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Hamburgum
was just one of five new Euro trials sponsored this year by Rio
Grande Games. |
GM Chris Trimmer (back left) won his
own event - just one of three in which he took top honors. |
Half a Coussis ...
The introduction of Hamburgum to the WBC drew over
a dozen attendees to the demo. Many of them carried over
to the first heat which saw a field of 15 players group into
three boards of five. While the average high score of all
three games was 49 points, the winning score varied between 81,
68, and 57. One game came down to the first standard tiebreak
of most cash left.
The second heat had seven attendees group into boards of three
and four. Lesson to those inroducing new games at WBC in
multi-heat formats ... the heat held immediately after a demo
usually draws better. Offering a demo before each heat is recommended.
As to be expected, the winning scores were higher with fewer
players at 114 and 89 respectively for the two games.
With five unique winners, Hamburgum dispensed with the scheduled
semi and proceeded directly to a Final game. The sixth player
laurelist was selected on the strength of two 2nd place finishes. The
five advancing winners were Chris Trimmer, Joshua Ostrander,
Dan Hoffman, David Burkey, and Luke Koleszar.
Chris kicked off the Final as first player acquiring an additional
resource to start. It was quickly followed by several others
picking up additional resources of cloth, beer, and sugar for
later sale. Luke was the first player to donate resources
at the Church followed by David and Joshua shortly thereafter. Luke
was also the first player to the Guildhall selecting a captain,
beer production, and cloth production as initial choices. Dan
was first to the dockyards opting to expand his shipping capacity
early.
As the early game progressed, Chris claimed the first constructed
Church. Moving into the mid-game, the next Churches were
built by Joshua and Dan. Everyone had contributed a donation
at this point so the Guildhall action was also popular as players
expanded their board presence via buildings. With the economies
of all players now humming, the race was on for completion of
the last three Churches. An odd waiting game emerged as
a single donation to a church would create an opening for another
player to jump in and complete it, as no single player had enough
resources and cash to make four donations with a single action.
To break this impasse, in back-to-back turns Chris gave up
two points and then one to push his rondel position such that
enough cash and resources were available for completion of the
fourth Church. Joshua quickly followed suit giving up three
points on one turn to set-up completion of the fifth. With
the end now imminent, David gave up three points to build two
ships before claiming three of the four final donation tiles
at the last church. This would leave Luke in position to claim
the final donation tile to complete the Church construction as
well as the end of the game.
End of Final data
· Chris: 60 points, 0 cash, 8 donations, 4 buildings,
2 ships in harbor
· David: 47 points, 50 cash, 7 donations, 3 buildings,
3 ships in harbor
· Joshua: 42 points, 50 cash, 7 donations, 2 buildings,
2 ships in harbor
· Luke: 38 points, 10 cash, 5 donations, 3 buildings,
4 ships in harbor
· Dan: 36 points, 20 cash, 3 donations, 7 buildings, 1
ship in harbor
Eight production buildings left in stock; all officials, merchants,
and captains were constructed.
Fun statistic from the five player games
· Most donations made (average is always 6): 10
· Fewest donations made: 3
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