Swinson Becomes 7th Orleans Champion!

This year's Orleans tournament featured a few changes. We played predominantly 3-player games in the Heats to relieve time pressure. And we updated the Hourglass Tiles and added a rule clarification about placement of technology gears to be more in line with the game as implemented on BoardGameArena (BGA). We declined to 31 players, as we ran two Heats instead of three in the past.

Heat 1 had 7 tables including one 4-player game which was won by Chad Martin. Chris Wildes had the highest score this Heat with a 186, and other winners were Jason Salganick, Michael Swinson, Patrick Maguire, Dominic Blais, and Winton Lemoine.

Heat 2 had 6 tables. The 4-player game was won by Michael Swinson. Andrew Martin set a tournament high score of 210, while Chad Martin, Brian Litman-Smith, Fadi-El-Riachi, and Jonathan Cotton also won.

Seven of the 11 winners attended the Semifinal, so there would be two 4-player games, each advancing the top 2 players to the Final. Our double winners Michael Swinson and Chad Martin would be seated at different tables, and the GM joined the field as the top-ranked alternate. One of the Semifinalists had previously alerted me to a potential conflict with the Final, so I announced prior to the Semifinal that in that case, the closest 3rd place by % would qualify for the Final.

Semifinal #1: Michael Swinson took 1st seat with a bid of 0, Winton Lemoine got 2nd seat for 0, Allan Jiang paid 1 VP for 3rd seat, and Patrick Maguire paid 3 VP for 4th seat. Michael deviated from the "standard opening" by taking the Hospital on round 2 and later added the Pharmacy and Herb Garden. Winton built the Windmill and School, AJ built the Library and Office, and Patrick got the Tailor Shop, Laboratory, and Horse Wagon.

Final scores:

• Michael (3 halls + 4 citizens) * 6 = 42 + 84 coins + 8 goods = 132 - 0 bid = 132 VP
• Winton (4 halls + 4 citizens) * 5 = 40 + 44 coins + 20 goods = 104 - 0 bid = 104VP
• AJ (6 halls + 2 citizens) * 5 = 40 + 84 coins + 39 goods - 1 bid = 162 VP
• Patrick (9 halls + 3 citizens) * 5 = 60 + 46 coins + 55 goods = 161 - 3 bid = 158 VP

Semifinal SF #2: Jonathan Cotton paid 4 VP for 1st seat, Brian Litman-Smith took 2nd seat for free, Chad Martin paid 1 VP for 3rd seat, and Jason Salganick paid 5 VP for 4th seat. The only known place tiles were Chad's Windmill and Cellar.

Final Scores:

• Jonathan (5 halls + 5 citizens) * 6 = 60 + 91 coins + 5 goods = 156 - 4 bid = 152 VP
• Brian (5 halls + 4 citizens) * 5 = 45 + 50 coins + 48 goods = 143 - 0 bid = 143 VP
• Chad (7 halls + 3 citizens) * 5 = 50 + 103 coins + 33 goods = 186 - 1 bid = 185 VP
• Jason (6 halls + 0 citizens) * 5 = 30 + 45 coins + 27 goods = 102 - 5 bid = 97 VP

Chad requested the Final be delayed but this was not unanimously agreed to, so our defending champion bowed out of the tournament with an undefeated record. He was replaced by the closest 3rd place in the Semifinal, Michael.

Final: AJ and Jonathan took seats 1 and 2 respectively for free. Michael paid 2 VP for seat 3 and Patrick paid 7 VP for seat 4.

All 4 players started with the "standard opening" of cogging the village farmer in round 1 and cogging the castle boatsman while not taking any other action in round 2, to not risk having a bad draw in round 3.

In round 3, Michael built the Hospital, followed by Patrick building the Tailor Shop and AJ building the Library; all three of these players visited the castle. Meanwhile, Jonathan took a third cog on the farmhouse boatsman, while sending a craftsman to the town hall and visiting the university to take the first citizen of the game.

In round 4, Patrick built the Laboratory, AJ the Horse Wagon, and Michael the Pharmacy; they also visited the castle. Jonathan took the final craftsman (his fourth!), placing it on the monastery scholar while skipping the castle again.

Round 5 saw all four players taking the castle action. AJ built the Office, while Michael took the Windmill and Patrick claimed the School. Jonathan visited the farmhouse to start earning bonus money as the best farmer, and the monastery for a monk.

In round 6, Jonathan built the Brewery as his first and only building of the game. Michael visited the castle, claiming the citizen there. Patrick and AJ both declined the opportunity to push for 8 draw at the castle, both opting to visit the university instead of being able to activate their buildings. At the end of the round, Jonathan lost a craftsman to the Plague, while Michael lost a knight and AJ a scholar.

Round 7 saw Michael eagerly scoop up the plagued craftsman for a bonus cog. He furthered his position by earning his 8 draw. Patrick used his Laboratory for the first time. The second Plague hit at the end of this round, costing Patrick and Jonathan each a scholar.

After 10 rounds of play, each of the players had acquired the following:

• AJ: 2 farmers, 2 craftsmen, 3 traders, 0 boatsmen, 3 knights, 2 scholars
• Jonathan: 4 farmers, 4 craftsmen, 1 trader, 0 boatsmen, 3 knights, 3 scholars
• Michael: 1 farmer, 3 craftsmen, 3 traders, 1 boatsman, 5 knights, 3 scholars
Patrick: 3 farmers, 2 craftsmen, 3 traders, 0 boatsmen, 3 knights, 4 scholars

All players had good things going for them: AJ had the most guild halls and would soon be activating the Office to score coins from them. Jonathan was consistently earning the best farmer bonus and also had the most monks and was earning other citizens. Michael had an extra draw, a clear lead on the development track and earned the latter two citizens there. And Patrick had numerous cogs from the Laboratory helping him take additional actions each round.

The final Plague occurred in round 14, with Michael losing a farmer and AJ losing a craftsman.

By the end of the game, Jonathan maxed out the farmer track, Michael maxed out the boatsmen earning that citizen, and Jonathan and Patrick each maxed out scholars. Patrick claimed the citizen for having the most guild halls. Notably, that was the only citizen all game which was not claimed by Jonathan or Michael, who did plenty of good deeds at the town hall in addition to the aforementioned citizens. By contrast, they both had very little presence on their map, so everyone's guild hall + citizen count was about 10.

Final scores:

• AJ (9 halls + 0 citizens) * 4 = 36 + 85 coins + 26 goods = 147 - 0 bid = 147 VP
• Jonathan (4 halls + 7 citizens) * 5 = 55 + 71 coins + 24 goods = 150 - 0 bid = 150 VP
• Michael (3 halls + 6 citizens) * 6 = 54 + 111 coins + 10 goods = 175 - 2 bid = 173 VP
• Patrick (10 halls + 1 citizen) * 5 = 55 + 48 coins + 55 goods = 158 - 7 = 151 VP

Congratulations to Michael for becoming the 7th Orleans champion in 7 years!!!

Orleans strategy continues to develop as players improve at the game, and with the minor rule changes. In contrast to last year, the Laboratory did not win the Final or any Semifinal. Here are the buildings used in wins during our 16 games of the tournament:

• Pharmacy (8 wins)
• Hospital (6)
• Horse Wagon (5)
• Library (5)
• Laboratory (4)
• Office (4)
• Tailor Shop (3)
• Cellar (2)
• Windmill (2)
• Gunpowder Tower (1)
• Hayrick (1)
• Herb Garden (1)
• Wool Manufacturer (1)

Thank you to all who came out and played Orleans, and especially to my AGMs. If Orleans returns to WBC next year, then my intention would be to allow the Bathhouse which has been previously banned at WBC, and to not schedule a heat at 11pm!