Tournament
Each year it is great fun to be back in Essen. The Spiel organisation as well as the employees of the Essen Fair were very helpful and supportive. On time of entering early in the morning the tournament area was already set up according to our needs. This saved a lot of stress...
Until a few minutes before registration we were confronted with a drop-out. This is almost the biggest nightmare for an organization. Luckily we had enough reserve players from other teams to make an internationally reserve team (who did not so bad in the overall ranking). And we only had to make minor changes to the playing schedule on the fly. So in the end the preparations paid off.
This year we had several goals. Of course we want to grow as tournament in size. A grow in size gives us more opportunities and a better (financial) base to continue. Unfortunately, due to some drop outs, we were not able to have 30 teams (120 players) at the start of the tournament, but were able to add 2 new nationalities to our list: Ireland and Hungaria.
Our other goal is to make EuropeMasters more visible within the international gaming scene. For this we have introduced "Gioco". A new bright coloured logo specially designed for EuropeMasters. Gioco together with the PR stand has attracted additional visitors as press. And increasing the PR value for EuropeMasters as well for our current and future sponsors.  Â
Baron
Baron was the starter for today. After a small delay to get the reserve players seated the battle over baronies begun...
A statistical analysis of the game results shows that the starting player has significant higher chance to loose the game. This has no effect on the championship as the team result counts. And for each round 1 of the teammembers is a starting player.
For the other games the analysis shows that the result is independent of the positions of players.Â
Mesopotamia
Second game for the day was Mesopotamia from Phalanx Games. Mesopotamia was nominated for the "Spiel des Jahres" award and achieved a ranking (5) at the "Deutscher Spiele Preis".
At the second round the tournament was still open. There were no teams who have clearly taken the lead after Baron...and this would still be the same after completing Mesopotamia.
Augsburg
After a short break it was time for Augsburg. With Augsburg ALEA achieved a nice ranking (9) for the "Deutscher Spiele Preis".
Caylus
Caylus was saved for the last round. With over 10 teams in positions to become European Championship, Caylus would become a decisive and nerve breaking game. Some tables were finishing up within the hour while the last tables were still going down the road after 3 hours.
It is great to end a tournament with a game who has won so many prizes and is decisive for the overall ranking. In fact is there a prize which Ystari didn't win with Caylus? Caylus is just a international prize winning game. Besides winning the award of the "Deutscher Spiele Preis" it also won a special award "Spiel des Jahres - Komplexes Spiel" for the best complex game, but also won the Dutch "Spellenprijs", the International Gamers Award and the Tric Trac 'or (2005).
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Results of the teams
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 2006. Note that per each game a team can score between 4 to a maximum of 20 points (max gradtotal for the tournament is 80 points).
 Results of the Teams
| 1 |
UK |
 |
SharkBait
|
66
|
2
|
UK
|
|
The uninspired
|
60
|
| 3 |
GER
|
 |
ESCH Treff
|
53,5
|
4
|
GER
|
|
Rauchende Wuerfel
|
51
|
5
|
GER
|
|
Eurswürfel 1
|
50,5
|
| Â |
GER
|
|
Braun'sche Spielebewegung
|
50,5
|
7
|
BEL
|
 |
ILV Namur (In Ludo Veritas)
|
50
|
8
|
GER
|
|
Fried Eyes
|
49,5
|
| Â |
UK
|
|
Nil Nominantus
|
49,5
|
10
|
HOL
|
 |
Cannonfodder
|
48,5
|
11
|
GER
|
|
Die Anonymen Spieler
|
48
|
| Â |
FRA
|
 |
Lille Old Squad
|
48
|
| Â |
UK
|
|
 The Subterrain Strategists
|
 |
14
|
CZE
|
 |
Delfin
|
45,5
|
15
|
CZE
|
|
Paluba |
45
|
16
|
HOL
|
|
NLTD
|
44.5
|
| 17 |
ITA
|
 |
Giocofollia |
44
|
18
|
SUI
|
 |
Les Marmottes Rieuses |
43,5
|
19
|
BEL
|
|
Speelduivel Leuven
|
42,5
|
| Â |
HOL
|
|
Overthehill.com
|
42,5 |
21
|
IRE
|
 |
GAOD |
42
|
22
|
ITA
|
|
Die Rettende Engeln (Reserve Team)
|
41,5
|
23
|
CZE
|
|
Elysium
|
37
|
24
|
HUN |
 |
Knights of the Round Board
|
35
|
25
|
HOL
|
|
Ik Speel met Groen
|
34
|
26
|
UK
|
|
To Win Just Once
|
32,5
|
27
|
ITA |
|
Overtime
|
32
|
28
|
FRA
|
|
Die Frischen Franzosen
|
31,5
|
Best individual players
| 1 |
GER |
|
Frank Lamprecht
|
ESCH Treff
|
20 |
2
|
GER
|
|
Sabine Pöhler
|
Eiswürfel 1
|
18 |
| Â |
BEL
|
|
Xanvier Georges
|
ILV Namur
|
18
|
| Â |
UK
|
|
Chris Boote
|
The Uninspired
|
18
|
An incredible achievement of Frank Lamprecht. Like last year he is again the best individual player with a maximum score of 20 points!!!
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 and the very nice reactions, 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 last I would like to thank my team for their support this year: Raoul for his time as referee and my wife Marie-José for the wonderful playing schedule (and reschedules), administrative tasks and being referee.
Hope to see you all next year! With the reaction and feedback received as well as the new contacts made and support given, we hope to deliver even a bigger tournament next year. By the way 2007 will be a special year, as it is 20 years ago that Intergame was organized for the first time.
Good luck with the qualification rounds.
Nice dice,
Ronald.
Games Played
- Ausburg 1520
- Baron
- Caylus
- Masopotamia
Click Here to see more about the games
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