A Pre-Con Safe Harbor
The 2007 tournament began with four preliminary games (three
4-player and one 5-player) on Monday, followed by a Tuesday morning
Final. These preliminary games produced five winners, thanks
to a first place tie between Chris Trimmer and Jim Castonguay.
They were joined in the Final by Nick Palmer, Ted Simmons (defending
champ) and Doug Smith.
The Final opened with a bang. The first region was size 60,
which proved to be the largest. In the opening setup, eight Media
Markers were placed in the first region. Chris had three Media
Markers, Ted and Nick two and Doug one. This gave Chris Media
Control which he used to change a public opinion card to match
his platform and conflict with Ted's. His maneuver enabled a
coalition of himself and Doug to win the first region. Chris
targeted key regions, seized Media Control and effectively deployed
his Shadow Cabinet members. Of the seven regions, three were
won by single parties and four by coalitions. Chris and Doug
won three regions. Nick and Jim won twice and Ted had a single
region win. Three regions were won by a "Short Head",
including the region 7 where three parties all reached 50 votes.
Chris won region 7 thanks to winning the turn order bid and choosing
to move last. This gave Chris the final opportunity to move an
opinion card to the National Board, which sealed his victory.
The final standings were:
Chris 425
Doug 406
Nick 363
Jim 289
Ted 271
As a long Euro, Die Macher seems dependent on a protected
slot in the Pre-Con alignment for its survival. That may be in
double jeopordy in 2008 as both the Sampler Showcase and Die
Macher are iffy for 2008 barring sufficient membership backing
in the December membership drive.
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