Fox Wins Again After Twenty Years!

El Grande had dropped out of the Century, but thanks to being voted in as a Trial by members, continued to be one of the events that has run every year since WBC began.

Attendance rose this year, somewhat, but likely we will need to be voted in again.

I announced one change shortly before WBC, and that was allowing each table, if everyone agreed, to play with an open Castillo. Out of the 19 total games played, 13 of them opted to play open. People couldn’t seem to agree on the effects of this change. Some seemed to think it would lead to quicker games, while others thought it would lead to more analysis paralysis. Also, many folks were glad to not have to keep count of pieces, while others suggested it helped even out the game as stronger players were counting pieces already. We’ll probably keep it as an option if we play next year.

In the preliminary heats, returning champion Jay Fox was the only double-winner this year. We had 11 other unique winners, so several alternates were eligible to advance. We ended up with four Semifinal tables, so the best 2nd place player would advance along with the four winners.

Semifinal

At the first table, Eric Freeman had a comfortable 7 point win with everyone else lumped together in a group. Jean-Francios Gagne was close enough to earn sixth place laurels.

At the second table, Jay Fox tied Curt Collins and won on the tiebreaker. Since Curt was the closest 2nd place of the four tables, they both advanced.

At the third table, Rebecca Roppolo secured an 18-point win in a high-scoring game.

At the fourth table, Jeff Meyer had an 8-point lead at the end over Alex Bove.

Final

For the final, we had four former champions (Curt, Eric, Jay, Jeff) and Rebecca Roppolo, who had not won the title, but made at least one previous appearance at the Final that I can recall (in 2015).

One of the first cards to flip was the 2-stack card that forces each player to send 2 pieces off the board, which can be tough at the beginning when you only have 2 to start in your home region. Curt played his 13, locked down his home province, and put all 5 of his pieces in the Castillo, avoiding the effects of the card entirely. Jeff executed the card, and between the two of them they had the best board presence at the start.

Over the next two turns, Rebecca went with a 1-13 combo. Jay got a score the fives that temporarily put him in the lead with 15 points, helping Rebecca to the tune of 10 points. Jeff spread himself thin across the board and had no pieces in the Castillo. At the end of the first scoring round, the scores were Curt 33, Rebecca 29, Jay 26, Jeff 21, and Eric 17.

Turn 4 Jeff played his 13 to score the sixes and sevens, earning 18 points and placing him 1 point behind Curt. Turn 5 he gets another score card to put himself in the lead by 7, however, his thin majorities in the regions get taken over and his board presence suffers. Eric, trailing the pack by 8 points, plays his 1-13 to start and position for the late game. He and Curt do well to build up their positions on the board.

During the second Castillo drop, Jeff and Eric both choose Galicia (with Eric having more pieces), and Rebecca and Curt both choose Granada (Jeff’s home region) with Curt getting the advantage there. This hurt Rebecca, but otherwise the scores tightened up with Jeff 63, Curt 62, Jay 58, Eric 57, and Rebecca 54.

At that point, Eric has the best board presence. He would have been a lock for the win if a score-the-firsts came out, and if he had his 13, but neither of those happened.

Turn 7 the 2-stack card came out which removes 3 pieces from everyone’s court, but everyone’s courts were so empty it barely had an effect.

Rebecca snagged a score card to put herself back in the game. Eric scored the fours, which helped everyone but Jay, and tied Curt for the lead. Jay then scored a province to put Eric in the lead by 3 but got 7 badly needed points.

Turn 8, Curt played his 1, and everyone was expecting him to follow-up with a 13 in Turn 9. However, everyone (but Curt) forgot he never got his 13 back, so Jay played his 13 to take the King. Jay took over Old Castile (not his home region) and locked it down. Curt took the 4 card and put the 4/0/0 on Basque County (Jay’s home region). Eric, with his now useless cubes in Basque County, used the 1-stack card to send them all to the Castillo. Rebecca took a score the fives card but burned it. Jeff, who had no high cards left to play at this point, took the 2-stack card that empties everyone’s court, to little effect. (Strangely, he was in the same position in last year’s Final.)

The Castillo count was 10 (Jeff), 9, 9, 9, and then 4 (Jeff). Eric took over Aragon. Rebecca defended her (new) home region in New Castile, but nobody else went there. Jeff retook his home province in Granada. Curt took over Valencia. Jay, with only four pieces, still managed to take over 1st place in Catalonia, and his home province (with the dangerous 4/0/0) went unchallenged.

The ending was a close one, Jay 88, Eric 87, Jeff 86, Curt 81, Rebecca 78. Congratulations to Jay for his 2nd championship in El Grande! Oh, and if you run into any of the finalists, remember to ask them about the grouse.