Ed O'Connor and John Rinko sort their armies for the conquests to come.	Nathan Barhorst and Lee Waters man their respective corners of the globe.

Fulfillment at Last ...

This year's event saw the culmination of one man's History of the World dreams while battling through some external adversity.

Heat 1 had 29 players spread across five tables. The winners were: Henry Dove, Joe Collinson, Kevin Breza, Dominic Duchesne, and Nick Pei. The Breza win was decided by the first tie-breaker, which is lowest total empire strength. Pei and Collinson cruised to big margins while the Dove and Duchesne games were tight affairs producing close second and third place scores.

Heat 2 lived up to its name with faulty air conditioning exacting its toll. The 26 players for this session included eight returning from the first heat. The stifling conditions in the Kinderhook room may have had the benefit of moving games along. They all ended earlier than the norm with the 6-player game being the first to finish. Winners in this heat were: Lee Waters, David Anderson, Wayne Morrison, Dave Earls, and Chris Trimmer. Trimmer and Anderson crushed all comers with both pulling six of the seven pre-eminence markers. Waters took the first five markers and coasted to a comfortable win in his game. Earls lagged behind for most of his game until Spain returned him to the pack and a 65-point France performance gave him the win. The Morrison win was anyone's game with the top four players within an 11-point spread and the last player just 19 points behind.

That fourth place finish for Harald Henning was a good example of how the (%) advancement system works. He was close enough to the winner to have a 94.3 % score and that proved good enough to advance. The semifinals returned nine of the ten preliminary winners along with nine alternates based on their heat (%) score.

Table 1 drew three former champs - Craig Yope, Henry Dove, and Greg Crowe - plus 29th ranked Nathan Barhorst who was trying for his second straight Final. Gregory Breza's slight lead on the pack in the first round gave way to a three-way tie at the end of the Second Epoch between Yope, Dove, and Lee Waters. Barhorst then rode the Macedonian wave into the lead at the end of Epoch 3 only to see the Waters' Arabs sedge the Breza scoring combo of Romans/Guptas. Crowe was forced to muddle through with almost exclusively Asian empires but was able to hang around long enough to then capitalize on a Mughals/Russia back-to-back scoring opportunity to break away from the pack. Waters led for most of the late game epochs and was able to cement his lead with pre-eminence markers to earn the first seat in the Final.

Table 2 seated two former champs - Harald Henning and Kevin Youells - and a pair of veteran players in 11th ranked Joe Collinson and 22nd ranked Dominic Duchesne. Harald took an early lead with Egypt and Scythians but was briefly passed by Joe's Macedonian surge. Kevin then took his turn in the lead with the Huns and held on through Epoch 5 with the Chola. Harald returned to prominence with a strong Ottoman performance in the sixth epoch, but Dominic worked Britain for a 62-point finale. It was enough to stave off Harald's pre-eminence markers for the win. Henning's close second and Collinson's solid third advanced both.

Table 3 had a less impressive resume, relying on 46th ranked Chris Trimmer and the ever dangerous 15th ranked Mark Smith for its laurel count, but made up for it with the only female in the mix - Christina Harley. Kyle Greenwood took the early lead with the Hittites by adding its forces to those of the Sumerians. Kevin Breza took the lead with the Greeks and retained enough map presence to hold a share of the lead at the end of Epoch 3 in spite of being "Hsiung-Nued". His co-leader was Nick Pei who was given the Sassanids after catching up with the Persians.
Pei then crushed all enemies in the four remaining epochs by averaging almost 35 points per round! The runaway nature of the win meant that only Nick would advance from this table. And it meant that the normal "ruckus" associated with a Mark Smith elimination game was conspicuously absent.

The Final thus offered an even mix of former champs, experienced finalists and newcomers. The Henning and Crowe championships came in the old version of the game, but they knew what it takes to play this version. Duchesne has been a consistent force over the last few years and the veteran Collinson didn't achieve an 11th ranking by playing in preliminaries. The Pei name is synonymous with WBC championships but this was virgin territory for Nick. Waters was a WBC first-timer so this was definitely uncharted waters for him.

The following notations are used to allow you to track the progression of the Final.

(B)- Blue (G)- Green (O)- Olive Green (P)- Purple (R)- Red (Y)- Yellow

Blue: Harald Henning
Green: Joe Collinson
Olive Green: Nick Pei
Purple: Greg Crowe
Red: Lee Waters
Yellow: Dominic Duchesne

Round 1
(O) Sumeria spreads to India.
(B) Egypt goes south along the Nile and forts up on both sides of the Bosporus/Dardanelles.
(P) Minoans fortify Crete and expand to Eastern Anatolia.
(R) Indus Valley gets help from the Hittites to score well.
(G) Babylonia invades Sumeria and takes out their capital.
(Y) Shang Dynasty goes to the southeast coast and fortifies in the middle and the south.

(O): 9 (R: 9 (Y): 8 (B): 8 (P): 5 (G): 5

Round 2
(P) Assyrians flood across the Middle East taking out the Hittites and pushing into India.
(O) Chou Dynasty has a tough time against the decadent Shang.
(G) Vedic City States press east into SE Asia and penetrate into southern China.
(Y) Greek City States knock out the Minoan fortifications with Treachery and then turn north ending with a fortified British Isles.
(B) Scythian alliances with both second epoch minors (Phoenicians and Etruscans) allow it the freedom to move east into China and India.
(R) Carthaginians use the other Treachery card to take the Greek fort on Crete and then shoots across North Africa before stalling at the gates of Tyre.

(B): 35 (R): 25 (P): 22 (Y): 21 (O): 19 (G): 17

Round 3
(P) Celts get some help from a civil war within the Scythian empire to gain presence in India, but struggle to dominate Northern Europe and also have trouble against the Etruscans in Southern Europe.
(G) Macedonians drop into an empty Levant and drive to control all of North Africa, finishing with forts on both sides of the Gibraltar straits.
(Y) Han Dynasty goes naval and takes the SE Asia islands on its way to conquering the northern tier territories of India. A few of those ships must have been blown off course because Australian Migrants pop into the outer islands of that area.
(O) Hsiung-Nu gain presence in India and Africa when friendly barbarians take the Ganges Delta and migrants pop up in the far south of the "Dark Continent". That leaves them free to concentrate on their drive into northern China for domination of the Middle Kingdom.
(R) Romans follow in the footsteps of the Macedonians by going into Levant but take out the remnants of the Egyptian presence around Constantinople to get there. From those positions they push on into the rest of the Fertile Crescent and Danubia.
(B) Sassanids go west but are attrited while trying to force their way into the Nile Delta.

(G): 52 (B): 50 (R): 48 (Y): 45 (O): 36 (P): 35

Round 4
(G) Guptas struggle to even gain dominance of India while earthquakes destroy the monuments of Rome and Zagros.
(Y) Goths clean out the Roman descendants from Greece but fail to actually take Rome or Carthage.
(P) An isolated outbreak of the Plague in the Upper Tigris does little to aid the cause of the Huns as they storm south from the Western Steppe. Tendrils of presence were established in India, China, Northern Europe, and Southern Europe.
(B) Byzantine allies pop up in the Southern Andes. The main empire first occupies the Greek peninsula and then proceeds to embark upon a tough march across the Eurasian Steppe towards India and China. It proves to be a costly endeavor that is ultimately fruitless when their armies are "stoned" at the edge of the Hindu Kush.
(O) T'ang Dynasty uses its expertise in jungle warfare to oust most of the foreign incursions into China. Then they turn that skill south and shoot through SE Asia on their way to the Ganges Delta.
(R) Khmers sneak into southern China while a strange deal is struck with the Anglo-Saxons for presence in Northern Europe.

(G): 78 (R): 73 (B): 72 (Y): 68 (O): 57 (P): 56

Round 5
(Y) Franks look to improve their tans by heading south through Southern France into Northern Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and finally Morocco. Curiously, a few scouts seemed to have made it across the Sahara and created an alliance with the Kingdom of Mali.
(B) Vikings amazingly portage their ships across the interior of the North American continent to sail the Caribbean Sea and end up in Venezuela. But then they fail to clear out the Greek remnants from Ireland.
(G) Crusaders lose their way and go north around the Black Sea gaining presence in Southern Europe, Northern Europe, and Eurasia. Meanwhile, Chola warriors sailed to the SE Asia islands and cemented their presence with massive fortifications.
(R) Natural disasters in southern Asia wipe out monuments in the Middle Tigris and Upper Indus while Pestilence in Sumatra and Malaya clear the way for the Sung Dynasty to dominate China and SE Asia while also added to their presence in India.
(O) Unfounded rumors of a Famine precede the Seljuk Turks as they rampage through most of India and then hook into China through the Irrawaddy region.
(P) A strong leader arises and guides the Mongols to great victories in China and SE Asia, BUT Genghis Khan finally falls as he crosses into India. His successor then turns the Hordes west in a quest for Northern European glory.

(G): 116 (R): 101 (B): 94 (Y): 92 (O): 86 (P): 82

Round 6
(B) Ming Dynasty troops cleanse the Chinese landscape of lingering Mongols and then march through the Mekong and Malaya on their way to Delhi.
(O) Timurid Emirates push into China along the Silk Road all the way to the Eastern Sea.
(Y) The Safavids and the Thai see the way the wind is blowing and throw their lot in with the coming Ottoman Turks. Having secured their southern flanks, the Turks concentrate on going east to dominate China.
(R) More geological instability causes destruction in Eurasia and China. In the West, a Portuguese excursion into Northern Europe is stopped cold in Northern Gaul. But that doesn't stop them from establishing a myriad of outposts in places like Korea, Australia, Madagascar, Argentina, and the West Indies.
(P) A continuing trend of natural disasters claims monuments in the Tarim Basin and the Mekong. Spanish naval power helps it to spread its influence into North America, South America, Africa, China, and even a return to the Persian Plateau.
(G) Civil unrest in the Viking homeland leaves them with only a New World presence. Jihading Mughals lose their "mojo" early on and struggle to break into Malaya. They do finally reach Si-Kyang though to gain presence in China.

(G): 138 (Y): 136 (B): 133 (R): 124 (O): 116 (P): 107

Round 7
(R) Russian agents help organize a successful Jewish Revolt in Palestine. Tsarist troops push through central and western Europe to secure a vacation villa for the royal family on the French Riviera. Then the army's focus became a presence in China.
(O) The Manchu Dynasty decided to pass on the normal China strategy and went for a more Western approach. Hardship was the order of the day as the Manchu armies (even aided by a leader card) fought their way to the Rhine, but no further to end with only a presence in Northern Europe.
(B) Dutch expansion into India, SE Asia, and Africa brought the Netherlands a brief dominance of the Far East.
(P) France expeditions into North America and China bring about dominance of those areas, while troops at home force their way across the Channel (much to the English's dismay) to dominate Northern Europe.
(Y) The United States claims its Manifest Destiny on the way to dominance of China. Attacks into Australia, Nippon, and SE Asia add to further American influence in the region.
(G) Germany takes it time to dominate the Northern European area while expanding its cultural influence into Eurasia, Southern Europe, and then into the New World of North and South America.

(Y): 179 (G): 176 (B): 169 (R): 166 (O): 149 (P): 147

Pre-eminence Markers
(B): 5 (G): 16 (O): 0 (P): 0 (R): 0 (Y): 4

Final Game Score
(G): 192 (Y): 183 (B): 174 (R): 166 (O): 149 (P): 147

Joe Collinson has finally made it to the top of the world - the History of the World that is! He was heard to say the he will "laminate the plaque and have it bolted to his headstone." Talk about satisfaction! It was a longtime coming though. His wife won the event ten years earlier, and one by one, his children have added shields of their own while dad remained without WBC bragging rights. A longtime WBC regular who is no stranger to late rounds, Joe has finally checked off that item on his bucket list.

John Elliott and GM Craig Yope fast forward history.	Craig Yope oversees his finalists.