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Jordan Shea's 3-0 record was blemished
by Brad Raszewski in the quarterfinals. |
Matthew McCracken's 3-game win streak
is ended by Samantha Berk in the quarterfinals. |
Three Down, One to Go ...
Battle Line maintained its usual following with 40
entrants again this year. If you've never played this game, you
should. It has remarkable depth for a quick play card game.
In
Pod 1 defending champ Sean McCulloch made short work of Gordon
Rogers, Lyman Moquin and Jessica Brown.
In Pod 2 Aaron Fuegi had breakthroughs against Henry Rice,
Ashley Kilroy and Missy Richards. However, Aaron had a Titan
event with a higher priority and chose to be our only winner
not to advance.
In Pods 3 and 4 a three-way tie breaker was required for Chris
Kalambacher to edge John Schoose, Michael Powers and Derek Pulhamus
while Dave Rennert did the same over Rob Kilroy, Jim Fardette
and Walter Hnatiw.
In Pod 5 fate (and the random draw) put Lisa Gutermuth into
my foursome and just like last year if Lisa could beat her final
opponent Chris Yaure, while I beat Stuart Tucker, I would advance
on a head to head tiebreaker against Lisa. Just like last year,
she lost and sent Chris Yaure to the next round leaving yours
truly shut out again. Way to go, Dukee!
In Pod 6 Samantha Berk rolled over Kevin Wojtaszazyk, Chase
Johnson and Steve Raszewski while the youngest Shea family member,
Jordan, did the same over regulars Barrington Beavis, Bob Hamel
and Mike Stanley 'Tools' in Pod 7.
In Pod 8 Michael Sosa made his triumphal return and advanced
on a head to head tie breaker over Aran Warszawski. Cabbie Tony
Raimo and Phil Rennert went no further.
In Pod 9 Matthew McCracken went 3-0 over Laura Dewalt, Luke
Heinz and John Sharp who joined to make an even 40 but was too
busy admiring his VIP plaque to pay much attention).
In the last pod Brad Raszewski held up the honor of his family
and went 3-0 over Joe Yaure, Kevin Cantwell and Owen Kyrollos.
That gave us nine finalists for single elimination play. Michael
Sosa and Chris Kalmbacher were selected at random from the four
2-1 qualifiers for a play-in game, allowing Michael to join the
elite eight. The quarterfinal matches were Rennert vs McCulloch,
Shea vs Raszewski, Berk vs McCraken and Yaure vs the twice-tested
Sosa.
McCulloch, Raszewski, Berk and the now thrice victorious Sosa
all advanced leaving the defending champion an overwhelming favorite
at this point. Only Brad had previous laurels in this event and
he was not long in contention. Sadly, Brad was unable to knock
off the defending champ and Michael ran out of gas against the
fair Samantha. This created a Final between two-time defending
champ, big hulking meanie and general all around scoundrel Sean
McCulloch, vs the sweetling. Sadly, good did not triumph over
evil and the rogue beat up on a young girl to win his third Battle
Line plaque in a row -- apparently the ONLY thing that he
can win anymore. But does he have one more left in him to match
my own record? Can he go even further and catch the mighty Pei's
current streak of five consecutive title defenses and counting?
Tune in next year for the exciting conclusion.
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The Knizia card game is wargame-lite
with Euro components, length and simplicity. |
The finalists have at it in a classic
battle of brawn and beauty. Alas, beauty didn't win. |
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