manifest destiny  

Updated 1/11/2010

2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Jeff Mullet, OH

2009 Champion

Offsite Links

 
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Event History
2005    Harald Henning     46
2006     AJ Sudy     46
2007     Bill Crenshaw     46 
2008    Harald Henning     39
2009    Jeff Mullet     31

Enlightenment History
2006    Bill Crenshaw     19
2008    Ewan McNay     28
2009    Bill Crenshaw     25 

PBeM History
2007    Tom Taaffe     36
2008    Bill Edwards     35
2010    Stefan Mecay     36
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    09    189
  2.  Harald Henning     CT    10    116
  3.  Arthur Field       SC    09     80
  4.  Ewan McNay         CT    09     58
  5.  AJ Sudy            VA    09     54
  6.  Stefan Mecay       TX    10     51
  7.  Jeff Mullet        OH    09     46
  8.  Kevin Sudy         VA    09     46
  9.  Tom Taaffe         VA    08     46
 10.  Peter Staab        PA    09     42
 11.  Bill Edwards       VA    10     36
 12.  Kathy Stroh        DE    08     30
 13.  John Coussis       IL    08     28
 14.  Tom Browne         PA    09     25
 15.  David Hood         NC    07     24
 16.  Ted Simmons        NJ    05     24
 17.  Peter Pollard      TN    09     22
 18.  Derek Landel       NJ    10     18
 19.  Bob Heinzmann      FL    07     16
 20.  Brett Mingo        MD    05     16
 21.  Carl Damcke        IL    10     12
 22.  Tedd Mullally      NJ    09     12
 23.  Kate Taillon       SC    07     12
 24.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    06      9
 25.  Scott Burns        uk    07      8
 26.  David Nicholson    on    05      8
 27.  Shawn Fox          TX    08      5
 28.  Dave Long          NC    05      4
 29.  Mark Neale         RI    10      3

2009 Laurelists                                        Repeating Laurelists 

AJ Sudy, VA
2nd

Tedd Mullally, NJ
3rd

Bill Crenshaw, VA
4th

Kevin Sudy, VA
5th

Pete Pollard, TN
6th


Past Winners

Harald Henning, CT
2005, 2008

Alan Sudy, VA
2006

Bill Crenshaw, VA
2007

Jeff Mullet, OH
2009


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.

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

 GM      Bill Crenshaw [5th year]   NA
   BillCrenshaw@verizon.net   NA

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