WBC 2008 - Prelude

Prelude
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
PR Finals
Recap

I reread last year's recap and decided it didn't do a very good job explaining what actually goes on at WBC (World Boardgaming Championships). I think the main problem is that while it summarized what games I played it didn't really explain why I was playing them or what the structure of the whole event is. My goal this time around in general is to try to give a better feel for what actually goes on. In particular I'm going to use this starting post to go over the different styles of events and the feel for the week in general.

The main point of reference I (and I suspect many people reading this) have for a game tournament is Magic:the Gathering. Now, the vast majority of Magic events of any size are run as swiss events with a cut to Top 8. They run a fixed number of rounds (decided in advance or by number of entries) one after another. For larger tournaments they run some number of rounds on "Day 1" and then more the next day and so on until they get them all done. Each round starts shortly after the last one ends and if you want to win you need to play in every round. Failing to play in a round generally results in getting disqualified from the entire event. So a typical Magic tournament will have you play your match and then wait for everyone to finish their match in the round, then you repeat until the day is over or they cut to Top 8. If you play reasonable fast (as I do) you often end up playing for 20 minutes and then sitting around doing nothing for 40 minutes. You can't really leave or do anything long because you have another round starting shortly.

Another aspect around Magic tournaments, especially ones you might be traveling 8+ hours to go to, is that you're there to win. There is a great prize for first place and ok prizes for a small section of the players in attendance. (GPs have prizes to what, top 16, and get hundreds or thousands of people?) As such you tend to find when people are eliminated from contention (a couple losses) they drop out of the event and find something else to do. Or sit around bored while their friends keep competing...

So, how does WBC differ? To start, instead of there being one main event everyone cares about and a smattering of lesser side events you actually have 107 'main' events, 43 'side' events, some junior and teen events, and some seminars. I use the term 'main' here pretty loosely, but basically these are events with a larger prize pool.

The second difference is the aforementioned prize pool. While a Magic tournament will have trips and thousands of dollars on the line WBC has plaques and shirts. Winning one of the 107 'main' events wins you the priviledge of buying a shirt. (Well, paying shipping for a free shirt, I believe it was $5 US last year.) IN addition based on the size of last year's event 1st through up to 6th place win plaques. Sometimes game publishers throw in a minor gift certificate at their online store as well, but most events are just for bragging rights and a plaque. The 'side' events only award a plaque for first, nothing more.

The third difference, and I think it's the most important one of all, is the scheduling. Most events at WBC (or at least most of the ones I've played in) use a format type they called Multiple Entry Swiss Elimination (MESE) but have since rebranded to cover lots of different subtle variants. Basically what this means is there are multiple times you can join the event, the main rounds are basically swiss, and you eventually cut to an elimination. For example, a given event (El Grande) might have 3 rounds (at, say Tuesday at 6pm, Wednesday at 4pm, Thursday at 9am) and then cut to top 16. If you wanted to compete in El Grande you could show up for any or all of the three rounds. After the three rounds are done they'll rank everyone according to their preposted tiebreaking scheme. Generally it will be something like winning in the first round you played, then number of wins, then number of seconds, then number of thirds, then number of fourths, then coin flip. Then when the semifinals start they just go down the list and take the top 16 people who showed up.

What does that mean? Well, if you want you can play in 3 different games on El Grande, or you can play in one, win it, and then skip the next two. Or you can do what Pounder has done, and never win a round but collect up enough second places to still make it into the top 16. It also means even if you don't want to play in the top 16 you can still get in 1, 2, or 3 games of El Grande. One other thing it means is that at 3 points in time during the week you can spend two hours playing El Grande. They're not all strung together, and if you ever have spare time during those times you have something to do.

That last part is really the key to WBC: Low amounts of downtime. The schedule is set up so events always start on the hour, and most game are designed to be played in an even number of hours. And with 150 events happening and with many events having 3+ entry points you actually have a ton of options at most points in time. For example, last year on Thursday at 7pm there were 7 main rounds and one semifinal starting. I've actually had a problem finding time where I can go get something to eat.

To top it all off, events have starting times from 9am to 11pm, but that's not the only gaming going on. They have a tent set up by the pool with around a hundred games that anyone can sign out and just play games of with whoever is around, or with friends. Finding time to sleep is another big problem...

So, in conclusion, it's a little like a big Magic tournament except with more variety, less downtime, and friendlier games since people are there to have fun and not to try to make a living.

Tomorrow: Posts actually recapping WBC 2008!

Don't Call It A Comeback!

It's almost Easter which means one thing... Lounge Day! A gathering of former and current Waterlooites at the Comfy Lounge at the University of Waterloo where we will pretty much play a lot of games. It's good times. Now, last year I meant to heavily recruit for WBC at Lounge Day but didn't quite get around to it. I mean to do the same thing this year (without the not getting around to it part) but I don't even have a recap of last year's WBC up yet. So, I need to get that done, and soon.

I reread last year's recap last night and while it somewhat got across the feeling of the event it really felt lacking. Reading it didn't make me want to look into going. So, my goal this year is to frame my recap in a better light, to make it seem more appealing. (Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that it needs to be dressed up. It is an incredible time. I mean I need to liven up my writing.)

About writing: I don't do enough of it. I created this site ostensibly to post on every day to get better at writing and never did. Maybe this time around I will! That was certainly my New Year's Resolution again this year... I'm just starting in on it 3 months late!

At any rate, if anyone is even reading this, expect to see a WBC recap up soon along with an actual conclusion to the Notre Dame series and much more. (Oddly enough, the Notre Dame conclusion was written the night I posted the cube post, I just fell off the posting wagon that night and never got back on it seems!)

Welcome Back Me!

Notre Dame: Cubes

There's one final resource to discuss in Notre Dame, and that is cubes. Cubes are a tricky beast to analyze as there's no clear penalty for not having enough of them. With dollars if you run out you can see what you weren't able to bribe. If you get plagued you lose immediate VPs. When you run out of cubes you just have to move some cubes around. In fact, most games even if you were to pick up max cubes you'd still have to move some around at some point, so it's not a game-losing penalty by any stretch of the imagination. Often there's not even any downside to having to move cubes around but sometimes it can be crippling. So, what do cubes do, and how many do we really need?

Cubes have a couple purposes. They...

• Allow the geometric progression of the bank, cube-house, and VP-house to function.
• Let you drive further in your car.
• Operate the hospital and park on an on-going basis.
• Allow you to score VPs by bribing some phase specific guys, especially the phase C guys.

The first group is often expendable. Once you use the bank 3-4 times you don't really need to go back, so the cubes you have sitting there are just waiting to be moved. This can be when you run out of cubes and move one on your standard action or by one of the moving bribes, but a strong strategy often seems to me to be to get 3 cubes into the cube house or bank and then move them out to somewhere else.

The second group is tricky, and often depends on how many other players are driving in their cars. It's pretty easy to get into a situation where your car is stranded if you ever move a cube out of this square. This not only wastes the rest of the cubes in the car square, it also makes the car card uselss. Once you abandon the car, though, you can freely move the rest of the cubes out.

The third group is mission critical. You can very rarely afford to move cubes out of either the hospital or the park. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but generally speaking once you put a cube in either square you should plan on it staying there. The go-in action of killing a rat is mediocre, those squares are good because of the staying ability they have. The hospital is practically must-have for 2-3 cubes and the park wants an even number.

The fourth group is critical to winning many games. There are three different scoring guys in phase C and you want to consider at least one of them with your cube placement over the course of the game. The three are 1 VP per occupied square, 3 VP per triple occupied square, and 1 VP per cube in your most populated square. Because of the triple occupied guy I tend to try to have 3 guys in the hospital. 2 will sometimes suffice if you work at killing rats in other ways, but the third guy in is worth 3 VPs, so might as well put him in there and worry less about rats as well. (There's also a 2 VP per doubleton guy in phase B who can be big VPs as well.)

Cubes can also be removed from the game a couple of different ways. If you get plagued you lose a cube from the most populated square as well as the 2 VPs. You can get this cube back, but it goes to your bad pile so it's a non-trivial process. Losing from your most populated square can be ok (if you've finished using the square) but often it's brutal. Losing cube 4 from the park is depressing, and losing a cube from the hospital makes you cry. The second way is by going to Notre Dame. At the end of the phase all cubes in Notre Dame are recycled back to bad piles. This is a necessary evil as going to Notre Dame is often how you win, but it is something to keep in mind. Someone who goes to ND early without also picking up some cubes is in trouble as they'll then only have 3 cubes to work with.

How do you get cubes you may be asking. Exactly the same ways as you get gold, oddly enough, with one extra way. That way is the Bishop, one of the guys you can bribe in phase A. He lets you take a cube from your bad section and put it onto any empty square on the board, activating that square. This guy is awesome. Not only does he give you a free cube, he puts it into play and gives you a free action. Even if your best spot is to guesthouse for a cube it still beats bribing the monk, I think, because it gets the cube into play where it can do things and that's worth losing a VP early game. You should always plan for the bishop and try to leave a good square open, bishoping into the hospital or park on turn 2 is amazing.

So, how many cubes do you need? You start the game with 4 and there's a hard limit of 14, so you can only ever pick up 10 plus the number of times you get plagued/go to Notre Dame. If you're trying to maximize the triples card you want all 14 cubes, to try to arrange in 5 groups of 3. (Along with Balki you get 15.) However, that's a little extreme. Putting the 4th in the park seems better at that point, as it'll also boost the max cubes guy as well. More cubes is better, because any stragglers you can leave behind over the course of the game in otherwise empty squares are worth 1 VP.

I think you need three in the hospital. You need to deal with 28 rats over the course of the game and 3 cubes in the hospital is a great start to accomplishing that goal as well as being worth the 3 VPs for a triple. Most people want to load up the park (and I think they're right) so you're looking at wanting at least 2 and probably 4 guys in the park. I had 8 in the park one game and it was as awesome as it sounds. (12 VPs for taking the max cubes guy in phase C!) As well, you need likely 2 guys for Notre Dame, 3 for whatever section you're working on right now (bank/cube house/car/VP house) and one or two to move around on mediocre actions. Minimum then, you're looking at wanting 2+3+4+3+2=14 guys. Note because a couple will recycle from ND and because by game end you don't really need the 3 for whatever you're working on this isn't the maximum that you could have, but it's close. With some forethought and planning you can generally turn most of your extra cubes into VPs with the phase C bribes, so having the extra guys rarely hurts.

Remember, this is a game of finite actions, so getting max cubes does come with the lost opportunity cost of being able to do other things with your time, but you can often turn those extra cubes into enough VPs to make them worthwhile. You can always get away with less (if you only have 5 or 6 cubes you just don't park) and you won't feel like you're losing, but you probably are. On the other hand if you can't bribe or if you get plagued you see the direct result of the misplanning and you feel bad about it.

Notre Dame: Bucks

Bucks. Dollars. Doubloons. Gold. Currency has plenty of names in games, but it all comes down to one thing... Exchanging currency for goods and/or services. In Notre Dame money is used in one of two ways, both revolving around bribery.

First of all, each round you get to bribe a member of town. Doing so costs you one gold and lets you take one action. You can bribe at most one person a round, though you can pass. Now, 3 of the 6 generic bribes are worth a gold plus other things, so bribing tends to be something you really want to do. I have never found myself in a situation where I thought to myself 'Gee, I should just not bribe'.

The second thing you can do is bribe the clergy who live in Notre Dame. While bribing the townsfolk can get you lots of different things bribing Notre Dame is worth one thing and one thing only... Victory Points! However, you can only pay up to 3 gold each time you go to ND, and you can only go to ND if you draft the ND card specifically. On average I'd say people tend to go to ND twice a game though personally I try to go at least 3 times.

So, how much gold do you need for the whole game, and what can you do to make gold? Well, you want to bribe all 9 times, so that's 9 gold. At a minimum if you're going to win I think you're looking at heading to ND at least twice for 1G bribes, so the absolute minimum you need is 11. I think the expected maximum is likely a 1G ND and two 3G NDs, for a total of 16. The last game I played featured 3 3G NDs and a 1G ND for a total of 19 but that requires people to pass a lot of ND cards, and you to generate a lot of money. For now, 11-16 seems like a reasonable range to aim for.

How do you make money?

• The bank card is worth 1G per cube in the bank
• The ghetto is worth 1G
• Driving in your car can get you 1G
• Bribing the wench can get you 1G
• Bribing the moneylender can get you 2G
• You start the game with 3G

It is quite possible to bribe the money lender all 3 times he comes out which with your starting 3G gets you to 9G. Two buggies/wenches can get you to 11G pretty easily, and all without touching the bank. Of course, getting all 3 money lenders means skipping a phase C big-VP bribe and is also very risky when you consider the moneylender could come in phase C3. (Where the extra bucks are worthless.) It's also worth noting that the gold buggy is only 1VP, so while buggying for gold once is slightly better than banking for it, going twice is just worse. (Worst case scenario, the extra gold you gain from the second bank can be cashed in for 2VPs when you would have had a 1G ND.) Of course, if you have a populated park the buggy starts looking better and better.

Now, gold is the one resource where we can clearly define how good extras are. Going from a 1G ND to a 2G ND is worth 2VPs always. From 2 to 3 is worth 3VPs. Ideally, you're better off with a 1G ND and a 3G ND than 2 2G NDs. (+1VP for same gold cost.) As such, I think if there's any question about having enough gold you should err on the side of a 1G ND early.

Another way to turn extra gold into VPs is by taking an extra ND action. This is easier to pull off early than late since late game righty often has the bucks to go himself so he doesn't pass you his ND. Early, if you have the bucks, you can sometimes draft an extra ND and cash it for 1G. How much is that worth?

Assume the ND closes out for N cubes or for N-1 cubes. Then in a 5 player game it's worth 3VPs or 4VPs. In a 4 player game it's worth 3VPs or 4VPs. In a 3 player game it's worth 3VPs or 5VPs. In a 2 player game it's worth 6 or 3 VPs. Also, the extra NDs cost everyone else a small share of the ND pool if they went to ND that round. Finally, you get at least one park proc out of it, maybe two if it's your only ND for the round. Even with no parks an extra ND is always better than spending an extra G on another ND, with one exception...

The extra ND costs you a card play. If that card play would be worth nothing, the extra ND is better. If it's worth something how good it is compared to overloading a different ND depends on your park situation. Evaluating this really requires evaluating how good the other action would be for you, and that's on a pick by pick basis during the drafts. From a strict gold standpoint though, more NDs is better.

Notre Dame thoughts

Turns out... I'm lazy! So many things I kept meaning to post, so many times I just didn't bother. I've now heard of two people who randomly stumbled into this place and I like re-reading it myself, so I should really keep going. So, here's some thoughts on the game Notre Dame.


First things first, this is a very short game in terms of how many decisions you get to make. It's not like PR or SJ where you can spend some time building up resources and then use those resources to power out VPs in late game. There is no late game. There are three different resources you have to juggle in addition to collecting VPs, and you have to take that into account while you're playing. Those resources are cubes, gold, and rats.


Rats: The order of the bribe cards is random, but at the end of the game the same ones will always have come out. As such, there are a finite number of rats. In the first stage (A) there are 12 rats. In the second stage (B) there are 13 rats. In the third stage (C) there are 12 rats. As such, if you don't want to get plagued you will have to deal with 37 rats over the course of the game. Note, you get 9 for free, as your rat marker starts on the 0 space.

Ending the game with the rat marker lower than on the 9 is wasteful. There is no intrinsic benefit to having killed extra rats. (Extra money is a tiebreaker, so it does something. Rats, not so much.) The time you spent killing those rats could have (and likely should have) been spent doing something better. In fact, the only time a low rat count is particularly good is the beggar king, a phase B card that turns rat spaces into VPs.

Now, how do you deal with rats? There are a few ways. (Remember, if you're trying not to get plagued you need to deal with 28 rats over the entire game.)

• Hospital: Every cube in the hospital is worth 1 rat, plus one rat for every turn left in the game. Note:If you are at 0 you don't get the initial benefit of the hospital, so a turn 1 hospital only deals with 9 rats, not 10. A turn 2 hospital also deals with 9 rats, so delaying a turn doesn't hurt, not that you really get that choice.
• Park: Placing a cube here is worth 1 rat. That is all. (And potentially a ton of VPs...)
• Buggy: Not always possible, but often you can get 3VPs and kill 1 rat.
• Guesthouse: Kill 1 rat. Sometimes you could kill 2 rats. I can't imagine you winning with that many cubes in the guesthouse though.
• The Doctah: Score 0 rats for the round. Your hospital still kills rats this turn, so you actually can move backwards. Some games this will be worth 7 rats, some games it will be worth 1. This guy is a general dude, so he can be bribed all 3 phases if you want.
• The Wench: 3VPs and 1 rat for a gold. It's like driving in your car!
• Getting plagued: After you lose 2VPs and a cube from the board you go down to 9 rats. Sometimes this can deal with a lot of rats, if you get a big rat turn with 7+ rats. Of course, in order to have this work you need to be pretty high up in rats as it is. Try not to use this tactic every turn!

In addition, a few of the bribes let you move cubes around. Moving them into the hospital can deal with rats! In particular, the mistrel lets you move 3 cubes without activating the building. This still deals with 3 rats a turn!

I had one game recently where turn 2A had 8 rats. The Minstrel was available to be bribed, and both Josh and I used it to move 3 cubes into the hospital, allowing us to both barely not get ratted. The other two players just got plagued. However, because we'd used up 8 rats on B1 there were only 5 left for B2 and B3, and this meant they were able to recover. Josh and I, with our 5 cubes in the hospital, were going to drop in a hurry. On turn C1 the Mistrel came up again, and I threw 3 cubes back out of the hospital into the park instead of claiming big VPs from whatever the round C bribe was. I ended up ending the game at exactly 9 rats and the extra cubes in the park really came home I think. (I scored The Queen with 8 cubes in the park for 12VPs!)

I won that game, but if the Minstrel hadn't come up in C1 I probably would have lost. Maybe a 33% chance at winning is a good play, but it's not clear and certainly won't be right every time, but it is an example of a less straightforward way to deal with rats.

At any rate... We need to handle 28 rats and the vast majority of our options only kill 1 at a time. We get to take 27 actions total in the entire game. 18 card plays and 9 bribes. It should be painfully clear that taking 1 rat actions can't be good enough. We need to take a couple actions which deal with many rats, and there are really only a couple of those that are ever available. As such, it's pretty important to take advantage of them when they arise.

Visit the doctor if he's going to kill a bunch of rats. Everyone can figure out to take him on a 7 rat phase but what about a 4? The fact that we're even considering a 4 rat doctor should make a phase A hospital look really good. It kills 8-9 rats! Even a phase B hospital kills 5-7 rats.

I strongly believe a phase A hospital is so good that I will first pick it every time. I can't think of a situation where I'd rather have anything else. Even if I know doing so will guarantee my opponent a solo-Notre Dame, I think it has to be done. The alternative is giving him my hospital and his, pretty much dealing with his rat problem for the whole game.

What about Balki? (Good Buddy!) The problem with putting Balki in the hospital is that for a hospital guy to be really good he wants to stay there the entire game. I have a similar problem with Balki and the park. I've put him there early before and always been sad when I have the option to draft future Balki's later in the game. It feels like sticking Balki in the hospital or the park is condemning him to live there forever. (Not always a bad thing, but something to keep in mind!)

One important thing to consider is the Bishop. You can bribe him to put a guy into the hospital for you if you haven't drawn or played your hospital yet. It is quite possible passing your hospital is ok if your plan is to just bribe the bishop, especially in a multi-handed game. (Though you can always play the hospital and then Bishop into anywhere else but ND.) Personally I like bishoping into the park so I can end up with 2 guys in the park and 1 in the hospital, but I could be way off base there. Bishoping into the hospital and then playing your own hospital card the next turn is awesome. That coupled with a couple parks and one doctor should be good enough.

Guesthousing a rat seems horrible. It's like the hospital or the park without any of the upside. Driving your car over a rat is a good number of VPs and can really be worth it in a pinch. If you need that rat dead it's way better than driving into 4 VPs.

Archimonde

I took the night off of playing BSW to raid, and had a pretty good time. I mean, it took over 3 hours to kill a boss we'd killed before, which was frustrating, but I like the fight. I think bad people wipe you a lot on this fight without even knowing it, which is rather annoying, but maybe it's a catalyst for getting rid of bad people. Or maybe I just like healing as a moonkin, I donno.

Brettspielwelt

I took the night off raiding today so I could play on BSW and go to sleep early, and am I ever glad I did. That this is true speaks volumes about my will to raid right now, I think, though that could just be because I've been sick all week and sleep is the thing to do when you're sick.

At any rate, it turns out Notre Dame is on BSW. It's one of the games I played at WBC last year, the one with the drafting component to it. I played like 9 games tonight and had a blast playing it. I'm getting a decent grasp of at least one strategy, anyway, though it seems like there's probably better ones out there. At least I'm not getting destroyed by the plague very often!

WBC: Summary?

Overall games played:

Acquire: 1
Battle Line: 5
Can't Stop: 4
Cash-a-Catch: 1
Caylus Magna Carta: 1
El Grande: 1
Guatemala Cafe: 1
If Wished Were Fishes: 2
Liar's Dice: 2
Lost Cities: 4
Manifest Destiny: 2
Notre Dame: 1
Phoenicia: .5
Queen's Gambit: 3
Ra: 1
Risk: 1
Thebes: 1
Tichu: 1
Ticket to Ride: 1
Tigris and Euphrates: 1
Titan: 1
Titan 2 player: 1
Titan: The Arena: 1
Vikings!: 1
Werewolf: 2
Wits & Wagers: 1
Some cool card game?: .5


In closing... That's a lot of games for 4 and a half days! And a lot of fun! You should go this year! Woo!