dominant species   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report  

 2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Kevin Emery, SC

2013 Champion

Event History
2011    Dennis Mishler     46
2012    James Geronimo     46
2013    Kevin Emery     39

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Kevin Emery        SC    13     49
   2.  James Geronimo     NJ    13     43
   3.  Robb Effinger      NJ    13     42
   4.  Tom McCorry        VA    13     32
   5.  Dennis Mishler     GA    11     30
   6.  David Buchholz     MI    12     16
   7.  Geoffrey Entwistle MD    13     12
   8.  Lane Hess          PA    11     12
   9.  Chris Shabsin      MA    13      9
  10.  Tracey Casselberry VT    11      9
  11.  John Emery         SC    11      6
  12.  Tom Bissa          MI    12      4

2013 Laurelists                                        Returning Laurelists:

Robb Effinger, on
2nd

Geoffrey Entwistle, MD
3rd

Chris Shabsin, MA
4th

Tom McCorry, VA
5th

J. R. Geronimo, MD
6th

Past Winners

Dennis Mishler, GA
2011

James Geronimo, NJ
2012

Kevin Emery, SC
2013

Brad McCandless, Chris Shabsin and Russell Harley

A far cry from Tactics II ...

Second Chance Profits ...

Dominant Species survived last year's air conditioning failure as the glaciers returned plenty of cool air to Lancaster Host's Lampeter room for the 2013 entrants manipulating insects, arachnids, amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals in the struggle to adapt in the face of a rapidly approaching Ice Age.

This year's heats generated 13 games over three sessions. This equaled last year's game total, but a smaller field resulted in all but one of the preliminary heat games being 4-player affairs, with only one 5-player game in Heat 2.

Players again bid for animal choice, rather than random selection. Bids in the first heat were suppressed, with one 5, one 4, two 2's and two 1's, among 16 players. Jason Arvey, John Emery, Chris Shabsin, and Jonathan Squibb recorded the first wins of the tournament. Unfortunately, a faulty scoresheet meant that your GM was aware of the bid order, but not the ANIMAL order. So, the winning animals of this heat were lost to history.

In Heat 2, bids went higher, with bids of 7, 6, 5, 4, two 3's, four 2's, and several 1's making the pre-game decisions. 2011 champ Dennis Mishler (Insects), Kevin Emery (Arachnids), Michael Parsons (unknown-scoresheet malfunction), Rob Davidson (Birds), and Nick Vayn (Insects) won their games. Kevin was singleminded as the Arachnids, finishing the game with every element covered with grubs. So, with six grubs, he was dominant anywhere grubs appeared.

The bids calmed down in Heat 3 with only a 6, a 4, two 2's, and two 1's bid for choice. Tom McCorry (Insects), Chris Trimmer (Mammals), Robb Effinger (Arachnids), and Kevin Emery (Amphibians) recorded wins. Kevin's win was his second as he became the only multiple preliminary winner.

The semifinals on Saturday used 4-player games to determine a 6-player Final. Joining the preliminary winners as alternates were 2012 champ JR Geronimo and Geoff Entwistle, who played multiple heats and managed at least one runner-up game. JR (Arachnids), John Emery (Insects), and Robb Effinger (Arachnids) earned their way to the Final with Round 2 wins. The field of six was completed with runners-up Geoff Entwistle, Tom McCorry, and Chris Shabsin.

John Emery had to bow out at this point to honor another Final commitment. The beneficiary of that schedule conflict was his son, Kevin, who otherwise had missed being the sixth finalist by one point. As it happened, John's withdrawal turned into a good thing for the Emery plaque collection.

The Final - Or "Just Another Bug Hunt?"

Tom McCorry and Kevin Emery led the Final bidding with 5 for the Insects and Arachnids, respectively. Geoffrey Entwistle and JR Geronimo bid 2 for the Reptiles and Mammals, leaving Chris Shabsin and Robb Effinger with the Birds and Amphibians for free.

The Scoring Cards on Turn 1 elicited a collective shudder from the players, as the deal contained Catastrophe, Blight, and Predator among the first five cards. The end result of these disasters is what you might expect with 18 dead species after the first turn. Tom blighted the desert, and Kevin triggered the Catastrophe on the Mountain, setting JR and Geoff back. Chris and JR had unwisely speciated, and they footed the lion's share of the butcher's bill, losing 13 of the 18 extinct species. Geoff was reduced to one lonely reptile clinging to a foothold in the Savannah.

On Turn 2, Kevin was able to grab first scoring spot and nabbed the all-important Omnivore. Parasitism also was present, and when Robb took it, Kevin had five action pawns to four for Tom and Robb, and three for the higher animals. Despite this, Tom had the lead at round end with 21 points to lead Kevin by five. Poor Geoff couldn't get out of the starting blocks, as competition and the Predator card reduced him again to a single species.

Turn 3 was all about jockeying for board position. Chris made a strong move into the Tundra, grabbing six points for the Survival Card. Geoff managed to expand his species count, but the big gainer was Robb's Amphibians, who scored 20 points via Wanderlust and Domination cards to take the lead with 36 to Tom's 31.

Turn 4 was the start of the Great Bug Jihad of 2013. While Kevin was walling off the upper left of the board with his own grub empire, Tom, took the Wasteland action. With meat as a choice, and with the mammals meat supply entirely too close to the Ice Sheet, J.R. declared that from henceforth, he would become the world's pest control guy and proceeded to pursue Tom's insects wherever they went in a reinactment of Starship Trooper. Robb snuck in three scoring actions while J.R. was busy smashing anything with six legs to extend his lead to 17 over Kevin.

Turn 5 recorded the warmest Cold Snap on record, which killed only two species, and Kevin took advantage of the grub-heavy areas to overtake Robb for the lead at 75-69. Players had to not only migrate due to the threat of Cold Snap, but Immigrants caused a general shedding of element discs as well.

Turn 6 proved to be the turning point of the game and with the action advantage, Kevin was well-positioned to take advantage. After everyone had placed their pawns, Kevin had his fifth to place and noticed that no migration actions had been taken. Seeing a number of Tundra spaces empty, and with grubs to support him, he migrated onto five tiles and scored a whopping 21 points for the Survival Card to jump to a commanding postion. The other big mover this turn was Geoff, who had slowly been expanding his reptiles, and scored 45(!) points this turn, aided by a 24 point Fertile Scoring card. In the process, Geoff jumped from fifth to third.

After Turn 6's grab of the vacant Tundra, Kevin played defense for the Survival card, and scored another 21 points to salt away his win. J.R.trailed the field largely due to his exuberance in squashing bugs. Kevin made the most of his opportunities - starting with a paternal assist in the form of his father's schedule conflict which allowed him a second bite at the apple.

David Glowny and Geoffrey Entwistle.

GM Dave Long oversees his finalists.
 GM      Dave Long  [3rd Year]   NA
   dave3L@aol.com   NA

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