age of renaissance [Updated October 2005]  

2005 WBC Report  

 2006 Status: pending 2006 GM commitment

Mark Smith, KY

2005 Champion


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WBC Event History
1996    Mike May        30
1997    George Sauer      106
1998    Mark Giddings     124
1999    Ewan McNay     115
2000    Ewan McNay       81
2001   Rich Curtin     80
2002   Ken Gutermuth      65
2003   Ewan McNay      47
2004   Steve Simmons      42
2005   Mark Smith      36

Enlightenment Event History
1998    Bill Crenshaw       31
1999    James Pei       30
2000    Tom Taaffe       41
2001   Bill Crenshaw     34
2002   John Coussis      36
2003   Chris Byrd      34
2004   Jeff Mullet      31
2005   Bill Crenshaw     25

PBeM Event History
2001    Tom Taaffe        32
2002    Bill Crenshaw        57
2003    Jason Levine       57
2004        

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    05    310
  2.  Ewan McNay         CT    05    220
  3.  Jeff Mullet        OH    05    150
  4.  Harald Henning     CT    05    123
  5.  Chris Byrd         CT    05    114
  6.  Steve Simmons      NJ    04    113
  7.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    04     93
  8.  Carl Damcke        IL    05     84
  9.  John Coussis       IL    05     84
 10.  Tom Taaffe         VA    01     82
 11.  Brett Mingo        MD    05     76
 12.  Mark Smith         KY    05     60
 13.  Jason Levine       NY    05     60
 14.  Jim Jordan         MD    01     60
 15.  Rich Curtin        NY    01     60
 16.  James Pei          TX    99     60
 17.  Tom Browne         PA    05     54
 18.  Kevin Sudy         VA    05     48
 19.  Stephen Koehler    NC    01     48
 20.  Marty Hoff         TX    01     42
 21.  Ted Mullally       NJ    04     39
 22.  Lyman Moquin       DC    02     36
 23.  Nicholas Anner     NY    00     36
 24.  Peter Staab        PA    02     30
 25.  Rob Kircher        MA    02     27
 26.  Eric Hupin         QC    05     24
 27.  Nick Henning       CT    02     24
 28.  Marvin Birnbaum    NY    01     24
 29.  Eric Eshleman      PA    99     24
 30.  Ed Lathioor        ON    05     18
 31.  Jim Stanard        MD    02     18
 32.  Charles Hickok     PA    02     18
 33.  Robin Barbehenn    MD    99     18
 34.  Sean McCulloch     OH    03     12
 35.  Rodd Polsky        PA    01     12
 36.  George Sauer       OH    02     12
 37.  Andrew Cummins     UK    01     12
 38.  Don Greenwood      MD    99     12
 39.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk  NY    02     11
 40.  Jeff Ridenour      CA    05      8
 41.  Arthur Field       SC    05      6
 42.  Ted Simmons        NJ    01      6
 43.  Olin Hentz         CT    00      6
 44.  Kurt Miller        MD    00      6
 45.  Eric Wrobel        VA    03      5
 46.  Chris Kessel       OR    02      5
 47.  Crawford Lopez     VA    01      2
           

2005 Laurelists

Kevin Sudy, VA
2nd

Brett Mingo, MD
3rd

Bill Crenshaw, VA
4th

Jeff Ridenour, CA
5th

Ewan McNay, CT
6th


Past Winners

Mike May, NY
1996

George Sauer, OH
1997

Mark Giddings, NY
1998

Ewan McNay, CT
1999-2000, 2003

Rich Curtin, NY
2001

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2002

Steve Simmons, NJ
2004


Paris is Out this Year

The new format eliminating the semifinals worked well, with Brett Mingo, Ewan McNay, and Jeff Ridenour advancing to the finals based on large one game wins and Bill Crenshaw, Mark Smith and Kevin Sudy advancing based on a win and decent showing in their other heat. Ted Simmons, Winton Lemoine and Phil Bradley each won heats but not by enough to advance. Venice and Genoa racked up the most wins with three each. London had a pair of wins, Barcelona and Hamburg one each, and Paris was shut out the year after dominating play in 2004.

The finals were hotly contested from the start. Venice (Mark) and Barcelona (Kevin) got off to typical good starts, with Paris (Brett), London (Jeff) and Hamburg (Bill) hanging on. Genoa (Ewan) got squeezed early and often. After getting Seaworthy, London went on a Metal run, grabbing four, and then got a Metal shortage. London also became the beneficiary of a dumped Metal card and Barcelona got a gift Silk card, the combination of which unfortunately skewed the game. London zoomed to a huge lead, buying Renaissance on Turn 5 with Erasmus credits! Barcelona was within range, with Venice, Paris and Hamburg far behind and Genoa barely on the board. Venice, Paris and Hamburg engaged in a three-turn Urban boycott to extend the game and give everyone a chance to catch the leaders.

London got beaten back severely and when he passed on buying Cathedral on turn 6, never had another chance to do so. Barcelona filled the void left by London, but London's Black Death play reined him in. In the meantime, Venice, Paris and Hamburg expanded at will and left each other alone. Hamburg was done in by Barcelona's three Master Art discards of Grain (when Hamburg held four), Timber and Timber and never seriously challenged. Paris amassed huge cash reserves and had Interest & Profit, but neglected to buy Laws of Matter. When London played Alchemist Gold on Paris on the last turn, Paris lost a whopping $148!

In the meantime, Venice patiently acquired Spice after Spice without being contested. On the penultimate turn, Hamburg deduced Venice had Pirates/Vikings and successfully Wind/Watermilled it, but since Hamburg only had one card, Venice W/W-ed it right back. By then it was too late to stop the Venetian juggernaut and Venice's final Spice payout merely confirmed the foregone conclusion. Barcelona held on for second, and Paris fended off Hamburg for third. London finished 5th and Genoa never threatened.

Final scores: Venice 2242, Barcelona 1950, Paris 1714, Hamburg 1620, London 1568 and Genoa 609.


2003 PBeM Tournament Results:

The 2003 BPA PBeM tournament has concluded as Jason Levine survived past the 57 entrants to capture the wood.

With the 5-player final, bidding for capitals was low with only newcomers Eric Hupin ($4 for Paris) and Ed Lathioor ($3 for Barcelona) bidding for capitals. The first two turns saw standard openings with only Famine and Silk being played. The third turn saw Jason Levine (London) start down his winning path by playing three leaders (the first of a total of nine he would play) and picking up cheap advances. Starting with Turn 4, Jason would leverage his leaders and large token bids to build a lead in both income and advances. London went last each of the last five turns.

Eric Hupin (Paris) leveraged a double cloth payout of $160 in Turn 6 to stay in contention in advances but in the end his Misery, 500 points behind the leader, would leave him 66 points behind.

Bill Crenshaw (Venice) used Spice payouts in Turns 6,7 and 8 to stay in contention and make his patented late game run. This run would, however, end up just short as Jason managed three out of four wins in Grain provinces with the final expansion to gain two misery boxes on Bill (100 points) with a Famine play on the Final Card Play. This misery proved to be the difference as Billl fell just 21 points behind the champion.

Final positions were Jason Levine 1st (London), Bill Crenshaw 2nd (Venice), Eric Hupin 3rd (Paris), Ed Lathioor 4th (Barcelona), and Harald Henning 5th (Genoa). Arthur Field took 6th as the highest ranking alternate.

 GM     Bill Crenshaw [1st year] NA 
   wcrenshaw@cox.net NA

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