Tournament

Each year it is great fun to be back in Essen. The Spiel organisation as well as the employees of the Essen Fair are very helpful and supportive. Many thanks.

The tournament area was set up early in the morning and before the official (!) opening time teams entered to register.

This year another growth of tournament size: the participation of 30 teams (120 players) from 9 different nationalities: United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Suisse, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Himalaya

Almost everybody was on time, the few players missing were replaced by reserve players brought along by the teams themselves.

The starter for the day was Himalaya. A rather quick paced game due to the time limitation of planning your moves. A good brainwarmer to start the day...though the background are the icy and cold Himalaya's.

Im Schatten des Kaisers

Im Schatten des Kaisers (or In the Shadow of the Emperor). A challenging moment for the organisation as the recorded playing times by some players were exceeding the available tournament playing time. Luckely everything went rather well and all tables were able to complete the game on time.

Louis XIV

Louis XIV is the winner of the Deutsche Spielpreis award (our congratulations). A reasonable fast pace game and of ALEA. A good combination as usual.

At this time the first split in the ranking of the teams take place... But none of the teams is clearly taking the lead. All will depend on the last game to be played to determine the final winner.

Zavandor

Das Zepter von Zavondor has been sponsored by Lookout Games. Lookout Games is a small, young and promissing company of hopefully we will hear much more in the near future. Though the last game to be played, it is certainly not the lightest one. And much will depend on this game as so many teams are very close with their scoring.

With its playing time Zavandor is one of the games with the longest playing time (though with a high deviation). So it was an additional handicap to play and very exhausiting for all the players, but a great way to end a tournament.  

But like the game a lot of magic happened in the scoring as the overall ranking changed a lot after Zavandor.

The end...

After an exhausting day the brain cells received finally some rest. though there are players who seem never to be able to stop and keep on playing, and playing, and playing, and playing...

But what is more to enjoy than a great games, nice opponents and worlds largest games fair.

After some slow ticking minutes the last results were calculated and the final ranking determined. Woheee 4 different nationalities in the top 5!!!
nded in...

 Results of the Teams

1	GER		ESCH-Treff	66
2	CZE		Paluba	60
3	UK		The Uninspired	53,5
4	ITA		Giocofollia	51
5	GER		The Spanish Inquisition	50,5
Â	BEL		In Ludo Veritas	50,5
7	GER		Die Magier von Midgrad	50
8	UK		Das kleine Arsloch und seine Freunde	49,5
Â	HOL		Ik speel met groen!	49,5
10	UK		The Largest Army	48,5
11	FRA		Lille Old Squad	48
Â	UK		Nil Nomantius	48
13	GER		Eiswürfel 1	46
14	HOL		Cannonfodder	45,5
15	CZE		Mamutec	45
16	UK		To Win Just Once	44.5
17	CZE		Trubky	44
18	AUT		WienXtra Spielebox Team	43,5
19	SUI		Les Marmottes Rieuses	42,5
Â	HOL		JEM-X	42,5
21	BEL		Speelduivel	42
22	FRA		Team Bretagne	41,5
23	UK		Three man and a dog	37
24	ITA		Quintet	35
25	AUT		Syberian Gamblers	34
26	FRA		Simulators	32,5
27	ITA		 Mango Gato	32
28	BEL		FBJS	31,5
Â	HOL		Overthehill.com	31,5
30	AUT		Austrian Allstars & Bros	24,5

The team results show that it has been a challenging tournament where, until the last move played, it was undecided who would be the European Champions of 2005. Note that per each game a team can score between 4 to a maximum of 20 points.

Best individual players

1	GER		Bastian Winkelhaus	The Spanish Inquisition	20
Â	GER		Frank Lamprecht	ESCH Treff	20
3	GER		Ralf Schneiderwind	Eiswürfel 1	18
4	GER		Michael Palzer	ESCH Treff	18

An incredible result of Bastian Winkelhaus and Frank Lamprecht. They both scored the maximum score possible. Straight 4 wins in a row!!!
 
It has been an exciting day. Months of preparation is bundled to a climax of a single day. From the organisation we would like to thank the players for the sportmanship, it is for us very awarding to see this behaviour and the fun you have. Also we would like to thank our sponsors. It is great to see that game manufacturers are willing to contribute to this event where players from all over Europe are able to meet and play against eachother. And last but not least I would like to thank my team for their support this year: Han and Raoul for their time as referee and my wife Marie-José for the wonderful playing schedule (and reschedules) and administrative tasks.
Hope to see you all next year! Good luck with the qualification rounds.

Nice dice,

Ronald.

Games Played

• Hymalaya 
• Im Schatten des Kaisers
• Louis XIV
• Zavandor

Click Here to see more about the games

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