Virginia weather is finicky. Yesterday, the temperatures got up to 70 degrees, and today the forecast is for 77 degrees. We had snow just a few days ago. I am convinced that the suddenly warm weather contributed to the splitting headache I had for much of yesterday. Day two of Prezcon was therefore a light board gaming day for me.
Between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, I only played one game, Columbia Game's Texas Glory. It is an asymmetrical, two player game about the Texas Revolution. As Mexico, you win by taking over all eight of 11 victory cities before the end of the game. As Texas, you win by either holding on to four victory cities for 12 turns, or by killing Santa Anna. I played Texas, and lost to Steve K, who had only played the game once before (I learned the game last year at Prezcon and picked up my own copy), but who is a very smart player.
Playing games at Prezcon, I reflect upon the fact each year that there are a lot of good players here. While I play a lot of my games by "feel", I see a lot of people who quickly calculate odds, can count large number of cards, and -- more importantly -- can make good decisions. I come away from a lot of games having learned something different I can do, or gathering a new piece of information about how an element of a game works. Even with games with which I consider myself familiar, I often find myself relearning the feel of the game the first time I play at Prezcon. Some of the games I play, such as Texas Glory or Alhambra than I played yesterday, I just don't get many opportunities to get to the table outside this convention.
I started feeling better by 6:00 PM and entered the Castles of Burgundy tournament. Castles is a game I very much enjoy. While having a plan for the game is useful, the game involves a series of tactical decisions based on what appears on the board in each round of the game. That fits my play style. In this game, I ran behind on points four out of the five rounds, but my early investment in turn order and picking up mines (a mechanic in the game that generates the rare commodity of money) finally paid off in the last round. I had set up a large amount of bonus points which propelled me to a narrow victory.
I continued feeling good later in the evening, so I played a pick up game of Axis & Allies. A&A has a "new" edition that is about 10 years old. It plays better than the old version in that provides some additional units that makes sea combat more interesting, a redrawn maps that expands the size of Russia and the Pacific, and a more generous scientific research rule. I played the axis powers (Germany, Japan, and Italy -- yes, Italy is an independent power), and ended up losing. The allies employed a Germany first policy which allowed Japan to run rampant until I made the same mistake twice (!) with Japanese fleets. The game ended the way A&A games should, by Germany and Russia rolling huge handfuls of dice in a battle for Moscow (dice that are heavier than your hands!). To win that battle, I needed some luck and needed the Russian to roll a bit below average. It went the other way, and with that battle lost, I conceded the game. Playing A&A took me back to the days when my friend Jim and I would play pairs tournaments of the game at Prezcon and Madicon in the early 90s. I had a lot of fun, but didn't get to bed until 1:30 PM.
Today, my highlight game is History of the World. It is the kind of game I rarely get to play outside of Prezcon because of its length. I finished second in last year's tournament in dramatic fashion. We will see how it goes today. I will also play Settlers of Catan, and possibly Castles of Burgundy.
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