This year saw a decrease of one player to our smallest field ever, which required three first-round games of five players and two games of six. The two six-player games had two mercenaries while the three five-player games had only one. 27 "wanna-be" dictators battled in the steamy jungles of the Musa Republica for top honors in this two-round, two-deck single elimination tourney. The guerilla factions won three of the five first round games (see table below). Game 5 saw last year's champion, Rob Kilroy, fall to Fred Gosnell. The last card of the second deck was the revolution. Rob Kilroy was forced to exchange his rebel loyalty chit for a government one, thus halving his score. When the installations were counted, the point swing was just enough to ensure a rebel win. The sudden death roll was a "10" and the game over with Fred Gosnell as the winner.

The final round of five players was played with two each government and guerilla faction chits and one mercenary chit. At several points during the game it appeared that the guerilla faction would run away with the game only to be checked by several government scoring opportunities. In the end it was the control of the installations that would propel the government to victory by a margin of 33 VPs. Jeff, who was the lone mercenary player, would have his VP total halved and fell from first to second behind Steve Huskey. First deck play saw all installations begin controlled by the government and all the troops being rebel. Eventually things evened out. The first big government group was deployed by Steve who used it to crush Scott's guerilla group by +12. Alan assaulted and captured the Bridge from Fred and drew five cards. Fred then assaulted a large guerilla group and collected 10 VPs which he doubled with a Press card. It was immediately countered by Atrocities. He then used the AirField, but missed his target. Scott was down to one deployed guerilla group (2+1, 7, 5) which he used to attack Jeff's Armor Column. Jeff used an Ambush card to double the Armor Column. Scott's attack was shattered, leaving only the 5-strength unit as mute testimony of his once strong force. Scott drew the Bad Weather card. Jeff's guerilla group (2+1, 6, 6) attacks the Port, rolls a "10" and wins 23 to 13. He uses his last action to draw five cards with one being the TV Station. Using a government group (3+3, 7, 5, 5) Steve assaults and captures the rebel held Port. Alan deploys and adds to his Ambush Chit. Fred attacks Jeff's rebel group 18 to 11 and after the dice are rolled only manages a tie. Scott rolls for the Bad Weather and rolls a 3. He discards and draws seven cards to fill his hand, leaving a red card exposed. Jeff uses the TV Station and fails, rolling a 1. He deploys a group and draws a Traitor. He targets Fred's 3+2 leader and has him killed. Steve's +10 government attack wins by only 1, killing off Jeff's 2+1 leader. He then draws the next Traitor and kills General Gonzalez (3+3). Jeff uses the free TV attack and draws the Banco De Nationale. Steve discards three and draws five, the last being red and revealed as the Revolution. He uses it to force Fred and Scott to exchange chits. Alan uses his Armor Column vs. the rebel Banco De Nationale and loses. He discards, but can't draw any cards. Scott withdraws his lonely 5-strength guerilla unit and draws the Barracks. The Bad Weather continues. By this time, the government faction is up by 21 VP. Steve hits the Banco De Nationale at +10 for an automatic victory. Wanting to hold it for more than one turn he deploys a 7-strength unit and 3+3 leader from the attacking group. He deploys a 1-strength guerilla unit. Using the extra Banco action he draws two cards, throwing a Traitor on Fred which flips his group loyalty to government. Coming to the end of the round, all players take defensive actions and draw cards from the shrinking draw pile. Alan then attacks and takes the Barracks, which is Scott's last deployed card. Fred uses the Airfield vs. a guerilla 6 and misses. Scott deploys a guerilla group (3+1, 5, 4, 3) and shuffles the deck as the weather clears.

Second deck action began with Jeff withdrawing a large government group, attacking with the free TV Station propaganda and missing, then deploying a large rebel group (3+1, 7, 5, 3). Scott uses a 3+1, 5, 4, 5 rebel group with an Arms Cache in an 18 to 8 attack vs. the Armor Column. One Press and one Atrocity are played for spite. He then draws a Traitor card and it kills Jeff's 3+1 leader. Steve's Recon Patrols fail vs Fred, but he assassinates Scott's 3+1 leader, and draws five cards. Alan is content with drawing down the deck and adding to his Ambush Chit (+3). Fred withdraws and redeploys a large guerilla group (3+3, 6, 5, 6). Jeff is finally successful with the TV Station against a guerilla 3, discards and draws three cards. Steve replaces a 3+2 leader of Fred's with a 2+0 leader using the special attribute of the Presidential Palace. Fred returns the favor by attacking the Presidential Palace at 20 to 18, and only manages to kill off the 4-strength government unit. Jeff moves up to capture the Presidential Palace, but fails to eliminate more than one point and Steve kills off his leader to satisfy the combat result. Steve withdraws a 6-strength government unit from the Policia opening it up to possible capture and deploys a 2+3 leader and 6 strength unit to the Presidential Palace. Alan continues his non-belligerent approach by withdrawing and deploying while trying to strengthen his forces.

Fred attacks with the 3+3, 6, 5, 6 guerilla group vs. Steve's Banco De Nationale, but is ambushed for an 11-point loss. The TV Station turns into a cash cow for Jeff as he scores vs. Scott's lone 4-strength guerilla unit. Following in the footsteps of his TV programming success, he turns his attention to Steve's Port, attacking at 20-12 after die rolls. He uses this opportunity to garrison it with a guerilla 2+2 leader, and 7-strength unit. Steve discards three and draws five of the six needed to fill his hand. The Revolution stops the draw. Alan and Jeff are forced to exchange chits. Ultimately, Jeff is hurt by the exchange, knocking him to second place. Fred attacks a government group at 15 to 10, but loses the die roll and a 7-strength unit. His second attack ends in a +9 and he captures the Policia, converting it to guerilla control. At this point in the game the government faction is ahead by 45 VPs without counting installations. Scott deploys an Armor Column and draws Bad Weather and one other card. Jeff withdraws from the TV Station leaving it open to assault and deploys a one-unit guerilla group. Steve assassinates Jeff's 2+0 leader, deploys a one-strength guerrilla unit and draws six cards (extra action via the Banco De Nationale) leaving only one card in the draw deck. Alan uses an Arms Cache to double one of his units and attacks the TV Station at 19 vs. 5 for an automatic victory and guerilla control. He draws the last card and rolls an 8 on the sudden death tile. Fred uses this last opportunity to score points. Using his 2+1, 7, 6 guerilla group he attacks the remaining 3+3, 6, 2 group and wins by 6. He thereby scored one-fourth of his total VPs for the game. The sudden death tile die roll of 10 ends the game. Prior to counting the installations, the government faction was leading by 26 VP. The point spread increased to 33 once all the installations were counted. Jeff, as the Mercenary, tried his level best to bring the point spread within 25 VPs, but the last Revolution was drawn late in the second deck and there was no time to recover. All in all, it was still a close game. All hail, El Presidente Steve Huskey. Now, where's my assassin card?