hammer of the scots  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report   

 2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Lyman Moquin, DC

2009 Champion

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Event History
2003    Phil Barcafer     55
2004    Lyman Moquin     29
2005    George Seary     29
2006     George Seary     25
2007     George Seary     17
2008    George Seary     23
2009    Lyman Moquin     16

Block Party History
2004    Bruce Reiff     23
2005    Ric Young     21
2006     Ric Manns     12

PBeM Event History
2006    Hank Burkhalter     31
2008     George Seary     30
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  George Seary       NY    09    195
  2.  Lyman Moquin       DC    09    109
  3.  Rick Young         NC    06    108
  4.  Ric Manns          IN    09     68
  5.  Hank Burkhalter    GA    08     57
  6.  Phil Barcafer      PA    05     53
  7.  Bruce Reiff        OH    06     51
  8.  Bill O'Neal        NY    08     33
  9.  Jeff Mullet        OH    06     30
 10.  Susanne Tuch       NY    08     26
 11.  Phil Rennert       MD    09     24
 12.  Stuart Pierce      VA    04     24
 13.  Troy Daniels       OH    06     22
 14.  Rob Taylor         MI    07     21
 15.  Nicholas Benedict  CA    07     18
 16.  Chris Byrd         CT    06     16
 17.  Ray Freeman        CA    08     15
 18.  Tom Drueding       FL    03     15
 19.  Joe Pabis          VA    08     12
 20.  Alfred Smith       NC    06     12
 21.  Tim Hall           UT    03     10
 22.  Mike Dauer         TX    09      9
 23.  Rick Kirchner      KY    05      9
 24.  Sean McCulloch     OH    04      9
 25.  Barry Smith        NY    04      8
 26.  Steve Lollis       MD    08      6
 27.  Derek Miller       VA    07      6
 28.  David Platnick     VA    06      6
 29.  Brad Bellomo       NJ    04      4
 30.  Fred Bauer         VA    09      3
 31.  Paul Barrett       uk    08      3
 32.  Mike Zehnal        OH    05      3
 33.  Jake Busch         OH    06      2
 34.  Charles Stucker    IN    06      1

2009 Laurelists                                      Repeating Laurelists 

Ric Manns, IN
2nd

Phil Rennert, MD
3rd

George Seary, NY
4th

Mike Dauer, TX
5th

Fred Bauer, VA
6th


Past Winners

Phil Barcafer, PA
2003

Lyman Moquin, DC
2004, 2009

George Seary, NY
2005-2008

 

Malcolm Smith and George Seary in the preliminary rounds.

Lyman Moquin and Ric Manns meet in the Final.

A New Lad in the Highlands

Bidding for sides was closer than in previous years, although English wins once again outnumbered Scot wins, especially in the early rounds. Many of the 'usual suspects' were in attendance to battle for the Highlands. After three preliminary rounds and 20 games, it was four familiar players who faced off in the semis:

Lyman Moquin cruised to an early win over Phil Rennert, trapping and killing Edward I quickly. This was the only game that Lyman played as the Scots, and he showed clearly that he can master the blue blocks as well as the red, forcing the English to capitulate by mid game.

Veteran GM Ric Manns surprisingly outbid four--time defending champ George Seary for the privilege of 'wearing the kilts'. Ric then played a very aggressive (dare I say, rash) strategy, and garnered a close victory, that was not decided until the very last card play, but nonetheless ended Seary's reign at the top.

This set the stage for an unfamiliar Final: Ric Manns again bid for the Scots, Lyman Moquin bid equally for the English. The early game saw frequent appearances by Edward I, whose major accomplishment was limited to keeping the Scots from getting at least eight nobles, hence denying the arrival of French Knights (who never did appear on Scotland's shore). Then Turn 6 brought an unpleasant nexus to the Scots; Edward, with a powerful levy and even more powerful card draw wintered over mid-board with TEN blocks!

The opening move by Ric's Scots on Turn 7 sent a raiding party into vacant England, which distracted Edward's horde; The King and Hobelar were sent South to dispatch the raiders. This required two card plays for the English to first clear England, and then return to the head of the large but stagnant army. The remainder of the turn was an all out brawl, with most of the blocks from both sides being eliminated. During the Turn 8, Ric recovered just enough to set the stage for a 7/7 noble count for the start of the final turn.

Battle fatigue then took it's toll on both players, as both sides made some serious mistakes, but neither player capitalized on any of them (to the dismay of the gathering crowd of onlookers)! Edward was back again, equipped with a successful Herald event to take Comyn. Scots occupied Comyn's homelands, but the English continued their push, next taking Argyll. Seeing that the Scots were heading for a 7/7 tie (which would be a Scots victory), with his last card play Lyman sent what little he had left into an all out desperate battle around Atholl, which caused three more blocks to leave the board. The Scot reinforcements fell just short of enough force to carry the battle, giving the English an 8/6 win; Not the decisive outcome that either had hoped for, but leaving both battered players looking forward to a rematch next year.

 GM      George Seary [1st Year]   NA
   armada@pronetisp.net   NA

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