dune [Updated August 2001]

DUN  3 prizes Experienced Swiss Elim Scheduled 
  Rnd1 Heat1 18   
  Rnd1 Heat2 18   Rnd1 Heat3 18
  Round 2 18 Final

  Rnd1 Heat1  Maryland 3 Rnd1 Heat2 Garden Rnd1 Heat3 Valley Round 2 Tack

Tony Burke, NJ

2001 Champion

2nd: Chris Bodkin, IN

3rd: Bill Dyer, IL

4th: Phil Barcafer, PA

5th: Chip Collins, TX

6th: Brian Jones, MD
Event History
1991    None      -
1992    Paul Saunders      12
1993    Ray Carpenter      23
1994    Paul Weintraub      22
1995    James Garvey      23
1996    Bruce Bernard      22
1997    Matt Fagan      28
1998    Brad Johnson      43
1999    Steve Koehler     38
2000    Jay Schlaffer     35
2001    Tony Burke     29

AREA Ratings:

GM: Brad Johnson

The Spice of Life

There were a total of eight preliminary games played by 29 different players which saw four two-player alliance wins, two three-player alliance wins, one Guild default win, and one BG prediction win. On average, these games finished in 9.67 turns and lasted 5.5 hours.

The BG and the Harkonnen seemed to be the most-favored factions during the preliminaries, sharing in four wins apiece. Behind them were the Atreides and Emperor with three wins each, and the Guild with two wins (including the one default). Sadly, the Fremen were completely winless during the preliminary heats.

In a new attraction this year, the GM awarded special Best Faction plaques to the players who gave the best single-game performance with each faction during the preliminary heats, measured in terms of strongholds controlled per turn:

Atreides - Tony Burke in a five-turn win with the Emperor.
Bene Gesserit - Phil Barcafer in a nine-turn win with the Atreides.
Emperor - Henry Rice III in a ten-turn loss to the Atreides/Harkonnen where he nonetheless held Carthag and Habbanya Ridge Sietch for a good portion of the game.
Fremen - Paul Saunders in the same game with Henry, where he held Tabr for the whole game until the last turn.
Guild - Rob Barnes, holding Tuek's and Tabr most of the game, only to lose to the BG prediction in the end. Ironically, Rob just narrowly edged out his sister, Malinda, who was also playing the Guild at the next table.
Harkonnen - Steve Koehler in game where he never lost Carthag and held Habbanya Ridge most of the game before the Guild got his default win. This score and the 2nd-highest Harkonnen score were the two highest in the tournament.

All of the factions scored similarly on average, except the Fremen's average turned out to be half of the other factions, probably further reflecting the fact that they were losing every game.

There was no need to resort to tie-breakers to select the six top winners to advance to the final:

Atreides - Bill Dyer
Bene Gesserit - Chip Collins
Emperor - Phil Barcafer
Fremen - Tony Burke
Guild - Brian Jones
Harkonnen - Christopher Bodkin

1st alternate - Glenn McMaster
2nd alternate - Henry Rice III

Bill was the only returning finalist from last year, but all of the finalists were very experienced players, even though a couple were first timers at the tournament.

The first two turns of the final saw the factions collecting spice and establishing position. The first Nexus came up on turn 3, and play immediately polarized into three 2-faction alliances which would hold until mid-game: Atreides-Harkonnen, Emperor-BG, and Fremen-Guild. Turn 5 saw the first serious attempt to win by the Emperor-BG alliance, beaten only at the expense of a huge Guild army. Turns 6 and 7 were spent re-grouping, and then in turn 8, the BG and Fremen allied, leaving the Guild and Emperor to ally and try for the win. It might have worked but the Harkonnen pulled the old Karama hand snatch that gutted the Guild's ability to fight. To add insult to injury, the Harkonnen destroyed the bulk of the Guild's forces in Tuek's Sietch when the Guild Rep was called traitor.

Then it was the Atreides-Harkonnen alliance's turn to try in turn 9. They came up just one token short in a battle vs. the BG in Sietch Tabr. Spice was tight for everyone, but the Harkonnen really felt it here, not having the two necessary to revive one extra token. After this, the Atreides and Harkonnen had several outside chances to win, looking for key traitors to be played by the Guild, Fremen, and Emperor, but they just wouldn't come up.

In turn 11, the Fremen-BG had a chance to win, but accidentally voiced the Harkonnen to play the Lazgun, resulting in total destruction of Habbanya Ridge Sietch.

By turn 13, everyone knew it would be a default victory, either Fremen or Guild. Turn 14 saw all factions jockeying for position, and then a final Nexus in turn 15 forced the Guild to ally with the BG and the Harkonnen with the Fremen. The Harkonnen and BG were fighting for control of Habbanya Ridge Sietch and Tuek's Sietch to determine which default victory conditions would be met. With the help of a second Karama hand snatch against the Guild, the Harkonnen won both battles and successfully eradicated his own tokens, leaving himself and the Fremen victorious after eight hours and 15 turns. The irony of the Fremen winning in the final after never winning during the qualifying rounds was sweet, and the Fremen default win was a subtle change of pace from the Guild default wins of the past three years.

Christopher Bodkin (right) shares in the win. Dune is often stalemated and won by a coalition of players as opposed to a single winner.

 GM      Brad Johnson  [1st Year]   1517 Driftwood Ln, Crystal lake, IL 60014
    tempus42@aol.com   NA

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