 | Willkommen |
| Willkommen | |
EDC XII at Darmstadt is now history and we hope a part of history most of you will remember with a good feeling. We actually got that impression from many of you. What we want to deliver to all of you as a small token of our gratitude is this review, complete with pictures and results.
Thursday - The Day all those bloodthirsty and/or snuggling Diplomats met first
Traditionally the first day of a German Con is a day to drink, chat and play games together in a friendly evironment without getting involved in any tournament. Well, except the few guys who need that special kick every day and decided to take part in the Macchiavelli tournament game. We felt that is was a good start for the tourney to meet once under friendly conditions without any need to stab your neighbour though of course some couldn't resist playing our beloved game anyway. Particularly interesting was a "tradition" born this evening for the leader to wear a yellow jersey as kind of a bull's eye. As there was no leader yet Yann Clouet, the reigning Champion, "had to" wear it. For those who found this somehow strange: It was never planned that way and just happened :D. Originally the TD or one of the organizers should have worn it. As none of us was too keen on wearing it, Yann got it and it never left the tourney through all those rounds. Who knows, maybe it becomes a tradition... For some it was already a long night with the last players attending their beds around 5 a.m.
Friday - Day of truth but never truce
After breakfast far too early in the morning for some if not most, the tourney
finally started and guess what, Monsieur Clouet didn't show up in his "new"
shirt deciding to take a longer nap instead. Well, enough players to fill
the impressive number of 9 Boards showed up any way. After the first round
a new target was born: Doug Massie impressively taking the lead with 15-7-6-5-1
top as Germany. After that much excitement and stress it was time to relax
for the players while waiting for BBQ that was planned a bit later. However,
some of the very sportive gives couldn't be stopped from having a match of
soccer in the field, which was more like a pond of mud due to the rainy weather.
Just after the first 20 or so players had shown up, we at the grills started
to realize what we got ourselves into with feeding 80 hungry and dangerous
backstabbers. Even worse: They all had weapons now and they all wanted dinner...
Somehow the guys and gals at the grills survived the rush and finally everyone
was fed and ready to rumble again. A bit late because of the traffic jam at
the BBQ finally the second round started (those knifes were back in the kitchen
luckily...): some diplomats had fed themselves a bit too much it seems as
this round saw some very high results. This time Fredegone Hendrake (F) took
the best result with 47.018 points from a 14-8-6-5-1 as France. However this
round saw less high results and less tables (7), probably because everyone
ate too much and missing their killer instinct therefore. Afterwards the now
already usual gaming, drinking and chatting took place while rumours went
round that some players got into bed fairly early...
Saturday - Another chance for lots of nasty stabs
Once again an early breakfast with the first round which was the team round
afterwards. Despite 10 boards it seemed that some players didn't sleep enough
(or maybe some guys were hypermotivated because of the team thingy... ) as
this round saw more unusually high scores than the other rounds, the highest
being Edi Birsan's 50.503 points from a 15-9-5-4-1 Italy but with two more
results over 47 points by Cyrille Sevin (15 center Turkey) and Vincent Carry
(14 center England). Amazingly enough the team round was won by a team which
called itself "Five in a Row" having won the four previous EDC Team
competitions. Well guessed, they were right! Congrats to Yann Clouet (F),
Cyrille Sevin (F) and Fearghal O'Donnchu (Ire, better known as Twerg). After
the first round the first part of the EDA (European Diplomacy Association)
meeting happened. The Dutch hobby presented their bid for EDC 2005 which was
accepted and welcomed by all players. Afterwards most people took their time
off while some ventured into smaller workgroups to discuss charter and stuff
like web presences.
After dinner another round of Diplomacy was scheduled and for all those who
are thinking now: "Hey wait a minute 4 rounds already and a Sunday morning
round?" Yeah you're right, but players could only participate in four
rounds of which the best three results were counted for the overall ranking.
Anyway once again the trend continued and less players signed up for the late
round which was scheduled to end around 01.00 a.m. This round was the only
round without a result higher than 40 points indeed with Frank Oschmiansky
(Ger) having the best result with a 39.544 in a 12-9-6-3-2-2 as France. After
this round, Frank also took the Yellow shirt, but he wouldn't play on Sunday...
Alternatively some players went out to enjoy the pubs and discos of Darmstadt
though it certainly were less players than we expected. Anyway those that
were out came back happy and had lots of fun.
Sunday - To win or not to win..
That was the question for around 10 to 15 players who still had a fair shot at the win without a Solo. And it showed that this round saw once more lots of hard fought games with just one very high result from Simon Bouton playing England in a 15-9-7-3 draw boosting his score with another 49.183 points. It was clear beforehand that the winner would need at least three very strong results above the 30 point mark, one of them having to be above 40 points probably.
And so it happened that an American brought the European DipCon trophy home:
Congrats to Edi Birsan for stabbing and duping the whole European hobby with a whopping 120 points overall but congrats as well to Gihan Bandaranaike (UK-111p) and Demis Hassabis (UK-100p) who came in second and third. After those on places 4 to 7 four Germans made it into the Top Seven, playing the role of good hosts "giving" the trophies to our guests:-) For all the other awards/ranking details (Best Countries etc.) please see below.
Summary
Wow, four days saw 79 players duelling on alltogether 41 boards. As we heard and felt during the tourney, they all had a very good time enjoying the games and the atmosphere. We hope that everybody left Germany with a good feeling and the intention to come back next year or at least in 2006 for the WDC in Berlin. We'd like to thank all our German and foreign guests once more for attending and spreading that nice atmosphere we had throughout the weekend. As well we'd like to thank all those kind souls who helped us before, during and after the tournament. We, the organizers, and the whole German hobby certainly look forward to meet you all again over here as soon as possible. And of course we will also try to visit your respective Cons in your home countries. For those that couldn't attend: Just get in contact with someone who was there and let you tell what you missed;-) C U All at least in Berlin 2006 for WDC!
The Board of the German Diplomacy Association for its members and the German hobby