Jon Anderson and Rob Davidson consider their options.	Eric Wrobel (left) wins his heat to advance.

As befitting a year in which the game fell out of the Century after a 13-year run, there was a lot of chaos. Three players chaosed out and they all seemed to share a table with champion Ted Simmons! Conversely, in the qualifying heats there were three Buy Outs at 2100 in Advances and two more in the Final for a total of five out of 32 player starts. There are rumors of the event seeking a pre-con slot to reverse its declining fortunes should it return by membership vote.

Those were not the only interesting developments. One game saw practically everyone take a different path on Turn 5, with players choosing Cathedral, Ocean Navigation, Industry, and low misery as separate points of emphasis. Industry proved the best path in that instance. Other unusual events were someone owning Middle Class before purchasing Overland East, London not leaving the Island until Turn 5, and an unusual Barcelona Caravan strategy.

Many people appeared for the demo despite the game's age and then put what they learned to the test in a heat. Since there is such interest in the community, I decided to focus the remainder of my write up on the first few turns of the Final to see how a real championship game develops.

The players started by bidding for capitals. Kevin & Ken both bid 3, Eugene 1, and Ted and Eric 0. After a roll off to break the ties, Kevin chose Barcelona, Ken - Paris, Eugene -Venice, Ted - Genoa, and Eric - London. The players then placed their initial token bids with the following results: L-12 (1st), V-13(2nd), B-14(3rd), P-17(4th), and G-24(5th). Only two cards were played: V - Mysticism (+4 misery for all) and B-Stone (+$1 to Paris). Paris bought Caravan and the rest bought boats for $10 in the Purchase Phase. Paris could not stabilize and took another misery hit.

During expansion, London bartered with Paris for St Malo, and claimed Portsmouth, York, and Edinburgh on the island, Venice bartered with Genoa to take Florence in exchange for Genoa taking Milan & Rome, then proceeded to take Vienna and Dubrovnik, and sail to Belgrade using Galley 2. Barcelona expanded to Toledo, Basque, Montpelier, and Valencia and sailed to Granada. He then bought an additional card for three tokens. Paris used Caravan to extend to Cologne, Bruges, Basel, Strassburg, and Dijon which establishes a border with Genoa. Finally Genoa expands to Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Rome, and sails two tokens to Naples. With his remaining six he purchases a card. 

The expansion goes to Barcelona as the first with five new dominations. The Shortage/Surplus rolls produce a surplus of Metal which has majority ownership split between Genoa and Barcelona, and a shortage of Cloth, which is also split at two apiece between Paris and Venice.

Token bids are as follows: P-10, V-10, L-11, B-12, G-13. Paris played Famine (L/P/V +3 misery for one Grain), B/G +4 misery for no Grain), Barcelona played Revolutionary Uprising (P+1 misery for Caravan) and Stone (B/L/P/V $1 ea / G $4), and London played Timber (V+$3). The four players continued to improve their boats, and B/L/V supplemented even further by buying Heavens. Paris expanded to Bordeaux, Nuremburg, Prague and a satellite in St Gali. Venice took Budapest, Salonika, Crete, and Tripoli, London entered the Med with a satellite in Oran, and took Chester, Waterford, Iceland, and Bergen. Barcelona claimed Seville, Lisbon, Fez, Algiers, and West Africa. Genoa completed Naples and claimed Tunis, Sicily, and a satellite in Athens, and bought a card for three tokens. Barcelona received another expansion card and a double shortage of Timber was rolled.

Round 3 bids were V-7, B-9, L-10, P-13,and G-16. London placed Walter the Penniless in the box protecting him from other players patronage. Genoa, solicited some patronage by offering a Wool payout and asking $7 in patronage fees for Dionysus Exiguus. Both B and L bought Patronage and used Exiguus to discount Written Record, London was also able to afford Overland with Walter's discount. Venice ignored the leader and bought Overland at cost. Paris entered the seas with Seaworthy, and Genoa was able to convert the patronage money to get Written Record, and Nationalism. B/G/L also paid to ugrade their boats. 

The race to the East was on! Now you can guess where everyone might have expanded, who would use Crusades, and who had military advantages in Turn 4. You can see how things turned out in the results above.

Mark Smith, Kurt Miller and Ted Mullally admire Kurt's artwork. Kurt did all the art for the game when he worked for Avalon Hill - from box cover to map to counters.	Ted Simmons (standing) completed his Age of Renaissance education by winning it all, 11 years after attending his first Enlightenment mini-con where he and his father have been regulars.