Eighteen players vied for the title of Emperor of Great Lakes, and were dominated by one great mind (or so it seems), at ATC 2004. This year's theme was the Greek period -- though Steve tried to change it by listing it as Roman at least twice! There was a good turn out with 18 players -- at least four being first time DBA players. Hopefully, we will see more growth next year. The gaming itself was clean with very few rules questions. Our cadre of experienced players is growing every year. Those who can now teach as well as play are a great asset. I added one new twist to the tournament this year, and it seemed to work well. Instead of rolling for a group to pick first, I handed out playing cards to the players in each round. The suit and number determined the order in which they picked their opponent for the round. Of course, if they already had become the vassal of another player, the Lord picked who they fought. I figured that, with two past winners and multiple second and third time players, there would be a couple of major kingdoms battling it out in the fourth round. Well, at the end of the third round, we had only one large kingdom and several small ones. Dennis Frank, with good choices and some luck, had drawn at least two-thirds of the top cards in rounds two and three. He used them wisely, too, and was the undisputed Lord of the game. The last round merely confirmed it, as he gained more vassals than he lost. Dennis was the first to use and wreak havoc by cleverly picking opponents for his vassals. I wish that I could fill in more of the game by game finishes, but I have somehow misplaced the player cards. My biggest memory was of posting the kingdoms on the board for the last round. Dennis' kingdom took up half the board, with no other kingdom holding more than three vassals. I had thought up a rule in case this happened, and I had to institute it. The off suit card holders (diamonds in this case) could rebel against their Lord and try to regain independence. Some tried, but only a few made it. Dennis was by far the master of this tournament for 2004. In the three years I've run Emperor of Great Lakes, we've had three different winners, which means the tournament is working the way I hoped it would. For next year, the Theme will be the Dark Ages. A list of eligible armies is available on the NASAMW site under the Cold Wars and Historicon Themes tournaments. I will also post the list on Fanaticus and in The Herald before the next Advance the Colors. Thanks to all who showed up and helped out -- especially Mike and Steve, who took over when two players had to leave. Who will unseat Dennis from his throne, next year, and become Emperor of Great Lakes? (Editor's Note: Why, me, of course!) Back to The Herald 62 Table of Contents Back to The Herald List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2005 by HMGS-GL. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com