dune [Updated October 2005]  

2005 WBC Report     

 2006 Status: pending 2006 GM commitment

Phil Barcafer, PA

2005 Champion


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

Event History
1992    Paul Saunders      12
1993    Ray Carpenter      23
1994    Paul Weintraub      22
1995    James Garvey      23
1996    Bruce Bernard      22
1997    Matt Fagan      28
1998    Brad Johnson      43
1999    Steve Koehler     38
2000    Jay Schlaffer     35
2001    Tony Burke     29
2002    Steve Koehler     33
2003    Bill Dyer     34
2004     Andrew Clark     33
2005     Phil Barcafer     25

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bill Dyer          IL    05     90
  2.  Steve Koehler      NC    02     70
  3.  Phil Barcafer      PA    05     63
  4.  Joe Abrams         CT    03     52
  5.  Andrew Clark       AZ    04     40
  6.  Jay Schlaffer      DC    00     40
  7.  Tony Burke         NJ    01     30
  8.  Glenn McMaster     ON    05     28
  9.  Chris Bodkin       NY    03     26
 10.  JeanFrancois Gagne QC    05     25
 11.  Peter Stephanouk   PA    02     24
 12.  Brad Johnson       IL    00     24
 13.  Brian Jones        NC    05     21
 14.  Ken Keller         AZ    99     18
 15.  Joe Harrison       KY    03     16
 16.  Steve Cuccaro      MD    02     16
 17.  Paul Saunders      VA    00     12
 18.  Ray Carpenter      CT    99      9
 19.  Jeff Cornett       FL    04      8
 20.  James Hopkin       CA    02      8
 21.  Bruce Bernard      PA    00      8
 22.  Matt Fagan         NJ    04      7
 23.  Chip Collins       TX    01      6
 24.  Jeff Clark         AZ    99      6
 25.  Kevin Sudy         VA    05      3

2005 Laurelists

Brian Jones, MD
2nd

Glenn McMaster, ON
3rd

Jean-Francois Gagne, QC
4th

Bill Dyer, IL
5th

Kevin Sudy, VA
6th


Past Winners

Paul Saunders, VA
1992

Ray Carpenter, CT
1993

Paul Weintraub, MD
1994

James Garvey, NY
1995

Bruce Bernard, PA
1996

Matt Fagan, NJ
1997

Brad Johnson, IL
1998

Steve Koehler, NC
1999, 2002

 

Jay Schlaffer, NJ
2000

Tony Burke, NJ
2001

Bill Dyer, IL
2003

Andrew Clark, AZ
2004
   

The Spice of Life

A slightly reduced collection of nobles, mostly long-time players, battled for control of Arrakis this year. However, we still played nine qualification games (right on par) with a mean duration of 4.9 game turns in 2.7 hours, our speediest tournament yet. Feedback on the Shield Wall and spice exchange restriction house rules has continued to be unanimously positive.

Most of the games were won by two-player alliances, with the Harkonnens sharing in five victories, continuing their trend as "winning-est faction". The others followed with the Emperor getting four, Atreides three, Guild and BG two, and Fremen only one. The only non-alliance win this year was a Turn 1 Harkonnen solo victory by Jean-Francois Gagne, repeating this amazing accomplishment for the second year in a row. I'm pretty sure no one will trade the Harkonnen to him next year!

I again awarded my Best Faction plaques to the players who gave the best single-game performance with each faction during the preliminary heats, measured in terms of strongholds controlled per turn. Matt Fagan received Best Atreides (to add to his Best Emperor and Best BG from previous years); Phil Barcafer, this year's Best BG; Bill Dyer, Best Guild; and three plaques were taken to Canada this year, Best Emperor by Benoit Groulx, and Best Fremen and Best Harkonnen by Jean-Francois Gagne.

In the Final, Glenn McMaster drew the Atreides; Kevin Sudy, the BG; Phil Barcafer, the Emperor; Jean-Francois Gagne, the Fremen; Brian Jones, the Guild; and Bill Dyer, the Harkonnen. All of these players had previous Final experience and competition was expected to be fierce.

In the early game, the Fremen moved to control two sietches and were threatening a very possible early solo win. At that point, the Atreides acted to eject the Fremen from Habbanya Ridge Sietch while the Emperor made his appearance on Arrakis by taking Tuek's Sietch from the Guild. When alliances were formed, the financial power of the Emperor and Guild squared off against the military force of the Atreides and Harkonnen. The latter alliance took the lead in Turn 4, but could not close the deal on a fourth stronghold. The tide turned in Turn 5 with the Guild taking Carthag from the Harkonnen. In the end, superior funding, card knowledge, and military presence enabled the Emperor and Guild to decisively control Arrakis with full ownership of five of the six available strongholds.

Last year, Phil Barcafer also won the Final game with his ally, but missed the wood by the tie-breaker. This year, Phil prevailed by controlling three strongholds on his own for a clear 1st place finish, his first after many years of excellent Dune play. Congratulations to Phil and all the other excellent and loyal players!

For next year, we are continuing to consider possible house rules to further level the playing field among the different factions. Based on my records over five years, the faction most in need of some assistance is the Fremen, and the best idea we have at this time is to allow them to fight at full strength without paying spice. This idea seems to be simple, elegant, fitting, and hopefully effective. The Guild also needs a boost, but alternatives are still being discussed. Please feel free to contact Brad Johnson at the address below with comments, ideas, or playtest assistance.

 GM      Brad Johnson  [5th Year]   1517 Driftwood Ln, Crystal Lake, IL 60014
    tempus42@sbcglobal.net   815-477-7706

2005 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page