War of 1812- One of the two events that were played in an open swiss concept is the second edition of the War of 1812. Sixteen games were played with the US holding a 11-5 advantage in wins. Bill Beswick and Mike sims advanced to the final after dispatching many of the other contestants. Bill had all of his wins playing the US. Mike being the perennial champ of 1812 played the British in the finals giving Bill his preferred side. The game went badly for Bill from the beginning and Mike's dice was hot carrying him to his repeat win and his fifth overall victory in this title.
Julius Caesar - Columbia's newest title kicked off the tournaments on Friday at noon. Ten players decided to try this great new game designed by Prezcon's Justin Thompson. Pompeii dominated the weekend as we only saw one victory by Caesar and that was in the finals. All the games played came down to last turn, so I do not see it as a major problem with balance. Caesar seems to be the more difficult side to play. Mike Updike and Nathan Taylor advanced to the final. The game came down to the battle at Rome and Mike was able to take the city in an epic battle. Overall, the participants thought that the game was a winner.
Hammer of the Scots - Thirteen players refought the Braveheart scenario with the an even split of wins for both the English and the Scots. Block Party newcomer Joe Harrison advanced to the finals with defending champ Ron Draker. Joe a BPA veteran played the Scots and got off to a fast start. Ron kept up the pessure and by the mid game looked as if he had the game under control. That is when Joe started to lead the Scots on a comeback and going into the last turn had a shot at the victory. It was not to be as Ron was able to secure the victory with a 9-5 noble count.
Richard III - Sunday dawned with a couple of events left for our weekend's celebration of the block game genre. Only six players matched up to play Richard III. This is a great game on the Wars of the Roses and we are disappointed with the turnout and maybe we should look at the scheduling of this gem. We bid extra card and discards to choose sides. The average bid was 1 for the Yorkists. The Yorks held a 4-1 advantage. The final was a repeat of the previous year when Ric Manns and Ron Draker matched up in the final. Ric again played the Yorkist side and was able to take the throne on the first camapign and Lancaster was never able to muster enough strength to regain the crown.
C&C: Ancients - Commands & Colors: Ancients saw a large drop off in participants. Five players competed for the title in an open free form event. The GM Mike Updike will be changing the format to try to provide players more opportunities for other events by moving to a Single Elmination in 2012. Joe Harrison and defending champ Richard Diem adavnced to the final that featured Raphia as the scenario. Joe had to follow up his final in Hammer with another tough game again on that Sunday. Richard and Joe had a close contest that came down to the last assault as the Selucids fell short and Richard had his repeat in this classic game from GMT.
C&C: Napoleonics - GMT's newest block game was the Friday night feature for the war game crowd. The tournament featured a single elmination event that drew ten combatants. Actually, we had a few others that wanted to play, but the lack of games caused a few to drop out. Eight games were played and the British held an advantage of 6 wins to 2 losses. Newcomer Rob Prince faced off with Mike Updike in the final. Rob took the British and Mike the French which would lead one to believe that Rob would carry the day. Not so fast my friends Mike was able to have hot dice with his artillery and carried the day for the Emperor.
1960: The Making of the President - This was one of the four non-war game events over the weekend. Six players signed up to refight the historic Kennedy-Nixon election. JFK won three of the five games over the tournament. Mike Sims advanced against defending champ Scott Bowling. Mike who had complained that he has rarely if ever won an election game was able to lead the Kennedy forces to an electoral landside. It seems that Jack did not need those late votes from Chicago this year to take the tourney.
Casey Jones Event - Five players participated in the first ever railroad themed event. Players played three titles and were able to get tourney points based on the finish in the titles. Santa Fe Rails, Steam and Ticket to Ride were the games used for the events. Going into the last game all players had a shot at the victory, but Rob Taylor was able to pull away in the last game. Rob and the other players seemed to enjoy the event and we look to tweak it next year.
Euro Iron Man - Saturday was the day for our muti-game Euro event. Fourteen players were on hand to contest the Iron Man award. Players competed in three titles Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico & Power Grid over the day. Going into the last game six players had a shot to win. Power Grid was the final game and newcomer Melissa Mendrick was able to win the game, but Tom Cleaver's finishes in the other two events were able to carry the championship by one tourney point.
Louisville Grand Prix - Sunday afternoon brought the last event of the weekend. The Louisville Grand Prix was a two game event that was run by the Louisville Area Gamers. Seven drivers competed in the games Formula De and the classic Speed Circuit. The race was close as Walt Brewer was able to clip Martin Campion by .5 to take the first ever LGP title! We are definetly interested in keep this event for next year!
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