Fresh off his win last month in the Bar Room Brawl Championship Game (not to mention a top-board finish at Weasel Moot), Christian “The Scorpion” Kline kept rolling last night at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square, topping on Opening Night for the second straight year. This top was much more modest than the whopper he pulled off in the Season 13 opener, but it was harder fought. In fact, rather than relying on his deadly sting, Kline showed off other elements of his game. He eked out the board-top with stolid defensive play and a charm offensive.
The game ended by time limit after the Fall 1905 turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Eber Condrell): 0; 0.000 points.
England (Ali Adib): 1; 0.446 points.
France (Topher Pira): 5; 11.161 points.
Germany (Christian Kline): 8; 28.571 points.
Italy (Bryan Pravel): 7; 21.875 points.
Russia (Jim O’Kelley): 7; 21.875 points.
Turkey (Braden Lenz): 6; 16.071 points.
The supply center chart is here.
The game featured two Weasel newcomers in Eber Condrell and Topher Pira. Both found the game on Meetup. Eber drove in from Wheaton to play. He’s an online player who has played face-to-face with friends before. Topher lives nearby, saw the Meetup, and decided to give it a try despite not know a thing about hte game.
A third newcomer named Marco couldn’t commit to the full game but wanted to observe, so we paired him up with Topher. A highlight of the evening was watching those two walk back to the table after having conferred over their moves, laughing maniacally. It’s likely that we’ll see Eber, Topher and even Marco again.
