Mullally Returns To WBC To Capture Title!

The Empire Builder event began with a teaching demonstration on Monday afternoon. A new group of gamers was taught the mechanics of our favorite game. Bill Peeck volunteered for this assignment. Mark Kennel helped..

The EBS may be unique at WBC in that we have numerous published titles/geographic maps that may all be played in the preliminary round. Games in the series include Australian Rails (AR), British Rails (BR), China Rails (CR), Empire Builder [without Mexico] (EBno), Empire Builder (EB), Eurorails (ER), India Rails (IR), Iron Dragon (ID), Lunar Rails (LR), Martian Rails (MR), Nippon Rails (NR), North American Rails (NAR), and Russian Rails (RR). In addition, GM Bob Stribula brought ready to be published copies of Möbius Rails (MöR) and Irish Rails nee Hibernian Rails (HR). Players are welcome to place any title on a table and solicit opponents. As long as four gamers are willing to play, the game may start. Three-player games are allowed when the numbers don't quite work.

Two rule changes were made for the 2023 Empire Builder event. The cost of Eurorails’ Chunnel was reduced to €12 million. This makes it less expensive to connect the continent to the British Isles. We also modified the victory conditions timing. Players could only declare at the end of an equal turn round.

Heat 1

Eleven tables and 43 players saw action during the first Heat. To make the numbers work, one game involved three players. Perhaps it was foreshadowing; Tedd Mullally was the first to claim a victory (EB). Other Heat 1 winners (and their maps) were: Bart Pisarik (IN) in the 3-player game, Trella Bromley (BR), Matt Lahut (BR), Jeff Jackson (ER), Bob Stribula (MöR), Mark Geary (AR), Cathy Raymond (ID), Mark Kennel (LR), Debbie Gutermuth (EB), and Lynda Shea (HR). Lynda really wanted to have the best Irish Rails score to win the relevant medal. She finished with a score of 299. She asked numerous times if I thought 299 would be good enough. Not only was it the best Irish Rails score, but it was also the second highest score of the entire tournament! Mark Geary’s win was the only Round 1 game to have two players with more than 250 final cash: Mark (283) and Olin Hentz (251). On another table Cathy Raymond was last throughout most of her game. Then she demonstrated the value of building to Iberia. She took two loads to Spain for over 100 and brought three loads back for over 140 and the victory.

Heat 2

Heat 2 had eleven tables and 41 players see action. Eight tables were filled with four players each and three other tables seated three players. The Heat 2 winners were: Jim Fry (BR), Rich Shipley (NR), Glen Pearce (ID), Jeff Jackson (BR), Chris Meyer (EB), Sam Packwood (BR), Trella Bromley (RR), Eric Brosius (HR), Michael Murtagh (EB), Mark Kennel (MöB), and Ron Secunda (EB). Three games had two declared players: Chris Meyer’s win (270) was barely more than last year’s tournament winner, Chris Gnech (267); Sam Packwood (271) victorious over our Convention Director, Ken Gutermuth, (250); and Eric Brosius (289) over Bob Stribula (254). Glen Pearce noted that in his Iron Dragon game, Winton Lemoine should have won. Winton had Fur to Orc-Obaslyn for 40 GP. He moved to Railla and realized that he had failed to build the 6 mileposts to Orc-Obaslyn. The lost turn allowed Glen to make his final delivery and win by 10 GP. The final game in this heat needed to be adjudicated for time.

Heat 3

Thirty-four gamers on nine tables gathered to play Heat 3. Two of the tables sported three players. The winners in Heat 3 were: Katie Kolt (AR), Bryan Roeper (BR), Rich Meyer (ER), Chris Gnech (LR), Tedd Mullally (EB), Bob Stribula (HR), Mark Kennel (MR), Matt Lahut (MöR) and Mark McCandless(MR). In Mark’s game, all four players were having a great time playing Martian Rails. For an hour and a half after his game finished, the GM sat at the next table seeding the players for the next morning's Semifinal and determining the medal winners. Finally, the game was adjudicated at the five hour mark when GM exhaustion was setting in. Mark finished with 249 and only needed a few more turns to win. Two Heat 3 games had two players over 250 at the end: Bob Stribula’s win (279) also had an Olin Hentz (250) declaration and Mark Kennel’s win (259) had Glen Pearce (250) close behind. Olin finished second twice, ending with either 250 or 251. Both times Olin drew the first seat and both times he was bested by the player in the second seat.

Heats Summary

In this year's Heats, there were five three-player games and 31 four-player games. Stats have been compiled for the four-player games. This year, third seat gave that player the best chance of winning. Previously, fourth seat was statistically best at 26.8 percent. However, this year's games changed that. In 286 four-player games since 2011, second seat was best at 26.6 percent. The statistics for all seats were: first, 24.3%; second, 26.6%; third, 23.6%; fourth, 25.5%.

Of the allowed tournament titles, thirteen were played this year. During the Heat games, Empire Builder [with Mexico] and British Rails were the most popular maps with six plays each. The GM was pleased to note that the single copies of Irish Rails and Möbius Rails were each played in every heat.

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2023 Games Played
Map	Times Played	Player	High Cash
Australian Rails	2	Mark Geary	283
British Rails	6	Sam Packwood	271
China Rails	1	Jeff Jackson	251
Empire Builder	6	Chris Meyer	270
Eurorails	2	Rich Meyer	287
India Rails	1	Bart Pisarik	259
Irish Rails	3	Lynda Shea	299
Iron Dragon	1	Glen Pearce	253
Lunar Rails	2	Mark Kennel	263
Martian Rails	2	Mark Kennel	259
Mobius Rails	13/td>	Matt Lahut	312
Nippon Rails	1	Rich Shipley	258
Russian Rails	1	Trella Bromley	273

From the results of the Heat games, the players above deserve special recognition. Each had the highest winning cash total in the named title. The High Cash figures for Empire Builder and Eurorails were not bested in the Semifinal or Final.

Train Gamers Memorial Medal

The Empire Builder players continue to remember the friends we've lost. Previously known as the Tom Dunning Memorial Award, we changed the name of the award as friends’ names were added. It continues to commemorate our previous GM, Tom Dunning, lost in 2010. After their untimely deaths after WBC 2014, we added the names of Bill Duke and one of our Assistant GMs, Paul Van Bloem. After our gathering in 2016, we added Donna Balkan to the list. In 2019 we added Darwin Bromley's name. Darwin was the founder of Mayfair Games and a designer of the original Empire Builder game. In 2020 we lost Mike Zorrer, a significant play tester of Irish and Möbius Rails. The medal rewards expertise across the entire spectrum of the EBS. Players total their ending cash from three different games not to include Empire Builder [with Mexico] or Eurorails. It requires playing three eligible titles to score well and seven players did so. Of those, three had a cash total over 700. Trella Bromley (BR, RR, AR) achieved a total of 783. Mark Kennel (LR, MöR, MR) scored 772, and Jeff Jackson (CR, BR, MöR) scored 744. Trella Bromley earned and was awarded the TGMM at the beginning of the Semifinal This year’s GM was not present at the 2022 WBC; regrettably he had possession of the medals. Fortunately, fill-in GM Jeff Jackson recorded and passed along all 2022 results. So, Trella was also presented with the 2022 TGMM. Last year Trella’s score was 724 (BR, IR, CR). This and her three consecutive EPB championships prove that Trella is a well-rounded as well as highly skilled EBS player.

Best Möbius Rails Medal

For the seventh time, a medal was presented to the player with the Highest Cash during any preliminary heat Möbius Rails game. (The designer was disqualified from winning this medal.) Three 4-player games vied for the Möbius Rails medal. In Heat 1 Bob Stribula, the designer, won with a score of 262. Mark Kennel, a multiyear play tester, won his Heat 2 game with a score of 250. Matt Lahut won his Heat 3 game with a score of 312. This was the best Möbius Rails score and the best score in the EPB tournament. The GM awarded the Möbius Medal to Matt in front of the assembled semifinalists.

Best Irish Rails Medal

For the fourth time, a medal was presented to the player with the Highest Cash during any preliminary heat Irish Rails game. (The designer was disqualified from winning this medal.) Irish Rails was played in each heat. In Heat 1, Lynda Shea beat Claire Brosius, an experienced play tester, and two others. Lynda’s score was 299 versus Claire’s 246. In Heat 2, Eric Brosius, another experienced play tester, beat Bob Stribula and two others, 289 to 254. In the Heat 3 game, the designer beat Olin Hentz and two others, 279 to 250. Lynda Shea's cash total of 299 was the highest Irish Rails score and the second best score in the EPB tournament. Lynda Shea was awarded the Irish Medal before the start of the Semifinal.

Semifinal

The qualifiers and hopeful alternates gathered for the Semifinal. Of the 31 preliminary games, there were 24 unique winners. Jeff Jackson won all three of his Round 1 games and earned the highest seed. Bob Stribula, Trella Bromley, Jeff Jackson, Matt Lahut, and Tedd Mullally each won two games. Using the “Heats: Most Wins - Points Tiebreaker” criteria, the winners were seeded. Given the number of participants in the event, the convention's rules allowed 25 players to advance to the Semifinal. Twenty-three of the 24 winners appeared for the Semifinal; Jim Fry was MIA. The alternate list needed to be consulted. Ken Gutermuth, with two second-place finishes and a third, was the 25th seed. Unfortunately, convention duties precluded his appearance. That allowed Olin Hentz and Jay Spencer, both with two seconds and a third, to advance. The five top seeded players were rewarded for their efforts by being placed at different tables. In groups of five, the remaining seeds were seated in reverse order. Teammates, family members, and the GM/A-GMs were placed at different tables. The previously declared map for the Semifinal game was Empire Builder.

A five-player Semifinal game usually takes longer than a four-player Heat. The additional player and the extra deliberation by most players cause the game to proceed slower. Therefore, before the round started, the GM reminded everyone that the Semifinal and Final were allotted a combined nine hours. This was designed so no Semifinal or Final game needed to be adjudicated.

Playing a fast game in less than 3 hours, Tedd Mullally demonstrated his mastery on this map. This quick finish was frustrated by every disaster. In fact, they cycled through the deck before the game ended. Tedd’s opponents included 2019’s champion, Bart Pisarik. In a little over 3 hours, Glen Pearce won a victory over previous champion Eric Brosius and three time champion, Trella Bromley. Clocking in simultaneously a relative newcomer, Katie Kolt, won her match. Mark Kennel, a past champion, and our oft times sixth-place finisher, Debbie Gutermuth were among Katie’s victims. A half hour later, Jeff Jackson notched a relatively easy win. His table included past champions Rich Meyer and 2022’s Chris Gnech. Chris was the Semifinals first victim when a flood caught him on the wrong side of a destroyed bridge. Players tend to push their luck in the Semifinal. In this GM’s memory, this is the third time a semifinalist has had their game end too soon. As usual, Bob Stribula’s table was the last to finish. Also as usual, he claimed that the GM duties caused the slow play. He was about to declare when another player pointed out that he forgot to rebuild his Mississippi River bridge. Then the U. S. rail strike prevented the rebuild for another turn. The mistake allowed opponents, including Olin Hentz, two more turns to make additional deliveries and almost catch Bob.

Trella Bromley’s 223 final cash total earned her the sixth place finish. Unfortunately, EPB did not award the coveted Sand Plaque this year. Olin Hentz, with the extra gifted turns finished at 222, just missing tying for sixth place by 1 final cash.

Final

After a short break—mostly for the GM’s lunch—the five finalists gathered for the ultimate challenge. The Eurorails was the previously announced contest map. The GM reminded the participants that we were using a modified English Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) rule. The standard Chunnel cost is €20 million. For this tournament the cost would be reduced to €12 million. An Assistant GM, Mark Kennel, was promoted to oversee the Final which he did admirably. (The GM’s right hand has almost recovered—Thank you for asking!—from the numerous hand slaps after automatically reaching for Mark’s draw card stack.)

The following observations are from Mark Kennel as the GM had enough trouble dealing with his own cards. “Tedd had a magical start. He delivered Machinery to Lisboa, picked up two cork, and upgraded his locomotive. He delivered the first cork to Lyon and the second to Leipzig. As if that wasn’t already a great start, he then drew two deliveries back to Iberia. He was able to move fast and stay on his already built track for much of the starting game.” Sometimes the cards seem to play themselves. Of course, Tedd had to notice what the cards were telling him to do. The other four players quickly realized that they were vying for second place. Meanwhile Katie Kolt’s cards took her to Great Britain. She, on the other hand, had to pitch multiple times to get feasible deliveries back to the continent. She struggled to draw good cards. Jeff Jackson, Bob Stribula, and Glen Pearce had intermediate starts and intermediate results. The final scores were:

1. Tedd Mullaly $267M (1st Seat)
2. Glen Pearce $154M (5th Seat)
3. Jeff Jackson $125M (3rd Seat)
4. Bob Stribula $169M (4th Seat)
5. Katie Kolt $88M (2nd Seat)

Thank You and Next Year

The GM thanks all the participants in the 2023 EPB event. You are the reason for the event. A special thank you is extended to Trella Bromley, Mark Kennel, and Jay Spencer for their help. Each Assistant GM helped in countless ways. Thank you, Bill Peeck, for teaching the game at the demo session. As usual Jeff Jackson was involved in rule discussions with the GM after each session.

At the beginning of the first heat, Trella Bromley made a very special announcement to the assembled Empire Builder players. She has acquired the rights from Asmodee, N.A. for all the Empire Builder games! The 40-year old series is no longer an orphan. Additionally, she has formed Darwin’s Toys, LLC to publish new games and republish the old favorites. She explained that she will be working with an established game company to ensure a quality product. Her plans are to republish one existing title and to publish one new title each year. Eurorails should be the first reprint, perhaps with a few tweaks. Irish Rails is planned as the first new game.

Meanwhile, happy gaming to all! Please save the blue crayon for me.