So we moved on to week three of my local games stores mini tournament this week, with my 5-year old professional dice roller in tow. First, I learned a few things last night about the tournament itself, largest piece of news being that this would be a five week tournament and not four. Also, that there is enough money in the pot to place three players, with first still having a hefty prize (well, hefty enough for a $5 entry fee loosely run tournament). This is good because I think it will help spread out some of the winners some and hopefully will have a clear cut winner in the end. And, after last night's results, I am really happy to hear that I'll have the chance to furthr increase my lead.
Now, on to the game. The way this tournament is being run is as a challenge league, in that you must accept any challenge that comes to you or suffer the loss. Weaker players (those with lower records and victory Point counts) call the challenges, to prevent stronger players from praying on the weak to win. So this week, as soon as my son and I walked into the door, Sam sees me and yells out, "I challenge EvilEd209!" There is a bit of a giggle that runs through the room, but I smiled and humbly accepted.
You see Sam is relatively new to the game, in fact I think that I was his 10th or 11th game total last night. And I do not like to brag, I really don't, but I am considered to be one of the top players in my area. So for Sam to call me out in front of my kid was pretty brave. Stupid, but brave.
The game wasn't really much of a game at all, as it was more a teaching session then anything else. Now, normally I would throw a game like this as to build the confidence of the new guy and keep him interested in the game. However, this was tournament play, with money involved and prizes. And my kid was there watching Daddy and you don't want to seem like a loser in front of your kids, now do you?
I still helped him out, I basically countered my own deployment by helping him with his. I gave him a basic strategy to go with, told him what units were his biggest threats and the best ways to handle them. I did almost everything but tell him turn by turn, shoot this, move here, do that. But once turn one began, the teaching stopped.
I am not going to give you a blow-by-blow of this game here today because, well it was a comedy of tactical errors on his part that lead to him being wiped off the board by turn 4. I did, in the interest of sportsmanship and being a nice guy, feed him a few units to murder and feel good about, but this game was never in any question.
The real news here is that the other top players in the tournament (the 2-0 players) all tied in their games. Two of the guys, Mike and Greg, Played each other and it ended in a tie and David, my friendly rival, managed to tie a game to one of the new guys. So at the end of the day, your good 'ol friend EvilEd209 was sitting on the top of the pile at 3-0 with 3000 Victory Points. Next week I got challenged by Greg, on of our better players, so I will not be newbie bashing next week. But, if I did the math right, if I manage to beat Greg and finish week 4 at 4-0, there is no way I can not place in the week 5 finale.
Thanks to Sam for a fun game that was mostly just for laughs. Sam said that he wanted to see how good I really was and why everyone up there speaks my name with fear. Why does everyone call me Evil in the first place. Well Sam, now you know. In a couple of weeks the tournament will be over and I will let Sam beat up on me and maybe earn some of that back. As long as no money is involved, I don't care about losing.
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