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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.
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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
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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. |
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