Wrapping Up: Prezcon 2016 Day 6

I am home now writing about the last day of Prezcon.  Prezcon Sundays, for me, are usually short.  I play Settlers of Catan and 7 Wonders, and go home by 12:00 noon.  This year was no different.  I also had a bit of time between games to pack and load my car.

In the six days of Prezcon, I played 26 games (playing 15 unique games).  Those games were a combination of tournament games and new games I learned in open gaming.  Of the tournament games, I won Lewis & Clark and finished 3rd in Liar's Dice.  If I had some shorter games, such as replacing History of the World with two hour games, I could have played even more boardgames. For a $70 flat registration fee, Prezcon provides a lot of opportunity for fun.

I also saw, met, and met again many people.  I would do well to better remember people's names (and not just rely on people's badges), particularly the GMs who put so much time and effort into running the tournaments (Charles, Shane, John, and others), but also other players like Paul, David, and others.

Gameplay Summary

• 7 Wonders:  I finished third of five in a relatively close game (first, second, and third scored 57, 54, and 53).  I enjoy playing 7 Wonders and need to break out this game with others more often.  Losing this game, however, prevented "schedule congestion" between 7 Wonders semifinals and Catan quarterfinals
• Setters of Catan:  I lost this quarterfinal game.  I set up in a risky position with no wheat (the board was wheat poor), but was able to establish a strong position with stone, wood, and the wood port.  Late in the game, the other players thought I would be able to win, but another guy had nine points, had two cities and a settlement on a wheat 10 tile, and rolled a ten.  That gave him enough wheat (with other cards in his hand) to upgrade to a city using nothing but win.  That was game

Plaque Buildup: Prezcon 2016 Day 5 Review

All of the Prezcon tournament winners get plaques.  If the tournament has enough participants there are second place plaques, and even third place plaques in the largest tournament.  Yesterday I won my first Prezcon tournament ever by winning a nailbiting Lewis & Clark final game.  I also managed to make the finals of the party game Liar's Dice for the third year in a row and finish third.  My friend Nathan also won his Britannia tournament to add a plaque to his second place plaque in Roll for the Galaxy he acquired earlier in the week. 


In addition to tournament games, I played a some pick up games in the Open Gaming Room (when I don't play History of the World, I have all sorts of time to play other games).  I tried Five Tribes again, which is a worker placement game that is okay.  I think what turns me off to the game is the artwork and color choices of the game (teal, orange, pink, black, beige, and gold).  My friend Tara also introduced me to Patchwork, which is a tetris like boardgame where you are scoring points for making a quilt (great for my fiber working friends who like to game).  We also pulled out a Prezcon copy of the new game Murano.  Murano is a game where the rules were not clear until we started playing the game.  It has an action selection mechanic that is driven by gondola boats you move from space to space around the edge of the board.  The game was pretty cool, and I think I would like to try it again with more than two players.


Gameplay Summary

• Lewis & Clark:  I played two games of this, the second heat and the finals, and won both.  For the heat, I ran a large, complicated expedition (8-10 cards) to get over the mountains on the board.  In the finals, I ran an extremely slim expedition (4 cards) to do the same thing.  I found a little bit of luck in the game and moved forward extra spaces based on the placement of the other players' tokens.  Another player missed winning by one space just before I achieved the win
• Patchwork:  I lost based on the large uncovered patches of my quilt.  For a tile placement game, I rather enjoyed this
• Murano:  As we went through and figured out the rules, I managed to win.  in the game, you build roads, shops and glass factories in Venice.  You also recruit characters in Venice who provide you goals and bonus points.  I didn't love the game, but found it interesting enough to want to try again
• 7 Wonders:  This has become a classic game for me that I thoroughly enjoy.  I ended up focusing on science development as Halikarnnasos and finished third of six.  We had some score calculation problems that almost made me miss the first game of Liar's Dice
• Liar's Dice:  I won my heat on the last throw of the dice.  In the finals, I slowly lost my dice on exact number guesses where other people had bid correctly (which is what I tend to aim for).  My third place finish is actually my worst finish ever at Prezcon -- I finished second the last two years.

I have 7 Wonders and Settlers of Catan today, and then it is my return home. 

Bring Your Games: Prezcon 2016 Day 4 Review

The Prezcon website, promotional emails, and program book all tell you that anyone who brings their own copy of a game is guaranteed a spot in a game tournament.  I imagine other boardgaming conventions say the same thing.  As such, I brought copies of several games that I own from lesser known titles like Lewis & Clark and Conquest of Paradise to popular games like Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan.  In all but one game, the tournament game master has had me set up my board for play.


I had decided yesterday to skip the third heat of History of World -- which takes five to six hours to play -- and play two games in its place:  Commands & Colors:  Ancients and Conquest of Paradise.  Arriving at the location of the Commands & Colors tournament, I found that they were woefully short on game boards.  I didn't bring my copy.  This meant that I couldn't play.  Happily, I was able to jump back into the History of the World game.  The message is clear:  if you have any interest in playing a game a boardgaming convention, bring your own copy.


Gameplay Summary

• History of the World:  I didn't have a great game here, but managed to avoid finishing last (4th of 6th)
• Isle of Skye:  I played this as a pick up game with my friend Mike.  Isle of Skye is a tile building game that contains an auction bidding element.  I like the auction bidding, but I do not like tile building games.  I have to think hard on all of the spatial relation combinations to get things to work.  It was a quick game, taking about 40 minutes to play, and I enjoyed it more than Carcassonne.  I suppose it helped that I was able to win
• Puerto Rico:  I tried a one dimensional strategy of shipping for victory points.  This didn't work for me, and I finished 3rd of four
• Codenames:  this is a great party game that I have played on several occasions recently.  I was able to drop into a game while waiting for my next tournament to start.  It is a team game where people must guess which word tiles are their "codenames" while avoiding guessing the tiles that are the codenames of the other team.  I will most likely pick up a copy
• Lewis & Clark:  I was able to win this game and advance to the finals.  Prezcon introduced to this game last year.  I love the game because it captures the feeling of the struggle to explore the west and cross the Rocky Mountains, it high quality artwork, its combination of worker placement and engine building mechanics, and the fact that there are many ways to put together a winning expedition

High Drama: Prezcon 2016 Day 3

Great boardgame experiences include tension, drama, and -- after the final moves have been made and the endgame reached -- laughter at the end to resolve that tension.  With the sheer number of games being played here, Prezcon is guaranteed to have many such situations. 


For myself, I played in two games yesterday with this kind of high drama:  a second game of History of the World and a game of Conquest of Paradise.  For History, I played well throughout most of the game, was leading going into the last turn and had other advantages set up for myself.  I ended up having to make a difficult choice at the end, made it, and had it not work out for me.  I didn't win, but the guy who ended up winning was convinced he had not scored enough points to do it. 


In Conquest of Paradise, three of the four players -- including myself -- believed they

The palm tree shows the way to Conquest of Paradise

were on the cusp of victory.  The end of the game involved us fighting amongst ourselves, declaring victories (an endgame mechanic), and pushing back and forth.  The game ended with the fourth player, who had silently been developing his island chain empire (perhaps a thalassocracy?) and developing his culture, having more points than any of the rest of us.  We could only laugh at the result. 
Gameplay Summary

• History of the World:  I finished third after leading most of the game
• Puerto Rico:  I very much enjoy this game, but I have only ever won it once (this is also driven by the fact that most of my Puerto Rico games have been played in Prezcon tournaments).  I scored a very strong 52 points, but finished second
• Conquest of Paradise:  After believing I was on the cusp of victory, along with two of the other four players, I finished last
• Castles of Burgundy:  I managed to just barely make the start time for this game.  I finished third out of three (my finishes have been getting progressively worse!), but had a good time.  I might order this game

More game playing fund today as more people arrive at the convention!

Victory and Defeat: Prezcon 2016 Day 2

From a game success perspective, my day started promising and ended in flames.  From a game fun experience, I was riding high through the day and into the night. 


In addition to the tournaments and open gaming that I described previously, Prezcon hosts a large number of demos.  Game masters and sometimes game designers teach demonstrate and teach the games.  People's abilities to teach games becomes very apparent in demos.  I appreciate someone who is organized and who begins with the game objectives.  I have actually walked out of demos when the demonstrator has focused on cool parts of the mechanics or jumps around different elements of the game (if you have been to Marscon, you may have heard me and Deb Fuller talk about the best methods of teaching games to others).


Acting on the advice of my friend Nathan Twigg, I attended The Game of Thrones demo.  The demonstrator, with a little prodding with directed questions from me and another player, did a pretty good job in teaching the game.  I could see elements of Diplomacy, Shogun/Samurai Swords, and some other area control games in this game.  It looked like fun, so I decided to take the plunge with seven other new players and enter the GoT tournament.


Gameplay Summary

• Settlers of Catan:  I won this game and advanced to the quarterfinals scheduled for Sunday morning!  I set up with good sheep access (the board was strong with sheep) and then managed to build a settlement on the sheep port.   A decisive point in the game was when I played Monopoly to gather 14 or sheep
• History of the World:  I come to Prezcon specifically to play this game.  Where else
  
  can I gather five other people to play a five to six hour game?  I had a strong start after the first two epochs with a good point total and picking cards first, but as the game progressed I never caught any strong civilizations until the last epoch.  I ended up finishing a disappointing last
• The Game of Thrones:  This was the first time I played this game.  Of the six players at the table, three were first timers, two had played the game once before, and one person knew the game intimately.  I played House Baratheon and proposed an
  
  alliance to the one player familiar with the game who was House Martell.  This rewarded me in the first half of the game as we took it to the Tyrells and I was tied for first place.  It fell apart when House Tyrell and House Lannister allied and I learned some new things about the mechanics of the game.  I finished the game tied with the Starks...for last

If it wasn't for the need for food and rest, I could have also played another game of Castles of Burgundy.  I also bailed on playing Tzolk'in:  The Mayan Calendar early in the morning because of it potential to conflict with the Catan game I was planning to play later that morning.  There are so many choices for games, and the schedule only gets more congested from here!

Boardgaming Fun: Prezcon 2016 Day 1

Prezcon is a boardgaming convention in Charlottesville, Virginia.  It is a gathering of hundreds of players playing scores of different boardgames in tournaments and as pick up games.  As I have done several times in the past, I have taken several days off work to play here.  The convention is also an embarrassment of riches in terms of games to play.  My friends Tara and Twiggy have the same "problem" as me:  we have so many tournament games in which we wish to play that we cannot play them all.  Winning preliminary heat games, in fact, advances us to semi-final or final games that create even more schedule conflicts with other games we want to play.  It's great!




Prezcon Tournament Plaques

There are two parts to Prezcon:  tournament play and open gaming.  Tournament play brings together players from all over the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond (there are players from as far away as Wisconsin, Alaska, and Massachusetts).  There are a mix of players from those just learning games to ones who are highly skilled.  The tournament players, however, are consistently good sports, which creates a competitive, yet friendly, environment in which to play.  Open gaming provides the opportunity to learn new games or play ones with which you are familiar.  Prezcon has a large open gaming room with a game library that spans a 40 wall of the room.  While open gaming is relatively quiet early in the convention, it will become packed by the weekend.



For the first time, I arrived at the convention site on Tuesday.  I worked during the morning and then spent the afternoon, evening, and night playing games.  In talking with several other people, I discovered that I was not alone in deciding to arrive early to Prezcon.  Several people that I know looked at the convention schedule and decided that there were enough interesting games on Monday and Tuesday to justify arriving early in the week.  I tip my hat to convention chairman Justin Thompson for scheduling games for Monday and Tuesday, thereby promoting the expanded playing time.

My gameplay summary (that I have also recorded in the Board Game Stats app, which is great boardgame nerd fun.  It is $3 on the App Store

• 4 games played, of those, 3 were tournament games
• Settlers of Catan:  I came within one turn of winning this game, not once, but twice (!)
• Castles of Burgundy (first time played at Prezcon):  playing for only the second time in three years, I muddled through the first few turns and still managed to finish a respectable second out of four.  Playing this reminded me of how fun this game is
• Roll for the Galaxy (first time I played at Prezcon):  I finished third out of four in my tournament game, but I was only one point behind first and second (scores were 36, 36, 35, and 27).  I also played a pick up game outside the tournament.  This game plays fast when everyone is familiar with the game

If you have never been to Prezcon, or perhaps if you are considering coming up this weekend – do it!  The combination of hundreds of good and friendly players, over 100 boardgame tournaments, a huge open gaming room with a game library that covers a 40 foot wide wall, and a nice venue make it a great time.  For myself, I am taking three and a half days of vacation to be here, but even coming for the weekend would be great fun.

Rowing in Difficult Conditions

I learned more this weekend about what I am capable of doing in terms of rowing. Specifically, I learned about what kind of adverse conditions I can row in and what kind of risks I am willing to take. This comes from having a better understanding of my own abilities and the abilities of those rowing with me.

I learned that I can row in adverse conditions with a coxswain I don't know – there are more good coxswains out there than I realized. In the two years I have rowed – I am still learning quite a bit about the sport – I have found three coxswains that I have learned to absolutely trust: one on the Lafayette and two on the Occoquan. They gained my trust through our rowing experiences together, both in practices and in races. The specific experiences included expert turning, smooth docking, quick commands, and good decisions in races. I have often joked that if “coxswain X” told me to row staight for the shore, I would do it”. I have rowed with several other coxswains. Many of whom I consider to be competent, but people who have not yet earned my absolute trust (that “row into the shore” kind of trust). I have also rowed with a couple of coxswains I do not trust based on experiences in crashing into docks, running aground, or receiving confusing commands.

This weekend, I was nervous about rowing in windy conditions with a coxswain I didn't know well. We ended up scratching that race because not everyone in the boat was comfortable going out on the river when winds were forecasted to be 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph (and, honestly, who is?). I did row later in the day, in a four instead of an eight, and with a coxswain I had never met. Rowing with a coxswain I had never met was a leap of faith. I took that leap based on the trust I had in the experience of the three other rowers with me and the visible weather conditions. While the wind was still blowing, the clouds had cleared away and the sun was now shining brightly. It is amazing what a bit of sunshine will do for me. When the sky was grey at my house and I saw a bird flying backwards in the wind, I didn't imagine myself racing at all. When midday arrived and those strong winds blew the clouds away, I felt better about the prospect of rowing.

I wish there was a way to judge coxswains I meet before going on the water with them. I asked our coxswain Maxim (we called him Max) what boats he had coxed and how many times he had been on the river that day. Happily, he had been on the river twice already coxing an eight and a four. He had just the racecourse experience we needed – local knowledge that was as recent as it gets. I still got into the boat with him without knowing how much overall coxing experience he had. I suppose I also transferred the trust I had in our Racing Director Eleanor to Max because Eleanor had found the coxswain at the regatta that afternoon. That is not a logical risk analysis.

The end results was that Max was a very good coxswain. He was aware of discomfort or nervousness in the boat. He counseled us to stay calm and focus on our recovery technique to keep the boat set as we rowed in very stiff winds and choppy water up to the start. During the race, where we had better water conditions, he kept us to row hard and to keep up our pace. The only item on which I disagreed with him (and where I pretty much ignored his command) was his call for us to increase our strokes per minute above 30 during the last 500 meters. This is something that works for high school rowers, but I knew my boat mates well enough to know that racing our spm above 30 would not speed up our boat. I know I would begin to shorten my strokes and deliver no additional power to the boat.

In terms of my own abilities, I learned that I could row in the stroke seat in windy conditions. This is something I had never done before. I was able to set the race pace that I wanted (and we won our race, beating at least one boat that we expected to be beaten by) and get through the gusts of wind that buffeted our boat during the race. The more challenging row, though, was getting up to the start when the wind was blowing more steadily hard. There were a couple of instances where it felt as if the wind lifted our boat on one side out of the water. I was able to avoid panicking; I attribute that ability to the miles I have rowed on water in the last two years. I have had a few occasions rowing in windy and choppy conditions so I knew what some of it felt like (the difference in racing this weekend was that the air temperature was 40 degrees colder than my previous experiences). The row to the starting line was not fun, but I was able to do it. I enjoyed our row during the race. We might have had the best 10 minutes of weather for the day. We were hit by gusts of wind, but the steady stiff wind that hit us before the start lightened as we raced down the course. We even had one short section where the winds seemed to die down completely and we made good time with strong strokes in a set boat.

I and the members of my club need to take weather conditions seriously. I believe I did. I was willing to scratch my early boat when there were the worst of conditions. The weather did improve throughout the day. The sunshine made me feel better, but that is not a logical improvement in the weather conditions. I need to keep that in mind when evaluating future conditions. I did learn, however, that I can row – and race – in windy conditions.