Past Winners |
Harald Henning, CT
2005, 2008
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Alan Sudy, VA
2006
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Bill Crenshaw, VA
2007
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Jeff Mullet, OH
2009
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Designer Bill Crenshaw indoctrinates
the trainees at the Demo. |
Descisions, decisions ... |
Quicker & More Compact
Jeff Mullet, playing Pennsylvania, overcame game-long low
Profit with timely attacks, cards and collaboration to win last
year's Manifest Destiny Final over perennial finalists
(and Northern Virginia gaming buddies) Bill Crenshaw (Quebec),
AJ Sudy (Virginia), and Kevin Sudy (Louisiana), and MFD laurelist
newcomer Tedd Mullally (Mexico). Mexico (five wins)
and Pennsylvania (four wins) dominated the event, with Louisiana picking
up two wins and Virginia and Quebec one each.
Game speed increased as well with only a couple of games flirteing
with the four hour maximum time while several 4-player games
finished in less than three hours (including one which finished
in two hours, 20 minutes).
The Final featured largely mismatched home and Destiny cards,
a slow start and an exciting finish. Quebec took the
early lead as he cashed Hudson's Bay for the Profit increase
on Turn 1 and hit his Mechanization research roll on Turn 2.
When he played Fulton and got Steamships on Turn 4,
followed shortly thereafter by Electricity, Quebec appeared
to be on his way. Mexico also started well, gobbling up
most of Mexico in two turns and hitting his Turnpike roll on
Turn 3, but did not have California Gold Rush (which Virginia
never played), starting with Manifest Destiny and later drawing
Louisiana Purchase, which wasn't played until the 1 / 2 transition
turn.
Without any La. Purchase discounts on Westward Ho, players had
trouble getting out of the gate and Mexico's play of Racial Unrest
dragged Profit down lower. Virginia was in a
solid position once he nabbed his second tobacco payout, negotiating
with Pennsylvania to play Native Sovereignty for future
consideration. Although Virginia never really
paid the cash back, Virginia withholding attacks later
in the game was one of Pennsylvania's keys to victory. PA laid
low for most of the game, with minimal Profit, but timely leaders
keep him in the running and hitting his Patriotism roll proved
critical. PA also used Homestead Act to get out west and
build a city in Northern California and later made
a Livestock run to keep him in the hunt.
Louisiana struggled for most of the game until a late comeback
almost got him out of the cellar as the attack dice were very
unkind. Mexico's timely draw of Edison allowed him to collaborate
with Louisiana on Motion Pictures, and given everyone's
low Profit, the extra cash was very useful. Mexico then
used Yankee Ingenuity to fill in the step to Think Tank Pennsylvania was
missing and collaborated with PA the following turn.
Virginia grabbed the lead in the middle game and then went
on a rampage with Trading Post at the very end of Era 2. Quebec's
quality territories (and cities) vanished with Pennsylvania taking
New England, Virginia attacking Hawaii and Western
South America and Mexico using Immigrants against Manitoba,
notwithstanding a threat of Civil War, which Quebec played
on Mexico, only to be nullified by President. Sensing
the inevitable, Quebec played his priority chit early to move
last on the last expansion turn, but Virginia put his marketing
advantage to good use, picking up numerous territories owned
by Quebec and Mexico, along with most cities, although leaving
Pennsylvania alone with excellent positions in Tourists, Gold
and Ore.
Several products were paid out the following turn, with Internet
and The 60's making several Progressions cheaper for those with
cash, mostly Virginia and Pennsylvania. Mexico and Quebec
largely regrouped as Quebec played Sales Catalogue
for the marketing advantage and Congress, leaving him going last
with 10 tokens on the final expansion turn and Mexico moving
immediately before him with Computers and 7 tokens. Quebec also
used Spy on Virginia to steal IRS and used it onVirginia,
which Louisiana had agreed not to do.
However, Quebec did not have the $70 needed for discounted
Computers to finish e-Commerce, which proved costly as all of
the other players used their priority tokens and moved ahead
of him during the final Investment Phase. Pennsylvania quietly
bought Wireless and took Africa and Australia leaving
him with five Gold and five Ore. Quebec seemingly
got back in the game as he grabbed five cities, starting with Hawaii and
Northern California, followed by Pennsylvania on the
fourth try of a two-dice attack, three-dice defense, to
give him most cities and four Ore.
Negotiations dragged on during the last turn as players jockeyed
for positions and collaboration partners. Pennsylvania,
although down to one Pioneer, drew JFK to fill Virginia's
only missing spot on Urban Renaissance and Virginia readily agreed
to collaborate, expecting Quebec to be his real opposition.
In the meantime, Louisiana cashed Tourists and then
played Depression and Trustbusters on Ore and Gold. Quebec used
Supreme Court to negate the event, to preserve another $50 Ore
payout, but also allowing Pennsylvania to keep his
extra Gold. Virginia then played Riots on Quebec's
cities in Hawaii and Northern California (negating
most cities) before playing Technology for $70. Pennsylvania then
played Prohibition to get $80 as well as JFK. Extended
discussion followed on whether Mexico would play World
War, which would hit Virginia two or three times. Mexico finally
played it since the extra $10 plus another Ore payout
by Quebec gave him enough to buy another progression. Virginia took
the $90 hit, diminishing his prospects and was convinced
Quebec would come from behind once again (as he had in
each of his three prior games).
Somehow everyone seemed to forget Pennsylvania's Gold and Ore payouts
and when the dust settled, the collaboration on Urban gave Pennsylvania an
extra three points to push him to 30 VPs. World War keptVirginia at
27 and Mexico aced Quebec out
of e-Commerce to also finish with 27, but with less cash.
Quebec fell to fourth with 26, beating Louisiana by
$15 for the final plaque, as Louisiana made an excellent
comeback.
Final scores: Jeff Mullet (PA) 30 VPs/$30, AJ Sudy (Virginia)
27 VPs/$65, Tedd Mullally (Mex) 27 VPs/$0, Bill Crenshaw (Que)
26 VPs/$20, Kevin Sudy (La.) 26 VPs/$5.
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Ewan McNay and Rob Kircher fall to
Tedd Mullally in this semi. |
The usual suspects line up for another
Final. |
Manifest
Destiny 2010 PBeM Tournament Results
Stefan Mecay, continuing
to find new worlds to conquer, quickly improved on his recent
laurel finishes in Manifest Destiny by winning the 2009
email tournament just a shade too late to avoid going down in
history as the first event to end in 2010. Other laurelists were
Derek Landel (Pennsylvania), Carl Damcke (Mexico), Harald Henning
(Quebec), defending PBeM champ Bill Edwards (Virginia), and Mark
Neale in that order.
Stefan, playing Louisiana, kept a low profile until the end.
Amazingly, he won without buying a single city the entire game. Early
on he went after the plentiful Produce territories. On the California
Gold Rush turn he grabbed both Carolinas, where he never was
challenged, positioning him well for later. He missed out on
the lvel 1 Breakthroughs (as Virginia claimed two), but used
Fulton to get early Steamships and finished Motion Pictures.
Louisiana traded Quebec Timber for Textiles to enable him to
get Wireless, and be the first overseas, taking Australia and
Middle East. In the meantime, Quebec's profit soared to a high
of 150 as he expanded largely unchecked, Pennsylvania maximized
his reaearch rolls, Mexico built cities and Virginia waited for
opportunities.
Stefan expanded last on the penultimate turn. He played his
priority token during card play and went ona Gold run in expansion,
after buying Television to better the odds. With seven tokens,
he managed to lose four straight rolls on Jalisco before prevailing.
Playing cards first next turn, he used Immigrants to take over
Guerrero and cash $200 in Gold. Fortunately for him, he was sitting
on World War and immune from McCarthyism (as Mexico found out
to his chagrin). Even a $50 loss to a Gold Product Recall could
not stop Louisiana, as his $380 allowed him to buy to 29 points,
before his Research roll. Fate evened up the dice score, allowing
him to hit three missing steps to e-Commerce to claim the Breakthrough
and the crown. Pennsylvania used a large Ore payout to claim
second and Mexico's loss of Jalisco cost him both Gold money
and most cities. Hard luck Quebec was left with $105 in cash
(needing $5 more for 3 VPs) and both Quebec and Virginia missed
their final Research rolls.
Final Scores:
Stefan - 32 VP, $80 cash, 60 Profit
Derek - 28 VP, $5 left, 80 Profit
Carl - 26 VP, no cash, 80 Profit
Harald - 25 VPs, $105 cash, 130 Profit
Bill - 21 VP, $25 left, 35 Profit
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