Paul Bolduc, Robert Drozd and Joshua Gottesman evolve with their creatures ... or not.	Got enough dice, Kaarin? Verity Hitchings, Roy Gibson and Matt Evinger would like her to throw less of them in combat.

Tyranno Ex had enjoyed a 15-year run as a tournament at Avaloncon and the WBC. However, by 2006 the influx of exciting new euro-style games had caused Tyranno Ex to be culled from the ranks of the Century events and then to miss the cutoff for inclusion as a Trial event for the 2007 or 2008 WBCs. So it was a bit of a surprise to me when, after volunteering to take up the GM's reins again, that I was able to succeed in getting TYX reinstated as a tournament, albeit only as a Trial event.
 
The first heat was held Tuesday at 1800. It was great seeing once again many familiar faces across the TYX gameboard. At least six of the 11 players attending the first heat were tournament veterans. At one table, Tamara Houde fought off a late surge by Christopher Yaure to win 54 to 52. In a 3-player game, Marc Houde's two "meteor strikes" caused there to be no scoring on the second and fifth turns, but mostly backfired on him as Jennifer Drozd edged Phillip Yaure 31 to 30 for the win. At the third table, GM Tom DeMarco parleyed a 31-point second turn into a 70 to 67 point win over Jason Levine, Katherine Hitchings and Thomas Vickery.
 
The demo was held at noon on Wednesday, and was attended by at least six people, some there to learn the game, some just there for a rules refresher. The second heat was later that afternoon, and was attended by 15 players including former champ Peter Staab, of which only one (the GM) had played in the first heat. Two-time former champ Verity Hitchings showed how it is done when she clawed back from a 20-point deficit after the second turn to win with 72 points and a 23 point lead over Kaarin Engelmann, Roy Gibson and Matt Evinger. At another table, Nick Kiswanto used his +5 marker on the last turn to earn an extra battle he hoped would allow him to beat Jeff Finkeldey. But an unaccounted-for suppression result allowed Pete Gathmann to sneak in for the win with 61 points to Nick's 59. Robert Drozd and Robert Eastman were also winners.
 
The third and final heat was held on Thursday morning, and attracted only four new players plus three repeaters. At one board, Virginia Drozd won a see-saw battle against Matt, Tom Vickery and Bradford McCandless, while Tom DeMarco gained a second win in his game against long-time tournament foes Christina Hancock and Mark Love.
 
With a total field of 29 attendees, eight players would be eligible for the semi-final round. Six of the eight winners and one runner-up appeared on Friday at noon for the next round. The first two finishers at each table would advance to the Final. At one table Virginia pulled out a victory over Pete Gathmann and Verity, while at the other table Tom D won over Christina, Tamara and Robert Drozd.

In an unusual first turn Tom, Pete, and Christina all passed on their option to attack as the Final got underway. Then when Virginia tried to use a species rolling six dice with hits on all 1s to eliminate Tom's species that rolled only two dice also hitting on 1s, she was chagrined to find her own supposedly-stronger species suppressed. Pete scored the best on the second turn to pull into the lead by eight points. The second turn was also the first with a double advance before scoring. On the third turn, Christina used her +5 marker to do an extra round of environment change, scoring the most points and pulling closer to Pete. On Turn 4, Tom scored 31 to Virginia's 19 to take a seven-point lead over Pete. On the fifth and final turn only Christina and Virginia scored, but while Christina was able to tie Tom's total of 67 points, she did not score the five end-of-game bonus points Tom got from not using his +5 marker, finishing second to his 72 points. Pete finished third with 60 points to Virginia's 43. Tom achieved his fourth Tyranno Ex championship, following an 11-year drought since his last championship in 1998.
 
Tyranno Ex will probably need to be voted back into being a Trial event for next year's WBC, so if you are looking to play again next year, or to get your first chance to play this great game, be sure to vote for it during the December 2009 registration push. I hope to see you all at the WBC 2010 Tyranno Ex tournament!

Robert Eastman, Ed Kendricks, Nick Kiswanto and Peter Staab evolve a strategy.	Tom Demarco plots a path to his fourth TYX title to Pete Gathman's dismay.