Brenner Captures Title in Closest Final of Conquest of Paradise!

The 2025 session of the WBC Conquest of Paradise tournament was the 15th annual meeting (not counting covid years), the GM was even presented with a 15-year pin to prove it. My thanks to Rick Northey for sponsoring the tournament this year and to Alan Arvold for making this possible. The infamous inflatable palm tree, genuine tapa cloth, and moai statues (and this year, a cool carved box) once again marked its location, back in the ski lodge for all rounds this year. As usual, we used every Advanced Rule that we could, in addition to the usual Tournament Rule, which increases the cost of Arts & Culture cards.

All three Heats were well attended, with four tables in every round. As always, many regulars that we enjoy seeing every year were in attendance. Two of the LaDue sisters were there, and assistant GM Jerry Shiles made an appearance after health issues kept him away for some years. As always, a good number of first-time attendees played, some after learning the game at the demo.

There were some notable outcomes in several of the Heats. One player found New Zealand right next to his home islands and leveraged that advantage to victory. The other players should have pulled him back with some attacks! But then again, in another game, Tonga was leading, inspiring three separate attacks on their home islands. They successfully fought off all attacks to secure the victory!

The last turns in one Heat were particularly notable. Samoa declared victory with 22 points, but severe deforestation was revealed to deny him the victory; at the same time, Hiva was just 1/2 point shy of victory. The next turn, Tonga pulled ahead of them both to win the Heat.

The Semifinal was set, featuring nearly all experienced players (including both LaDue sisters). The GM gave up his seat to allow another player in, who had attended all three Heats and was next to make the Semifinal. One of the Semifinal games ended with a tie: Morgan LaDue won the tie-breaker over Kurt Hoffman. The other Semifinal was won, by a large margin, by Paul Brenner.

After choosing their starting positions in seeded order, the Final was set. Top seed Paul Brenner chose Tonga; then Morgan LaDue chose Samoa; Kurt Hoffman then picked Raiatea; and Rex Lehman was left with Hiva. Exploring in the game started unexpectedly: the very first exploration chit drawn was the rare 3-knot Open Ocean; the second player’s first chit was the equally rare 1-knot Island. Samoa and Raiatea jumped out to early leads, with Tonga trailing. Hiva had serious problems exploring, finding four atolls and little else. Samoa discovered an embarrassment of riches, first finding Hawai’i and the mythical Hawaiiki; since only three discoveries can be kept secret, soon New Zealand and Tahiti were also revealed by Samoa! Hiva grabbed Tahiti, and Tonga grabbed Hawaiiki. Samoa could not colonize so much so fast. Hiva successfully reached South America to bring home the valuable Sweet Potatoes. Tonga attacked a small Hivan island, hoping to share the VPs provided by Sweet Potatoes. But Raiatea jumped in, stopping the attack with his Arioi card!

Three players all declared victory at the same time, with Tonga squeaking out a victory, thanks in large part by having three cards that earned bonus points for matching controlled islands on the board. Raiatea was just one point behind, and Samoa only 1/2 point behind that. With one of the closest final victories in a long time, this year’s Conquest of Paradise champion is Paul Brenner.