Word: cabotage

  

cabotage

\ KAB-uh-tij, kab-uh-TAHZH \  , noun;

1. navigation or trade along the coast.

2. Aviation . the legal restriction to domestic carriers of air transport between points within a country's borders

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              Matt looked at the board and blinked.  He glanced over at Ken, who had a very similar expression on his face.  Glenn, on the other hand, looked quite happy with the current state of the game they were playing.

                “Well?”  Glenn said, “Are you gonna make a move or not?”

                “Give me a minute, I’m thinking.”  Matt said.  He had no idea how the game had gotten to the state it was in.

                Just a few turns ago, he was winning.  And now, Glenn completely controlled the board.  He didn’t have nearly as much power as Matt or Ken did, and yet he was beating them both.  As Matt further studied the board, it quickly became clear how it was done.  Glenn controlled the game’s economy.  The guy only controlled six of the twenty city spaces in the game, but every single one of them was vitally important.

                The three land locked cities each had no less than five routes connected to them, which made them vital to moving troops and resources around the board.  Since Glenn controlled them, doing those vital tasks were far more difficult than they needed to be.  But Glenn’s real power was the costal spaces.  He only held three cities there, but they were all the best trading spots.  Any one of those coastal towns could turn a five turn expedition into a two turn trek. 

                “Come on, we don’t have all night.”  Glenn taunted.  He knew he had complete control of the game.  He not only held the best cities, but had chosen skills and abilities that both made it very hard to avoid his areas, and then crippled the economy of those that entered his domain.

                “Actually, I’m pretty sure we do.”  Ken said.  He didn’t want to see Glenn win any more than Matt did, and having more time to think was a vital part of that process.

                Matt knew he needed to do some costal trading to get into a good position, but with Glenn in all the god spots, that wouldn’t work.  The only thing he could do was get more troops and hope he could gather enough strength to take one of those key towns.  But Glenn had fortified them well enough that even Matt’s superior military strength would have trouble getting through.  With the current economic lock, it would take no fewer than five turns before he was in a position to take one of Glenn’s cities.  But by then, Glenn would’ve used his massive economic engine to further fortify his strongholds, making it even harder to attack.  No, going through Glenn’s cities would be a bad idea.  He would lose more than he would gain by doing so.  He would have to use the longer, less efficient routes if he hoped to make any progress.   

                Matt moved the appropriate pieces around the board, aiming to go to one of his coastal towns for trading resources between his cities.  Maybe by doing that he could take one of those land cities.  That would help a lot.

                “You sure you want to do that?”  Glenn asked with a smirk on his face.

                “Pretty sure, yeah.”  Matt replied.

                “Oh, that’s too bad.  See, it turns out there’s a nasty whirlpool on that space.”  Glenn took an action card from his hand and placed it on the table.  The image of a whirlpool made Matt cringe.  He was forced to move the boat piece he had just moved again, this time to one of the routes Glenn controlled. 

                “You suck.”  Matt said bitterly as he moved the piece. 

                “That’s not what the game says.”  Glenn was clearly enjoying himself a bit too much.

                Matt didn’t reply.  He just drew his own action card and did all that was needed to end his turn.  The card he drew was useless in his current situation.  He lamented that he didn’t get it a few turns ago, when it would’ve been handy, but such was the way of the game.

                Ken started his turn immediately, and took much less time to do so than Matt had.  Since Ken was able to think about his turn while Matt was going, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.  Ken had opted to focus his attention on Glenn’s least fortified city, one of the land ones.  He even used half of the action cards in his hand to rush his troops into position.  He couldn’t attack, but it was good enough.

                “Hm, let’s see.  I wonder what I should do…”  Glenn said.  “I think I’ll play this.”  He played a card that granted him even more troops than he could afford from his large reserve of resources alone. He placed it so Ken’s inevitable attack was bound to fail.  “And, oh, this one too.”  Another card came out that further rendered all six of his cities untouchable.  “And I’m good.”

                “Fine.  Let’s just get this over with.”  Matt didn’t bother thinking.  He just went through Glenn’s coastal city, took the penalties for doing so, and went on its way.  He used as many of his action cards as he had that would allow him to get more troops into position.  He knew it wouldn’t help, but it was something.

                “You know, you can feel free to give up any time you want.”  Glenn said to Ken as his turn started.

                “This game isn’t over yet.”  Ken muttered.  “I’ve got some things I can do.”

                “Well then, I you think you can turn this around, make your move.”  Glenn said.  The two looked at each other for a moment.  Glenn’s face was filled with confidence, Ken’s with determination.  After spending a moment to size up the situation, Ken made his move.

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Games like this can be fun, but can also turn nasty in the right situation.