britannia [Updated October 2003]  

2003 WBC Report     

 2004 Status: pending 2004 GM commitment

Nick Benedict, PA

2003 Champion

2nd: David Gantt, SC

3rd: Rich Curtin, NY

4th: Ewan McNay, CT

5th: Llew Bardecki, ONT

6th: John Strand, CO

Event History
1991    Richard Curtin      39
1992    Duane Wagner      53
1993    Brett Mingo      91
1994    Scott Pfeiffer      73
1995    Randy Schib      69
1996    Scott Pfeiffer      55
1997    David Gantt      52
1998    Jim Jordan      49
1999    Scott Pfeiffer     46
2000    Ewan McNay     62
2001    Mark Smith     42
2002    Ewan McNay     42
2003    Nick Benedict     48


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Ewan McNay

CT

03
159
 2. Nick Benedict

PA

03
104
 3. James Jordan

MD

02
  72
 4. David Gantt

SC

03
  70
 5. Mark Smith

KY

01
  60
 6. Scott Pfeiffer

SC

02
  58
 7. Jonathan Squibb

PA

00
  40
 8. Bruce Young

SC

02
  36
 9. Randy Schilb

MO

00
  24
10. Richard Curtin

NY

03
  20
11. Richard Jones

UK

02
  18
12. Jonathan Price

NJ

00
  12
13. Llew Bardecki

ONT

03
  10
14. David Yoon

NY

99
    8
15. Brett Mingo

MD

02
    6
16. John Strand

CO

03
    5

Past Winners

Richard Curtin - NY
1991

Duane Wagner - NJ
1992

Brett Mingo - DC
1993

Scott Pfeiffer - SC
1994, 1996, 1999

Randy Schilb - MD
1995

David Gantt - SC
1997

Jim Jordan - MD
1998

Ewan McNay - CT
2000, 2002


Mark Smith - KY
2001
       
 


The First of the Fast Forward History Games ...

Yes friends, Scott Pfeiffer at last has a high score award, with Blue no less! Other than that, much of the craziness from last year died down. The high and low scores looked more normal (no 30's scored this year, no more Caledonians visiting their cousins in Cornwall.) Although there were still some pathological Roman invasions. In three games, the Belgae discovered
machine gun caches and scored 12, 14 and 16 points. Of course, Blue only won one of those games.

From the standpoint of winning colors, it was the usual slant to Red and Purple. Blue had one win, Green two, and those all occurred in the 1st round. The other 15 games went to Red and Purple, with eight and seven wins. Red was the only color with blowout games this year though. The other high scores were all under 120. Purple went to Mark Smith with 118.5, Green to Jim Jordan with 116.5, and Blue (did I mention this?) to Scott Pfeiffer with 113. Red went to Ewan McNay with 151.

Strangeness this year occurred in the semi-finals, where we managed only three!? So three winners and one runner-up went to the final. On a good note though, we went up in total players, pulling in 48 players this year.

The final consisted of a set of the usual cast of characters, Ewan McNay, David Gannt, Rich Curtin, and Nick Benedict. All are past winners except for Nick. And distinguished by Rich, who was the first winner of the tournament in 1991. Nick pulled Purple, while Ewan (to his despair) drew Blue. The game began with the Romans mowing down everything in sight. With only a single loss to the Belgae and none to the Brigantes the Romans controlled the first third of the game with complete authority.

The mid-game settled into a normal red domination pattern, except that the Angles and Brigantes sparred heavily, much to the detriment of both. With so much blood in the north of England, the Scots were left to peacefully dominate over the minimal Picts and score a large number of points. Meanwhile, both the Angles and Brigantes essentially disappeared.

A similar fate awaited the Danes with the start of the end game. An extraordinary Danish invasion netting 28 points turned into a following turn where one wondered whether the Danes had ever been on the board. There were only Saxons left to face the final invasions, and they posed no particular problem for the initial invasions, with both Norwegians and Normans scoring well. But in a burst of final energy, Kings were killed at every turn, with Harold, Harald, and William all disappearing before the end.

At the last, Nick's Purple pulled it out between his Romans and Scots and we have a new name to add to the Britannia Plate.

Note that, for next year, colors will be randomly picked in each round, not just the semis and final. Additionally, the rule of one win advancing to the semi-finals has worked very well, so that will be continuing, and will probably mean that we will only play three heats next year. I'm looking forward to another rousing tournament in 2004!

 GM      James M. Jordan  [5th Year]  NA
    jmj@ieee.org   NA

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