advanced civilization [Updated October 2003]  

2003 WBC Report  

 2004 Status: pending 2004 GM commitment

Joe Gundersen, IN

2003 Champion

2nd: Doug Galullo, FL

3rd: Ted Mullally, NJ

4th: Eric Gunderson, NJ

5th: Mike Musko, FL

6th: Kevin Youells, FL

Event History
1991    Alan Behrens    24
1992    Dan Vice    48
1993    Dan Vice    37
1994    Ken Rothstein    35
1995    Michael Neal    40
1996    Joe Gundersen    28
1997    Todd Vander Pluym     23
1998    Eric Gundersen    34
1999   Doug Galullo    38
2000   Eric Gundersen    27
2001   Doug Galullo    19
2002   Doug Galullo    20
2003   Joe Gundersen    28


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Doug Galullo

FL

03
216
 2. Eric Gundersen

NJ

03
131
 3. Joe Gundersen

IN

03
  94
 4. Ted Mullally

NJ

03
  50
 5. Shantanu Saha

NY

02
  42
 6. Kevin Youells

FL

03
  35
 7. Rodd Polsky

PA

01
  30
 8. Charley Hickok

PA

00
  26
 9. Peter Rauch

MA

00
  18
10. Ann Cornett

FL

02
  15
11. Mike Kusko

FL

03
  10
12. Francis Spencer

CT

01
  10
13. Jamie Tang

MD

02
    5

Past Winners

1991: Alan Behrens - NJ
1995: Michael Neal - RI

Dan Vice - VA
1992 - 1993

Ken Rothstein - NY
1994

Joe Gundersen - IN
1996, 2003

Todd Vander Pluym - CA
1997

Eric Gundersen - NJ
1998, 2000

Doug Galullo - FL
1999, 2001, 2002
 


Three Way Race ...

"Good Tournament", and "Great Final" were nice words to hear at the end of this event. As a first time GM, I had some anxiety about doing a good job. I am glad it was well received. This year the event consisted of two preliminary heats and a final. The first round on Wednesday had 19 players seated at three games (6, 7, 6). The second round on Thursday had 15 players seated at two games (7, 8). The final was held Friday with 8 players. Unfortunately, the first place player from the preliminary rounds, Mark Giddings, was not among them. On the other hand, that allowed the 1st alternate, Eric Gundersen to get into the final as the eighth player.

The results of these games are tallied below. It is interesting to note that all the games were won by Africa, Iberia, or Babylon and that Iberia would seem to be the 'best' nation to play.

Nation/Game

2

3

4

5

Final

Rank
Africa

3

1

1

6

2

6

3.17
Iberia

6

-

-

3

1

1

2.75
Illyria

-

2

3

-

7

3

3.50
Thrace

2

5

2

4

4

5

3.67
Crete

-

4

-

7

5

4

5.50
Asia

-

-

-

-

-

-

-
Assyria

5

3

5

2

3

7

4.17
Babylon

1

7

4

1

6

2

3.33
Egypt

4

6

6

5

8

8

6.17

This year, we used the optional rule of allowing the purchase of one trade card off a trade card pile. This purchase was done as a separate 'Buy Trade Card' phase following the normal 'Acquire Trade Card' phase. This rule was in lieu of the standard rule of allowing the purchase on one trade card off the nine trade card pile. This rule resulted in many of the calamity cards coming out every turn.

Also new this year, I used a scoring system that caused some ambiguity in who was going to get in the final round. The final rank of all players was determined as a percent of leaders score plus the average score of the game divided by 1000. Therefore, it was possible that a person who scored low in a game with a high average score could get into the final game over a person who scored high in a game with a low score. My intent was to prompt the players with high game skills to help the players with low game skills so that everyone could have a fun game.

The final game was a tough challenge. There were so many calamities each turn that it was a true fight for survival. In the first 2/3rds of the game the scores for all the players were very close. Eventually the calamities began to take their toll on several nations. Egypt fell out of the race and finished 8th due to being the recipient of barbarian hordes four consecutive turns. Babylon was hit with multiple calamities two turns in a row that ended in a stall on the AST. The troubles for Babylon maxed out when hit with both Civil War and the secondary effects of Epidemic in the same turn. Even with all its difficulties, Babylon, played by three-time champ Doug Gallullo, still managed to come in second. Crete started the game a little slow and that impacted its position the rest of the game. As I recall, on one turn the economic power house of Crete cashed in all the Ochre. The game eventually became a three-way race between Africa, Iberia and Illyria which was determined on the last round when Africa and Illyria drew four calamities each while Iberia got away calamity free. Additionally, Iberia was fortunate enough to already have most of the Bronze, allowing two sets to be turned in for the purchase of 810 points of civilization advances on the last turn. In many of these games, players make classic statements that add some humor to the event. In the final game, the Crete player had the quote of the day "I don't mind getting hit with medicine (but getting hit with Epidemic is another story)".

As for next year, I look forward to seeing you across the board when we do it all again.

 GM      Joe Gundersen [1st Year]    5919 Beachview dr., #307, Indianapolis, IN 46224 
    joegundersen@earthlink.net     NA

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