The finalists take a photo break ...	Age of Empires III supports an outstanding design with excellent bits.

Short-Lived Empire?

Without the advantage of multiple heats, attendance fell significantly to knock this elegant design out of the lineup for next year barring a saving throw by the membership vote. Only 4-player games were played in the first round, and two of the tables resulted in very close matches, with just three victory points separating the first and third place players after end-game scoring. By comparison, David Duncan outdistanced his opponents by the most VPs, and with 125 had the highest score relative to any other table. Tom Cannon lived up to his surname at his table by blasting the perceived game leader through Warfare--on Turn 4 alone killing six colonists and one soldier.

The Final was a 5-player game between David Duncan, Winton Lemoine, Eric Engelmann, Bradford McCandless, and Ryan Sturm. All of the players favored Initiative, particularly in Age I, to grab a better place in the Turn Order or to collect some fast money. Winton followed a strategy of Discovery and Trade Goods, launching a discovery expedition every turn of Age II, and ending the game with more discoveries than anyone else along with Mercantilism, which he purchased on Turn 7. Ryan pursued colonization and Trade Goods, leading the field in VPs at the end of Age II, and dominating four of the nine regions at the end of Ages II and III. Bradford opted for a Warfare strategy, investing first in Training Grounds and later Stable to repeatedly battle his opponents (especially David and Ryan). Eric cared little for colonization and instead maximized his income through sugar, rum, and privateers, buying Wealth on Turn 7. He was in position to buy a second capital building that turn but chose not to, which meant he saved four VP in wealth but left a 1/5 chance that the building he most wanted next -- Navy -- would not appear on Turn 8. And it didn't, so he lost his opportunity for many more VPs. David showed little interest in Trade Goods throughout the game and emphasized colonization and Specialists, buying Glory on Turn 7. Then on Turn 8 he and Winton grabbed three of the four Warfare slots to prevent most of Bradford's expected attacks. Eric, already snubbed by the hand of fate over Navy, suffered again when his Turn 8 discovery expedition encountered one too many Natives. Meanwhie, Ryan cemented his victory on Turn 8 by securing Population.