hannibal: rome vs carthage 

Updated 11/30/2008

Omens Pre-Con
2008 WBC Report  

 2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Jim Heenehan, PA

2008 Champion

Offsite Links

 
Consimworld GM Site

Event History
1996    Thomas Drueding      58
1997    James Doughan      52
1998    Karsten Engelmann      52
1999    Jung Yueh     46
2000    James Pei     41
2001    Aaron Fuegi     35
2002    Peter Reese     41
2003     Keith Wixson     44
2004    Chris Byrd     46
2005    Nick Anner     39
2006    Jim Heenehan     34
2007     James Pei     31
2008     Jim Heenehan    43

PBeM Event History
2001     Aaron Fuegi     37

WAM Event History
2003    Stuart Tucker    11
2004    James Pei    19
2005    Chris Byrd    21
2006     Jim Heenehan    12
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  James Pei          VA    07    236
  2.  Keith Wixson       NJ    08    193
  3.  Jim Heenehan       PA    08    188
  4.  Chris Byrd         CT    06    157
  5.  Peter Reese        VA    06     94
  6.  Gary Andrews       NY    08     62
  7.  Nick Anner         NY    05     60
  8.  Aaron Fuegi        MA    01     60
  9.  Jung Yueh          MA    99     50
 10.  Doug White         PA    04     44
 11.  Mark Giddings      NY    01     40
 12.  Scott Moll         VA    06     36
 13.  Derek Miller       VA    05     36
 14.  David Dockter      MN    02     36
 15.  Craig Melton       VA    03     34
 16.  Stuart Tucker      MD    06     34
 17.  Lyman Moquin       DC    08     30
 18.  Charles Hickok     PA    03     30
 19.  Randall MacInnis   NJ    06     25
 20.  Jim Doughan        PA    06     24
 21.  Eugene Lin         WA    05     24
 22.  Jim Eliason        IA    03     24
 23.  Tim Hall           UT    05     22
 24.  George Seary       NY    99     20
 25.  Doug Mercer        MD    04     18
 26.  Henry Rice         NM    04     18
 27.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    02     18
 28.  Phil Barcafer      PA    99     15
 29.  Larry Luongo       NJ    08     12
 30.  Scott Moll         VA    05     12
 31.  Matthew Bacho      MD    04     12
 32.  Ahmed Ilpars     Turkey  07     11
 33.  Raymond Gorka      NY    07     10
 34.  Jim Heenehan       PA    06     10
 35.  Robert Vollman     ALB   00     10
 36.  Jim Heenehan       PA    05      9
 37.  Paul Gaberson      PA    06      8
 38.  Andy Latto         MA    08      6
 39.  Thomas Richardson  VA    06      6
 40.  Robert Hassard     NJ    02      6
 41.  John Rinko         VA    99      5
 42.  John Firer         WI    01      3
 43.  Trevor Bender      CA    01      2

2008 Laurelists                                          Repeating Laurelists 

Keith Wixson, NJ
2nd

Gary Andrews, NY
3rd

Lyman Moquin, DC
4th

Larry Luongo, NJ
5th

Andy Latto, MA
6th


Past Winners

Thomas Drueding, PA
1996

James Doughan, PA
1997

Karsten Englemann, VA
1998

Jung Yueh, MA
1999

James Pei, TX
2000, 2007

Aaron Fuegi, MA
2001

Peter Reese, VA
2002

Keith Wixson, NJ
2003

Chris Byrd, CT
2004

Nick Anner, NY
2005

Jim Heenehan, PA
2006, 2008
       

Jim Heenehan (left) meets TRC champ Gary Dickson in the foreground while Michael Dauer takes on Nels Thompson behind them.

Ahmet Ilpars from Turkey claimed a win over 2002 champion Pete Reese (right). Hannibal is one of the WBC events where top players are in plentiful supply. .

Good Omens for Hannibal Players
By GM Stuart K. Tucker

Reigning champion and top-A.R.E.A.-rated James Pei missed the tournament due to the birth of a child, but the competition was loaded this year nonetheless. 43 players, including five former champions and seven of the top ten rated players, gathered in Lancaster again this year for the Omens pre-convention tournament. This was a significant rebound from the previous year's attendance (which reduced this year's prize level to five plaques). Next year we'll be back up to six plaques, a good omen for Hannibal players. Ten of our players were rookie entrants to the tournament--with the attendance spike being largely attributable to the re-release of Hannibal under the Valley Games label. In the course of play, we discovered a few nuanced differences from the previous, web-published second edition rules, but veterans took the new rules in stride with no trouble.

Sunday's first two rounds exhibited the usual wild fluctuations of misfortune, with Carthage dominating the first round, but Rome getting sweet revenge in the second. Three former champs went down in the first round in close-run defeats, while former champs Keith Wixson and Jim Heenehan advanced against tough competitors (including medalists from last year). Meanwhile in the newcomer's bracket, Andy Latto and Scott Marcotte advanced against skilled veterans.

On Monday, in Round 3, Randall MacInnis pulled a third rabbit out of his hat to defeat Marcotte. In what looked to become the story of the tournament, MacInnis had won three times in 9-9 ties in games he thought he was losing entering the final turn (twice with his Hannibal dead early in the game). This round, Latto defeated Nels Thompson largely due to a Turn 5 Messenger Interception of the Philip card which then ended the Macedonian alliance with Thompson's Carthage. Bill Edwards, having advanced past GM Stuart Tucker, met defeat at the hands of Heenehan's Romans, who managed to retake Syracuse and Sardinia in the final turn, with Marcellus snuffing out Mago's final desperate attempt to retake Sardinia. Wixson advanced quickly on a Turn 4 sacking of Roderick Lee's Carthage. Lyman Moquin continued his undefeated run through tough veteran competition with a Turn 6 double envelopment killing of Scott Moll's Scipio Africanus, and subsequent stripping of Roman PCs to the point of capitulation on Turn 7.

With five players entering Round 4 undefeated, the top-rated 2-1 player, Stuart Tucker, was pressed into the role of spoiler to try to even the brackets and eliminate the possibility of a sixth round for the wood. This year, player's strength of schedule was determined by using A.R.E.A. ratings (players gained their opponents rating when winning, or one-tenth of their rating when losing). With 15 tournaments of data entered into A.R.E.A. ratings during the last ten years, the A.R.E.A. "ladder" for Hannibal now represents a fair representation of opponent strength. Tucker faced former Champ Jim Heenehan. Jim was in trouble early when Tucker's Carthage Intercepted the Sardinia Revolts card to setup a Turn 5 battle for the island. Heenehan pulled out all the stops with three reaction cards to halt Mago's attempt to entrench in Sardinia, thereby giving up Sicily just as Syracuse and Macedonia were joining Carthage. However, a Turn 8 Messenger Intercept allowed Heenehan to get a foothold in Spain. By the time Tucker drove him from the peninsula, he had stipped Sicily of every defender, leading eventually to a 10-8 victory by Heenehan's Romans when Hanno counseled Carthage. Wixson took on "Close-Shave" MacInnis, but Randall switched to the Roman side, changing his luck and succumbing to a Turn 9 Syracuse Alliance for Wixson's Carthaginians. Newcomer Andy Latto continued his amazing run with a close 10-8 victory over Lyman Moquin, in which the climactic Turn 7 witnessed Hanno counseling Carthage, Cato counseling Rome, Scipio killing Hannibal, and Hasdrubal killing Scipio Africanus.

For Round 5, 16 players stuck around for fun and/or their chance at one of the five plaques, making for a tournament of 68 games played (and three byes). In the end, the final count was 35 Roman wins to 33 for favorite Carthage. In 20% of the games, the winning bid chose the Roman side, but the average winning bid was 1.7 for Carthage. One of the quickest Roman victories occurred when James Terry's Publius Scipio defeated Hanno and gained a siege point on Carthage on Turn 1, then played a Campaign card to start Turn 2 and finish the job. Five other sacks determined victory, including one of Rome. Carthage won ten games on 9-9 ties. In all, 27 games went down to close province counts where the loser came up short by the swing of a single province. 28 games (41%) ended in lopsided capitulations (16 of which were Carthaginian victories). Hannibal was killed in 21 games, but Carthage still won five of them. Africanus was killed in 13 games, with Rome winning four. No Syracuse Alliance occurred in 23 games, with Carthage still winning 12 of them. The Syracuse Alliance occurred on Turn 8 or 9 in four games, with Rome winning only one such game. No Macedonian Alliance occurred in 19 games, with Rome winning 10 of those contests. The Messenger Interception occurred on Turn 8 or 9 in 15 games, 80% of the time leading to victory (with Rome gaining the card more times than Carthage, by a 9-5 margin).

Round 5 began with three undefeated players, making it Gary Andrews' turn (best-rated 3-1) to try to prevent a sixth round for the wood. Latto gave him the choice of Carthage for a bid of 2. Truces caused four straight re-shuffles, but finally in Turns 7 and 8, the Macedonian and Syracusan Alliances occurred. Andrews held parts of Italy for most of the game and, despite Hannibal's death on Turn 8, received Latto's Turn 9 resignation after driving off three Roman attempts to land an army at Carthage. This meant that the battle of former champs Wixson and Heenehan would determine the champion, and create our second two-time champion. Wixson gave Heenehan the choice of Carthage for a bid of 1. Syracuse joined Carthage on Turn 1, but was sacked on Turn 5 just as the Macedonian Alliance began. Heenehan spent much of the game trying to lodge an army led by Mago on Sardinia. On Turn 7, Wixson sent three armies into Spain. Mago returned to Spain with reinforcements for a pressed Hannibal, regaining Spain, but allowing Rome to retake Sardinia for the sixth time on Turn 9. Hannibal crossed the Alps in order to play "I have come to Italy" on the final card play to secure a 9-9 count for victory for Heenehan.

Final Tournament Ranking:
1. Jim Heenehan, 5-0, 3 Carthaginian wins
2. Keith Wixson, 4-1, 3 Roman wins
3. Gary Andrews, 4-1, all Carthaginian
4. Larry Luongo, 4-1, 3 Carthaginian wins
5. Lyman Moquin, 4-1, 3 Carthaginian wins
6. Andy Latto, 4-1, all Roman
7. Thomas Richardson, 3-1
8. Grant LaDue, 3-2
9. Marc Berenbach, 3-2
10. Randall MacInnis, 3-2
11. Gary Dickson, 3-2
12. Stuart Tucker, 2-2
13. Roderick Lee, 2-2
14. James Terry, 2-2,
15. Bill Edwards, 2-1
16. Nels Thompson, 2-2
17. Scott Marcotte, 2-1
18. Derek Landel, 2-3
19. Scott Moll, 2-2
20. Chris Senhouse, 2-2
21. Glenn McMaster, 2-1
22. Charles Ward, 2-3
23. Craig Melton, 1-2
24. Eric Brosius, 1-0
25. Kevin Wostaszczyk, 1-3
26. Ahmet Ilpars, 1-2
27. Chris Byrd, 1-3
28. Carl Copeland, 1-2
29. Bob Woodson, 1-2
30. Michael Sosa, 1-1
31. Bruno Sinigaglio, 1-1
32. Henry Richardson, 0-4
33. Doug Mercer, 0-1
34. Pete Reese, 0-1
35. Patrick Mirk, 0-1
36. Jeff Burdett, 0-1
37. George Young, 0-1
38. Matt Bacho, 0-2
39. Bruce Wigdor, 0-2
40. Charles Hickok, 0-1
41. David Dockter, 0-1
42. Phillip Burgis-Young, 0-1
43. Michael Dauer, 0-1

Nels Thompson (left) runs into a hot Andy Latto who would go on to win four events.

The Final was fittingly a battle of undefeated former champions. Jim Heenehan's plummage ultimately won out over Keith Wixson.
 GM      Stuart Tucker  [7th Year]   NA 
    econedit@aol.com   NA

2008 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page