What a Slacker!

Yeah, I've been a horrible slacker, lately...

Since my last update, before Thanksgiving, we've had the following:

Thanksgiving
Syracuse Basketball goes to 8-0
Played Hannibal x2
Played Combat Commander x2
Had 2 new dog training days
And a lot of other boring stuff...

Thanksgiving was fine, nothing exciting. I made oyster stuffing and a peppery giblet gravy. For dinner, I had a lot of dark meat, stuffing, gravy, and whole-berry cranberry sauce. Most excellent. Had some of Deanna's pumpkin pie later in the evening, and it was good (though I prefer my non-cook pumpkin chiffon pie!). Didn't really bother with the football games, as the match-ups all sucked. Played poker into the night, though my Visa will no longer deposit money into my Poker Stars account (I had recently taken back a good deal of winnings, so when I went to put more $$ in, I was rejected -- I need to do an e-check one of these evenings...).

Syracuse won a tourney in Kansas City, beating #17 Florida and #22 Kansas in the process. And they kept winning, beating Virginia, Colgate, and Cornell after that. They're an exciting team that has the bad habit of falling behind early, then coming on like gangbusters and winning the second half. Jim "2-3 Zone" Boeheim has a team that excels at man-to-man D, and whenever they get out of their zone, they play much better. AP has them ranked #16 now, and the top 25 has EIGHT Big East teams in it -- a third of the poll. What a monster conference, I'm betting 10 teams get into the NCAAs (they should).

I played a practice game of Hannibal with Mike last week, to help him learn the mechanics (we ended after 3 turns). Last evening we started a real game, and are through 6 turns. My Carthaginians have the upper hand, but Mike's Romans had a good last turn, with Scipio Africanus leading the way. Should be an interesting end...

Bob Titran came by last Saturday, and we played a couple games of Combat Commander. First game was from the paratrooper battle pack, a fight over glider resupply outside Bastogne on 12-27-44. My American paras were able to overcome the evil Germans and pick up the victory. After a nice Thai lunch, we decided to use the Random Scenario Generator for a new game. Bob rolled up the Italians in 1940, while I got Allied Minors, so the scenario worked out to a Greek company trying to take back a village held by an Italian Blackshirt detachment. A couple of weenie armies, which made the scenario a lot of fun -- it took me a while to get the Greeks going, but they were on the move. Then we thought we had misplayed a victory condition (which, in hindsight we hadn't, d'oh!), so we decided to call it for the Blackshirts, as Bob had to hit the road anyway. All in all, good fun, and I think this may be my favorite game right now -- so much happens!

On Saturday night, I was talked into playing a game with Deanna and 2 kids. The 4 of us ended up playing Santa Fe Rails, and it was actually pretty fun. Brad, the youngest, ended up winning with 163 points, I was 2nd with 159. I admit, I helped him out, and I didn't play as cutthroat as I could (should?) have, but it was pretty fun, nonetheless.

Cheyenne's new training regimen has begun, and she's not getting along with an English Mastiff in class. The Mastiff growls at other dogs, and this pisses Cheyenne off, so she barks back at him, and gets all the dogs going. She needs to learn that it might not be a good idea barking at t dog 3 times her size! She is a smart dog, but so damn stubborn. Maybe she has a little Sicilian blood in her, as I do.

And life goes on. I have gaming and Cheyenne to keep me busy, and I really need to get back into shape (this is proving elusive). I also need to focus on getting a game design going, I really do.

Oh yeah, I need to be more vigilant here, too.

So many resolutions, waiting for the New Year...

WBC, Day 5...

First off, after coffee (of course!) was the semi-finals of Santa Fe Rails. I was seated at a table with Kevin W. from Buffalo, Laurel Stokes (the wife of the "no table talk" guy), and Andy Lewis. A tough bunch, it would seem! Kevin, and I jumped out as the early leaders, but neither of us could stop the game early, as Andy Lewis kept buying branch lines. By drawing a lot of "7" cards, Laurel pulled up with the leaders. We laid a lot of track, and most cities were connected -- something that doesn't often happen at a table with 4 experienced SFR players. I drew both Bismarcks, and there were already 2 tracks heading there, with another track coming back east from Spokane. I didn't play "white" quickly enough, and the track never made it, "cheating" me out of 10 points. I also should have convinced Laurel to take the blue track through Salt Lake to Las Vegas, instead of Sacramento -- she and I owned Las Vegas, and there was NO way I was letting it go to Sacramento, which she and Andy owned. So, my 2 errors cost me 16 points in the end. As it was, after a recount, Kevin had 155, Laurel had 152, I had 144, and Andy had 120. I'm glad Kevin won (if I couldn't!), and Kevin went on to win the finals -- meaning Western New York guys have won this tourney 3 out of the 6 years it's been going!

I walked around for a while and checked out the open gaming tent that had been set up. 3 guys were learning Traders of Carthage, including Steve (?), one of Ron Wuerth's friends, and a fun guy to game with. Not to mention Steve has the rules to about 1,000 games in his head! I was invited to join them, so I did. The game was fun, as you picked up 4 different commodities and tried to deliver them to Carthage, avoiding pirates. Actually, the game play for this card-game was pretty deep. It took me a few turns to figure out what best to do, and in the end I finished 2nd with the scores at 14-13-10-8.

Off to the last Pacific Typhoon heat -- if I don't win this one, no advancing for me, a former champion, 3 years in a row. Well, guess what? 39 points won the game. I had 11. Grrr... Maybe I have to practice more. Wait, I practice all the time...

Hanging my head in shame, I ambled off to the Alhambra semi-finals. I felt like I had a decent shot here to advance, since, for some reason, Alhambra has always been a game I've done well in, luck factor and all. The semis were a 5-player affair, and Nate Hoam of the Cabbies jumped out to an early (~4 or 5 point) lead. After the 2nd scoring round, it was obvious that it was a 2-man game between Nate and me. A white tower for 13 came up, and I had the exact amount -- that would put me into the tower lead and, most likely, win the game for me. Nate was sitting to my right, and he bought it out from under me, preventing my lead in towers! Excellent move on his part, as this proved to be the swing that gave Nate the win, 92-84. An excellent game that went right down to the wire. Oh yeah, another 2nd...

Of course, after that disappointment, I went back out to the open gaming tent and ran into a bunch of Western NY guys. We decided to play, wait for it, Alhambra! LOL! I should have said no, but I wanted to do something. I ended up in, guess what place? 2nd, that's right. The scores were: Grant-92, Rob-86, Bob Titran-72, Bill O'Neal-63, Dave W.-51, Bill Place-46. Another Alhambra game, another 2nd to a guy that scored 92...

I stayed out in the tent and started reading the rules to Iwo Jima: Rage Against the Marines, the game in the special issue of Operations Magazine. Several people came by to chat about it, and Jim Winslow asked if I'd like to try a game. We went for it, muddling our way through the rules, with me taking the Japanese and Jim taking the Marines. By the time the game ended, we had the rules down, and we both saw the mistakes we had made. Jim won (2nd for me again!), and I really want to try this one again, soon.

As I was packing up the game, Bob Wicks and a friend came by asking if I'd like to play Race for the Galaxy. As I love this game, but couldn't enter any heats (conflicts), I readily agreed. They grabbed a fourth, and we were off. Now, I'm not one to whine about my luck, but this was ridiculous -- I didn't see a resource producing planet for the first FIVE hands, sticking me squarely behind the 8-ball. So, I played a development heavy game, and though I finished 4th, my 23 points was only 6 behind the winner's 29. At least it wasn't another 2nd, LOL!

11:00 PM saw me headed back to Ballroom B for Liar's Dice. I sat at a table with Forrest Speck and his son John. 6 of us "lied" it out, and soon enough the only 3 left were Forrest, John, and me. Soon I got booted, and Forrest had a 3 dice to 1 advantage over his son -- but John played great, and ended up winning. A fun game that plays better when the alcohol levels rise. OK, maybe I should be happy with 2nds, as I seem to be slipping...

Late at night. Much beer consumed. Another "friendly" game of Pacific Typhoon begins... 6 of us fight it out. The final scores are 35-25-23-18-15-11. I had 18. Steve Cuyler wins, but whines through the whole game, something negatively commented on by the other players. Steve is an excellent player, but the constant complaining about his cards has gotten real old. Stopped being fun about 1/2 way through, though, mercifully, the game was reasonably quick -- I just wanted to head to bed. It was too late for this...

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 2...

Woke up early Tuesday morning and had my coffee -- needed to be caffeined up for the Manoeuvre tourney that started at 9:00 AM. This was a tournament with "pods," where you played the other 3 people, and best records advanced to an 8-person quarterfinal. High roll could pick the side he wanted to play, with the caveat that you have to play every nation (assuming you go the distance) and can play no nation more than twice. In my pod, the first game saw me as the British vs. Ken (?)'s French. I won a territorial victory, garnering 25 points. 2nd game was my French vs. Ed (?)'s Prussians. I won a pretty decisive attrition victory for 27 points. The last game saw my French playing Brad's Austrians -- Brad was the guy I played on Monday night. He put up a good fight, but the French overwhelmed them eventually, giving me another 27 point victory. I easily advanced to the quarters as the 2nd seed.

Being the 2nd seed got me in a game with John Miklos, Mark Miklos' son. John is an excellent player, and I had already "shot my wad" with the French and the British. John selected the French, and I wavered between the Prussians, Spaniards, and Russians. I settled on Prussia, and we had a good game. For a while. Then John broke my right wing, and ended up routing me for a 5-1 victory. Ouch! John did go on to make the finals, though he lost his last match. I learned a few tricks, some of which I hope to employ next year!

After hanging out for a bit, I entered the first of 4 Atlantic Storm/Pacific Typhoon heats. We could choose to play either game, and I went for PT. It was a pretty good game, and I had some chance to win, but was stynied at each turn. As the game ended, the winner had 38 points, while I was 2nd at 30. The other scores were 29, 19, and 12. Damn, but I haven't won a heat here in a couple years, gotta get going!

Onto Santa Fe Rails, a monthly favorite at out Rochester meets. We played a 4-player game, and there were a couple of newbies to my left. They fed an awful lot of point opportunities to Steve Scott, the eventual winner, and he picked up 84 cash during the game -- which is huge. Hell, 50 cash is huge, I'd never seen a number as high as 84 before... So, try as I might, I could never make up that deficit (wish the newbies had been to my right...), and I finished in 2nd. Final scores were: 119-114-101-65. Seeing how the winner was spoon feed the victory, I feel like I played an excellent game, even though I didn't win. Oh well...

Now, I began thinking about my day and a half in Lancaster. I had started off with 7 straight victories, but then was saddled with 3 losses in a row. I needed to turn things around, so I went off to have a few beers, and just relax for a bit.

Later on that evening, I decided to play Ivanhoe, since a bunch of Western NY guys were playing. We were all happily buzzed, so why not? Now, this is not one of my favorite games -- it's OK, but it often takes too long for what it is. Luckily, my game finished quickly, and I won. Back on track...

Mike and Bob were in the "monster game room" playing Third World War with Jeff and Chris from Jersey, so I went and checked on their game for a while. After Mike's brake "incident," he finally made it to Lancaster and they all looked like they were having fun.

Ended the night hanging out with the boys at the bar, into the wee hours of the morning. Figured since I was skipping Wilderness War this year, I could sleep in on Wednesday, which I did.

A real fun start to the con, even if I blew it with Manoeuvre...