titan 2   

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report    

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Aaron Fuegi, MA

2013-14 Champion

Event History
1994    Paul Goliwas    26
1995    Bruno Wolff    26
1996    Brian Sutton    17
1997    Brian Sutton    29
1998    Ed Rothenheber    39
1999    Jason Ley    32
2000    Brian Sutton    36
2001    Andrew Gross    30
2002    Dan Strock    36
2003    Aaron Fuegi    25
2004    David des Jardins    24
2005    David des Jardins    24
2006    John Sharp III    26
2007     Sean McCulloch    22
2008    Aaron Fuegi    29
2009    David desJardins    30
2010    Aaron Fuegi    30
2011    Aaron Fuegi    24
2012    Michael Pustilnik    20
2013    Aaron Fuegi    25
2014    Aaron Fuegi    25

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Aaron Fuegi        MA    14    265
  2.  David des Jardins  CA    13    179
  3.  Dan Strock         PA    14    109
  4.  Brian Sutton       MD    14     93
  5.  Jason Ley          WA    12     68
  6.  David Finberg      MA    11     57
  7.  Sean McCulloch     OH    10     57
  8.  Andrew Gross       WA    03     49
  9.  Bruno Wolff        WI    14     38
 10.  Michael Pustilnik  NY    14     33
 11.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    12     33
 12.  John Sharp III     FL    06     32
 13.  Clifford Smith     PA    05     28
 14.  David Platnick     VA    09     27
 15.  Jeff Cornett       FL    06     18
 16.  Steve Koleszar     VA    13     17
 17.  Bill Dufton        CA    02     16
 18.  Arthur Wines       PA    14     12
 19.  Masahide Hisanaga  jp    07     12
 20.  Ben Foy            MD    02     12
 21.  Chuck Nail         GA    02     12
 22.  Larry Lingle       PA    01     12
 23.  Geoffrey Pounder   on    07      9
 24.  Dave Burkey        PA    04      4
 25.  Akihisa Tabei      jp    10      3
 26.  Nick Page          on    08      3
 27.  Rick Northey       MA    05      3
 28.  Jason Russ         VA    99      2

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists:

Dan Strock, PA
2nd

Bruno Wolff, WI
3rd

Arthur Wines, PA
4th

Brian Sutton, MD
5th

Michael Pustilnik, NY
6th

Past Winners

Paul Goliwas, MD
1994

Bruno Wolff, WI
1995

Brian Sutton, MD
1996-1997, 2000

Ed Rothenheber, MD
1998

Jason Ley, WA
1999

Andrew Gross, WA
2001

Dan Strock, PA
2002

Aaron Fuegi, MA
03, 08, 10-11, 13-14

David des Jardins, CA
2004-2005, 2009

John Sharp III, FL
2006

Sean McCulloch, OH
2007

Michael Pustilnik, NY
2012
     

Michael Pustilik vs Dave des Jardins

Tom Johnston vs Julie Ehlers.

New Titan champ Akihisa Tabei checks out the young talent as Anthony Iannuzzi meets Jonathan Barnes.

Peter Gathmann takes on GM Rich Atwater in the first round. Neither would be around for the Round 5 finish.

Mastering Six ...

Not only did Aaron Fuegi win the 2-player event yet again, he has appeared in the semifinals of the event for six years in a row, an unprecedented achievement. His opponent, Dan Strock was making his first return to the title game since the change in millennium.

The most interesting of the quarterfinal matches was between Bruno Wolff and Jason Ley. Bruno's titan was being chased by a serpent stack but Bruno rolled a 1 to escape into a tower before being caught. Jason, with a chance for a unicorn in his 5 high titan stack on a 1 or 6, rolled a five and stopped under the upper circle. Bruno's 6 roll allowed him to teleport into the mountains above Jason's titan. Jason might have survived on a 1 or 3 to get his second unicorn, but rolled a 2 to the brush instead. Bruno with 6-level titan, two warlocks, two rangers and a gorgon easily won against 7-level titan, two minotaurs, warbear and unicorn. "It's not how lucky you are; it's when you get your luck," quoted Jason.

The first semifinal pitted Dan Strock against Art Wines, who arrived there at the expense of multiple champion David desJardins in one of the quarters. Art made an early attack in the brush with titan, three warlocks, cyclops and ranger against three cyclops, two gorgons and an angel. Dan had a cyclops knock off a ranger in a blow with five 6s on nine dice. The opening allowed both gorgons to reach the titan plus put an angel in a bramble hex, unreachable by the gorgons, losing a skill factor. The three swings are good enough on average to kill the titan immediately, but Art didn't have the ability to kill all three of the defenders even had they not rolled average. The opening created when the ranger disappeared was crucial.

The other semifinal was a contrast in luck again for Bruno. His first three rolls saw maximum recruits for both his stacks. But he was in a position where neither main stack could recruit on a 5. For the next three turns, he rolled a 5, moving only small stacks because recruiting was possible for both large stacks on any other number. Aaron subsequently chased and eventually caught Bruno's titan. Bruno's 6 high titan absorbed two blows from an angel and two ranger blows and still lived, but even poor battle rolls by his opponent could not save the titan through the entire battle.

During the Final, Aaron had some outstanding recruiting. He had multiple early turns with four or more stacks recruiting, and even one turn where he went six recruits for six stacks. Dan was attempting to chase stacks and accumulate points as the only way to compete. So when he went into a battle in the marsh, he had with his titan two lions, two cyclops and a ranger, with an angel to summon, against the all native stack of three ogres, two trolls and two rangers. Dan's strategy was to attempt to come out of the battle with a ranger recruiter plus his titan, to immediately receive a second ranger and earn an angel, plus be very close to 200 points. His attack failed when his titan took one too many hits from the 2 skill level creatures.

The 2-player tournament finished early on Friday, an effect of starting at 8:00 pm on Tuesday instead of the long standing 10:00 am Wednesday start time. Players are reminded that the tournament will begin next year at 8:00 pm Tuesday but it is still possible to contact the GM ahead of time for special circumstances.

 GM     Rich Atwater  [11th Year]  NA 
   kmarma@comcast.net   253-241-6829

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