. William Kendrick (right) of the UK seems pleased with his trade.

A Matriarchal Civilization ...

This year we lost some perennial contenders with both Doug Galullo and Joe Gunderson among the absent, but new friends have meant that our total numbers have remained consistent. We had five first-round games, but Paul Sampson's conflict-indiced withdrawal meant that four runner-ups played in the Final. Unlike last year, only three of the eight finalists had appeared in the previous Final: Kevin Youells, Joe Lux, and Shantanu Saha. The remainder of the board was composed of first-time ACV player Brian Farrelly, Jeff Bowers, Janice Thorne, and sisters Rachel and Christina Harley. Rachel got into the Final by outplaying her father, 2007 finalist Russell Harley, in their preliminary game.

In addition to the more unpredictable game made possible by so many first-time finalists, several events of note occurred. Playing Africa, Jeff drew bad luck early, receiving five calamities in three turns. Jeff decided to go the barbarian route, attacking first Kevin's Egypt, then Joe's Illyria. Jeff actually spent three consecutive turns late in the game without any cities, dropping back to the Stone Age on the AST. Meanwhile, Shantanu's Iberia managed to draw Civil War three times, followed by Iconoclasm & Heresy twice. Rachel's Babylon drew attention (and many secondary calamity effects) in the mid-game after she got out to a lead and bought Monotheism. This caused raised tensions between her and Assyria, as he was the most frequent target of her conversions. Popular sentiment through the midgame had Babylon targeted as the leader, and she may very well have run away with the game until a post lunchbreak tax revolt cost her six cities and removed her from contention. After a very unfortunate run of calamities, highlighted by getting stuck with Flood and Epedemic on the same turn, Kevin's Egyptians were reduced to a lowly one city and 11 tokens.  Consequently, y he was left for dead, and ignored during the Calamity Phase for several turns.  He managed to rebuild in an impressive manner and was contending for the win at the end but came up 200 points short.

Through it all, Christina laid low playing Thrace, building eight cities quickly and maintaining that level throughout. By the time she had bought 485 points worth of civilization cards on a single turn followed by 320 points to take the lead, it was too late to stop her rise. An additional 460 points on the penultimate turn cemented her victory, putting her out of reach of second-place Kevin and third-place Shantanu, barring a miraculous last trading round.

Janice, playing Crete for the first time, and Brian playing Assyria also turned in very competent games. Janice averaged seven cities with Crete, and Brian averaged eight cities with Assyria. But their inexperience showed in their vulnerability to mid-game calamities, and Brian's city total dropped down to six for the last four turns. Jeff's admittedly fatalistic barbarian strategy managed to net him 1682 victory points, the lowest total ever recorded in a WBC Final.

A survey conducted during the tournament revealed that most participants want it to remain as it currently is, although some would prefer shorter preliminary rounds. For the 2009 event, we will prepare a set of optional rules to allow six-hour first rounds, so long as all players at the table agree to the options.

The eight finalists begin the second round marathon session. Note that half the six women in the field made the Final table and all three laureled in one of WBC's "muscle" events.

Christina Harley moves as her sister Rachel and defending champ Kevin Youells observe. Christina became the first woman to win ACV at WBC.
 GM      Shantanu Saha [1st year]    NA 
    shantanu.saha@gmail.com    NA

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