Joe Lux, Rich Atwater and Charley Hickok roll through the ages. The event is unique in being primarily composed of 3-player games as well as being long.	Tom Cannon and Philip Yaure study the evolution of civilization. And they say wargames are too complicated! There are nuclear reactors with less controls.

Everyone warned of the "sophomore slump" - attendance can drop quite radically after a game's debut, and due to format changes we had to start yet earlier in the weekend.  So imagine my surprise when 32 players appeared, 20 playing in both heats.  The expanded time slot (6-hour heats/SF, 8-hour Final) worked well as no games had to be adjudicated.  The highest scorer in the heats was Tom Cannon with 267 points, and the closest game was where newbie Doug Gallulo slipped by defending champion Jason Ley by two points (who evidently taught the game to his opponent too well.)  18 tables in the heats produced 13 winners - five double winners (Tom Cannon, Rob Flowers, Michael Rogozinski, Joel Lytle, and GM Raphael Lehrer) and eight single winners (Tedd Mullaley, Joe Lux, Doug Galullo, Brian Hanechak, John Haba, Jason Ley, Rich Atwater, and Charles Hickock).  In a reversal from last year, where the semi-final was poorly attended due to a conflict with Paths of Glory, all of the winners arrived for a semi-final round in which there were only 12 slots.  While Jason Ley was #13, Brian generously volunteered to give up his spot, allowing Jason to advance.  Interestingly, while all three of last year's finalists played in this year's tournament, only Jason advanced to the semi-final.
 
The semi-final consisted of four three-player games leading to a four-player Final.  By luck of the draw, three of the five double winners were matched together.  That game saw Raphael defeat John and Tom 236-169-127.  The other two double winners each won their respective tables - Joel over Mike and Doug 204-159-134, and Rob over Jason and Tedd in a tiebreak 157-157-81.  The fourth semi-final was won by Joe over Rich and Charles 157-144-130.
 
The Final was a fascinating game, well played by all.  Age I was a fairly balanced affair.  Joe led the pack in culture (VPs) with 22 - everyone else had 12 or less - due to Homer, the Hanging Gardens, and the Great Wall, and was leading in strength (12 vs 7-10), but only produced one science/turn and had only developed the Code of Laws.  Rob had the scientific and technical lead, producing four science/turn and being the only one who had developed Iron, with Caesar and Pyramids.  Joel was well set up for gaining culture in Age II, having built St. Peter's and taken Michaelangelo to replace Moses.  Raphael was the only non-despot, having done a revolution to Monarchy, and had gotten the only colony in the game so far (Inhabited I) due to the Colossus and Aristotle.  By the end of Age II, some differences had emerged.  Rob continued to be the scientific leader, producing a powerful 7 science per turn and having an extraordinary number of civil actions due to his revolution to a Republic and Isaac Newton, but was beind in culture (18 vs. Joel's 43, Joe's 39, and Raphael's 30).  Raphael had used Columbus to grab a Developed II colony and then promptly killed him off in favor of Napoleon, making him the strength leader (19 vs 12-13), but the "arms race" was well-attended to by all players so he was unable to take advantage with any successful aggressions or wars.  (Napoleon was still quite useful, allowing him to spend far less to stay ahead in the arms race.)  He was also the stone leader, having developed coal and producing eight stone/turn (vs. 3-4).  Joel's infrastructure had progressed substantially, having developed iron and selective breeding, and he was the first to develop a library (Journalism) setting him up well for Age III, though he was still a despot.  Joe went through Age II leaderless, and his low-science strategy was beginning to show signs of strain.  He had only developed three technologies (code of laws, swordsmen, and irrigation) to Rob's nine, Raphael's seven, and Joel's six, and despite the Great Wall, had to devote most of his resources to keeping up in the arms race.
 
As is usually the case, the first two ages were basically setup for Age III, where most of the action took place.  Raphael went stone-crazy, sacrificing much of his army to gain the Wealthy II colony and promptly replacing Napoleon with Ghandi to allow him to fall behind on the arms race.  He put the stone advantage towards finishing the Eiffel Tower and building three multimedia libraries - which led him to produce a powerful 20 culture/turn and 13 science/turn before rebuilding his army.  Rob began to focus on culture as well, combining Sid Meier ("Game Designer" in the 2nd edition) with three computers to generate 15 culture/turn and 12 science/turn, and ended up being the only player to build a valuable Age III wonder (space flight).  Joel focused on strength, using Robespierre to minimize the disruption of a Communist revolution and following him up with Chruchill to develop armies more quickly.  Thanks to an effective airforce that provided cover to his modern infantry and knights, and a healthy dose of pro sports, Joel had strength of 42 by the endgame (vs. Raphael's 31, Rob's 24, and Joe's 20).  Joe was able to build his science by developing journalism, which then let him become a Constitutional Monarch and develop Mechanized Agriculture, but by the end of the game was still producing Bronze, a serious handicap.  Before the final event scoring, the scores were Raphael 122, Rob 100, Joe 91, and Joel 77.  The events (strength, agriculture, competition, architecture, population, and technology) largely favored Joel as he took home 74 points compared to Raphael's 47, Joe's 40, and Rob's 36, enough to catapult him into 2nd place.  Final scores were Raphael 179, Joel 151, Rob 144, and Joe 131.
 
For those who like statistics we present the following awards:
 
Most popular leaders:  Einstein 17 (out of 23 games), Aristotle 14, Caesar 14.  Honorable mentions to Columbus 10 and Newton 11 as the most popular Age I and II leaders.
Least popular leaders: Ghengis 0, Friedrich 1, Joan of Arc 2.  Dishonorable mentions to Alexander 4, Shakespeare 3, and Elvis 4 as the least popular leaders of Age A, II, and III.
Winning leaders (by percentage): Napoleon 8/10, Bill Gates 4/5, Columbus 6/10.
Winning leaders (by number of wins): Einstein 9/17, Napoleon 8/10, Caesar 7/14.
Losing leaders: Newton 0/11, Churchill 0/5, Alexander 0/4, Elvis 0/4, Shakespeare 0/3, Joan of Arc 0/2, Friedrich 0/1.
 
Most popular wonders:  Pyramids 18, Transcontinental Railroad 17, Hanging Gardens 15.  Honorable mention to St. Peter's 9 and First Space Flight 10 as the most popular Age I/III wonders.
Least popular wonders:  Hollywood 1, Kremlin 2, Internet 3.  Dishonorable mentions to Library of Alexandria 8 and Taj Mahal 5 as the least popular Age A/I wonders.
Winning wonders (by percentage):  First Space Flight (7/10), Internet (2/3), Great Wall (3/5).  Honorable mentions to Colossus (5/10) and Eiffel Tower (7/12) as the best Age I/II wonders.
Winning wonders (by number of wins):  Transcontinentla Railroad (9/17), First Space Flight (7/10), Eiffel Tower (7/12).
Losing wonders:  Taj Mahal (0/5), Kremlin (0/2), Hollywood (0/1).  Dishonorable mentions to Library of Alexandria (1/8) as the worst Age A wonder and Univ. Carolinas (1/6) and Ocean Liner (1/6) as surprisingly poor performers.
 
Most popular governments:  Constitutional Monarchy 25, Republic 16, Monarchy 8.
Least popular governments:  Communism 1, Theocracy 5, Fundamentalism 5.
Most effective governments (by percentage):  Democracy (3/6), Constitutional Monarchy (11/25), Fundamentalism (2/5).
Least effective governments:  Communism (0/1), Theocracy (1/5), Republic (2/9).
 
I would like to thank Assistant GM Jason Ley, as well as Tom Browne and Tom McCorry who offered to provide rulings during the Final.

Kaarin Engelmann, Joe Yaure and Michael Rogozinski	Amelia Engelmann, Tedd Mullally and Raphael Lehrer