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Dixiecon 18 began, as usual, with some Thursday night open gaming
for early attendees. The Fab Four of Bob Odear, Rhonda Horinka, Bruce Allen and David Hood christened the gaming room at Granville
Towers with some Samurai and some Puerto Rico.
On Friday the Diplomacy players began to seep in to Chapel Hill throughout
the day. Some came early so they could play our annual pickup basketball, which is a real sight if you have never seen a bunch
of gamers trying to hit really difficult shots, like layups for example... Justin Thompson and David Hood, being the basketball
gods they are, decided to stay in and play 1812 instead. This was the first, but the not the last, of the popular Columbia
block games to see play over the weekend.
When the Diplomacy started at the usual 6pm on Friday night, the GM decided
to stall a little to allow Doug Moore to arrive for Round One. I am sure the rest of the field appreciated this when the overall
results were announced Sunday afternoon...
There were five boards Friday night. Obviously the most important result
of the evening was Doug Moore's Italian win in game 1C. The only other strong result was in 1E. where Ecton and Marshall took
an RF draw at 12 and 15 centers, respectively. The non-Dip gaming for the evening consisted on a LOOONNNGG game of 18EU, including
Jim Yerkey, Ed Rothenheber, Bruce Duewer, Greg Fairbanks and Jon Kwiatkowski. There were also games of Puerto Rico, Carcasonne,
and the ubiquitous Age of Renaissance.
Five boards were also in play for the Saturday morning round, which also doubles
as the 3-man team competition. All five results were 3-way draws, including FAT, FRT, FGT, ERT and AER. Game 2B featured veteran
player and Knifer Chris Martin being reduced to one center after Fall 1902 while playing ENGLAND! That takes real skill.
Iron
Man gaming continued with more AOR, PR, Lunar Rails and a smashing game of Titan with a good player who won (Rothenheber)
and some, ahem, players who did not (Fairbanks, Kevin Brown, Hood and Jammin' Jason Bergmann.)
After the yummy Eastern
NC barbeque for supper, it was time for an amazing array of games played during the Saturday night gaming session. This observer
saw: Plague and Pestilence, Flux, Hammer of the Scots, Outpost, Lost Cities, Magic:the Gathering, Titan: The Arena, Settlers:
The Game Hood Cannot Win But Still Enjoys, 18EU, Poker, RoboRally, Attika, Naval War, PR, Acquire, Battle Line and A Game
of Thrones. Obviously doing away with Diplomacy for that time slot greatly increased the participation in the Iron Man competition.
Sunday
saw, yep you guessed it, five more Dip boards for Round 3. Could anyone catch Doug Moore's win from Friday night? Answer:
no. Just a bunch of three, four and five-way draws. After the awards ceremony, it was time for Mexican food, shopping at Steve
Nicewarner's game store, and more open gaming until late Sunday night. All in all, we had 50 gamers to invade the lower level
of Granville for the weekend for yet another successful Dixiecon.
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