| Past Winners |
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Harald Henning, CT
2005 |
Alan Sudy, VA
2006 |
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A well attended Demo may provide a
hint why Manifest Destiny's attendance hasn't slipped
in three years. |
Let me guess - is this the "Identify
the leader" phase? Even finalists engage in the time honored
rituals. |
For the third straight year, exactly 46 players participated
in the tournament. Aside from Mexico, which had a hefty eight
wins, winners were fairly evenly distributed among the startingpositions,
with Pennsylvania and Virginia (including the Final) each having
three wins, and Quebec and Louisiana two each.. Bill Crenshaw
(Virginia), Kevin Sudy (Mexico) and Arthur Field (Pennsylvania.)
each won their semi-finals and advanced to the Final with Harald
Henning (Quebec) and Kate Taillon (Louisiana).
The Final started slowly with no T1 Destiny cards being played.
Arthur. used Barnum to buy Circus and began buying cards early.
Bill got off to a fast start playing Samuel Morse and getting
five new territories on T1 and then cashing Native Sovereignty
for $60 in Tobacco on T2. Revolutionary War knocked Bill out
of Missouri, but he was able to buy Railroads and Steamships
and headed south instead of west. Harald played his priority
chit on T3 to play Hudson Bay and finish Mech. Harald also had
Oregon Trail and then drew Homestead Act, but since he didn't
have Westward Ho could not use it to get a western Ore as no
one bought Westward Ho until T4! It looked like there would
be a major Era 1 Destiny card squeeze, but Kevin got Patriotism
drawing all three Patriotism leaders and cashed Gold for $70.
Arthur. got Storytelling and began discarding (first Racial
Unrest and then Remember the Alamo). Kate and Kevin started
Turnpike but jumped to Electricity instead when Era 2 opened.
Bill got squeezed out of the level 1 Breakthroughs early but
drew Monroe Doctrine and was able to cash $90 of Tobacco on T4,
which enabled him to buy Circus and a card going 4th to open
up the level 2 B/Ts and research Think Tank, which he finished
in two turns. Arthur.played Civil War on Kevin after the Gold
payout and surged with high Profit and a good board position
before snagging Motion Pictures thanks to Edison. Bill never
expanded westward and got knocked out of Western South America
by Kevin's Remember the Maine and then in Oaxaca by Harald (who
had Fulton and bought Steamships). Kate struggled early and
then rolled poorly on Breakthroughs, but started gaining traction
as the game proceeded.
As Era 3 dawned, Kate played the 60's. The discounts enabled
a lot of buying, but Harald made a deal with Bill to hit Arthur.
with IRS (after Arthur. had played Wright Brothers and looked
to be making a major move). When the Investment Phase ended,
Bill was going last with nine tokens, Pro Sports (thanks to the
Babe), Telephone, Tolerance and Rock 'n Roll (thanks to Elvis)
while choosing first the next turn. Harald and Bill split Technology
and Oil so Harald would get $100 from Tech and $10 from Oil and
Bill would get $90 in Oil. Bill went 7 of 7 on attacks - not
even needing to use Rock n Roll --including fourcities (including
Arthur.'s home) to grab most cities. Bill then drew Oil Crisis
as the expansion card and Lawyer (paying Ore).
On the last turn Bill went first and cashed two Oil cards
and an Ore card. Kevin chose last hoping there would be another
expansion. Arthur. played World War (which he had stolen from
Bill on T3) -- costing Bill and Harald $60 each. Kate played
Depression in Kevin wiping out one of Bill's cities, but Bill
still had enough to buy 24 VPs in progressions, two for most
cities and five B/Ts with $30 left over (thanks to Depression's
Safety Net discount). Bill then completed Turnpike which no
one had completed to finish with 32 points and $30 left. Harald
was second with 28 VPs and $20, followed by Kevin (27VPs/$15),
Arthur. 24VPs/$35 and Kate (21VPs/$30).
 Manifest
Destiny 2007 PBeM Tournament Results
Tom Taaffe, playing Louisiana, won the inaugural Manifest
Destiny tournament in three rounds over a field of 36 players.
Tom had been neck and neck with Bob Heinzman, playing Virginia,
most of the way, but blew open a close game at the end.
Tom combined skillful territorial control with drawing several
useful leaders on the last two turns to win going away, despite
not having a third level breakthrough. Instead, his dual
second level breakthroughs of Electricity (shared with Kathy
Stroh/Pennsylvania) propelled him to most cities and Think Tank
enabled him to reject the few unhelpful cards he drew.
Bob got off to a solid mid-game lead with Tobacco payments and
early Airplanes, but could not seal the deal as the cards deserted
him. David Hood, as Mexico, made a late move to edge Bob
for second. Kathy never recovered from a $50 McCarthyism
hit courtesy of Scott Burns, Quebec, who never quite got untracked.
Kate Taillon who was first alternate for the Final earned
6th place laurels. |
Bill Crenshaw [3rd year]
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