An oldie but goodie returns ...
The
game, a simulation of the German election process, was designed
by Karl-Heinz Schmiel, who also designed Tyranno Ex and
Attila which are also played at the WBC. Each of five
(or four) players take the part of one of Germany's political
parties who try to earn points from gaining votes in each of
seven randomly-chosen regions, points from getting Media influence,
points from gaining workers to help build the party, and points
from aligning their party's stand on the issues with the slowly-revealed
national consensus.
The second WBC Die Macher tournament started off Friday
morning with nine of 2003's contestants, including the top six
finishers, showing up to vie with three fresh faces for the plaque.
At the first table, Steve Simmons' CDU party gathered the
highest Mandate total (190 out of 242), missing only a few votes
in the first two regions and getting an insignificant vote total
in the fourth region. The CDU party won in the first, third,
sixth and seventh regions. Thomas Browne's PDS party had the
second highest total Mandate at 170. John Weber's Green party
got the most points for Media markers from its victories in the
second, fourth, fifth and sixth regions. Steve also led in Party
Members, with its attendant 10 point bonus. And due to his victories
in the sixth and seventh regions, Steve was also able to receive
the most points for matching the CDU's issues with the National
Board issues. Al Mink's FDP party got the second most points
due to his victories in the fourth and fifth regions. Overall,
Steve gained the victory with 384 points over John's 310 points,
Al's 292 points, and Thomas B's 284 points.
At the second table, Lyman Moquin's PDS party grabbed the
highest total Mandate, taking 226 out of 284 possible, and beating
out Peter Martin's CDU party by 10 points. This was in spite
of the fact that the PDS party only was a winner in the second
and sixth regions. Peter also finished second to Lyman in points
from Party Membership. Paul Skrabut's Green party had the most
points for Media markers and the most points from matching the
issues on the National Board due to its victories in the first,
third and seventh regions. Lyman (the defending champion) earned
a trip to the DIM final with a 364 point win, beating Peter M.
with 347 points, Paul with 325 points, and William Lentz with
169 points.
And at the third table, Peter Staab's FDP party edged out
Geoffrey Engelstein's CDU party by one point, 162 to 161 (out
of 234) in Mandate totals. Thomas Vickery's SPD and Tom DeMarco's
PDS parties tied for the most points form Media markers, while
Tom D. won the bonus for the most points from Party Membership.
But Geoffrey posted a large lead in points from matching National
and Party issues to get the win with 346 points over Peter S.
with 287 points, Tom D. with 283 points, and Thomas V. with 233
points.
The three Round 1 winners (Steve, Lyman, and Geoffrey) and
all three third place finishers appeared for the final on Sunday
morning. The tie breaker (% of board's total points scored) allowed
Paul and Tom D. to advance, while Al ended up in 6th place.
The first region to be contested was Thuringen, worth 26 Mandate.
Steve's PDS party was the only one to reach 50 votes, allowing
his coalition with Geoffrey's FDP party to take the victory.
The second region (tiny Bremen) was virtually ignored by all
except Steve, who again produced the maximum of 50 votes (but
worth only 15 Mandate) as well as moving up his second Media
marker.
The third region was Rheinland-Pfalz, worth 42 Mandate. As
the largest of the initial four regions, it was hotly contested
by all but Steve. The CDU (Paul), Green (Lyman), and SPD (Tom)
parties all reached 50 votes, and the CDU-SPD coalition was victorious.
But if the FDP (Geoffrey) party had also been able to reach 50
votes, its tie breaker status would have allowed his FDP-Green
coalition to win.
Next up was Sachsen-Anhalt, worth 36 Mandate. All the parties
but the SPD reached 50 votes, with the region being won by the
CDU-PDS coalition. But the PDS party did not have a Media marker
in the region to move up to the National Board, losing out on
a chance to earn 15 points. The fifth region was Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,
worth 24 Mandate. The CDU party pulled off a "by a nose"
victory over the PDS party, allowing both parties to move up
a Media marker, but reducing the number of cards moved up to
the National Board by the CDU from two to one.
The penultimate region was Hessen, worth 48 Mandate, and the
largest of the seven regions in this game. The SPD and PDS parties
both reached 50 votes, but the SPD's coalition with the FDP party
gave them the victory. And this time neither of the two winning
parties had a Media marker in the region to move up to the National
Board.
The very important final region, where coalitions are not
allowed, was Berlin and was worth 40 Mandate. The SPD was the
only party able to reach 50 votes, thereby winning the opportunity
to make the last two adjustments to the composition of the issues
on the National Board.
As shown in the table below, at game's end Steve led in all
four of the point categories and so moved up from his 4th place
finish last year to claim the top prize in this year's tournament.
Paul moved up from 3rd last year to 2nd and Tom improved his
finish from 5th last year to 3rd. Lyman dropped from 1st last
year to 4th and new face Geoffrey takes this year's 5th place
spot.
Next year, Die Macher may be a Continuing Trial tournament
again unless elevated to Century status in the BPA's voting for
the 2005 Century additions. If you'd like to ensure that there
will be a DIM tournament in 2005, please sign up for the BPA
for 2005 before Dec 31st and vote for Die Macher to reenter
the Century! If you have any suggestions to improve the tournament,
please contact me or next year's GM Steve Simmons. Thanks to
all who came out to make this year's tournament successful.
CDU: Paul FDU: Geoffrey Green: Lyman SPD: TOM PDS: Steve
Total Mandate 176 145 152 139 177
National Media 50 25 0 30 60
Party Membership 52 41 73 +6 69 75 +10
National/Party match 50 +5 40 +5 45 +10 57 +5 50 +10
Total Score 333 256 286 300 392
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