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GM Levine with his finalists. |
Mike Huggins gets extra prizes donated
by the publisher. |
Duel in Persia ....
Five
Tribes made its WBC debut with 69 visitors of ancient Persia. There were 21 unique winners among the
26 preliminary games which were whittled down to 16 semifinalists. The predominant strategy seemed to be to go
for money and cards (the blue and green tribes). Lesser pursued strategies centered on camels, yellow,
genies and palaces.
The Finalists were Bob Wicks Jr, Mike Huggins, Denise McKibbin and Luke Koleszar. It
would soon become a two-horse race, but all players began well. In the first round Bob bid 5 and
assassinated for a camel and a palace. Mike bid 3 and took three yellows and bought two cards
(commodities). Denise bid 1 and did blue for nine money and bought a card (commodity).
Luke bid 0 and assassined for two camels and bought two cards (commodities).
The two leaders became clear in Round 2. Bob bid 5 and Denise 3 but both only
took yellows. Mike bid 1 and although he went later in the turn he did blue for 12 money and also bought two more cards (commodities). Luke bid 0 and took three whites and bought the genie Ba’al to get points whenever genies are bought. In the third round again Bob and Denise bid high, 8 and 5 respectively, causing both cash reserves they would soon regret. Mike bid 0 and took two greens for cards (both slaves) and also got a camel and oasis. Luke also bid 0 and also took two greens for cards (also both slaves) and got a camel and a palace. At this point it was clear either Mike or Luke would win.
Both again bid 0 in Round 4 and Luke went first by taking two more whites and
buying the genie Kumarbi so he could use his slave cards for bidding. Mike them took
three greens for cards (three more slaves) and got a camel and bought another slave card. Round 5 was big for Luke who bid 3 and took two more whites to get a camel and buy the genie Monkir who gives points for palaces. Even though Luke had a good turn, Mike bid 0 and had an even better turn. He took two blues and added six slave cards to the mix and made 32 money in the turn. This was a game changer.
In Round 6 Mike bid 5 which was uncharacteristically high for him and assassined for two camels and then bought a card (commodity). Luke bid 0 again and took two greens for two more slave cards and also bought another genie Bouraq which let him place palaces which he did on one of his camels that round. This made it a closer game.
Mike bid 5 again in Round 7 and took two yellows to guarantee dominance of the yellows. Luke again bid 0 and took two greens for cards (a slave and a commodity) and then bought two cards (both commodities).
On the last turn Luke finally bid high (12) to go first. He took two whites and
bought two cards (both commodities) and placed another palace with his genie. Mike thought he would go first but ended up settling for second with an 8 bid. He did three blues for 6 money and also bought two cards (both commodities). Bob and Denise chimed in with bids of 3 and 1 respectively, so there were no more possible moves on the board.
When the scores were tallied, it was close. Mike had 51 money while Luke had 32. Mike earned 35 for yellows while Luke had 0. Mike got 0 in whites to Luke’s 8. Mike got 0 in genies to Luke’s 24. Mike got 3 in oasis, but Luke scored 15 in palaces. Mike had 26 in camels to Luke’s 27. At this point Mike still had a lead of 9 points and it would come down to who got the most points from their commodity cards. Both players had 40 so Mike won with a final score of 155-146. Bob took third with 122 and Denise trailed with 114.
Mike's win kept his unbeaten streak alive as he won all four gamesĀ he played. As the winner Mike received a copy of Five Tribes as well as the expansion Artisans Of Naqala, provided by Days Of Wonder. He also received a special autograph from designer Bruno Cathala congratulating him on the win.
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