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Kirk Harris and David Hood discuss
Reformation religion. |
Justin Rice, Dennis Mishler and Jonathan
Tarquino burn Europe. |
Still Standing Room Only ...
Those Sneaky Hapsburgs Do It Again ...
Preliminary Heats
The publication of Here I Stand's sequel, Virgin Queen,
was the likely catalyst for the event's dramatic rise in attendance.
13 preliminary games in 2011 jumped to 18 this year, with record
turnouts of 54 players in each heat. With the VGQ tournament
scenario now available, we allowed players to select to play
either HIS or VGQ in these opening rounds. Five
HIS games and four VGQ were held each night. Nick
Benedict was our only double winner, scoring HIS victories as
both the Hapsburgs and France. England was the only power who
failed to win a HIS game this week (a big change from their four
victories in 2011). Other wins were distributed as follows: Ottoman
(Mark Hodgkinson, Melvin Casselberry); Hapsburgs (Mathieu Paro-Paquin,
Dennis Mishler); Papacy (Kirk Harris, Peter Card); and Protestant
(Jeremiah Peterson, David Hood).
Eight Virgin Queen games were also completed in the
two opening nights. These contests give us our first look at
some balance data on that title's tournament scenario. We shortened
this scenario from four turns to just three since so many players
were trying it out for the first time. There were three Ottoman
wins (Joel Calden, Michael Kiefte, and Barry Setser with a military
win), one English win (Tom Brierton), one French win (Brian Mountford),
and two Protestant wins (Chris Striker with a military victory
and Jim Doughan with a religious one). The eighth game was the
only one to not have an outright winner in three turns; in this
one Chip Saltsman's Protestants were awarded victory by tie-breaker
over Joel Tamburo's Holy Roman Empire. The weak HRE showing in
these eight games can probably be explained by the fact that
six HRE players chose the Catholic secret religious preference
but none of these players scored any VP from this selection.
England and France are likely to score several more wins next
year; those two powers had the highest average scores at the
end of three turns of play.
Semifinals
It was back to HIS games only for the playoff rounds.
17 winners of Round 1 games joined seven alternates (those with
the highest preliminary round total VP accumulation) for the
Friday morning semis. Mathieu Paro-Paquin was first to reach
the Final, parleying an initial hand of Smallpox, Landsknechts,
Diplomatic Overture, and City State Rebels into a one-turn win.
Martin Luther and his minions dominated the other semifinals.
Three Protestant wins were achieved on Turn 5. Obviously Dennis
Mishler (27 VP), Michael Kiefte (24 VP), and Jeromey Martin (23
VP) have the "let the Papacy almost win on Turn 4 and then
come from behind with a huge Protestant Turn 5" gambit down
to a science! Dan Hoffman (24 English VP) was our first alternate
finalist, returning to the Final for the second time. Nick Benedict
grabbed the last seat, edging out three-time finalist AJ Sudy
(thanks to a tie-breaker for his two opening heat wins).
FINAL
Power selection for the Final was as follows: Dennis Mishler
(Protestant), Mathieu Paro-Paquin (Hapsburgs), Michael Kiefte
(Papacy), Jeromey Martin (England), Dan Hoffman (Ottomans), and
Nick Benedict (France). Both Paro-Paquin and Mishler were playing
the same power that advanced them from the semifinals.
Turn-by-turn highlights of the two-turn Final follow.
Turn 4
· Ottoman and Hapsburgs ally, allowing both powers to
tie for the lead after one turn.
· Divorce granted for two cards from English (a healthy
Edward is finally achieved, but not until the third wife of the
turn: Anne of Cleves).
· Koln ceded to Protestant for two mercenaries.
· Pope excommunicates the Hapsburg for the Ottoman alliance.
· France allies with Venice after a diplomatic marriage.
· Spain discovers the Mississippi River; all other efforts
in the New World fail.
VP: Hapsburgs 19, Ottoman 19, France 17, Papacy 17,
Protestant 17, England 14
Turn 5
· Hapsburg/Ottoman alliance is renewed; Ottoman targets
France with a declaration of war.
· Hapsburg is able to strike a deal to get excommunication
lifted by Papacy
· France declares war on Genoa.
· Dennis starts a Turn 5 Protestant surge, following the
strategy he used to score 27 VP in the semis.
· Protestant Koln holds out from Hapsburg siege, making
the Protestant a likely Turn 5 winner.
· However Dennis ends up 1 CP short of being able to publish
a third bible this turn. He uses Carlstadt instead but that reformer
only succeeds on one of three attempts. Protestant will end turn
with 22 VP (1 short of a win).
· Unexpectedly, Mathieu makes two big New World rolls
and surges by four VP (Amazon and Inca). Instead of a Protestant
win, suddenly the game is over with a Hapsburg victory.
VP: Hapsburgs 23, Protestant 22, France 21, Ottoman
19, England 19, Papacy 15. Newcomer Mathieu Paro-Paquin wins
his first WBC plaque in his first WBC. It was the second straight
year for a Hapsburg victory.
Next Year: The Virgin Queen NEEDS Your Assistance!
As players signed in for the Tuesday and Thursday heats this
year, we polled them as to whether or not they'd like to see
Virgin Queen moved into its own WBC event. 65% of those
who responded did prefer to see VGQ added as a new tournament.
So with that in mind, the plan for next year is to add Virgin
Queen as a Sunday/Monday pre-con and to preserve Here
I Stand in its usual Tuesday to Saturday format. But such
an addition is dependent on VGQ being one of the top vote
getters in the annual member voting to select Trial events. So
don't forget in December -- Elizabeth is counting on your vote!
Not Laurels but...
This year's Here I Stand event represented the game's
seventh appearance at WBC. We've once again consulted our experts
in sabermetrics to evaluate the best Here I Stand player of all
time.
That rating of HIS prowess is called "The Here Everyone
Stands Evaluation System", or THESES for short.
How do you earn Theses? A victory in a semifinal game at WBC
is worth 10 Theses (with smaller awards of 6/4/3/2/1 for 2nd
through 6th place). Appearances in the Final are worth five times
as much, so 50 Theses for being the HIS champ (and 30/20/15/10/5
for the other finalists).
After compiling the totals through 2011, we still only have
three players who have cracked the 95 Theses barrier (though
semifinalists Bryan Collars and Dennis Mishler are getting awfully
close). Here are the totals for everyone with six or more Theses:
Player |
Final Appearances |
Theses |
Semi Appearances |
Semi Theses |
Total Theses |
Jeff Burdett |
3 |
105 |
3 |
26 |
131 |
AJ Sudy |
3 |
85 |
5 |
29 |
114 |
Dave Cross |
3 |
70 |
6 |
42 |
112 |
Bryan Collars |
2 |
60 |
6 |
31 |
91 |
Dennis Mishler |
2 |
60 |
5 |
27 |
87 |
Justin Rice |
2 |
55 |
5 |
18 |
73 |
Kirk Harris |
2 |
50 |
4 |
18 |
68 |
Mathieu Pare-Paquin |
1 |
50 |
1 |
10 |
60 |
John Wetherell |
1 |
50 |
2 |
8 |
58 |
Ken Richards |
2 |
35 |
4 |
23 |
58 |
Chris Striker |
3 |
35 |
5 |
21 |
56 |
Nick Benedict |
2 |
30 |
3 |
19 |
49 |
Dan Hoffman |
2 |
25 |
6 |
22 |
47 |
Allen Hill |
1 |
30 |
2 |
14 |
44 |
Barry Setser |
1 |
20 |
4 |
20 |
40 |
Charles Hickok |
1 |
20 |
2 |
12 |
32 |
Nat Pendleton |
1 |
10 |
3 |
19 |
29 |
Michael Rogozinski |
1 |
20 |
1 |
6 |
26 |
Jeremy Martin |
1 |
10 |
2 |
16 |
26 |
Rick Cambron |
1 |
15 |
1 |
10 |
25 |
Brad Merrill |
1 |
20 |
3 |
3 |
23 |
John Vasilakos |
1 |
15 |
1 |
6 |
21 |
Paul McCarthy |
1 |
15 |
3 |
5 |
20 |
Henry Rice |
1 |
10 |
1 |
10 |
20 |
Tim Rogers |
1 |
5 |
2 |
12 |
17 |
Rick Byrens |
0 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
16 |
Michael Kiefte |
1 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
15 |
Jonathan Tarquino |
1 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
15 |
Peter Card |
0 |
0 |
5 |
14 |
14 |
Jeff Pattison |
0 |
0 |
4 |
11 |
11 |
Manuel Bravo |
0 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
10 |
Mark Mahaffey |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
9 |
Brian Mountford |
0 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
9 |
Jim Stanard |
0 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
9 |
Matthew Beach |
0 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
8 |
Jeremiah Peterson |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
Phil Rodrigues |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
Nathan Hill |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
Kaarin Engelmann |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
Ted Drozd |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
John Emery |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
Mitch Lake |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
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Michael Kiefte, Ed Rothenheber and
Jeromey Martin seek the Pope. |
Most of the "Stand" finalists
prefer to sit. |
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