C10 showed no early signs of being the memorable game it would turn out to be!
None of the players was especially highly ranked, though one or two had
hopes of making the Top 16 with a strong finish.  Red was played by Sir Uriah, 
ranked 41st through Round B.  The Green standard was taken up by Wargs (#27),
the incoming favorite for the game.  Blue was the domain of Henry IV (#54),
and Lord Havell skulked in as Black at #78.  Just by looking at the rankings,
one might guess that the evenly-ranked Uriah and Henry IV would stalemate 
in the south, while the strong Wargs overran Lord Havell and became dominant.
But here's what *really* happened...

Sir Uriah started off with a nice story and a Viking theme, hiring the 
aptly-named Eric the Red on Turn 1.  But the game quickly established itself
as a tactical rather than diplomatic or storytelling game, when Wargs hired
Donars, Henry IV showed up to lead his armies himself, and Lord Havell did the
same, all without much roleplay.  Henry IV took the lead in hiring mighty
forces, summoning a griffin spawning ground in his territory immediately.
Everyone except Henry IV hired a second hero, and by the end of Turn 2 
everyone except Lord Havell is building griffins along with more usual units.
Uriah starts off the diplomacy on Turn 3 by using his diplomatic message to 
lock in an error made by Lord Havell, and follows up with one of the rare
bits of interesting roleplay while slaying the hero Lord Havell himself!  

The course of the game is set on Turns 3-5.  On Turn 3 Wargs asks Uriah 
for a red-green nonaggression treaty through Turn 11.  Both players have 11 
cities while both their foes struggle with 8 each, as both Henry IV and Havell 
see their initial expansion weakened by the lack of a second hero.  Uriah 
accepts the treaty with Wargs, and the stage is set for an east-west war.
But Uriah takes clear possession of the lead on Turns 4 and 5, killing off 
blue's demon and stealing his second gold ruin, building elephants and 
minotaurs, and climbing rapidly to 18 cities (against Henry IV's 6), while 
it is *Wargs* who gets into a 12-on-11 stalemate with Havell!  On Turn 6 
Uriah punctuates his invasion by killing off Blue's hero Henry IV.  
We have to quote Henry's lament at this point:

> A despondent army shuffles about a bit.
>
>Heros: none left
>
>Final Cities: 4  Gold: 184  Income: 150  Expenses: 51

This was his complete Turn 6 report!  And already the only remaining strategic 
question is, will Wargs (14 cities) and Havell (10 cities) see their peril in 
time to meet the growing Red menace?  Havell does, and asks Wargs for peace 
so he can counter Uriah.  But he is one turn too late...  Uriah reaches 50% 
of the cities by Turn *7*, but Wargs, having committed his forces to a clever 
hero-suicide assault on Black's capital, kills off his second hero on 
schedule, while eliminating Black's only remaining hero as well.  Wargs 
responds to Havell's offer like this:  

>Diplomacy:  Black: Your offer of peace now that I am poised to destroy
>you is comforting, but, alas, I prefer death and destruction.

Alas, his fun will prove to be short-lived...  To the outside observer, 
this looks like the decisive moment of the game - how can the weakened 
Green and Black armies, with no mutual trust, counter the killer Red hero
and his mighty and unified forces now?  

By Turn 8 Red has started invading Black cities in earnest, while Green 
installs a second archer production for future defense, and both Red and 
Green talk up a storm about how they really won't fight until Turn 11.
Red eliminates Blue on Turn 9, and Lord Havell has fallen to 4 cities.
In one of the highlights of the game, Red gives everyone a nice scare by almost 
going after Green 2 turns early!  His turn report speaks about a treacherous 
attack, then says that Eric the Red's bloodlust was stopped at the last 
minute by order of Sir Uriah himself... :)  At this point Red has 27 cities 
and Green 17.  Red and Green get into a diplomatic wrangle over a Green 
Griffin which appears to have wandered into Red airspace.  Red objects:

> You have been warned about that griffin!  >B-[
> Seems you've chose to don't hear my words, that means you have canceled
> our treaty yourself. I interpret that dull griffin move under my
> territory as an undoubted hostile deed.

Green makes a classic reply:
> Our agreement was not to attack each others' forces or cities. There
> were no provisions in the treaty for 'hostile moves' as interpreted by
> one player or the other; otherwise I would view you moving your entire
> army onto my border as fairly hostile. I have not broken our treaty, 
> nor will I do so. My griffin is merely scouting out the southern reaches
> of my legally owned territory :)

Black gets in a little final action, regaining his capital from Green
and sending a lone bat to pillage Red's minotaur production!
Unfortunately Havell fails to spend the cash, and Red recovers some
of it when he starts crushing Black's last few cities the next turn.
On Turn 10, Red kills the offending Green griffin anyway, and Green 
accuses Red of treachery...  Loopholes in treaties are so much fun!

The final phase of the game begins on Turn 11, as Red and Green finally
clash all over.  Red gains 5 cities and climbs to 34!  Wargs goes into a 
turtle defense and hopes for a Red mistake that will allow him to snatch 
victory from the jaws of defeat.  But it is not to happen.  By Turn 13, 
Green is writing his final end-of-game wrapup, having fallen to 7 cities.
And on Turn 14 and 15 Black foretells his own demise.  Finally, on Turn 16, 
Side 1, Sir Uriah has conquered the world, earning the Blitzkrieg Award!