100+ x 8 ...
2014 was my first year as the GM for Power Grid at
WBC, and despite the job being a bit more to handle than I had
anticipated, we had a great year with our eighth straight year
of a triple digit field! But first and foremost I would like
to give a shout-out to Jim Savarick, who assisted in setting
up the boards in each heat and provided placards for the tables,
which are quite a bit easier to read than my planned playing
cards. We had a total of 127 players and a whopping 42 pewliminary
games throughout the three heats.
Heat 1 was played on 15 USA and Central Europe maps which
are the most commonly played boards, so although there were many
close games, there weren't many unusual events reported.
In contrast, Heat 2 was played on the Spain/Portugal and China
maps, again 15 boards strong, and provided a few interesting
notes. In a match on the China map, John Jacoby spent a whopping
$60 on the 25 plant to replace his 9 plant. There was another
surprise in a game on the Spain/Portugal board, when Richard
Beyma - yes, wargmer extraordinaire Beyma the Younger - chose
to end the game despite being tied for plant capacity. With three
players powering 12 plants, the tiebreaker went to Steve LeWinter
with $32, Richard placed second with $15, and Eric Hufford took
third with $4.
The late-night Heat 3 was played on the France and Brazil
boards, but drew only 12 tables. One Brazil match had ten cities
built by a player in the fifth round. This resulted in the death
of the 10 plant and no player chose to bid on a plant in the
subsequent round.
After three grueling heats, 25 players advanced to five 5-player
semifinal matches on the UK/Ireland board, where players are
challenged to balance building cities between the two islands.
Jim Savarick was able to win without even expanding into Ireland
as he was able to build his entire network of 16 cities in England
while having his own party in Wales.
The Final was played on the Quebec map and, as expected, went
down to the wire. After many rounds of back and forth bidding
battles over multiple plants, the expected wars over the cities
of Montreal and Quebec, and sitting on piles of cash, Rob Murray
ended the tournament victorious. Congratulations to Rob, and
I hope everyone returns for more electrifying excitement next
year!
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GM Broh-Kahn and his finalists. |
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