risk  

Updated 11/24/2010

2010 WBC Report     

 2011 Status: pending 2011 GM commitment

Craig Moffitt, NJ

2010 Champion

Offsite Links

 

Event History
1999    Rob Lightburn     30
2000    Craig Melton     14
2001    Steve Dickson     29
2002    Phil Rennert     45
2003    Rob Lightburn     33
2004    Eric Wrobel     35
2005    Steve Dickson     27
2006    Robert Lightburn     38
2007    Gary Schaefers     42
2008    Brandon Bernard     36
2009    Derek Landel     36
2010    Craig Moffitt     43
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Rob Lightburn      VA    06    108
  2.  Steve Dickson      CA    09     53
  3.  Alan Hayes         IL    10     45
  4.  Phil Rennert       MD    02     40
  5.  Richard Curtin     NY    10     39
  6.  David Rynkowski    NY    10     38
  7.  Brandon Bernard    PA    08     34
  8.  Craig Moffitt      NJ    10     30
  9.  Robert Paul        AZ    10     30
 10.  Andrew Wilson      NJ    10     30
 11.  Derek Landel       NJ    09     30
 12.  Keith Galbraith    PA    08     30
 13.  Gary Schaefers     PA    07     30
 14.  Eric Wrobel        VA    04     30
 15.  Craig Melton       VA    00     30
 16.  James D. Long      PA    05     26
 17.  Scott Fenn         MD    06     19
 18.  Matt Mason         FL    04     18
 19.  Frank Easton       on    03     18
 20.  Ken Samuel         VA    01     18
 21.  William Place      PA    00     18
 22.  Tito Lightburn     VA    99     18
 23.  James Allaire      CT    06     15
 24.  Paul Bissa         OH    09     12
 25.  Cary Morris        NC    07     12
 26.  Daniel Long        NJ    06     12
 27.  James H. Long      PA    05     12
 28.  Matt Evinger       PA    01     12
 29.  Marion Hazel       SC    99     12
 30.  Bill O'Neal        NY    02     11
 31.  Bill Riggs         VA    09      9
 32.  Rob Larkins        PA    08      9
 33.  Tom Agostino       CA    04      9
 34.  Keith Butler       CA    03      9
 35.  Scott Bowling      IN    01      9
 36.  Stephane Dorais    qc    99      9
 37.  Charles Drozd      IL    09      6
 38.  John Long          PA    07      6
 39.  Andrew Long        PA    06      6
 40.  Greg Berry         VA    01      6
 41.  John Rinko         VA    00      6
 42.  Rod Morris         MD    99      6
 43.  Tom Stokes         NJ    02      4
 44.  Bram Walzl         VA    08      3
 45.  John Henry         on    07      3
 45.  Rebecca Hebner     CO    03      3
 46.  Carl Olson         CT    99      3

2010 Laurelists                                                 Repeating Laurelists:

David Rynkowski, NY
2nd

Richard Curtin, NY
3rd

Robert Paul, AZ
4th

Alan Hayes, IL
5th

Andrew Wilson, NJ
6th

Past Winners

Robert Lightburn, VA
1999, 2003, 2006

Craig Melton, VA
2000

Steve Dickson, CA
2001, 2005

Phil Rennert, MD
2002

Eric Wrobel, VA
2004

Gary Schaeffers, PA
2007

Brandon Bernard, PA
2008

Derek Landel, NJ
2009

Craig Moffitt, NJ
2010
 

With esoteric games everywhere you look, it's comforting to still have familiar old Risk around to fall back on.

Barry Smith makes his move. Risk is the wargamer's Monopoly. Everyone knows how to play it by pure osmosis.

Top 10 Club ...

Newcomers Martin and Sebastien Charette drove down from Ontario, just to play Risk, arriving just in time for the first heat Wednesday night. Due to only discovering WBC at the last minute, they can only stay for two nights and must head back to Canada, first thing Friday morning. Martin brings a custom made version of his own game, Polar Risk which adds Antarctica as a new continent as well as several new connections to the existing continents. Finding numerous interested players for several games on Thursday in the open gaming room, Martin receives good reviews and suggests adding it as an optional board for next year's tournament. Martin and Sebastien say they will return to WBC next year for the entire week. All of this as a film crew does a documentary project with the Risk tournament playing a central role. Just another week at WBC ...

The six finalists in seeding order from the two preliminary rounds are: ex-GM Alan Hayes, Dylan Routh, David Rynkowski, Richard Curtin, Craig Moffitt, and Robert Paul. Dylan is a no show as is the first alternate, Bill Place. Second alternate, Andrew Wilson, steps into play. It is a veteran lineup with five of the six being former laurelists and before the night is through all six will be numbered in the WBC Risk Top Ten. I give finalists the option of choosing their seat position in seed order. Alan chooses to be in the sixth position, David commenting that Alan knows what he is doing, chooses the fifth position. Rich takes fourth, Craig bucking the trend takes first. Robert takes the third position and Andrew is left with second by default.

The play order is Craig: blue, Andrew, pink; Robert, yellow; Rich, green; David, red; and Alan, black. After initial army placements, start positions for large forces are as follows. Craig concentrates his forces in Australia. Andrew masses in Japan, Robert in South America, Rich is heavy in Scandinavia and Indonesia and puts a few in Australia as well. David concentrates in Africa and Alan is left with America. No one has a full continent at start.

Round 1: Craig and Rich agree that Rich will move his forces out of Australia, so they can both avoid heavy losses there. Craig and Andrew take one territory each for a card. Robert takes South American. Rich leaves Australia as agreed. David takes a few territories in Africa, but he stops short of taking the entire continent. Alan takes a few territories in America. Alan proposes a treaty with his neighbor to the South, along the border of Central America and Venezuela for three turns. Robert accepts.

Round 2: Craig takes one more territory in Australia, but stops short of taking the continent. Andrew takes Kamchatka and moves all his armies there. On Robert's turn, David proposes a treaty to avoid conflict in Africa. Robert accepts and takes one territory. Rich does likewise and moves six armies into the Middle East. David takes Western Europe as Alan takes one territory.

Round 3:
Craig takes the last enemy territory in Australia to control the continent. Andrew takes Irkutsk and splits off a large amount of his forces there. Robert successfully attacks one of David's territories in Africa, thereby breaking their treaty. Rich attacks Alan in the Ukraine and moves in four armies. David threatens Southern Europe. Alan successfully attacks Greenland.

Round 4: Craig proposes a continuation of his non-aggression pact with Rich, and moves into Siam to combine all his forces there. Andrew takes Siberia and moves in four armies, thereby continuing to split his forces further. On Robert's turn, Craig asks Andrew where he is going and they discuss plans and tactics. Robert takes one territory in Africa and stops. Rich also takes one territory in Africa. David takes his three army reinforcements for being alive and passes his turn, taking no territories and no Risk cards. David has three Risk cards in his hand and no desire to assume a larger target profile with more cards. He confers with Rich on tactics. Alan tries to attack Craig in Ontario. Failing, he attempts no further attacks and does not gain a card.

Round 5: Craig plays the first set which includes the Ontario card, for a total of nine armies in Ontario. This force takes Quebec and stops. Andrew takes Ural and withdraws the extra armies he moved there. Robert cashes in the second set for six armies to fortify his position in Africa and takes Southern Europe. Rich takes Madagascar. David takes three more armies, and passes again. Alan takes Quebec for a card.

Round 6: Craig puts more armies into Ontario, says it's time to leave, and attacks Greenland moving all his forces there. He makes a non-aggression pact with Alan to leave North America next turn. Andrew turns in the third set for eight armies. Andrew reinforces Iceland with five armies and puts the rest in Asia, reinforcing his positions there while taking one territory and a card. Robert decides to attack David which starts a discussion about the wisdom of the move as Craig and Andrew discuss deals in the background. Unswayed by David's warnings, Robert opts to take his chances and Southern Europe as well. He calls for an inventory of everyone's cards and stops, thereby postponing his attempt to eliminate David. Rich turns in the fourth set for ten armies in Madagascar, taking South Africa and stopping. David again takes just three armies and moves to Great Britain, which he already owns, in an attempt to get out of the line of fire. Alan turns in the fifth set for 12 armies and puts 15 in the Northwest Territory. Craig again asks Alan to not attack Greenland, stating that he will attack Andrew in Iceland. Alan takes one territory and stops.

Round 7: Craig attacks Andrew in Iceland and moves all his Greenland forces there. Rich asks Craig if he knows what that move means. Craig moves his forces from Siam to India. Andrew attacks Siam. Craig asks him not to renege on their non-aggression deal and Andrew stops. Robert passes, satisfied with the five armies for his board position. Rich takes Southern Europe and moves in five armies. David continues his passing strategy. Alan takes Greenland and reinforces with his troops from Quebec. He asks Robert if he is willing to renew their treaty from Round 1 along the Central America and Venezuela connection. Robert is evasive.

Round 8: Craig puts five reinforcements in India. He attacks Siam and pulls back into India. Andrew attacks Afghanistan. Robert has strategy discussions with Craig, turns in the sixth set for 15 armies in Venezuela and takes Central America. Rich turns in the seventh set for 20 armies in Ural and Scandinavia and settles for reloading with one territory and a card. Not surprisingly, those three cards David has been holding is a set which he now spends for 25 armies in Great Britain and again passes - content that he now offers no incentive whatever to be attacked. Andrew, on the other hand, now has five cards Alan turns in the ninth set for 30 armies in Alaska and attempts to take Andrew out. The extermination of Kamchatka reduces Andrew to 6th place laurels but his five cards give Alan six cards, which means he must turn in a set at the beginning of his next turn. If he has two sets, he can turn them in at the same time. David and Rich discuss the current situation.

Round 9: Craig receives 35 armies in Siam for turning in the tenth set. Craig decides to take Alan out before he can play those six cards. Alan starts with good dice and Craig takes some losses in Afghanistan, but continues to push through Asia, as Alan's luck goes south. Craig continues to push through Alan's forces in North America via Alaska. Alan's luck goes from bad to worse and Craig eliminates the prior GM's last forces in Greenland to take possession of Alan's six cards. Craig must turn in a set of cards immediately for 40 armies. Robert reminds Craig that he only has one card in his hand. Craig places 30 armies in the Western United States. Robert negotiates to get Craig to take out David. Rich tells Craig to wait. Craig then places the rest of his forces in the Western United States. Craig moves south appearing to have decided to take out Robert. He eliminates Robert's forces in Venezuela and stops. For his end of turn move, Craig moves his forces from Greenland to Iceland and takes his sixth card.

Robert takes his large force from North Africa to Congo. Robert makes a deal with Craig to attack Rich, if Craig does not take out Robert next. Craig agrees. Robert rolls very well but fails to eliminate Rich. Rich places his reinforcements in Southern Europe and takes Western Europe, North Africa and the South American continent from Robert. Feeling that turnabout is fair play, Rich now asks David to remove Robert from the game. David complies and his well-rested armies now occupy the entire African continent. Not bad for six consecutive passes.

Round 10: Craig has two sets worth 95 armies. Trying to determine his next victim, Craig eyes their cards. They both have three cards. He asks both if they would like to concede the game. The players, remind Craig of the tournament rule that no game concessions are allowed until only two players remain. Craig places all his new forces in Venezuela. Between a stack of 20 armies in Iceland, and his mega-force in Venezuela, Rich is soon shown the merits of third place, handing another three cards to Craig. David now legally concedes the title to Craig, having ridden his Pass strategy to second place.

Polar Risk anyone?

GM Levy and his magic hat records the action of his finalists.
 GM      Keith Levy [8th Year]   9 Augusta Wood Ct., Reisterstown, MD 21136
    gamesclubofmd@verizon.net   443-629-5585

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