WBC, Day 6...

Saturday arrives -- always a bittersweet day at WBC, for there is a lot going on, yet you know the end is near.

After coffee, I headed down to the Kaiser's Pirates semis, hoping I could do something right in a semi... The GM/designer, Jim Day, took 12 players (which included a couple of alternates) to make three 4-player tables. The three winners and high second would advance. I was at a table with Joel Tamburo, Carol Caler, and Paul (?). Joel jumped out to a big early lead, and I brought the table's attention to this -- don't go after the merchantmen of the leader, for they can potentially generate points for him. I believe Joel was up by 15+ points over me at that point, and the whining began. Holy shit, but it was annoying, so much so that Carol held up her "No Whining" button every time Joel took his play. Thankfully, I passed him at the end (due to 50 points in prize ships!) and won the semi, 82-77-55-44. Unfortunately, Joel's 77 got him high second, so the whining would continue into the finals.

We started the finals at 11:30, and I had a 1:00 Galaxy semi coming up, figured, no problem. But wait, even though the heats and the semis had been one game, the finals would be played out with the tournament rules -- 3 hands, points for scoring in each round. I knew we'd never make it, and I almost withdrew before we started, especially because I wasn't looking forward to another 90 minutes of whining before I left. Funny thing was, Carol Caler gave me her "No Whining" button for the finals, saying, "You'll need this with that guy!" So, I decided to play as long as I could. I won the first round, so was up 4-3-2-1. About mid-way through round 2, Marty Sample called from the Galaxy room, telling me they were about to start. So I respectfully resigned my position, and it was taken over by Jim Day. I found out he ended up winning (of course...), but I was given 4th, since I couldn't win off of his play. I'm pretty sure I would have won if I had stuck around. Alas... I am getting a nice t-shirt of the German ocean liner turned raider, the Berlin, which will be cool (all 4 finalists got to pick a ship to put on their t-shirt). At least no more whining from Mr. T...

I raced to the Galaxy semis, making it just in time. I was disappointed to have to leave the Kaiser's Pirates game, but this was my team game after all, and, Hell, I need to try to score points for the boys! We were set up in five 4-player games, with winners advancing. My table had two 16ish year old players and Jed Shembeda. The whole Shembeda family is good at Galaxy, and I've played with Jed before and know he's an excellent player. So, I figured my chances to advance were 50/50, as it would be either me or Jed -- unless we completely screwed each other (though, to be fair, I think we'd both rather see the other advance than a kid who squeaked in because we pummeled each other!). Excellent game that went back and forth. Jed made the last play to end the game, revealing his Imperial secret base, becoming Governor there, and playing a "10" on the Imperial world, killing off the ECups. This killed my secret base (-5 points), and since Jed was Imperial Governor, so he bumped up one of his bases on Imperial column. Final score was 12-7-2-1. Before Jed's last play I had him 12-11. Oh well, no shame in losing to a good player and a good guy. No points for me in the team tourney. Ouch...

Hung out for a bit, had a few beers, then went off to the Ivanhoe semis. The starting player got off to a big lead, then was brought back to the pack. The guy next to me kept on duking it out with me for a blue token, even though he had one. This weakened my hand (even though I eventually won the tournament), and allowed the "quiet man" sitting diagonally from me to smash us in 2 straight tournaments and win the game. The winner was Andy Latto, and he went on to win this tourney and 3 others, giving him 4 woods in 2008. Man!

Not a lot of disappointment about Ivanhoe, as I really don't care too much for the game, it was just something to do (though the guy to the left of me played a dumb game -- the multi-player game bane, eh?). Looking for something to do, I heard that the Facts in Five game would be starting shortly. So I headed there, as I like trivia. Here, everyone plays 5 games, and the categories and letters for each game have been done beforehand by Arthur Field, the GM. He tries to make categories/letters that have only a few correct answers. To give you an example, we had Maryland Counties, English Premiere Soccer League cities, last names of Harry Potter characters, German field marshals (von not included!), Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, London Neighborhoods, etc. These were hard puzzles, and we had 5 minutes for each game. After the game, the sheets were corrected by another player, then passed in. When all 5 games were completed, they were collected and scored again by Arthur and his wif that evening. I did OK, scoring 66 out of a possible 125 points. Had fun, and went out to find more "stuff" to do. Imagine my surprise when, a couple days ago, Arthur posts the results on CSW. The winner scored a 69 and "Rob Winslow was hot on his heels with a 66." LOL! This was a 2-plaque event, so I left a 2nd place "blue wood" back in Lancaster! I never thought to check at registration to see how I did. Guess my fount of useless knowledge is as good, or better than most peoples', LOL again! So, I'll have to pay Don Greenwood to send it out to me. Why not? Facts in Five is now on my list for future WBCs... Could a new favorite game be emerging???

After dinner, I was talked into playing Naval War. I dislike Naval War, and hadn't played for probably 20 years. But, what the Hell, I figured I wasn't winning anywhere else, might as well try here (not knowing about my once and future brilliance in Facts in Five, !). I get to my table of 6, and immediately take a tiny first round lead. Several people at my table are idiots, and play a stupid game. I end up in 3rd when all is said and done, the only good news is that one of the idiots didn't win (a nice guy and decent player did, so that was good). 3 hours of my life I'll never get back. Please shoot me next year if I ever even think about this stupid game...

At the bar that evening John Foley shows up and watches a 4-player Kaiser's Pirates "drinking" game among me, Bob Titran, Grant LaDue, and Frank Mestrve. Bob ends up winning, Grant was second, I was third, and Frank was last. I admit, I don't remember much of this game...

I did have the common sense to pack stuff up earlier in the evening, as I don't even recall going to bed that night. Mixing beer with rum and cokes -- ugh...

WBC, Day 4...

Thursday's at WBC have traditionally been Command & Colors: Ancients day (well, at least for a couple of years, LOL!), but I decided to beg out of this tourney since it conflicted with two Galaxy heats and I really had to try to win one, being a good teammate and all... So, I got up, had my coffee, and headed to the "Lampeter" room for a game of Kaiser's Pirates.

I played this one last year, when it was first released, and scored the highest total in the preliminary rounds (over 100!), but ended up finishing 5th out of the the 6th finalists. I really wanted to have a better showing this time around. I ended up in a game with Mark Miklos and Don (?), and the way the tourney is set up the top 12 scorers advance to the semis. I won my table with 70 points, but wondered if that would be enough to make the semis. I will have to check on that throughout the next few days...

Galaxy heat 2 of 4 was up next. I got put at a table with my friend Marty Sample. It's always one of those good/bad things when at a tourney table with a friend -- you know the game will be fun, and you don't mind if your friend wins, but it's not always satisfying beating a bud. As it went, we had another 4-player game, and Marty and I tied, 12-12! The tiebreaker was point value of cards in hand. I had 30, Marty had 41. Oh well, another 2nd, but a good guy was definitely advancing, so that was OK...

I looked at my schedule and saw I could make the 2nd heat of Santa Fe Rails. I decided to play in this one, as the 3rd heat later that evening had a bunch of other games against it, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to play again. I was at a table with Duane (?), Paul (?), and Chris Palermo. It was a wide-open game, even though I bought 3 Branch Lines and never used them, trying to shorten the game! The final scores were in the high range, 183-176-166-158. I had never before (in 3 years!) won a heat of SFR. In this game, the 183 was my score, so I'd be advancing to the semis. Finally!

That evening, there was the 3rd of 4 Galaxy heats. My team game, and one I had yet to win. This time, we had a 5-player game. The final scores were 15-7-7-4-4. I had a "7," but finished 2nd based on card values. Mark Mitchell told me I was a definite for the semis, with three 2nds. Woo-hoo, I'm #2! Well, at least I could blow off the 4th heat and try some other games...

11:00 PM rolled around and I went to check out the Pro Golf tourney. Bruce Monnin runs it, and I hadn't played in a few years, so I decided to give it another shot. Now, this game is pretty much pure luck -- in both the golfer you get and in your rolls. Good golfers have better cards, and high rolls are good while low rolls aren't. I found a foursome with Dave Metzger, Jeremy Billones, and Robert (?). I drew Davis Love III, which, I think, was a pretty good draw. We played the Augusta National course (where the Masters is played), and it was tough, all of us having a few bogeys. Going into the 18th hole, Dave's Jay Haas was -5 while my Davis Love was -4. In one of those "shit happens" moments, Dave's rolling went south, and he scored a double bogey. I shot a par, and won our foursome, -4; -3; E; +3. An exciting finish, now I had to wait and see if -4 would make the cut for the 4 finalists. It held up for a while, but when a foursome came in with both a -8 and a -6, the two -4s on the board were bumped, very close to the end of the round. Oh well, I was close, and it was fun.

Some drinks at the bar with the "Western New York Drinking Club with a Gaming Problem," then off to bed. But up pretty late with no gaming...

WBC, Day 3...

Slept in Wednesday morning, as planned. Recovered a bit from the previous two nights! I must admit, I felt guilty that I wasn't playing Wilderness War, but man, I needed a break from day-long wargames this year.

***Boardgame Geek is down for maintenance now, so no links to games, sorry***

I get up, have coffee, and wander around the Host, shooting the shit with many different folks. As 1:00 approaches, I head off to the Galaxy room, to play in the first heat. Oh man, but this was an unlucky game for me. My secret base died early, and the other 2 players refused to attack the clear leader (not me, LOL!), so the best I could do was eke out a distant second. The scores were 14-6-3-1. Multi-player games can often go against you if inexperienced players make plays that help others -- such as in my Santa Fe Rails game yesterday. But it was OK, there were 3 more heats coming, and the GM, Mark Mitchell, said 1 or 2 seconds might be enough to advance, anyway. Oh yeah, did I mention that Galaxy was my team game this year? I was on "Team Viagra," ranked #13...


I spend some more time just hanging out and catching up with old acquaintances. Later in the afternoon I decide to take a shot at playing Ingenious, a game Pete Stein runs. I like the game, but mainly have played the 2-player game with my wife, while the tourney utilizes the 4-player version. Well, I show up and actually win my board, 13-10-9-8. I'm told by Pete that I'm either in the semis, or, at worst, will have to "dice off" with folks in the same boat as I, depending on how many show up for it on Sunday morning. That sounded fine to me, as I hadn't even planned on playing Ingenious, it just fit nicely into my schedule.

After dinner I ran into Bill O'Neal, and he was between games, so we played a game of Manouevre -- my Austrians vs. his Spanish. It was a pretty good game, but Bill opened things up at the end and ended up winning 5-3. I thought I had a good chance mid-game, but then Bill played a stout defense on his right wing and that led to my army eventually breaking. Again, another fun (and quick!) game.

Next, I headed to another Pacific Typhoon (I decided to play PT over Atlantic Storm each time...) heat, and this game was most excellent! Back and forth all game, and in the end it end it came down to 3 players, including me, with a chance to win. The last battle was won by a player out of the running, and then we counted points. All 3 leaders had 28 points -- a 3-way tie! The tiebreaker is "battle points," and Gary (?) had 22, while I had 20 and Joe Burch had 15. So Gary won, and I had to walk away from another "close but no cigar" game. D'oh!!!

As the evening wore on, I checked the schedule and saw that an Alhambra heat was about to start. I like Alhambra, but there's an awful lot of luck in 4 or 5 player games, so I debated on playing. What the Hell, I went for it, as nothing else was waiting for me. I had a great wall built up, and was ahead in 2 buildings. The final scores were 127-104-89-82 with the 127 belonging to me. This assured me of getting into the semis, so I was glad I stopped in and played.

The 11:00 PM game was one I had to go to -- the Can't Stop tourney. I won this last year, so it would have been poor form to stay away. And besides, I like rolling dice! Well, what can one say about this game? You roll dice and you gamble your position. In Round 1, I gambled well, and won a 4-player game. In Round 2, we played 3-player, and there was a young guy at my board. His buddies were drunk and loud, and while it was funny for a couple minutes, it quickly got annoying. I wanted to win, or have the woman at my table win, just to shut them up. So I took foolish chances (trying to get lucky) to quicken the game. I didn't win, but the woman did. And one of the loudmouths spilled beer all over himself. So it was a Pyhrric victory, eh?

After Can't Stop, it was time for bed. Or was it? Not when one stops by the bar and starts drinking -- this leads to a 1:00 AM game of Pacific Typhoon. It was me, Bill Peeck, Bob Titran, Frank Mestrve, Tom Dunning, and Bill Place. Tom and I tied for 2nd with 25 points. Frank won with 31. Now it was definitely time to hit the sack...