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John Weber (upper left) takes
a break from his Puerto Rico GM duties to play Louis
XI4. |
A lack of curious players caused a
precipitous sophomore attendance drop. |
Gordon Rodgers and David Rohde
(right) contemplate their next mission. |
Sophomore Jinx?
Attendance at this event was halved this year; from 66 unique
players in its inaugural year last year to 33, this year; a fact
attributed (by my assistant GM John Weber) to the 'difficult'
time slots allotted for tournament play (more on this later),
although most new events suffer attrition in their second year.
Euros, which attract many players learning them on the fly in
their debuts, are especially vulnerable to this declne.
We fielded 16 players (four games) in each of the first two
heats and 12 (three games) in the third. Conflicts bedeviled
the tournament throughout the week. In spite of ten unique winners
in the 11 preliminary games (Kevin Brown was the only player
to win two heats), and sufficient second-place alternates, we
were unable to muster a full semi-final complement of 16 players.
Only seven winners in the preliminary rounds were able to make
it to the semi-finals - Eric Freeman, Arthur Field, Gordon Rogers,
Jim Castonguay, Blair Morgan, Patrick Shea and Rodney Bacigalupo.
The field was filled with alternates Greg Thatcher, Chris Moffa,
Ted Simmons, Sam Atabaki and Rafael Lehrer, all of whom squared
off in three, semi-final games. The winners were advanced to
the Final, along with the closest, by percentage, second place
finisher in the three matches, which turned out to be Rodney
Bacigalupo. Rodney completed only five missions in his semi-final
game, but had 16 coats-of-arms (heretofore referred to as 'shields')
by game's end (almost twice as many as his three opponents) and
collected four more in the 'majority shield' battle, edging out
Blair Morgen for second place by one point and losing by one
point (46-45) to Patrick Shea. That single point differential
for second place narrowly beat out Sam Atabaki, who, in his semi-final
game, finished two points behind Gordon Rogers (47-45).
Point totals tell a tale of strong competition in the Final,
which featured the highest total points scored in any game -
198; 10 points higher than any matchup in the preliminary heats
or the semi-finals. This translates into almost 50 points per
player (49.5, actually). Three of the four finalists completed
eight missions with the fourth accomplishing seven. Overall,
in the first three heats and semi-finals, players completed a
little over six missions, on average.
On average, the 33 unique participants scored just over 43
points per game, broken down into roughly six missions (at five
points each), ten 'end of play' shields and two bonus shields
(percentage points account for the single point difference between
the two).
In winning, Arthur Field who was the only returning laurelist,
recorded the highest single point total of 55 (eight missions,
12 'end of play' shields and three 'bonus' shields). Patrick
Shea, one of the four finalists, scored 54 points in his first
round heat, as did Kevin Brown in the second heat. Rodney Bacigalupo
scored the lowest point total in a victory (41 based on five
missions, 11 'end of play' shields and five 'bonus' shields).
Knowing that one of the principle criticisms of Louis XIV
has been the fact that bonus shields are awarded randomly,
based on a player's possession of a majority of different types,
I decided to determine, for each game played, how this 'random'
element actually affected play. As it turned out, this 'random'
element actually determined the tournament's winner. At the end
of play in the Final, both Arthur Field and Rodney Bacigalupo
had completed eight missions for 40 points and were in possession
of 12 shields. Arthur, however, picked up three bonus shields
in the 'majority' battle, while Rodney gained only one, ending
the game with Arthur in front by just those two points (55-53).
On the other hand, throughout the tournament, bonus shields were
less significant than the number of shields players owned before
the bonuses were determined. Kevin Brown, in winning his third
heat (52 points) had 17 shields at the end of play and picked
up five bonus shields when the 'majorities' were evaluated. He
completed the least amount of missions in that game (6), but
ended up with the win because he had two-plus and five-plus times
as many shields as Greg Thatcher and Richard Fox, who tied for
second place. So, in general, the 'shield' rule of thumb appears
to be: if you want to increase your chances at the random 'majority'
battle for bonus shields, collect more shields during the course
of the game. Bear in mind, though, that while the winner in this
year's tournament was more or less determined randomly
with the bonus shield totals, three of the four finalists (Arthur,
Patrick, & Rodney) completed eight missions (each by completing
three missions in one round, two in two rounds and a single mission
in a fourth). Gordon Rogers completed seven missions (two in
all but the opening round). The Louis XIV rule here appears
to be: complete two missions in at least three of the four rounds
and look to pick up between two and three shields per round (three
being preferable). Had Patrick Shea accomplished the second half
of this formula, instead of just the first half (he collected
only two shields in the course of play), he'd have brought home
the 'wood.' As it was, his two, game-earned shields earned him
only a single bonus shield (and he was lucky to get that) and
he finished last.
In all 15 games played, a total of 87 'hard' missions were
accomplished; between five and six total per game, which translates
to between one and two per player. Only six players completed
three 'hard' missions in a game - Rodney Bacigalupo and Jack
Jaeger did it twice, while four other players did it once each.
Note to newbies: Based on the data collected this year, you
should look to at least equal the tournament average of six missions
and 1ten shields for 40 points by game's end. Figuring that you're
more or less likely to pick up two bonus shields, you're looking
to score (on average) about 42 + points per game. Obviously,
if you're looking to be competitive at this game, you should
be completing at least seven missions, bearing in mind that three
of this year's finalists completed eight.
Now, as to the potentially 'life-threatening' attendance at
this year's tournament and the scheduling that seems to have
contributed to the 50% drop in numbers. . . I try to leave the
scheduling to the proverbial 'powers that be,' assuming that
if every GM submitted a demanding, deal-breaking schedule, the
BPA would be unable to schedule anything. What GM or potential
participant wouldn't want a schedule that fit every heat of a
game into an early or late evening slot and didn't conflict with
anything? The issue here is interest. If Louis XIV is
a game that enough people want to attend, then the 9 a.m. slots
for the heats (we had two of them) shouldn't be a problem. You
want to play badly enough, you'll show up at the scheduled time.
If other games (and/or time slots) are more important to you,
then you won't. Simple. For a variety of reasons, I'd like to
see Louis XIV continue as a WBC event and I'd sign up
to GM again in a minute. But if the numbers aren't there to justify
its continued existence, then so be it. Those of you who played
are encouraged to vote for it and I'll be doing my best to drum
up interest in the game and voting process through the fall and
into the winter voting time.
Hope to see you all (and more) next year and I promise to
improve on my GM organizational skills (with the help of John
Weber) in the meantime. Feel free to reach me via e-mail with
any questions.
I'd like to thank both John Weber (who apparently didn't have
enough to do running Puerto Rico) and Beth Raphael for
their able and much appreciated assistance in running this event.
|
Skip Maloney [1st Year]
NA
410-602-8111