CLASSICS IRON MAN 2001
This year's Classic Iron Man is Phil Evans, who tallied a
record 95 CIM points, but nonetheless managed to win by only
a small margin over runner-up Stephen Likevich (83 points). Evans
won The Russian Campaign, while Likevich won Anzio,
but each scored points in three events in order to stake their
claims as top Iron Man, and survived a stiff challenge from David
Metzger, our first five-event scorer. Metzger took advantage
of this year's expansion of the number of eligible events to
bolster his challenge, but suffered from low turnout in most
of those events. Evans placed sixth in the1999 CIM competition,
but this year managed to do slightly better in his favorite events.
The reigning champ, Doug James, was blanked, but the 1999
Classics Iron Man, Bruno Sinigaglio, finished in sixth place,
scoring in two major CIM events. Perennial contender, Robert
Frisby, joined Sinigaglio as the only two entrants to make the
Top Twelve in all three years of CIM Championship play.
The addition of the family game classic, Tyranno Ex,
was seized upon by Verity Hitchings, who became the first of
her gender to make the CIM Top Twelve. Meanwhile, the addition
of Football Strategy to the event list allowed perennial
Wood Gatherer Bruce Reiff to again make the Top Twelve, earning
points from three quick-playing events which left him well short
of adding the CIM Plaque to his long list of conquests.
In those CIM events which were CIM events in the previous
year, attendance was fairly stable (rising nearly 2 per cent)--better
than convention turnout as a whole. However, this growth was
slower than growth seen last year--and this year three CIM events
fell by the wayside (for lack of a GM in the case of Mustangs).
The largest growth (>60%) was seen in Waterloo, Win, Place
& Show and Wooden Ships & Iron Men. Meanwhile,
substantial drops (>35%) occurred in attendance at Candidate,
Panzerblitz and Dinosaurs of the Lost World.
This year's change in the scoring format (multi-event bonus
points) boosted Frisby and Reiff by about four places each and
moved Metzger up one place, but did not effect Evans' margin
of victory. The tie-breaker rules kicked into effect to give
Frisby sole possession of seventh place by virtue of having scored
in more events than had Hitchings. The points ceiling rule kicked
into effect for The Russian Campaign, but the six-point
shortfall did not stop Evans from claiming the CIM Wood. Afrika
Korps grew substantially, but remained under the point ceiling.
In general, the format enhancements seemed to serve their purpose
without creating additional problems.
With 38 events run this year under CIM, earning a spot on
the Top Twelve list required acumen in a variety of Classics.
This year 125 entrants scored CIM points (and plenty of good
players went scoreless). Nineteen entrants scored CIM points
in two or more events. The CIM entrants listed below proved themselves
to be this year's toughest to beat.
Rank |
Name |
Points |
Events
Scored |
2000
Rank |
1st |
Phil Evans |
95 |
TRC, AFK, B81 |
|
2nd |
Stephen Likevich |
83 |
ANZ, WAT, B81 |
8th Tie |
3rd |
David Metzger |
68 |
812, 776 AHD, A5A, WZQ |
|
4th |
Lane Newbury |
62 |
AFK |
|
5th |
John Clarke |
49 |
WAT |
|
6th |
Bruno Sinigaglio |
46 |
B81, FSE |
7th |
7th |
Robert Frisby |
45 |
FSE, PGG, 776 |
2nd |
8th |
Verity Hitchings |
45 |
TYX, WZQ |
|
9th |
Bruce Reiff |
43 |
FBS, WPS, CDT |
8th Tie |
10th |
Marty Musella |
42 |
WAT, PZB |
|
11th |
Steve Dickson |
41 |
RSK, DLW |
|
12th |
Jonathan Lockwood |
40 |
AFK, NVW |
|
|