Past Winners |
Harald Henning, CT
2005 |
Alan Sudy, VA
2006 |
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A well attended Demo may provide a
hint why Manifest Destiny's attendance hasn't slipped
in three years. |
Let me guess - is this the "Identify
the leader" phase? Even finalists engage in the time honored
rituals. |
For the third straight year, exactly 46 players participated
in the tournament. Aside from Mexico, which had a hefty eight
wins, winners were fairly evenly distributed among the startingpositions,
with Pennsylvania and Virginia (including the Final) each having
three wins, and Quebec and Louisiana two each.. Bill Crenshaw
(Virginia), Kevin Sudy (Mexico) and Arthur Field (Pennsylvania.)
each won their semi-finals and advanced to the Final with Harald
Henning (Quebec) and Kate Taillon (Louisiana).
The Final started slowly with no T1 Destiny cards being played.
Arthur. used Barnum to buy Circus and began buying cards early.
Bill got off to a fast start playing Samuel Morse and getting
five new territories on T1 and then cashing Native Sovereignty
for $60 in Tobacco on T2. Revolutionary War knocked Bill out
of Missouri, but he was able to buy Railroads and Steamships
and headed south instead of west. Harald played his priority
chit on T3 to play Hudson Bay and finish Mech. Harald also had
Oregon Trail and then drew Homestead Act, but since he didn't
have Westward Ho could not use it to get a western Ore as no
one bought Westward Ho until T4! It looked like there would
be a major Era 1 Destiny card squeeze, but Kevin got Patriotism
drawing all three Patriotism leaders and cashed Gold for $70.
Arthur. got Storytelling and began discarding (first Racial
Unrest and then Remember the Alamo). Kate and Kevin started
Turnpike but jumped to Electricity instead when Era 2 opened.
Bill got squeezed out of the level 1 Breakthroughs early but
drew Monroe Doctrine and was able to cash $90 of Tobacco on T4,
which enabled him to buy Circus and a card going 4th to open
up the level 2 B/Ts and research Think Tank, which he finished
in two turns. Arthur.played Civil War on Kevin after the Gold
payout and surged with high Profit and a good board position
before snagging Motion Pictures thanks to Edison. Bill never
expanded westward and got knocked out of Western South America
by Kevin's Remember the Maine and then in Oaxaca by Harald (who
had Fulton and bought Steamships). Kate struggled early and
then rolled poorly on Breakthroughs, but started gaining traction
as the game proceeded.
As Era 3 dawned, Kate played the 60's. The discounts enabled
a lot of buying, but Harald made a deal with Bill to hit Arthur.
with IRS (after Arthur. had played Wright Brothers and looked
to be making a major move). When the Investment Phase ended,
Bill was going last with nine tokens, Pro Sports (thanks to the
Babe), Telephone, Tolerance and Rock 'n Roll (thanks to Elvis)
while choosing first the next turn. Harald and Bill split Technology
and Oil so Harald would get $100 from Tech and $10 from Oil and
Bill would get $90 in Oil. Bill went 7 of 7 on attacks - not
even needing to use Rock n Roll --including fourcities (including
Arthur.'s home) to grab most cities. Bill then drew Oil Crisis
as the expansion card and Lawyer (paying Ore).
On the last turn Bill went first and cashed two Oil cards
and an Ore card. Kevin chose last hoping there would be another
expansion. Arthur. played World War (which he had stolen from
Bill on T3) -- costing Bill and Harald $60 each. Kate played
Depression in Kevin wiping out one of Bill's cities, but Bill
still had enough to buy 24 VPs in progressions, two for most
cities and five B/Ts with $30 left over (thanks to Depression's
Safety Net discount). Bill then completed Turnpike which no
one had completed to finish with 32 points and $30 left. Harald
was second with 28 VPs and $20, followed by Kevin (27VPs/$15),
Arthur. 24VPs/$35 and Kate (21VPs/$30).
Manifest
Destiny 2008 PBeM Tournament Results
Bill Edwards, as
Mexico, riding a combination of timely collaboration and good
research rolls, rolled to victory in the second Manifest Destiny PBeM tournament. Bill overcame a rough start, as defending
PBeM champion Tom Taaffe, holding Monroe Doctrine and Remember
the Alamo, paid $10 to pick Virginia. Bill held Native
Sovereignty but his $10 pick netted him Mexico instead
of Virginia. Pete Staab, who held California Gold Rush
and was hoping for Mexico, settled for Louisiana (and later discarded
CGR). Stefan MeCay chose Pennsylvania (starting with Louisiana
Purchase), leaving Bill Crenshaw excited to get Quebec for
free (since he was holding Revolutionary War and Manifest Destiny).
Quebec got off to a dominating start, collaborated with Pa. to
get Patriotism, and had an obscene amount of cash after $150 in
Fur payouts. Virginia embarked a one-man Crusade to bring
Quebec back to the pack. Although successful in slowing Quebec,
Quebec's retaliation limited Virginia's progress despite Virginia's
normally potent Mechanization-Electricity combination.
At the end of Era 2, Quebec narrowly avoided Civil War as
Virginia held the card rather than risk it boomeranging.
Quebec than played Spy stealing Martin Luther King from Louisiana and
breaking up a planned Louisiana-Virginia collaboration.
Louisiana retaliated by sabotaging Quebec's e-Commerce start.
In the meantime, Pa. (who was doing well but done in by a lack
of Pioneers) and Mexico collaborated on a 3-leader deal that
vaulted both close to the lead.
On the next to the last turn, four players played priority
chits, leaving Quebec, who had played Supreme Court (#64), choosing
last. La. and Mexico played early to finish breakthroughs
as Pa. chose last to plan for expansion, leaving Va. fourth and
Quebec third. Quebec then made his second big cash in of
the game, using Immigrants to take over Virginia's Oil and Tourist
City in Oklahoma and cashing $150 in Tourists, plus another $70
in Technology. Quebec and Pa. tried to put together a deal
that would have allowed one of them to have an excellent chance
of winning, but any combination would have put Mexico over the
top as well as the latent Mexican President guarded against bad
cards. Quebec generated enough money to buy to
30, forcing Pa. to play World War and the $60 hit held Quebec
back.
In the meantime, Mexico drew JFK to finish Urban Renaissance
in one turn (acing out La. and Quebec), played Yankee Ingenuity
to start Rock n Roll, and then rolled all four missing steps
to pick up Rock and Roll as well and vault him over the top with
32 VPs. Bill Crenshaw's Quebec was second with 27, followed
by Pete Staab's Louisiana with 26, Stefan Mecay's Pennsylvania
with 25 and Tom Taaffe's Virginia with 22. |