Viva la Revolution
The Philadelphia Contingent represented nearly half of the
participants in this year's battle for the third-world country
of Avalonia. The rebel faction took two of the three Preliminary
games by substantial margins. The top two players from each of
the three six-player first round games advanced into the final,
two-deck, six-player game.
The final game of six players (three from the Philadelphia
Contingent) was played with two government, rebel, and mercenary
faction chits. The government only managed 8 (vs. 26 rebel) scoring
opportunities in the entire game for only 52 VP's. The 142-rebel
VP margin is the largest recorded government loss in ten years.
The government and mercenary players were asleep throughout the
entire game. At one point late in the game there were no government
installations or forces in play.
Final round play began as each player tried to redress their
hands by discards and draws. Gordon Rodgers (GR) scored first
with his successful 13-point rebel attack to capture the TV Station.
Jim Marousek (JM) assassinated Randall MacInnis' (RM) 3+3 leader
on a DR of 9. This set the tone of the game for Randall and he
never fully recovered. His remaining game play was marred by
a series of unsuccessful attacks (due mainly to the timely play
of Ambush cards) that left him with few troops and leaders. At
one point he deployed the U.N. on himself just to stay out of
harms way. Blair Morgen's (BM) first score came as he crushed
Mike Wojke's (MW) rebel group by +8. John Kilbride (JK) fought
several unsuccessful attacks finally capturing the Bridge using
a substantial rebel group. The first revolution came and went
without fanfare. At the end of the first deck there was only
14 points separating the first and sixth place player. The damage,
however, had been done for the rebel faction had outscored the
government 75 to 20 - a deficit from which the government would
not recover. "Your Excellency, the peasants are revolting."
"I know, but I love them anyway."
Second deck action began as BM attacked GR's barracks and
captured it. GR used the TV Station to knock out the 5-strength
unit in the Policia. Its special ability was never used in the
game. JK discarded and drew four replacements. BM attack vs.
the AirField ended in a draw. RM missed with an assassination
attempt against GR. RM's shining moment came after wresting control
of the Airfield from MW and a turn later winning a -1 air attack
vs. a large rebel unit. GR drew a Traitor, which turned JK's
17-point government unit to rebel. JK wasted a turn undoing the
damage caused by the Traitor. MW drew the second revolution late
in the deck. He changed GR's 3+1, 7,6,5 group to rebel and forced
JK and RM to swap chits which unbeknownst to him killed either
player's chance of winning the game. RM Air Assaults a 2+2, 5,4
with an ambush vs. the TV Station with a 6 strength garrison
and lost. GR used a press to double, but atrocities are committed
and the VP's were halved. The U.N. moves back to RM. Gordon surged
ahead with a 26-point rebel attack vs. JM 18-strength government
group (after a successful ambush DR). GR eliminated 14 points
and gained 28 VP after the press got hold of the story. GR then
drew seven cards leaving a single card before sudden death.
BM, one of the rebel players, in a last turn desperate attempt
to capture first place, Air Assaulted onto MW's unguarded rebel-controlled
Presidential Palace. The attack was in Blair's favor by +2. However,
the dice gods turn their backs on him and he lost the attack
by 6. Mike used his last remaining press card and doubled Blair's
6-point loss into a 12-point gain for himself while maintaining
control of the Presidential Palace. This moved Mike from third
to first place, dropping Blair to third. Blair drew the last
card and in sudden death rolled a 10! There's the 10 Blair was
looking for and only one turn too late. Gordon Rodgers, two-time
and defending champion, still managed to capture second place
(but alas no wood) after his 83 VP's were halved by backing the
losing side.
Position |
Player |
Victory Points |
Faction |
1st |
Michael Wojke (MW) |
50 |
Rebel |
2nd |
Gordon Rodgers (GR) |
41 |
Government |
3rd |
Blair Morgen (BM) |
32 |
Rebel |
4th |
John Kilbride (JK) |
15 |
Government |
5th |
Jim Marousek (JM) |
13 |
Mercenary |
6th |
Randy MacInnis (RM) |
12 |
Mercenary |
|