advanced civilization  

Updated 11/11/2009

2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Kevin Youells, PA

2009 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
2009    Kevin Youells    32
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Doug Galullo       FL    06    266
  2.  Kevin Youells      FL    09    224
  3.  Joe Gundersen      IN    06    186
  4.  Eric Gundersen     NJ    03    125
  5.  Shantanu Saha      NY    09    113
  6.  Christina Harley   WA    09     70
  7.  Harald Henning     CT    04     50
  8.  Ted Mullally       NJ    03     50
  9.  John Morris        MD    05     40
 10.  Ken Rothstein      NY    09     30
 11.  Chris Robbins      UT    07     30
 12.  Rodd Polsky        PA    01     30
 13.  Jeff Bowers        UT    06     29
 14.  Charley Hickok     PA    00     26
 15.  Joe Lux            NJ    08     20
 16.  Peter Rauch        MA    00     18
 17.  Kevin Hillock      VA    09     15
 18.  Rachel Harley      VA    08     15
 19.  Russell Harley     WA    07     15
 20.  Ann Cornet         FL    02     15
 21.  Robert Vollman     AB    07     10
 22.  Mike Musko         FL    03     10
 23.  Francis Spencer    CT    01     10
 24.  Robert Kircher     RI    05      8
 25.  Jennifer Drozd     IL    09      5
 26.  Janice Thorne      OH    08      5
 27.  Rich Jenulis       OH    07      5
 28.  Harry White        TX    04      5
 29.  Jamie Tang         MD    02      5

2009 Laurelists                                            Repeating Laurelists 

Ken Rothstein, NY
2nd

Christina Harley, WA
3rd

Kevin Hillock, VA
4th

Shantanu Saha, NY
5th

Jennifer Drozd, IL
6th


Past Winners

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

Kevin Youells, PA
2007, 2009

Christina Harley, WA
2008


Kenny Rothstein, Kevin Hillock, Kevin Youells and Justin Nordstrom all enjoy their return to the Final.

Jacques Romain, Shantanua Saha and defending champ Christina Harley take their places around the Final board.

the trade not made ...

As the Advanced Civilization tournament matures, it also evolves to help meet the scheduling needs of our players.  This year marked the debut of the "fast game" variant which included shortened trading times, a fixed number of turns, and a one-use "credit card" which could be exchanged for points to buy advances during the purchase phase.  The amount of the credit grew the longer you waited to use it.  Players in the fast game liked the modifications, and this will probably continue to be offered for the first rounds in future years.   

The 2009 tournament drew a good mix of new players and returning veterans.  Preliminary heats on Wednesday and Thursday narrowed the field to our eight finalists.  Three were prior champs, with defending champion Christina Harley (Assyria), 2007 winner Kevin Youells (Crete), and 1994 victor Ken Rothstein (Babylon) all striving to recapture the Wood.  Prior finalists returning for another chance at glory were Justin Nordstrom (Africa), Kevin Hillock (Egypt), and Shantanu Saha (Thrace).  Jennifer Drozd (Iberia) and Jacques Romain (Illyria) made their first Final appearance.

Board positions for the Final were determined by a random draw, with trading permitted, and the politicking began before the game as Kevin desperately attempted to trade away his draw of Crete.  Nobody was interested, with Jenn quoting the pregame advice she was given of "Don't play Crete." 

The first area of conflict began early.  Crete opened to the east to counteract Assyria's growth in Asia Minor, leaving the Balkans open, which Illyria immediately exploited.  After discussion, then heated discussion, then threats, Crete vowed that he would be sacking two Illyrian cities the following round.  The attack never did materialize, as Illyria drew a devastating Civil War, with Crete as the beneficiary.  The sudden growth from this event helped the Cretans advance and grow, while the Illyrians never did fully recover.

Justin decided to go with an early Mining strategy with his Africans.  After using his Mining to fuel an impressive purchase round, it was determined by the board that Justin was "winning", leading him to be targeted with multiple secondary effects from calamaties, continuing long after others had passed him in point totals.  This left our Africans to finish the game in second place, and reconsidering his strategy.

As always, the Final yielded some interesting events.  Kevin Hillock was rather militant with his Egyptians.  At one point he successfully took over the island of Crete.  Later, he launched attacks on Babylon and Assyria as well.  The strategy worked well for him, as he combined timely attacks with skillful trading to guide his nation to a fourth place finish.  Jenn's Iberians were the beneficiary of a Babylonian Civil War.  Normally, units that far from home would be killed rapidly, but she was able to keep them alive which was very useful when she ended up using the extra population for city support.

In the end it came down to our three prior champions fighting it out for the top spot as Kevin and Ken were both convinced that the other would win, while being wary of how dangerous Christina could be.  Kevin launched a naval attack on Ken, sacking one of his cities and grabbing a valuable trade card to take into the final round.  The trading was fast and furious, with few calamities in play. As the final scores were tallied, it was Kevin that came out on top with a 300 point victory, despite his inability to trade away Crete at the beginning of the game.

Thank you to all of our players, and we look forward to seeing you again next year when a new GM will be required.

Advanced Civilization is one of those games that is best at conventions since its length and number of players are hard to come by at home.

Jennifer Drozd and Jacques Romaine made their first appearance in the Final. Note the timer at right to keep the gaming moving at a brisk pace.
 GM      Shantanu Saha [2nd Year]    NA 
    shantanu.saha@gmail.com    646-331-6648

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