Through the Ages

Through the Ages BPA Tournament 2024

This is the home page for the 2024-25 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2024, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org.
This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
This tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).
 
Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points
accordingly.

Pace of Play: The game app has a timer function which it automatically enforces. You get 24 hours whenever you have to make a decision, which includes responding to colonization/aggressions/pacts on others’ turns, and your own turns. If you go beyond 24 hours, then you will start to deplete your personal time reserve of 72 hours, which refreshes at the start of age II and age III. For example, if you moved yesterday at 3 pm and a colony flips on someone else’s turn yesterday at 3:15 pm, but you don’t move until today at 8 pm, then you’ve used up the 24 hours, plus 4 hours and 45 minutes of your time reserve.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.

 If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: March 21, 2024

Registration Closes: August 5, 2024

Heat Stage Starts: August 12, 2024

Semifinals Start: TBD, likely October 2024
 
Finals Start: TBD, likely December 2024

Sign Ups

Sign up below, or click here for the form in a new window

Through the Ages Online Tournament

Through the Ages Season 25
Online Tournament

Standings
Report Results
Pairings
Sign Up
Overview & News

Season 24 Standings

As games end the standings are updated. See how each league is doing and check on your friends and rivals.

If the frame below is hard to read on your device follow the link:

Tournament Results

Season 24 Game Assignments

Players will find their game game assignments on meepleleague.club.

The Through the Ages tournament uses Czech Games Edition application of the game. 

OR link to a page/tab.

Sign Up for Next Season

You can sign up for the next season on meepleleague.club.

Remember, the Tournament now uses the expansion cards set. You must have that to play.

If you don’t already have one, create an account for the sign up system the Meeple League is using. Be sure to add your Czech Game Edition online user name (and any others you have) to your account.

meepleleague.club

Under the Play! menu select Register for Tournament to see all the events open for sign up.

Our TTA event uses the online implementation on ios, Android and Steam (for Mac and Windows) from Czech Game Edition. The app is based on the most recent edition of the game (“A New Story of Civilization”) and no house rules.

Players are sorted into Groups of 7 players based on previous results.  In a season, each player plays in 4 games and each other member of your Group will be in 2 games against you. Winning a game is worth 10 points, 2nd is 6, 3rd place gets you 3 points, and 4th nets 1. You can read more details about the rules for Meeple Leagues HERE.

Divisions are based on previous Season results. New players enter at the bottom level for their first season.

You’ll receive a notice in your email once the pairings are ready. If you do sign up, you are committing to checking the app a couple of times on most days (it’s OK if something comes up every once in a while, or if you’re out of town for a weekend (for example), but in general we’re hoping game lengths will be measured in weeks not months.

To sign up for this (and future) season of Through the Ages, you must create an account at BucketofDice.com.

Add your user name on the Czech Game Editions application and then sign up.

This system is run by the Meeple League, but has a separate domain name because it isn’t part of our WordPress system. We are developing it on our own.

The reason we are doing sign ups with it now is to make sure players are credited for participation in all Meeple League events. Mis-typed and slight variations in names causes many problems with our previous sign up and score reporting system. Having your own identity for use in all events saves a lot of sifting through data.

Through the Ages Online Tournament
Report Results

The winner of each game should report the result on meepleleague.club, but if a day or two has gone by and the score isn’t reflected in the standings then anyone else should please feel free to make sure we get the scores.

Standings update immediately once results start coming in.

Previous Season Results

Season 24 is over. If any new results have to reported, email the game coordinator.

Lifetime standings are available.

If the frame below is hard to read on your device follow the link:

Tournament Results

BPA Through the Ages Online Tournament 2023

Sign Up
Game Assignments
Standings
This is the home page for the 2023 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2023, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org.
This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
This tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).
 
Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points
accordingly.

Pace of Play: You are expected to check your games and take your turns (at least) once per day. Games that haven’t finished in 8 weeks are likely to be adjudicated, and the adjudication will include demoting slow players to lower finish positions.

June 2023 clarification: The game app has a timer function which it automatically enforces. You get 24 hours whenever you have to make a decision, which includes responding to colonization/aggressions/pacts on others’ turns, and your own turns. If you go beyond 24 hours, then you will start to deplete your personal time reserve of 72 hours, which refreshes every age. For example, if you moved yesterday at 3 pm and a colony flips on someone else’s turn yesterday at 3:15 pm, but you don’t move until today at 8 pm, then you’ve used up the 24 hours, plus 4 hours and 45 minutes of your time reserve.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.

 
If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: April 6, 2023

Registration Closes: May 15, 2023

Heat Stage Started: May 19, 2023

Semifinals Start: August 2023
 
Finals Start: October 2023

Game Assignments

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically create games.

Game Results

We will use the CGE tournament feature to automatically track standings.

Sign Ups

Signups are now closed

BPA Through the Ages Tournament 2022

Results
This is the home page for the 2022 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2022, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org.
This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
This tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).

Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points
accordingly.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.
 
If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Pace of Play: You are expected to check your games and take your turns (at least) once per day. It’s OK to have an occasional break of a couple of days, but we expect most games to finish in less than two months. Games that haven’t finished in 8 weeks are likely to be adjudicated, and the adjudication will include demoting slow players to lower finish positions.

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: May 30, 2022

Registration Closes: July 22, 2022

Heat Stage Starts: August 1, 2022

Semifinals Start: September/October 2022
 
Finals Start: November/December 2022

Tournament Results

28 players played a total of 46 games (all 4-player) in this year’s tournament. We used the CGE tournament interface again with the same format as last year, although we cut to different numbers for the semifinals and finals.

Heats: Nathan Heiss set this year’s high score with 339. Four games were decided by 1 culture or less: a tie between Nathan and Aran Warszawski, a win by Andrew Norgren over Luke Heinz, and two wins by Kevin Wojtaszczyk over Mike Assante and Aran. Andrew Norgren topped the field with three wins and a second, while Galen Loram and Allan Jiang also managed 3 wins each. There was a 3-way tie at 22 points for the final qualifying spot, which Nathan Heiss took in a tiebreak over Joel Lytle and Antero Kuusi.

Semifinals: 13 players played one game in each seat, and faced everyone else exactly once. Mike Assante had the most lopsided win of the tournament (291-158). That was one of four blowouts in this round, with Galen, Aran, and AJ also winning a game by 80+ culture. All four of those big winners made it to the finals, with Randy Buehler joining them. There was once again a tie for the final spot, this time at 20 points; Galen advanced due to his better record in the heats, over Kevin Wojtaszczyk who took 6th place.

Finals: The stage is now set for the finals. Galen has won both of his first two BPA TTA events, and is looking to make it a threepeat in the online tournament. Randy and AJ are looking to add to their hardware as the two top laurelists in BPA TTA history. Aran is a frequent finalist looking to break through, while Mike recently made it to the top division of the TTA Meeple League and is in his first TTA finals. All finalists play once in each seat, and face everyone else three times.

Game 1 – Galen has a tough start in first seat, losing a worker to Barbarians and territory to Uncertain Borders. But in the middle of age II, he wins the Vast Territory I with a single unit and switches his military to Cannons with Fortifications, quickly turning a bad position into an utterly dominating one. Galen does on to win with the highest score and margin of the finals, 239-168. Meanwhile, AJ went for a military all-in, and successfully attacked Randy and Aran to take 2nd place.
Game 2 – A close one until early age III, when AJ in first seat plays Napoleonic Army backed by his Great Wall, Annexes Mike’s Vast Territory II, and hits 60 strength in an early War over Culture against Galen. Aran makes a later military push for 2nd.
Game 3 – Aran’s in first seat, but falls behind in military in age II. Randy gets a strong Barbarossa supported by Irrigation and St. Peter’s Basilica. Mike gets plenty of territory with Uncertain Borders, Vast Territory I, and adds Ocean Liner. Randy plays Mobile Artillery as his tactic, and then switches to culture production with Chaplin and theatres. Mike builds two age III wonders, but can’t quite catch Randy, who wins from fourth seat!
Game 4 – Randy and Mike get a huge boost in early age III by “winning” Cold War and making an International Tourism pact. Randy in first seat plays a strong economy game eventually leading to 2 operas, computers with Sid Meier, and a massive 36-point Empire State Building. But all hell breaks loose as AJ launches a dicey last-chance War over Culture on Mike in a desperate attempt to close the gap with them. This prompts Mike to also go all-in on his turn, seeding Impact of Strength (!!!) as the weakest player and knowing Politics of Strength (!) was in the deck. He catches the break he needed, hitting Arms Race to win the war and the game, with Randy taking 2nd place. If Politics had flipped instead, then the top 3 end in reverse order.
Game 5 – It all comes down to this game, with all four contestants otherwise having 16-19 points. Mike has the first seat advantage, and takes a big lead finding Vast Territory I with Columbus and then winning Uncertain Borders. Randy also gains territory (3 tokens) by the end of age II, but his lack of civil actions cost him dearly in the endgame. On the flipside, Galen is down 3 territory by the end of age II, yet manages to hang on with a good economy. AJ gets into a population crunch, even disbanding a Scientific Method in age II, but fights back into contention by pushing military in age III and successfully attacking all other players. 
In the end, it all came down to the impacts with Mike, AJ, and Galen in that order but all in contention. A total of 9 impacts were scored, including one by Galen’s United Nations, with all three of them scoring a total of 131 or 132 culture. Mike wins 238-236!! Congratulations Mike!!!

Standings:
1. Mike Assante
2. Allan Jiang
3. Randy Buehler
4. Galen Loram
5. Aran Warszawski
6. Kevin Wojtaszczyk

BPA Through the Ages Tournament 2021

Results
This is the home page for the 2021 Boardgame Players Association “Play By Email”  tournament for Through the Ages. It is open only to members of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA). If you attend the World Boardgaming Championship (WBC), and are up to date on your registration fees for 2021, then you are already a member. If not, you can purchase an “Associate Membership” (PBEM only) for $10 from this website: www.boardgamers.org. This tournament will award laurels and contribute to the annual Caesar award, all of which is tracked through that same website.
 

GM: Allan Jiang

AGMs: Randy Buehler and Galen Loram

Tournament Format

This tournament will be played on the TTA app by Czech Games that launched in 2017 for iOS, Android, and Steam. You must own the app AND the New Leaders and Wonders expansion in order to participate in the tournament.
 
The GM will attempt to run this tournament using the TTA app Tournament feature, which will require an extra confirmation step by participants. The Tournament feature will automatically create games, balance seat order in the final round (and possibly also in the semifinals), record finished games, and automatically calculate standings.
 
Games will be 4-player, use “Random Mix” for the card set, “Rules: Digital”, and “Default Async” timing (which means you have 24 hours to make a move once it is your turn, plus a time extension bank that refills whenever a new age begins … if you run out of time you will be dropped from the game and replaced by a bot).

Stages: There will be 3 stages in the tournament: heats, semifinals, and finals. In each stage, all players will play in 4 simultaneous asynchronous games.
 
Advancement: Advancement will depend on number of participants. Details on semifinal matchups are subject to change depending on the capabilities of the TTA app Tournament feature.
  • 26-31 participants: Top 13 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once. Top 5 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others three times each.
  • 32-47 participants: Top 16 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play all others once, except those in their quartile (i.e. top 4 in heat standings will not play each other). Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
  • 48+ participants: Top 20 in heat standings will advance to the semifinals where each semifinalist will play 12 different opponents; seeds 1-4 will not play each other, seeds 5-8 will face exactly one top 8 player in each game, and seeds 9-20 will face either one or two top 8 players in each game. Top 7 in semifinal standings will advance to the finals where each finalist will play the others twice each.
Standings: Each stage will have its own standings. You will be awarded 10 points for winning a game, 6 for finishing 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th. Points for tied positions in games will be divided evenly among the tied players.
 
Standings Tiebreakers:
  1. Points in the semifinals (if applicable)
  2. Points in the heats (if applicable)
  3. Average % of winner’s score in current stage
  4. Head to head record in current stages, then in previous stage(s)
  5. Average points of opponents played in current stage (strength of schedule)
  6. Later average seat order in current stage, then in previous stage(s)
  7. Random

Resignation: Players may resign as their political action prior to age IV, by clicking on ‘Game Menu’, ‘Forfeit the Game’, and ‘More about resigning”. A player who resigns will place last among the players currently in a game, and will still earn tournament points accordingly.

Bot Alert: When a player runs out of time or abandons a game, the app replaces that player with a bot. This is generally unpleasant for all parties involved, so please resign on your political action if you will not be finishing the game. You will not receive any points for games in which you were replaced by a bot, while the remaining players will receive points according to their finish rank including the bot.
 
If a player is replaced by a bot in age I and in the first two weeks of a stage, then the game is to be restarted as a 3-player game unless all players agree to continue playing with the bot. If a player is replaced by a bot at any other point, then the game may be restarted as a 3-player game if all players agree and the GM approves, on the basis that this restart will not prolong the stage.
 

Pace of Play: You are expected to check your games and take your turns (at least) once per day. It’s OK to have an occasional break of a couple of days, but we expect most games to finish in less than two months. Games that haven’t finished in 8 weeks are likely to be adjudicated, and the adjudication will include demoting slow players to lower finish positions.

Sportsmanship: Please be respectful to your opponents. Each player is entitled to make their own decisions in the game. However, it is not permitted to discuss pacts before offering them, to reveal any hidden information, or to intentionally help another player without any personal benefit in game. If you have any concerns, please contact the GM team.

Schedule

Registration Opens: June 13, 2021

Registration Closes: July 25, 2021

Heat Stage Starts: ~August 4, 2021

Semifinals Start: September/October 2021
 
Finals Start: November/December 2021

Results

Thirty-eight participants played 61 games in this year’s TTA PBEM tournament, which was run using CzechGames’s tournament interface for the first time. The CGE interface allowed for balanced seating in the latter rounds, automatic game creation, easy checks on tournament progress, and automated results into standings. Also new this year were a consistent format throughout all rounds (4 games each, weighted 10-6-3-1), a strict 16 players in the seeded semifinals, and new rules when players are replaced by bots.

In the heats, Mike Turian lead the way with three wins and a second, while Ryan Feathers, Jason Leggett, and Steve LeWinter each had two wins and two seconds and rounded out the top 4. Kevin Warrender set the high score with 375 culture, and finished the round with 23 tournament points, taking the 16th and final spot in the semifinals on tiebreaker over the GM, who managed to sabotage himself with all the new rules introduced in this year’s tournament.

In the semifinals, everyone faced all the other semifinalists except for those in their quartile in the heats standings. Steve LeWinter was the star of this semis, with three outright wins and a tie for 1st/2nd, and the high score of the round with 273 culture. Jason Leggett was just behind with three wins and a second. Joining them in the finals were Galen Loram, Randy Buehler, Eric Freeman, Michael Thiessen, and Mike Turian, who made it in with 20 tournament points plus tiebreaker over Sceadeau d’Tela.

Finals report by Galen:

The finals of the Through The Ages tournament featured a whole range of exciting games that somehow all turned out okay for me. In one of them, only knight tactics were played and despite desperate attempts to stay within strength range, aggression after aggression landed. I finally was lucky enough to give up my sovereignty to Randy and be a bit sheltered from attacks and safe from wars; Watt flipped an early oil which let me build up which, when combined with a Mech ag, let me stabilize and grab wonders while not being part of the wars flying left and right, and sneak out a win. Another one featured a random early printing press and Jan Zizka to get a nice culture lead early and endure some abuse later on; Mike and I had symbiotic civilizations and a big enough culture gap between us that our impacts together took him from fourth to third and me from second to first. One other game featured a nice military and Jason realizing that I was in the driver’s seat, and that playing for second was his best play – sending a military alliance my way to direct my hostilities other ways. The other game was just a “first seat doing first seat” things – the built in advantage of going first was enough to make the game go reasonably smoothly.

The CGE tournament system was a huge boon. We could see where we were relative to other games in terms of progress and everyone in the last game was sweet enough to speed up play in order to ensure that we could finish the tournament on time. Beyond that, having seat order balanced and a bit of seeding in the semis based on the heats was really great – definitely things that I hope to see in the future! Thanks to all the participants and organizer for a great tournament, and I hope to give defending my crown for a three-peat next year a try!

Congratulations to Galen Loram for winning both of his first two BPA TTA tournaments! Will anyone be able to challenge him? Next tournament will start in spring 2022.

The final standings were:

  1. Galen Loram
  2. Michael Thiessen
  3. Michael Turian
  4. Steven LeWinter
  5. Jason Leggett
  6. Eric Freeman