|
|
Phil Rennert (left) beats Ewan McNay
in pod #7 and then withdrew. |
Battleline
is about as close as you can get to a Reiner Knizia wargame design.
|
Not Again!
Battleline is nothing, if not consistent. We had 44
people show up at the usual 7 pm time slot. 11 groups of four
were put together (special thanks to Barry Shutt!!!) for a round
robin in each group with the winners advancing. As always, the
starting player was chosen for each game at random. More on that
later. The winner of each group advanced to the single elimination
portion of the program.
In group #1 your illustrious GM went 3-0 with three breakthroughs.
In the last game Michael Sosa lost the choice and had to go first
in our game. He was also 2-0 with two breakthroughs. After I
beat him he complained about what a big advantage it was to go
first and how he hadn't lost a game in forever. I agreed to play
him a rematch going first after the tournament ended.
In group #2 Chris Gnech beat former champ Arthur Field and
decided not to advance. Sorry Arthur -- no mulligans!
In group #3 Eric Kleist won his group to advance.
In Group #4 Kate Taillon, the far, far better half of the
Field clan went 3-0 to advance. She ousted former champ Kevin
Youells in the process.
In group #5 Chris Greenfield won but elected not to advance.
In group #6 James Miller went 2-1 which proved sufficient
to advance.
Group #7 was won by Phil Rennert who also elected not to advance.
Group #8 was won by Chris Yaure who went 3-0 .
Group #9 was won by Craig Moffit who went 3-0. However I must
point out my 11-year old daughter Nicole won by breakthrough
over multiple plaque guru Andy Gardner!.
Group #10 was won by Austin Walzl on a 3-way tie breaker to
advance.
Group #11 was won by David Burkey who also won a 3-way tie
breaker over plaque machine Andy Latto!
With the three defections we enjoyed a nice even field of
8 for the single elimination portion. I must live right.
Austin Walzl defeated James Miller, while Kate Tallion downed
David Burkey. Kate then beat Austin to advance to the Final.
In the other half of the bracket Chris Yaure defeated Craig
Mofft while I squeezed by Eric Kliest. I then scratched out a
victory over Chris to meet Kate in the Final.
Kate was ready to go. Arthur was far more nervous as he stuck
pins in his Bruce Reiff voodoo doll. It was to no avail. I could
do no wrong and Kate could do no right. I drew to inside straight
flushes and Kate couldn't find three of a kind. I achieved a
"Coussis" for winning two events that I ran and took
home a nice matching bookend for my 2007 Battleline plaque.
Oh -- my earlier story. Michael Sosa showed up and brought
a chess clock. He wanted to play with 15 minutes per side. I
said no problem (if you know me well, you know that Michael was
already in trouble). I went first as agreed. When the game was
over I still had 13:19 left on my clock. Michael had less than
5 minutes. I could have won faster but I wanted a breakthrough
to make a point.
|
|
Let the battles begin! |
Final: It wouldn't be a surprise to
see a Reiff-Field Final between former champions, but this Field
is Arthur's better half. Sadly, the evil empire added to his
woodpile despite Kate's best efforts. |
|