Githens First Four-Time Circus Champion!

As usual, the Circus Maximus tournament featured oversized boards and Jake Jacoby’s 15mm miniatures. It also featured a free piece of candy to the person whose chariot moves into each of the 6 corners first. It is a sight to see. In this 24th WBC event, 49 Ben Hur wannabes competed in 10 preliminary heat races. Of these, the most memorable was a 48 turn marathon where, after 2 laps of carnage, only 3 of the starting 8 chariots remained, each pulled by a single horse. After many single digit speed plots, Grant LaDue crossed the finish line first with a maximum speed of only SIX!

The final race featured the 10 preliminary heat winners in Jake’s special 15mm miniature critter chariots. They were:

• Scott Sirianna in a Heavy chariot pulled by Skunks
• Frank Sinigaglio in a Heavy chariot pulled by Raptors
• Elizabeth Shea in a Heavy chariot pulled by Bears
• John “Jake” Jacoby as Santa in a Heavy chariot pulled by Reindeer
• Angela Bender in a Normal chariot pulled by Camels
• Doug Galullo in a Heavy chariot pulled by Gators
• Frank McNally in a Heavy chariot pulled by Rhinos
• Frederick Shea in a Heavy chariot pulled by Pink Elephants
• Grant LaDue in a Heavy chariot pulled by Blue Dogs
• Tony Musella in a Heavy chariot pulled by Skeleton Horses

For those keeping score, that means 9 Heavy chariots and 1 Normal chariot

As usual, the Circus Maximus tournament featured oversized boards and Jake Jacoby’s 15mm miniatures. It also featured a free piece of candy to the person skillful (or lucky) enough to enter each corner first. It is a sight to see. In this 25th WBC event, 41 Ben Hur wannabes competed in 10 Heat races with one player winning 2 of the Heat races. This meant that all race winners plus the highest scoring non-winner advanced to the Final. One of the finalists failed to show up, so the final race consisted of 9 players in Jake’s special 15mm miniature critter chariots. The finalists were:

• Josh Githens in a Heavy chariot pulled by Leopards
• Claire Evans in a Heavy chariot pulled by Raptors
• Alex McNally in a Heavy chariot pulled by Purple Cows
• Frank Sinigaglio in a Heavy chariot pulled by Rhinos
• Brendan Tracey in a Heavy chariot pulled by Zebras
• Elisabeth Shea in a Heavy chariot pulled by Bears,/li>
• Erik Rittenhouse in a Light chariot pulled by Blue Dogs
• John Gitzen in a Heavy chariot pulled by Yellow Dogs
• Barry Smith in a Heavy chariot pulled by White Elephants

The only returning finalists were Frank and Elizabeth.

The race started with Josh’s chariot taking the early lead. However, Alex quickly put 5 hits on Josh’s #1 Leopard to slow him down. Then Frank put 4 hits on Erik’s left wheel, and we all watched Erik’s chariot win the first to flip award. More carnage was to follow. After Brendan parked his chariot directly in front of Frank’s Rhinos, thus Forcing Frank’s chariot to Sideslip, Frank attacked Brendan’s right wheel and put 7 hits on it. However, Frank’s rampage quickly ended after he attacked Elizabeth’s left wheel and rolled “both cars damaged.” Lizzie took 3 hits to her left wheel and survived her wheel check, but Frank’s chariot flipped and his driver was suddenly in the dirt. Then, John corner strained at 2 over and rolled a Sideslip which caused his chariot to involuntarily ram attack Elizabeth’s chariot. Elizabeth accepted the attack, and it resulted in John getting 4 hits on his right wheel. Frank then left the race, so he took 9th place. Then, after several failed attempts to cut free, Erik’s dragged driver died so he took 8th place.

And then there were seven…

Alex attacked John’s yellow dogs and killed the #1 dog. That would be the first of many for Alex. He also killed one of Barry’s elephants but then Elizabeth took down his #4 cow. By the 9th turn, Josh’s and Elizabeth’s chariots were moving 15 spaces per turn while all of the other chariots were moving 12 or less spaces per turn and were too far behind to catch up to the leaders. Therefore, the 5 trailing chariots decided to set up a gauntlet by moving 1 each turn until they got lapped by the 2 leaders. At least that was the plan. However, things fell apart soon after Elizabeth’s chariot entered the gauntlet. Claire decided to go for 3rd place and began moving her chariot at maximum speed. Then, after John lashed Elizabeth’s driver but failed to swerve her chariot into the inner wall, Alex went on a rampage. He attacked the teams of the 4 other slow chariots and reduced all of them to single digit speeds. This put Alex in 3rd place and increased his critters killed number to 7 dogs/elephants/raptors/zebras. Several of these slow chariots were waiting for Elizabeth’s chariot to turn the final corner, but she reduced her speed to remain behind them. Josh did the same with his chariot. At one point he actually plotted a turn speed of 0. By the 23rd turn, Josh’s chariot had caught up to and was now slightly ahead of Elizabeth’s. It would all come down to the final turn. Eizabeth’s chit was drawn first, and she lashed her bears but only rolled a 2. Then, she rolled snake eyes on her wheel check dice roll and her chariot flipped. This caused her to lose 2 movement factors due to her driver modifier reduction so her dragged driver barely made it across the finish line. She could only win if she got a high whip roll and Josh got a low one. So, when Josh’s chit was pulled, he easily crossed the line and ended up ahead of Elizabeth for the win. Congratulations to Josh Githens for being the first player to win a 4th WBC Circus Maximus championship. The final finishing order was:

1. Josh Githens
2. Elizabeth Shea
3. Alex McNally
4. Barry Smith
5. John Gitzen
6. Brendan Tracey
7. Claire Evans
8. Erik Rittenhouse
9. Frank Sinigaglio

I would like to thank Frank Sinigaglio, Josh Githens, and Jake Jacoby for their assistance in being track masters during the tournament. I couldn’t have done it without y’all. I would also like to thank all finalists for completing the 9 player race in less than 4 hours.