Jackson Cruises To Victory!

Numbers

We had 34 unique players, continuing the upward trend in participation since 2022. It was also great to see a few more of our pre-pandemic regulars. We played 16 games in the Heats, with 60 seats filled, both also up from last year.

Heat #1

Table 1 (Bill Morgal, Mark Kennel, Katz Roz) was a remarkably friendly game, with only five hostile destinations in total among the three players. Katz got the short end with four of those hostiles, with Mark having one and Bill making it to the end without a single hostile. Mark took a late lead in cash, but Bill continued his good fortune by rolling his home city as a destination and cruising home for the win.

Table 2 (Ron Secunda, Mark McCandless, Billy Fellin) also featured a player (Mark) with no hostile destinations, but he didn’t manage to win! Mark built a nice lead in cash but his lucky streak ended when he tried to run for home. He came up short, and Ron rovered him, which gave Ron enough money to head for home after his next destination, and he made it easily for the win.

Table 3 (Jef Halberstadt, Sue Lanham, Brian Conlon, Orhan Omer) played out pretty straightforwardly. Jef built the biggest network, accumulated cash until he had $203, and was close enough to run home and declare victory.

Table 4 (Luke Heinz, Bill Fellin, Sam Packwood, Michael Mullins) featured Sam having arguably the worst luck of the heat, with seven $10k payments and two auctioned RRs in a short span of time. Luke built a comfortable lead and survived one declaration where he failed to get home, but the second time was a charm.

Table 5 (Jeff Jackson, Tedd Mullally, Allyson Mattanah, Maria Traini) proved that you don’t need a big railroad to win. Jeff managed to win with the third-highest property value by avoiding disaster in the southwest and by luring everyone else to Mobile. Jeff squeaked into his Richmond home with $203, one turn before Tedd would have reached Birmingham with enough to win in Atlanta.

Table 6 (Paul O’Neil, Susan Singer, Kathy Hentz, Chester Lanham) again showed that second time’s a charm. Paul had a nice lead but failed to roll a six to get home, and Susan rovered him. Paul had to regroup, but a few destinations later he got himself three pips away from home and managed to make it that time!

Heat #2

Table 1 (Olin Hentz, Jef Halberstadt, Ches Lanham, Dave Tianen). Olin blitzed through the game without a single hostile destination, accumulated over $200 and found himself a few pips from home. He knew what to do from there and joined the winner’s circle.

Table 2 (Jeff Jackson, Inger Henning, Paul O’Neil, Sue Lanham). The dice were not polite to Sue, as she racked up 12 hostile destinations in spite of a respectable network. If we gave a prize for the most hostiles in the tournament, she would have won it! Inger and Jeff were neck and neck into the end game, but Inger’s last two destinations were hostile and she got sent far from home, while Jeff got a convenient destination just as he crossed over $200 to snag the win.

Table 3 (Eyal Mozes, Bill Morgal, John Meadowcroft, Mitzi Hubble). This was a close battle all the way, with all four players in the hunt. Everyone had their share of hostiles, and everyone ended up over $150. Bill was the first to break $200 and took an ill-fated chance at getting home, but Mitzi was there to rover him when he fell short. Eyal caught up, and he and Bill were well above $200 but neither got close enough to home to take the shot. When time ran out, Eyal had the most cash and the highest property value to get the win.

Table 4 (Ron Secunda, Maria Traini, Lou Traini, Wayne Saunders). This game was also called for time, with Ron finishing with the highest total score for the victory.

Table 5 (Harald Henning, Daniel Farrow IV, Sam Packwood, Mark Kennel). The dice were in a cruel mood with two hostile Boston trips and four other hostiles in the early going, then a surge of ten hostiles soon after the last deed was bought. Everyone stayed in contention, but Harald took advantage of getting the least of the early damage to build the biggest network and take a lead, which he never relinquished.

Table 6 (Eric Anderson, Bill Fellin, Kathy Hentz, Mark Kennel) Eric cruised to an easy win, only seeing one hostile destination the whole game and making his way home on the first try.

Heat #3

Table 1 (Inger, Mark K, Luke). This was a hard-fought game throughout, with all three players finishing within $20 in cash. Luke and Mark appeared to be fighting for the win, but both faltered at the end, while Inger pulled off a run from east coast to west coast and back again to her home in Atlanta to seize the win.

Table 2 (Jef H, Maria, Ches, Billy). While everyone else was heading to hostile places, Jef used an early run of clean destinations to build by far the biggest network, and just ran away with the game.

Table 3 (Jeff J, Bill F, Kathy) This game was a sprint from beginning to end, finishing in 2 hours, 37 minutes. All three players ended with over $150, so it came down to who could get home. With Bill in position to win if he got the right destination, Jeff took a chance at declaring for his Chicago home from OKC. His gamble was rewarded as he rolled big for his third win in the qualifiers.

Table 4 (Ron, Sam, Sue, Evan Davis) Ron proved that networks are overrated, winning with five deeds totaling $99 in property value. He didn’t have the most cash either, but he got home to claim his own third victory in the qualifying heats.

Semifinal

Fourteen of the top 16 finishers, plus two alternates advanced to the Semifinal. It was a strong field, including six past champions and five of the eight players who made the Final table in the prior two years.

Table 1 (Jeff Jackson, Harald Henning, Mark Kennel, Kathy Hentz). Kathy was unlucky with a hostile run to Boston on her second destination, and never caught up to finish fourth. Mark started well but ran into some bad luck with six hostiles in eight destinations to end up in third. Reigning champion Harald started too slowly for his taste, so he gambled on an early Superchief purchase. It did not go well. He proceeded to have eight straight and 10 of 12 hostiles, but he managed to pull out a second place in spite of it all. Jeff took advantage of a clean start to build the strongest network and just had to wait to get close to his Chicago home for the win to move on to the Final.

Table 2 (Ron Secunda, Mark McCandless, Eyal Mozes, Bill Fellin) Bill started badly with two hostiles in his first four runs, and his game went downhill from there. The other three players all finished with over $200 cash. Mark finished with the most cash ($287) and got second place, but never got close enough to his Miami home to take a shot. Eyal and Ron both had Portland OR as their home city. Eyal rolled Portland for his destination but never got there, as Ron reached Butte and declared for home. Ron tried to blow it by rolling a three with his first two dice but managed a four on his third die to chug home for the victory.

Table 3 (Sam Packwood, Olin Hentz, Jef Halberstadt, Paul O’Neil) Paul got the first hostile in Norfolk. He hung in there but never quite caught up to finish 4th. Jef tried the approach of doing lots of short runs, which proved to be a less than ideal strategy, although he managed to break $150 to take 3rd. Olin built a solid network and ended up over $200 but several poorly timed hostiles and the inability to get close to Atlanta kept him in 2nd. Sam played the assassin strategy, buying the N&W before Paul got there, the L&N as Olin headed to Nashville, and the CRIP to make Olin pay again into St Paul. Sam’s northeast route was the C&O so he had some trouble there, but the strategy worked as he was the first to break $150. It took him a while to get home, but he finally made it there with $299 cash to advance to the Final.

Table 4 (Luke Heinz, Bill Morgal, Maria Traini, Eric Anderson). Luke Heinz came in with something to prove. Astute readers will recall his glorious 2022 performance, where he learned the game during the demo session, got creamed in Heat 1, but bounced back to run the table and win the championship. He missed competing in the tournament last year, so the question was could he make it back to the Final to prove that he wasn’t just a one-hit wonder?

Not only did Luke win, but he did so without bothering to buy any of the big railroads! After decent starts, Maria and Eric ran into more than their share of hostiles to finish 3rd and 4th. Bill built the strongest network and had the fewest hostiles, and seemed to be on track for the win, but with his home in Chicago, Bill’s last four destinations were San Diego, Miami, Seattle and Reno. Meanwhile, Luke caught up in cash by finishing with several coast to coast runs while also getting paid from the misfortunes of his fellow players. Eventually he found himself in Washington, with a home in Kansas City, but since everyone else was out west coast he took the shot for home and made it.

On To The Finals

Finalists included Ron Secunda, who won all three Heats then beat three past champions in his Semifinal; Sam Packwood, moving up after finishing 5th in the tournament each of the past three years; Jeff Jackson, a veteran of multiple Finals who also won all three Heats; and Luke Heinz, looking to build his resume after his impressive tournament win in 2022.

With such a strong table, it had to be a close fight to the finish, right? Well, no, it didn’t work out that way. There were several twists and turns, with unusual purchases and four lost railroads, but in the end, it was a relatively easy victory for Jeff, who continued a theme from the week and won without buying any of the big three railroads (although he did have the GN, WP, D&RGW and TP).

Early on, Jeff bought the NYC and Luke bought the PA, while Sam’s first buy was the ATSF and Ron bought an early SP. Luke took the opportunity presented by Sam’s and Ron’s big purchases to wreak havoc in the northeast by buying the B&O to go with his PA. Sam responded by buying the UP as his third railroad, giving him two of the big three. Ron ran into several hostiles in a row, so his network had a couple big holes. Jeff was helped by four early boxcars rolls and built a network that eventually included 12 deeds (although Sam’s six deeds had a higher property value!). While everyone else had numerous painful expensive trips, Jeff escaped with only three hostiles and built a huge lead in cash. It took him a while to get to his Washington home, but he eventually arrived in NYC with $309 and easily won from there. No one else ever announced $150. Final positions were Jeff 1st, Sam 2nd, Ron 3rd, and Luke 4th.

GM Final Comments and Thank You’s

Fun factoids: The most common Northeast railroad in winning networks was the New York Central. Three games, including the Final and one Semifinal, were won by a player who never bought one of the three big railroads, and a fourth game was won with a property value score of $99.

Thanks to Lucas Heinz for being my primary assistant GM and for managing the registration desk. Plus, we had an embarrassment of riches with Jef Halberstadt and Mark Kennel also acting as assistant GMs, Jef helping with the demo and Bill Morgal pitching in to run the final game admin.

Have a great year!!!