The classic Mac Gerdts rondel game Navegador returned to WBC in 2024 as a trial event with players competing to build the wealthiest Portuguese colonial empire. There were 41 unique players over three Heats with 21 players participating in at least two Heats.
16 games were played over the course of three Heats. We had 5 games in Heats 1 and 2 and 6 games in Heat 3. While 4 player games are preferred by most, the numbers required that Heat one and two each had one 5 player game. Many people had not played a 5 player game before, but the general consensus was that the game was more balanced with 5 players than it is when playing with 3 players. After these 16 games, we had 15 players win at least one game with Tim O’Flynn being the only two game winner.
Similar to prior years, the majority of Heat games ended by purchasing the last buildings (11 of the 16 games) with just 5 of the 16 games being ended by exploration. We did have three games end with all buildings purchased and all spaces explored. The average winning score in a 4 player Heat game was 113 with the highest winning score being 133 and the lowest winning score being 96. Of the 16 heat games, the winners top point scoring category was heavily weighted towards churches and factories:
- Colonies – 2 times
- Factories – 6 times
- Shipyards – 3 times
- Churches – 5 times
Semifinal
Although we had 15 different winners, only 13 showed up for the Semifinal with the one notable absence being our only two-game winner, Tim O’Flynn. This led to three additional players needed to round out a field of 16. However, there were only two 2nd place finishers that showed up. This resulted in one Semifinal table being a 3-player while the rest were 4-player games.
At Table 1, Chad Martin had a balanced scoring game as he acquired 12 colonies (48 points) and 6 navigation tokens (30 points) on his way to a winning score of 115. Ted Zellers took second with 112 points powered by his 13 factories (65 points). Rob Flowers took third with 106 points. He scored 36 points each from colonies and shipyards. Ray Wolff finished 4th with 104 points. 45 points of those points came from his 5 churches.
Table 2 saw Andrew Emerick get his win by scoring 109 points with his main source of points coming from his 15 colonies that generated 60 points. Aaron Blair took second with 103. His 13 factories led to 65 points for his top scoring category. Andrew Martin scored 45 points from his 5 churches as he took 3rd place with 85 points. Patrick Shea had a balanced game and scored 20+ points each in colonies, shipyards, and navigations tokens on his way to 83 points.
Table 3 was our 3-player game. This was the only Semifinal game where the winners top scoring category was not colonies. Michael Swinson scored 146 for the win and was powered by his 6 shipyards (54 points) and 11 colonies (44 points). DJ Borton scored 60 points with his 12 factories as he took second place with 125. Chris Wildes scored 105 with 52 of those points being from his 13 colonies.
Table 4 saw Mike Kaltman score 108 to get the win. He scored 52 points on his 13 colonies but was supported by 20 points each from navigation tokens and shipyards. Second place went to Sam Wollf and his 97 points. He was led by his 5 churches that provided 45 points. Brandon Bernard had 11 factories that provided 55 points as the final score was 91. Anastacia Tircuit had 4 shipyards for 36 points as her top category that led to her 84 points.
The Semifinal saw a significantly different trend in the winners top point category. While only 2 of the 16 heat games saw colonies as the winners highest point category, the Semifinal saw 3 of the 4 winners putting the focus on colonies. Despite 11 of the 16 Heats having the winners top scoring category be either factories or churches, we did not see any of that in the Semifinal. As for the game end trigger, this was an even split with 2 each for navigation and building.
Final
Before we get into the Final, I would also like to give a huge “thank-you” to Ted Zellers who took a second in his Semifinal game and graciously volunteered to take notes for the Final allowing the GM to focus on playing the Final instead of taking notes!
This led to a very strong Final with 6 previous championships between the 4 players. The order of players for the Final saw (1) Michael Swinson (previous PBeM winner); (2) Andrew Emerick (three time WBC winner); (3) Mike Kaltman (previous finalist); and (4) Chad Martin (two time winner and defending champ).
The game opened-up with Michael S. building a ship. Andrew then sailed to gold where the three colonies that flipped were the 50, 60 and 70. This left Mike K. with the first difficult decision of the game. He ultimately stayed with his initial instinct which was to buy a gold factory for $50. Chad then bought a worker to end the first round. The second round saw Michael S. build the second gold factory, while Andrew bought the first gold colony. Mike K. sailed and explored sugar where the colonies that flipped were 70, 80, 90 and 100. This opened up the door for Chad to use Henry to sail both ships into the gold region (previously explored by Andrew) where he bought both of the remaining gold colonies.
After 11 more rounds of phase I, Michael S. triggered phase II and the player boards had the following items.
End Phase I Player Boards |
Player |
Colonies |
Factories |
Nav Tokens |
Shipyards |
Churchs |
Privileges |
Michael S | 4 Sugar, 1 Gold | 1 Gold | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 Colony |
Andrew | 1 Gold | 2 Sugar, 1 Spice | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 Church |
Mike K | 1 Sugar | 1 Sugar, 2 Gold | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 Factory, 1 Shipyard |
Chad | 4 Gold, 2 Sugar | | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
Phase I saw 10 market actions for an average trade of $145. Chad had the highest single trade at $280. We also saw a back to back market by Andrew where he “burned” a ship in order to get tempo on the first church buy. Phase I saw everyone get at least 1 navigation token and at least one colony. Michael S. and Chad were heavily focused on colonies while Andrew and Mike K. went into factories.
Phase II was triggered with Chad having five ships on the board and ready to explore. During phase 2 there were 10 colonies that were purchased, all by Chad. He also collected the only four navigation tokens for the phase as well. Michael purchased 2 shipyards and a church as well as gaining colony and shipyard privilege. Andrew was able to purchase two more churches as well as four factories. He also gained two privileges: a church and a factory. Mike followed closely to what Andrew had done buying one church and four factories. He also gained two privileges: a factory and a church. Chad purchased no buildings, but he did get a colony and a shipyard privilege to go along with his 10 colonies and 4 navigation tokens.
Phase II saw 23 market actions with an average trade of $317. Chad only took the action three times and again had the highest individual trade at $810. We saw two more back-to-back market actions with players burning a ship. In both instances it was in preparation for building purchases. We also saw Mike K. “stall” on his last turn of phase II as he took the colony action without being able to make a purchase. His anticipation that Chad would trigger phase III ultimately paid off for him.
Players game boards at the end of phase II had the following items:
End Phase I Player Boards |
Player |
Colonies |
Factories |
Nav Tokens |
Shipyards |
Churchs |
Privileges |
Michael S | 4 Sugar, 1 Gold | 1 Gold | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 Colony, 1 Ship |
Andrew | 1 Gold | 5 Sugar, 2 Spice | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 Church, 1 Factory |
Mike K | 1 Sugar | 1 Sugar, 4 Gold, 2 Spice | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 Factory, 1 Ship, 1 Church |
Chad | 8 Gold, 3 Sugar, 5 Spice | | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 Colony, 1 Ship |
Phase III was triggered as Chad used Henry to explore Malaco. As we begin phase III there are six buildings remaining to be bought (3 factories and 3 shipyards) and three unexplored spaces. Phase III saw just 19 actions as Andrew triggered the game end when he purchased the last spice factory. Seven of the last 19 actions were to take a privilege. Phase III saw each player taking the market action once. The average income was $480 with Chad “breaking the bank” with his $1,000 market action. Player boards had the following items at the end of the game:
End Phase I Player Boards |
Player |
Colonies |
Factories |
Nav Tokens |
Shipyards |
Churchs |
Privileges |
Michael S | 4 Sugar, 1 Gold, 1 Spice | 1 Gold | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 Colony, 2 Ship |
Andrew | 1 Gold | 5 Sugar, 4 Spice, 1 Gold | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 Church, 2 Factory |
Mike K | 1 Sugar | 1 Sugar, 4 Gold, 2 Spice | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 Factory, 2 Ship, 2 Church |
Chad | 8 Gold, 3 Sugar, 7 Spice | | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 Colony, 1 Ship, 1 Nav |
Chad racked up 72 points off his 18 colonies and an additional 30 points from his 6 navigations tokens on his way to the winning score of 136. He bought just one building (a shipyard) the entire game! Chad’s 72 points from colonies continued the playoff trend making colonies the top point category for 4 of the 5 playoff games. This is Chad’s third Navegador championship, having won it at WBC the last three years in a row.
Andrew scored 104 for the second-place finish. He scored 55 points from his 11 factories and was supported by 28 points from his four churches.
Mike K. scored 95 to take third. He scored 40 points from his five factories and 21 points each for shipyards and churches as he had three of each.
Michael scored 85 finishing fourth. He had 4 shipyards providing 36 points as well as 24 points from his six colonies.
Congratulations to the winners and all of you that participated to make Navegador a successful event at WBC in 2024!
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