Collinson Emerges Victorious in the Kingdom!

I’m happy to report an increase in attendance at the Ivanhoe tournament this year! As usual, there were players of all ages and experience levels, with lots of familiar faces. But there were also some players returning to the game or learning it for the first time, which was also great to see. Ivanhoe is easy to learn and fun to play, making it a great tournament for both casual players and strategists! The tournament featured decorations and small prizes to add to the fun. We also had another successful Juniors tournament.

Three Heats were held along with a demo immediately before the first Heat. The number of players at each heat was fairly consistent, at 50 players for Heat 1, 55 players at Heat 2, and 49 players at Heat 3. All games were 5-player games except one. There were four double-heat winners (Alexander Lange, Curt Collins II, Tessa Lytle, and David Spencer) and 23 single-heat winners. The GM’s point system was used to value the tokens won by each player, so that 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places could be assigned for each Heat game. For the rankings going into the Semifinal round, HMW points were applied, and then the GM-specific tiebreaker was used (most points in a single game and most points in all games played).

The Semifinal had no-shows replaced with alternates from the rankings, so there were 25 players at 5 tables. The Semifinal winners were Ben Collinson Sr, Jeff McCue, Bethany Wynter, David Spencer, and Anna Sanverdine. Sixth place laurels were earned by Curt Collins II, who was the closest 2nd place finisher in his Semifinal game.

The Final lasted a competitive 16 rounds:

• Anna started the game with a red tournament, and Ben strategically used a Riposte to win a quick red token
• Ben started a green tournament, and survived Bethany’s Riposte to win a green token
• Ben started a blue tournament, but Jeff and Bethany quickly took over; when the dust settled, Bethany had used Outwit to win a blue token
• Bethany started another blue tournament, which David won with only one card when everyone else withdrew
• David started a red tournament, which he also won easily, because everyone else withdrew
• David won his third uncontested token in a row in a green tournament!
• David started a red tournament, which Bethany won with only one card
• Bethany started a blue tournament, which gained a few participants, but then David played Drop Weapon, changing the tournament to green and forcing his opponents to withdraw
• David started the first yellow tournament of the game, hoping for the game-winning token, but this proved to be no easy fight. Jeff and Anna were each determined to win a yellow token. Despite Jeff playing two Knock Downs and Change Horse to red, Anna ended up with a total of 28 card points and a red token
• Anna started a blue tournament, facing off with Ben, who eventually won a blue token in a back-and-forth battle to a total of 20 card points
• Ben started the only purple tournament of the game, and everyone except David participated. Jeff’s use of Break Lance enabled him to win a purple token
• Jeff started a green tournament, holding off Anna’s Adapt and Riposte with an Outmaneuver, and he won a green token
• Jeff started a red tournament, which included Bethany, David and Ben. Bethany won (no token since she already had red)
• Bethany started a blue tournament, in which she defeated Ben (no token, since she already had blue)
• Bethany started a green tournament; Ben was able to participate, but had to withdraw quickly, giving Bethany a green token
• Bethany started a yellow tournament, which included David, Ben, and Anna. Many action cards and point cards were used, but it was Ben’s Riposte and a total of 21 card points that earned him the yellow token and the win!

Using the established point system from the Heats, Ben was in 1st place, Bethany 2nd place, David in 3rd, Jeff was 4th, and Anna was 5th. Congratulations to all!

I would like to thank Assistant GMs Fred Roeper and Megan Mossman for their support and help for the main tournament. Special thanks go to first-time WBC attendee Emma Simon for helping me and Fred at the Juniors tournament. I also want to thank the tournament players for participating, having fun, bringing copies of the game, and showing their support for the game and the GM.