Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 5 - Rules of the Game - IV

  "What are the special cards on each side?" she asked Steven quietly, not wanting to interrupt their game.

  "Those are their generals." Steven pointed at the different spots that cards had been laid out. "Each stack is a territory, and if it's on Tyler's side then it was originally his. They send out guys to each area until they can make a path to the other side." He indicated how the cards were laid out in a nine-by-nine grid on each half of the table. "Tyler took six spots on his side and made a fork, right? So Quinn has to go through the center to get to Tyler's base, but he's got two different ways to start."

  "And the general is in the base?"

  "Not always. Generals do stuff wherever they are on the board. Both of them have their generals at home right now to make stuff faster. They can draw more cards or play them faster. It depends on what that general does and how smart the guy playing is. So basically, Tyler's general does a lot and Quinn's ends up doing nothing."

  Natalie had never played a card game more complicated than poker, but she wasn't having too much trouble picking up on the basic idea so far. It didn't seem that much harder than some of the games she'd played on her phone, at least. She was determined to figure out as much of the game as she could, so they'd accept her as part of the group. Steven talked way too fast, but she pieced it together from what he said and what she could see on the table. "Quinn has less territories on his side. That makes him harder to get to?"

  "Yeah, since he's got more power in those spots. Tyler has to go through the center, and all of Quinn's back line probably won't get attacked. But it means he can't make as much stuff every turn."

  "It also means he's going to get bulldozed by a couple meteors," Tyler added, leaning forward. He picked up a face down card from his left-side pile and flipped it over, setting it on top of the one in the middle of Quinn's. He suddenly broke into a coughing fit, diving into his bag and pulling out a small piece of plastic.

  Natalie was alarmed, but neither Quinn nor Steven seemed the least bit surprised, so she tried to ignore the unpleasant hacking sounds coming out of his mouth. She leaned a little bit away from him, as if she could press herself into the wall beside her. Tyler took a deep breath before finally returning to the game. "Meteor storm to your farmland, on your templar knight and your assassin."

  Quinn frowned. "That's coming from your wizard tower?"

  "Yeah."

  Quinn sighed, and took two of the cards from his front territory and set them aside.

  "Tyler did a meteor from one of his two front spots, his wizard tower," Steven explained. "Quinn doesn't have any magic in his front line anymore because he used it all to break Tyler's other place, the merchant village. He didn't expect Tyler to still have any spells left after their last big fight," he continued, pointing at the single card on the other side of Tyler's board, a bustling village without a single card protecting it anymore. "Oh man, Tyler just killed all his defense. He's too good at this. Quinn's gonna lose now."

  Quinn was staring at his cards intently, his hand playing with one on his back-end that was underneath a picture of a line of catapults. Natalie found herself silently rooting for him to win somehow. Tyler was obviously the best in the group at the game, and even though she didn't understand how the game worked yet, she could tell that Quinn was probably losing. His back line had six cards each on the sides, but the three leading right to him were almost totally empty, with only his general on the last spot as his last remaining face-up card. She looked so fierce and resolute in her picture, but Natalie doubted that would help her against the ten or so cards lined up across Tyler's board.