julius caesar  

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report  

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Ron Draker, VA

2014 Champion

Event History
2010    Justin Thompson    30
2011    William Austin    23
2012    Joe Harrison    24
2013    Tom Drueding    20
2014    Ron Draker    20

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Justin Thompson    VA    14     75
   2.  Tom Drueding       MA    14     69
   3.  Ron Draker         VA    14     42
   4.  Fred Bauer         VA    14     39
   5.  Willim Austin      VA    12     39
   6.  Joe Harrison       KY    12     30
   7.  Malcolm Smith      VA    13     24
   8.  Alex Kraska        MD    14     18
   9.  Barry Eynon        CA    14     12
  10.  Bill Powers        VA    12     12
  11.  Micah Hultgren     CA    10     12
  12.  Andy Friedmann     MA    11      9
  13.  Charles Ward       MO    13      3
  14.  Brian Greer        VA    11      3
  15.  Grant Dalgliesh    WA    10      3

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists: 

Fred Bauer, VA
2nd

Barry Eynon, CA
3rd

Alex Kraska, MD
4th

Justin Thompson, VA
5th

Tom Drueding, MA
6th

Past Winners

Justin Thompson, VA
2010

William Austin, VA
2011

Joe Harrison, KY
2012

Tom Drueding, MA
2013

Ron Draker, VA
2014

Sharon Bryant is surrounded by testosterone.

Andy Friedmann clashes shields with Ed Kraska.

KGB intraclub rivalry ...

As the GM of a game I created, my main desire is to see great game play. This group didn't disappoint. This year's field was very strong. We had three former Champions in the tilt along with a group of accomplished past contenders. We started with three rounds of Swiss. That means we randomly seated folks. Winners played winners until we arrived at our final four.

It seemed like Pompey was running roughshod in the Preliminary rounds as Pompey delivered a 70% winning percentage. We had changed the tournament rules by letting Julius Caesar go first on the first card play regardless of the card played. We thought that would balance the game as Pompey could then not run into Rome and attempt to hold on for a quick victory.

The top four players qualifying for the elimination rounds were: Ron Draker 3-0, Fred Bauer 3-0, Alex Kraska 2-1 and Barry Eynon 2-1. Tom Druedling and Justin Thompson also finished 2-1 but missed the cut on tiebreakers. The semifinals were over quickly as both the unbeaten players showed why they were unbeaten and rolled over their opposition in record time as the KGB block party continued to have its way with everyone else.

I am sure Fred was pretty happy to get Pompey for the Final. The game progressed as if it was going to come down to the last card play to see who went first to determine the win. If Fred had gone first on the last turn, the game would have been in doubt but because Ron held a 3 movement card, Caesar got to go first and won the game 8-5.

This was Ron's first wood in Julius Caesar and Fred Bauer's 2nd place was also his best finish to date. I look forward to crossing swords with them again for the Glory of Rome!

 GM     Justin Thompson  [5th Year]  121 Faith Dr., Troy, VA 22974 
   kingmaker@prezcon.com   434-531-9191

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