manifest destiny [Updated Sept. 2008]  

2007 WBC Report  

 2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Bill Crenshaw, VA

2007 Champion

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Event History
2005    Harald Henning     46
2006     AJ Sudy     46
2007     Bill Crenshaw     46 

Enlightenment History
2006    Bill Crenshaw     19
2008    Ewan McNay     28

 

PBeM History
2007    Tom Taaffe     36
2008    Bill Edwards     35

 

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    08    116
  2.  Harald Henning     CT    08     67
  3.  Arthur Field       SC    08     60
  4.  Ewan McNay         CT    08     50
  5.  Tom Taaffe         VA    08     46
  6.  Kevin Sudy         VA    07     40
  7.  AJ Sudy            VA    06     36
  8.  Bill Edwards       VA    08     30
  9.  Kathy Stroh        DE    08     30
 10.  David Hood         NC    07     24
 11.  Ted Simmons        NJ    05     24
 12.  John Coussis       IL    08     20
 13.  Bob Heinzmann      FL    07     16
 14.  Brett Mingo        MD    05     16
 15.  Peter Pollard      TN    06     15
 16.  Peter Staab        PA    08     12
 17.  Kate Taillon       SC    07     12
 18.  Stefan Mecay       TX    08      9
 19.  Ed Rothenheber     MD    06      9
 20.  Tom Browne         PA    06      9
 21.  Scott Burns        UK    07      8
 22.  David Nicholson    ON    05      8
 23.  Peter Staab        PA    06      6
 24.  Shawn Fox                08      5
 25.  Jeff Mullet        OH    07      4
 26.  Dave Long          NC    05      4

2007 Laurelists

Harald Henning, CT
2nd

Kevin Sudy, VA
3rd

Arthur Field, SC
4th

Kate Taillon, SC
5th

Jeff Mullet, OH
6th


Past Winners

Harald Henning, CT
2005

Alan Sudy, VA
2006


A well attended Demo may provide a hint why Manifest Destiny's attendance hasn't slipped in three years.

Let me guess - is this the "Identify the leader" phase? Even finalists engage in the time honored rituals.

For the third straight year, exactly 46 players participated in the tournament. Aside from Mexico, which had a hefty eight wins, winners were fairly evenly distributed among the startingpositions, with Pennsylvania and Virginia (including the Final) each having three wins, and Quebec and Louisiana two each.. Bill Crenshaw (Virginia), Kevin Sudy (Mexico) and Arthur Field (Pennsylvania.) each won their semi-finals and advanced to the Final with Harald Henning (Quebec) and Kate Taillon (Louisiana).

The Final started slowly with no T1 Destiny cards being played. Arthur. used Barnum to buy Circus and began buying cards early. Bill got off to a fast start playing Samuel Morse and getting five new territories on T1 and then cashing Native Sovereignty for $60 in Tobacco on T2. Revolutionary War knocked Bill out of Missouri, but he was able to buy Railroads and Steamships and headed south instead of west. Harald played his priority chit on T3 to play Hudson Bay and finish Mech. Harald also had Oregon Trail and then drew Homestead Act, but since he didn't have Westward Ho could not use it to get a western Ore as no one bought Westward Ho until T4! It looked like there would be a major Era 1 Destiny card squeeze, but Kevin got Patriotism drawing all three Patriotism leaders and cashed Gold for $70. Arthur. got Storytelling and began discarding (first Racial Unrest and then Remember the Alamo). Kate and Kevin started Turnpike but jumped to Electricity instead when Era 2 opened.

Bill got squeezed out of the level 1 Breakthroughs early but drew Monroe Doctrine and was able to cash $90 of Tobacco on T4, which enabled him to buy Circus and a card going 4th to open up the level 2 B/Ts and research Think Tank, which he finished in two turns. Arthur.played Civil War on Kevin after the Gold payout and surged with high Profit and a good board position before snagging Motion Pictures thanks to Edison. Bill never expanded westward and got knocked out of Western South America by Kevin's Remember the Maine and then in Oaxaca by Harald (who had Fulton and bought Steamships). Kate struggled early and then rolled poorly on Breakthroughs, but started gaining traction as the game proceeded.

As Era 3 dawned, Kate played the 60's. The discounts enabled a lot of buying, but Harald made a deal with Bill to hit Arthur. with IRS (after Arthur. had played Wright Brothers and looked to be making a major move). When the Investment Phase ended, Bill was going last with nine tokens, Pro Sports (thanks to the Babe), Telephone, Tolerance and Rock 'n Roll (thanks to Elvis) while choosing first the next turn. Harald and Bill split Technology and Oil so Harald would get $100 from Tech and $10 from Oil and Bill would get $90 in Oil. Bill went 7 of 7 on attacks - not even needing to use Rock n Roll --including fourcities (including Arthur.'s home) to grab most cities. Bill then drew Oil Crisis as the expansion card and Lawyer (paying Ore).

On the last turn Bill went first and cashed two Oil cards and an Ore card. Kevin chose last hoping there would be another expansion. Arthur. played World War (which he had stolen from Bill on T3) -- costing Bill and Harald $60 each. Kate played Depression in Kevin wiping out one of Bill's cities, but Bill still had enough to buy 24 VPs in progressions, two for most cities and five B/Ts with $30 left over (thanks to Depression's Safety Net discount). Bill then completed Turnpike which no one had completed to finish with 32 points and $30 left. Harald was second with 28 VPs and $20, followed by Kevin (27VPs/$15), Arthur. 24VPs/$35 and Kate (21VPs/$30).


Manifest Destiny 2008 PBeM Tournament Results

Bill Edwards, as Mexico, riding a combination of timely collaboration and good research rolls, rolled to victory in the second Manifest Destiny PBeM tournament.  Bill overcame a rough start, as defending PBeM champion Tom Taaffe, holding Monroe Doctrine and Remember the Alamo, paid $10 to pick Virginia.  Bill held Native Sovereignty but his $10 pick netted him Mexico instead of Virginia.  Pete Staab, who held California Gold Rush and was hoping for Mexico, settled for Louisiana (and later discarded CGR).  Stefan MeCay chose Pennsylvania (starting with Louisiana Purchase), leaving Bill Crenshaw excited to get Quebec for free (since he was holding Revolutionary War and Manifest Destiny).  Quebec got off to a dominating start, collaborated with Pa. to get Patriotism, and had an obscene amount of cash after $150 in Fur payouts.  Virginia embarked a one-man Crusade to bring Quebec back to the pack.  Although successful in slowing Quebec, Quebec's retaliation limited Virginia's progress despite Virginia's normally potent Mechanization-Electricity combination.

At the end of Era 2, Quebec narrowly avoided Civil War as Virginia held the card rather than risk it boomeranging.  Quebec than played Spy stealing Martin Luther King from Louisiana and breaking up a planned Louisiana-Virginia collaboration.  Louisiana retaliated by sabotaging Quebec's e-Commerce start.  In the meantime, Pa. (who was doing well but done in by a lack of Pioneers) and Mexico collaborated on a 3-leader deal that vaulted both close to the lead. 

On the next to the last turn, four players played priority chits, leaving Quebec, who had played Supreme Court (#64), choosing last.  La. and Mexico played early to finish breakthroughs as Pa. chose last to plan for expansion, leaving Va. fourth and Quebec third.  Quebec then made his second big cash in of the game, using Immigrants to take over Virginia's Oil and Tourist City in Oklahoma and cashing $150 in Tourists, plus another $70 in Technology.  Quebec and Pa. tried to put together a deal that would have allowed one of them to have an excellent chance of winning, but any combination would have put Mexico over the top as well as the latent Mexican President guarded against bad cards.  Quebec generated enough money to buy to 30, forcing Pa. to play World War and the $60 hit held Quebec back.

In the meantime, Mexico drew JFK to finish Urban Renaissance in one turn (acing out La. and Quebec), played Yankee Ingenuity to start Rock n Roll, and then rolled all four missing steps to pick up Rock and Roll as well and vault him over the top with 32 VPs.  Bill Crenshaw's Quebec was second with 27, followed by Pete Staab's Louisiana with 26, Stefan Mecay's Pennsylvania with 25 and Tom Taaffe's Virginia with 22.

 GM      Bill Crenshaw [3rd year]   NA
   WCrenshaw@cox.net   NA

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