kremlin   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report   

 2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

John Keating, IN

2013 Champion

 

Event History
1991    Jim Fuqua      25
1992    Sean Cousins      20
1993    Jim Fuqua      49
1994    Caleb Cousins      42
1995    Sean Cousins      36
1996    Sean Cousins      20
1997    Tracy Graf      46
1998    Chris Geggus      46
1999    Bruce Glassco     38
2000    Tom McCorry     45
2001    David Buchholz     51
2002    Steve Cuccaro     50
2003    Llew Bardecki     56
2004    Steve Cuccaro     48
2005     Steve Cuccaro     40
2006     Pete Stein     39
2007     Pete Stein     33
2008    Lee Rodrigues     34
2009     Ewan McNay     37
2010    Pete Stein     41
2011    Bob Jamelli     41
2012    Dave Dentel     34
2013    John Keating     38

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Steve Cuccaro      MD    11    163
  2.  Peter Stein        OH    10    116
  3.  Lee Rodrigues      VA    13     60
  4.  Nick Smith         uk    13     51
  5.  Tom McCorry        VA    01     46
  6.  John Keating       IN    13     42
  7.  Sean McCulloch     OH    12     40
  8.  Ewan McNay         CT    09     40
  9.  Llew Bardecki      on    03     40
 10.  Marc Houde         VA    04     35
 11.  Dave Dentel        VA    12     30
 12.  Bob Jamelli        PA    11     30
 13.  David Buchholz     MI    01     30
 14.  Bruce Glassco      NJ    99     30
 15.  Peter Staab        PA    10     27
 16.  Charles Davis      WV    04     25
 17.  Jim Jordan         MD    07     24
 18.  Peter Pollard      TN    02     24
 19.  Bob Jamelli        PA    00     24
 20.  Ray Stakenas II    MI    13     18
 21.  Tom DeMarco        NJ    12     18
 22.  Richard Curtin     NY    11     18
 23.  Greg Crowe         MD    10     18
 24.  Chris Geggus       uk    06     18
 25.  Brian Carr         VA    05     18
 26.  Jason Wagner       NJ    00     16
 27.  Greg Tanner        AZ    09     14
 28.  Brian Goodwin      VA    12     12
 29.  Jerry Ohlinger     NY    03     12
 30.  Ron Wuerth         VA    02     12
 31.  Sean Cousins       ME    01     12
 32.  James Hopkin       CA    00     12
 33.  Phillip Yaure      PA    13     10
 34.  Andy Latto         MA    08      9
 35.  Joe Delaney        NY    06      9
 36.  Steve Cameron      PA    01      9
 37.  Roy Pettis         VA    07      8
 38.  Linda Pattison     MD    03      8
 39.  Ray Stakenas       MI    02      8
 40.  John Pack          CO    13      6
 41.  Scott Beall        OR    11      6
 42.  Mike Stanley       OH    10      6
 43.  Jason O'Donnell    OH    99      6
 44.  Jeffrey Martin     CT    09      4
 45.  Barry Shoults      MI    03      4
 46.  David Rohde        MI    02      4
 47.  Elizabeth Lang     MA    00      4
 48.  Jason Arvey        VA    12      3
 49.  Nick Benedict      CA    08      3
 50.  Martin Davis       CT    06      3
 51.  Don Tatum          MD    04      3
 52.  Zach Fietsch       NC    01      3
 53.  Mark Neale         ME    99      3
 54.  Mark Mitchell      VA    09      2

2013 Laurelists                                                 Repeating Laurelists:

Lee Rodrigues, VA
2nd

Nick Smith, uk
3rd

Ray Stakenas II, CA
4th

John Pack, CO
5th

Philip Yaure, PA
6th

Past Winners

Sean Cousins, ME
'92, '95-'96

Tracy Graf, MD
1997

Chris Geggus, uk
1998

Bruce Glassco, VA
1999

Tom McCorry, PA
2000

David Buchholz, MI
2001

Steve Cuccaro, MD
2002, 2004-05

Llew Bardecki, on
2003

Pete Stein, OH
2006-07, 2010

Lee Rodrigues, VA
2008

Ewan NcNay, NY
2009

Bob Jamelli, PA
2011

Dave Dentel, VA
2012

John Keating, IN
2013
 

Michael Kaye, Peter Staab, Joe Delaney, Scott Beall, Doug Porterfield and Philip Yaure play politics ... commie style - which isn't all that different from congress actually.

Laughing at the Cold War ...

Victory to He who Bides his Time ...

This year we barely avoided the ignominy of a winnerless game, and moreover had two players advance with two wins each during the 1 preliminary games. Ray Stakenas did it the easy way with wins in his first two heats. Lee Rodrigues won his second and fourth heat, and needed that second win to make the Final. He got that win with a certain amount of panache. A healthy Strychnin was advanced to Party Chief in the 5th turn due to an empty Politburo, and Lee's 10 Influence gave him two waves and a cure before leaving office in Turn 8. Again, a healthy Ludmilla was advanced that round due to an empty Politburo, and gave Lee the win (she was his 9 Influence PC).

In the Final, Turn 1 saw seven Candidates and Politburo members purged by a very effective Palavrian as KGB head. However, he was not controlled by Nick Smith, who ended in control of Nestor by the end of that turn, so his success led to his reduction to the second level. The second turn was relatively uneventful, as Nick's choice for the KGB head position (Boremtodev) was only able to do one purge, and the health dice were kind. Nick made a personal goal by getting a second wave out of Nestor while having to roll dice for both waves, a first for him. The lack of purges continued in the third round, with a first attempt against the foreign minister failing. Sadly, the 91-year-old, ailing Nestor was convicted and sent to Siberia, and a healthy Boremtodev ascended to Party Chief. He turned out to owe more favors to John Pack than he did to Nick, giving John the chance to reshuffle the Politburo more to his liking. Nestor was brought back from Siberia before John took his first (and only) wave of the game.

Turn 4 started ugly, with a first purge card played allowing the KGB head (Eatstumuch) to be purged by the Ideology chief (Nikotin). Thanks to the play of a blackmail card, Nikotin declined, passing the Purge Phase to the Party Chief. John happily used Boremtodev to purge
both. Unfortunately, the Party Chief was vulnerable, and he was tried and sent on a return all-expenses-paid trip to Siberia . An assassination attempt was made before the election against a candidate controlled by Ray, who named the Defence minister (Zenjarplan) as the perpetrator. The Candidate died, and Zenjarplan was found not guilty, but was also not elected. By the time the dust settled, Talksalott was Chief and Lee gained control.

In the next turn, the Defense Minister was 1st-purged, allowing for a trial against Putschnik (in the Economy slot). This trial failed due to an innocent vote from the Party Chief. Putschnik's luck continued as he healed in the health phase, while Nestor finally passed to his reward.
There was no wave this turn as the Party Chief spent that phase in the Cure. He retired due to age in the Cure Phase of Turn 6, leaving the field open. Karrienko, as Foreign Minister, entered the cure to improve the chances that he would be elected later. As is traditional, Vasolin was purged on first entering the Candidates, but the next purge failed. In the end, Manjak was elected and Lee got his second wave.

Nick secured control of Karrienko by making him 10+ during the add influence phase. Bungaloff began the Purge Phase of Turn 7 in an ordinary way starting with the Candidates, but then switched off and successfully purged Manjak on his fourth roll. At this point, Nick played a card to bust his own Foreign Minister to the people. The result of all this maneuvering was the election of Goferbrok as Party Chief and a wave for Ray.

The first purge of Turn 8 was, of course, Nick's 10+. Not much else happened that turn, and Ray had Goferbrok in the cure so there was no wave. The next and last turn saw the game end through insufficient politicians to fill the Politburo. The funeral commission involved some complicated card play, but in the end the Party Chief was Ludmilla, who was held equally by Phil and John Keating, as each had seven influence; John won the tiebreaker, the game and his first Kremlin title.

Ray Stakenas, Llew Bardecki in his gulag headgear, Sarah Sparks and Chris Yaure

GM Steve Cuccaro (standing to the right of the kiosk) and his commie wannabe finalists.
 GM      Steve Cuccaro [8th Year]  NA
    Cuccaro@fastmail.fm   NA 

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