age of renaissance [Updated May 2007]  

2006 WBC Report  

 2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

Jeff Mullet, OH

2006 Champion

Links:

  Warhorse Simulations  Enlightenment Announcement 

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
2006   Jeff Mullet      29

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
2006    Jeff Mullet      30
2007    Ken Gutermuth      19

PBeM Event History
2001    Tom Taaffe        32
2002    Bill Crenshaw        57
2003    Jason Levine       57
2004    Arthur Field       63
2005    Harald Henning       43

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    06    313
   2.  Jeff Mullet        OH    06    245
   3.  Ewan McNay         CT    06    238
   4.  Chris Byrd         CT    07    186
   5.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    07    179
   6.  Harald Henning     CT    06    163
   7.  Carl Damcke        IL    07    120
   8.  Steve Simmons      NJ    04    113
   9.  John Coussis       IL    05     84
  10.  Tom Taaffe         VA    01     82
  11.  Arthur Field       SC    07     76
  12.  Brett Mingo        MD    05     76
  13.  Ted Mullally       NJ    07     73
  14.  Mark Smith         KY    06     72
  15.  Tom Browne         PA    06     70
  16.  Jason Levine       NY    05     60
  17.  Jim Jordan         MD    01     60
  18.  Rich Curtin        NY    01     60
  19.  James Pei          TX    99     60
  20.  Kevin Sudy         VA    05     48
  21.  Stephen Koehler    NC    01     48
  22.  Marty Hoff         TX    01     42
  23.  Lyman Moquin       DC    02     36
  24.  Nicholas Anner     NY    00     36
  25.  Sean Whitaker      BC    05     30
  26.  Peter Staab        PA    02     30
  27.  Rob Kircher        MA    02     27
  28.  Eric Hupin         QC    05     24
  29.  Nick Henning       CT    02     24
  30.  Marvin Birnbaum    NY    01     24
  31.  Eric Eshleman      PA    99     24
  32.  Pierre LeBoeuf     MD    05     20
  33.  Ed Lathioor        ON    05     18
  34.  Jim Stanard        MD    02     18
  35.  Charles Hickok     PA    02     18
  36.  Robin Barbehenn    MD    99     18
  37.  Rodd Polsky        PA    07     17
  38.  Ted Simmons        NJ    06     15
  39.  Greg Stripes       WA    06     12
  40.  Terry Coleman      BC    06     12
  41.  Sean McCulloch     OH    03     12
  42.  George Sauer       OH    02     12
  43.  Andrew Cummins     UK    01     12
  44.  Don Greenwood      MD    99     12
  45.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk  NY    02     11
  46.  Mark Neale         RI    05     10
  47.  George Young       VT    06      8
  48.  Jeff Ridenour      CA    05      8
  49.  John Boyd          TX    06      6
  50.  Olin Hentz         CT    00      6
  51.  Kurt Miller        MD    00      6
  52.  Eric Wrobel        VA    03      5
  53.  Chris Kessel       OR    02      5
  54.  Nicole Kaiyan Australia  06      4
  55.  Crawford Lopez     VA    01      2
 

2006 Laurelists

Ewan McNay, CT
2nd

Mark Smith, KY
3rd

Ted Simmons, NJ
4th

John Boyd. TX
5th

Bill Crenshaw, VA
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

Mark Smith,KY
2005


 Kevin Sudy, John Boyd, Mark Smith and Derel Landel (clockwise from left front) in a preliminary heat.

 Top-ranked Bill Crenshaw (left) wins both his preliminary heat games but finishes sixth in the Final.

Eighth Consecutive Year of Decline

The transfer of the helm for Age of Renaissance went relatively smoothly this year. We missed some of our seasoned veterans (Ken/Eric) this year, but the numbers remained respectable with eight tables of 5- or 6- player games aided by several new players. Nevertheless, the events steady decline continued with the eighth stratight year of declining attendance. The Enlightenment mini-con actually passed it in total players this year for the first time, although it passed it games played long ago. The many official (and unofficial) assistant GMs helped keep the event on track when the demo ran a little long. Nevertheless, the demo attracted more than a full tables worth of interest and a few players came by to participate in the heats following.

The initial heats ran well this year. Everyone took the sportsmanship message to heart and played with a minimum of fuss and muss. Special mention should go to the 6-player table, which, due to a logistical snafu, wound up with three newbies at the table. Jeff Mullet bagged the win at that table even though he tried his best to instruct everyone on how to beat him. Maybe they'll listen to him next year!

There was a little family excitement in the qualifier as Ted Simmons' single win score edged out his father's (Steve) two-game score. Thankfully, Bill Crenshaw won two games, beating out the GM in the second heat, to keep the advancement simple. Thanks Bill!

The 6-player Final saw some very interesting maneuvers as a last choice London (Bill Crenshaw) opted for Caravan on Turn 1 with an early Crusades play. Mark Smith was edged out of his usual comfortable chair, as Ewan McNay outbid him for Venice, and wound up sailing unfamiliar waters as Genoa!

Venice used the usual Cloth payout in Turn 3 to lead the religious race with Holy Indulgences, while simultaneously purchasing Overland East. Predictably, this started the 'Ewan's Winning!' chant made famous after its chart topping debut last year, though to a milder beat. He followed this up with a Timber run on Turn 4, much to Hamburg's (Ted Simmons) chagrin, while Genoa (Mark Smith) went on a Wine run.

Epoch III came early this year (Turn 5) but this apparently drew out the long missing Wool cards for a boost to London and a remarkably quiet Barcelona (Jeff Mullet) who slowly built up Spice holdings.

Amazingly, a double shortage card in Turn 6, put the game to bed early and in a flurry of Spice payouts, Barcelona sailed to victory despite a late run on Metal by Hamburg and a timely Enlightened Ruler by Venice with THREE! Misery cards being played out to plummet everyone else into the nether regions of the chart. I am sure John Boyd (Paris) learned a lesson or two that night.

More action was to be had at the first annual Midnight Consolation game on Saturday night, where the GM was joined by Ted Simmons, Mark Smith, and several others who couldn't attend the heats for an all-nighter BEEP-fest, where the GM finally was able to record a win - alas - off the record.

There was almost another post final match when Kathy Stroh, Tedd Mullally, Ken Gutermuth, Ted Simmons, and Jeff Mullet all qualified for the semis in TransAmerica! But the GM refused to let us play on the AOR board! :-)

As AOR enthusiasts begin planning for Enlightenment, in March 2007, my thoughts turn to improvements in the demo and heat structure for next year's WBC tournament. I have heard from many of you already, but if you haven't chimed in, send me your suggestions and feedback to the address below.

See you all next year!


2005 Age of Renaissance PBeM Tournament Results:

Harald Henning reigned supreme over 43 others in the latest Age of Renaissance PBeM tournament. Even though both the first two rounds advanced runner-ups, Harald didn't take any chances as he won all three of his games. The Final saw Harald take on some powerhouse competition with Chris Byrd, George Young, Thomas Browne, Greg Stripes, and our AoR ambassador from Australia, Nicole Kaiyan all earning laurels.

Harald played well as Paris and really took it to his competition, winning by a substantial margin, Runner-up Chris Byrd as Barcelona could only manage about 75% of Harald's score. Rounding out the laurelists, Greg Stripes (Hamburg) and Thomas Browne (London) finished tied for third (but by virtue of having a higher advance total, Thomas Browne earned 3rd place laurels). George Young (Venice) finished 5th, while Nicole rounded out the final game as Genoa.

You can read a complete summary of the Final (including Neutral Commentary from GM John Coussis) at http://www.geocities.com/aorbpa2005/2005home.htm.

 GM     Ted Mullally [1st year] NA 
   Tedd5@optonline.net NA

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