D'Tela Wins Inaugural Tournament!

Moon Colony Bloodbath was a new game and tournament sponsored in by Rio Grande Games. In it players take on the role of settlers trying to colonize the moon. Inevitably things begin to go awry; a leak here, an accident there, and a glitching robot begin to take a toll on your colonists. In the early game these events are few and far between so players are able to build up their colony with cool buildings and powers, but as the game progresses you have to tear these structures down as the losses mount. Eventually everyone is holding on as best they can, trying not to be the one to run out first. The winner is whomever has the most colonists remaining.

The game is a hoot, and it was widely played in open gaming. It’s easy to learn and plays pretty quickly, regardless of player count. As the popularity became apparent, the risk of running low on copies seemed likely. The game was new and somewhat hard to obtain, leading to a bit of a shortage.

The event was scheduled to run continuously. The GM gives a huge thanks to Sceadeau D’Tela and a few others for helping to run the event, especially given that during the first Heat the GM had the unexpected fortune to be playing in the conflicting Stone Age Semifinal. Ultimately things went smoothly with the help from others. Unfortunately, though, the prediction was true, upon check in there were more players than we could seat. That was after saying we’d play 5 player games during the Heats to fit as many as we could. Those that were turned away were promised they’d have a guaranteed seat during Heat 2 if they wanted it. Fortunately, for Heat 2 we basically didn’t have to turn anyone away (due to a couple winners from the first heat graciously sitting out to make our numbers work).

For Heat 1 we had 45 players at 9 tables, while heat two pulled in 40 players at 8 tables. All games had the full 5 players. Moon Colony Bloodbath was a C class event, meaning players had to know nothing about the game to come play. Most players were familiar with the game, but a few truly did learn and play during the Heat. We scheduled the game for a two hour block, but the game even at five players is usually about an hour or less. Despite having several games with players learning, I don’t think any table went more than about 75 minutes or so. In future years I can see this event continuing to be a C class event but switching to a format where the continuous schedule assumes the games take 90 minutes, so we can fit two Heats in three hours. Overall, everyone seemed to have a great time, even those just learning the game while playing.

As for some of the specifics and highlights from the Heats. We asked players to track any key buildings they used in their success. We also asked tables to track which was the last event number added to the progress deck. One of the alternate ways the game can end is if the players survive to add event card 13 to the deck. With so many players learning, and five player games, we did not have any tables during the Heats achieve this. Some tables did get close, adding in event card 12. Other tables were dead shortly after they added in event card 8. Most tables got to the point where they had added event card 10 or 11 before the end was reached. Some of the key buildings used by the heat winners that were recorded included Nursery, Greenhouses, Potato Farm, Clone Banks, Organ Banks, Restaurant, Titanium Mine, Moon Hotel, Animal Lab, and Dome.

After the 17 games in the Heats we had 15 unique winners, with Sceadeau D’Tela and Jordan Vo’ Shea being the double winners. All winners showed up, so we accepted one alternate, Nick Chauvin with two second place finishes, to have four 4-player Semifinal games feeding into a 4-player Final.

As could be expected of the stronger players, all Semifinal tables reached at least to adding in the 11th event card, while one of the tables actually survived to the Instruction Manual, event card 13, being the only game of the tournament where all players' moon colonies survived.

The first Semifinal table featured Curt Collins, Luke McKinnes, Michael Strauss, and Brandon Buchannon. They collectively made it through event card 11, but by that point many of them were close to running out. The game ended due to Luke’s Moon colony failing, but Michael and Curt each had a lone colonist remaining. To sort out second place we had to go to the GM provided tiebreakers (and the GM thanked his past self for being smart enough to put these in the preview to be prepared for such a situation), where Curt prevailed with 9 money to Michael’s 7. Brandon advanced with 17 remaining colonists. His key buildings for the game included a Potato Farm which gives more food to your farm, but critically also allows you to use food as money, along with a Moon Hotel which provides colonists every time you earn food. The tie-breaker did wind up mattering as Curt Collins II was awarded 6th place laurels, being the second closest Semifinalist at 16 people behind the leader.

The next table featured Matt Craig, Steve LeWinter, Jordan Vo’Shea, and Elaine Pearson. They too managed to reach event 11 before Elaine’s colony failed. Jordan and Steve each had one building left in play for a total of 7 and 11 colonists, respectively. Matt’s colony was excellent though and he had fully 6 buildings left at the end with 35 total colonists. The keys to his colony’s success lay in double dust mines providing lots of crates during mine actions, along with a Greenhouses so he didn’t have to pay food during the Hunger event, plus a Clone Banks for good measure, meaning when Hunger did happen he gained more colonists. This powerful combo advanced Matt to the Final.

The next table had Ryan Feathers, Andrew Emerick, Eric Peffer, and Sara Powers facing off. This table also reached event card 11. The end of this game was close. Eric’s moon colony was going to fail, but the game hinged on what card would cause it. If an Accident was pulled, Ryan’s Organ Banks would allow him to spend a box to save three colonists. If it was something else, everyone would fully lose colonists. This was going to matter because Sara was winning the game, but Ryan was only one colonist behind. The card did turn out to be an accident, which allowed Ryan to get the win. Eric’s colony failed, but this was the closest semifinal from top to bottom as Ryan ended with only 18 to Sara’s 16 and Andrew’s 9. Along with the Organ Banks, Ryan relied on double Restaurant and a Potato Farm to have boosted Farm actions. For Sara’s close finish being just two colonists short she was awarded 5th place laurels.

The last Semifinal table had Allan Jiang, Sceadeau D’Tela, Ed Ericson, and Nick Chauvin. This was the lone table of the tournament to reach event card 13 and none of them were particularly close to failing! The “worst” colony of the bunch was Nick Chauvin and he still had 2 buildings and 20 colonists left. Ed was next with 3 and 26, respectively. AJ had 4 buildings and 45 colonists remaining at the end. Sceadeau meanwhile was ready to go a few more rounds with a remarkable 8 buildings and 76 colonists. The key buildings for him also featured a potato farm, but also a Spaceport–a card that allows one to buy 3 colonists for 3 credits every time you play another card. If you’re having a successful time, it can be a powerful way to be doing very well, and Sceadeau cruised to the Final.

The Final table was scheduled for a little bit later that night. The four players assembled in Laurel and played the game in about thirty minutes, beating the photographer. As for the game, it played out like many of the other Semifinal tables, event card 11 was reached, but no more. At that point Brandon’s colony was struggling and the other players were trying to plop down whatever high colonist buildings they could. Matt’s game was doing well with solid feeding and some nice benefits from a Clone Banks. Ryan had found an early combo of double Potato Farm and Kelp Farm with a Moon Hotel, allowing him to collect 4 colonists and a bunch of food that could be used as money while farming. Unfortunately, this had limited card draw though, and despite having oodles of money, he never got around to putting any of it in huge payoff buildings like a Dome. This was partially because Sceadeau had set up a strong card draw engine and was holding on to many of the best end game cards. His colony was once again cruising along, boosted in a variety of places with strong buildings. By the time the end came, Sceadeau had 53 colonists remaining while Matt had 35, Ryan had 26, and Brandon’s colony had dropped to 0.

Brandon therefore was awarded 4th place, while Ryan took home 3rd, Matt collected 2nd, and Sceadeau D’Tela rightfully earned the Moon Colony Bloodbath title. He did not lose any game he played, and none of them were particularly close; Matt’s 18 colonists behind in the Final marked the closest anyone came to Sceadeau’s dominance.

Throughout the week I was sometimes asked by interested individuals how much strategy and skill I thought the game had. Obviously, there is a lot of luck in Moon Colony Bloodbath, you’re randomly drawing a bunch of buildings, and some combo together a lot better. The order the progress deck gets shuffled and when things flip can have meaningful impacts. And yet….Sceadeau cruised to a win. He almost certainly had the most experience with the game in the field. Ryan might have been the next most experienced player. If the most experienced players are experiencing success…

I suspect this turnout with the game’s playtime is not going to be enough to make the century, I’m hopeful Moon Colony Bloodbath will see a return at WBC. It was a great tournament and a lot of fun to play, and in time hopefully there will be more copies readily available and more players will join in the fray.

Congrats again to Sceadeau for his convincing run to the title. A big thanks again too for all the help in running the event and promoting the game. Sceadeau was hyping the game up in open gaming, teaching many interested players how to play, and freely sharing strategy. Throughout the Heats he was dispensing advice and knowledge. Overall, what a deserving Champion: stepping up to help run the game, teaching players rules and strategy, and yet crushing everyone anyhow. The moon’s lucky to have him colonizing it.

Until next year then–beware those moonquakes and glitchy robots, and good luck reaching that hallowed instruction manual!