lord of the rings: the confrontation  

Updated 11/23/2010

2010 WBC Report  

  2011 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

Nick Henning, CT

2010 Champion

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Event History
2010    Nick Henning     44
 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Nick Henning       CT    10     20
   2.  David Rennert      MD    10     12
   3.  Matthew Beach      MD    10      8
   4.  Tom Parauda        NJ    10      6
   5.  Jack Doughan       PA    10      4
   6.  Jacob Hebner       CO    10      2

2010 Laurelists                                             

David Rennert, MD
2nd

Matthew Beach, MD
3rd

Tom Parauda, NJ
4th

Jack Doughan, PA
5th

Jacob Hebner, CO
6th

Peter Reese, the POG champ, takes on an opponent a tad younger than he's used to. Doesn't Doughan play POG? Looks like favor time came due.

Bryan Thompson breaks away from his latest Breakout championship to try frequent nemesis Doughan's event. Coincidence? I think not.

The Kids are Allright!

2010 was the WBC debut for Riener Knizia's classic two player game of deception, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (LRC) as an open event. The Stratego-like mechanics of this game coupled with the pokerish card play create tension and anxiety in a simple to learn and easy to play game. Both players are challenged to use deduction, bluffing and guesswork to outwit their opponent, and secure victory. And it's all over in under an hour per match.

What was new this year was that LRC was offered as an event for adults as well, in the hopes that many of the former juniors would return to try their hand in an open competition. This GM was not disappointed in his hopes, and the junior room was swamped with 44 entrants for this single elimination tournament. Many of them were recent and not-so-recent graduates of the Juniors program taking up the sword again in their old stomping grounds. After some delays while we scrounged up extra copies of the game, the tournament got started in earnest.

It was pleasing for this veteran Juniors GM to see a lot of returning faces from past juniors events, even if they were sometimes hard to recognize. It was also fun to see some grognards try their hands at a so-called kiddie game. As could have been expected, youth had its day, and most of the old folks were out looking for something else to play when the later rounds took place.

In the semi-final round, the field was reduced to three entrants plus the GM who was competing as an eliminator. Nick Henning rallied back from a first game loss to the eliminator to win the second game and the match on two tie breaker points, and earn himself a spot in the Final. David Rennert (14 years old) eliminated Matthew Beach in the other semi-final. All three of the semi-finalists (and five of the six laurelists) were WBC juniors graduates. Clearly the junior program is creating strong players for the future of the hobby.

The Final was a very tense affair. Rennert's Shadow forces were able to corner the Fellowship and when his orcs killed Frodo in Moria there were two Shadow characters remaining for a match score of two. In the second game, Henning and Rennert switched sides, and once again the forces of Shadow prevailed. This time it was the Witch King who killed Frodo and seized the ring for the Dark Lord, but most importantly there were three characters alive for the forces of Shadow. Henning had secured the Championship by the narrowest of margins—one point.

After the Final, one last match was held but not for any prize. This time it was for something much more valuable—bragging rights. As open champion, Henning was asked to compete against the Junior champion, Andrew Doughan, to see if youth would have its day. This time, this GM and proud father is sad to say that age and guile overwhelmed youth and excitement. Henning defeated Doughan two games to zero. Nick Henning can truly lay claim to the title Master of Middle Earth. At least until next year ...

The sugar daddy GM checks out his domain.

Rebecca Hebner aims to trip up Gunner Parauda.

 Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Junior

The juniors have been playing this game for years now at WBC and many of them look forward to the event as the highlight of their week in the junior room. This year was no exception with 18 hobbits from the 12 and under set trying their hand to win the coveted junior plaque. Sadly, the two time defending champion Thomas Melton was unable to compete in the junior event this year (he was scheduled for a semi-final in an adult event!), and Andrew Doughan defeated Zach Denysenko for the championship. Placing third through sixth in the Juniors event were: Theo Crescenzi, Iain McGraw, Adam Wojtaszczyk, and Wes Lewis. Since both Andrew and Thomas are eligible to compete as juniors next year, we may have that rare event in a junior's event—a contest between two prior champions. That is unless some other 11-year-old has something to say about it.

The Junior champ sizes up his opponent.

GM and proud papa with the champ.
 GM      Jim Doughan  [1st Year]   NA
   jdoughan@gmail.com   NA

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