kaiser's pirates

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

John Emery, SC

2009 Champion

Offsite Links

 ConsimWorld 

Event History
2007    Joel Tamburo      33
2008     Phil Barcafer     41
2009     John Emery     41
 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Joel Tamburo       IL    09     40
   2.  Phil Barcafer      PA    08     30
   3.  John Emery         SC    09     26
   4.  Rob Winslow        NY    08     13
   5.  Eric Ritter        PA    09     12
   6.  Stan Buck          MD    08     12
   7.  Matthew Bacho      MD    07     12
   8.  Tim Rogers         SC    09      8
   9.  Andy Lewis         DE    07      8
  10.  Roberto Sanchez    NY    09      6
  11.  Steve Caler        OH    07      6
  12.  David Rohde        NC    09      4
  13.  Bruce Young        SC    08      3
  14.  Frank Mestre       NY    07      2

2009 Laurelists                                              Repeating Laurelists 

Eric Ritter, PA
2nd

Tim Rogers, SC
3rd

Roberto Sanchez, NY
4th

David Rohde, NC
5th

Joel Tamburo, IL
6th


Past Champions

Joel Tamburo, IL
2007

Phil Barcafer, PA
2008

John Emery, SC
2009

 

How'd you like to share a lifeboat with these three black hearts? Ken Richards, Scott Pfeiffer and Andy Lewis attempt to set each other adrift.

Bob Titran seems to be enjoying his patrol of the shipping lanes despite remaining empty handed in his never ending pursuit of laurels.

Sinking Ships During the Great War ...

Our third year found a very competitive group of players ready and anxious to see who would emerge as the scourge of the sea lanes. Using the same format as the previous two years, they met in four preliminary rounds on Thursday and Friday set in 3-player games to determine who would advance to the semi-finals and Final on Saturday.
 
This year saw quite a few more inexperienced players due to the recent release of the new GMT version. An enthusiastic group of 30 players attended the demo, and had many excellent questions. Lots of folks arrived with their shiny new boxes in hand ready to break out the card decks for the very first time.
 
As in previous years, the basic game system was used with the addition of two of the published optional rules: 6.4 Tournament Balance and 6.8 Additional Damage. The Tournament Balance rule assures that each player's initial German force contains at least one warship of equal capability as the opposing players. It also keeps some of the weaker German raiders out of the initial deal. That way each player starts with a German force of roughly equal strength. The Additional Damage rule helps to move play along by marking damage for every hit. Typically a ship may only absorb a single damage hit.
 
This year, 18 players advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday. They played in six 3-player hands to determine four finalists. Those advancing were John Emery, Eric Ritter, Tim Rogers and Roberto Sanchez, two of which were first-time players.
 
These four faced off in a complete 4-player game. They had played only single-hands in the preliminary rounds and semi-finals, but now the finalists would sail the seas in games composed of three complete hands. In this configuration, a single lucky hand would not be enough to carry them to victory. The format for the final game retained the structure of the previous rounds with the addition of four additional optional Rules: 6.1 Coal Pile, 6.2 Sails, 6.3 Wölfchen, and 6.7 Warship and Raider Retention. These additional options added more tension to an already challenging situation.
 
They each started with a powerful and well balanced force of German ships: John - the Emden, Möwe, and Berlin; Eric the Königsberg, Prinz Eitel Friedrichand Wolf; Tim the Dresden, Cap Trafalgar and Leopard; and Roberto the Nürnberg, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Kronprinz Wilhelm.
 
Eric ran away with the first round almost doubling the score of his nearest competitor. However, the game's scoring system awards 4-round points for winning a four-player hand, thereby keeping all players in the game. There is only a 3-round point spread between the players for each hand.
 
John, who placed second in the first round, came on strong in the second round to edge Eric in a very close competition between all four players. Going into the final round, Eric and John were tied with Tim and Roberto poised to act as the spoiler. The last round was again very competitive with play going back-and-forth throughout the hand. With every play making an impact, it came down to the last few cards. In the end, John emerged as the overall victor, claiming the title of the Kaiser's Pirate.
 
Over the three days, all of the participants demonstrated great interest, as well as a lot of skill and sportsmanship. The experienced players were quick to show the new hands the ropes and everyone appeared to have a great time. See you next year.

 

Designer Jim Day provided scale model
miniature nautical props to enhance the mood.

John Emery on course for his first wood ...
well, in this event anyway.
 GM      Jim Day [3rd Year]  NA
    jamesmday@aol.com   NA

2009 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page