Settlers 2005 World Championships
I was one of the representives for Scotland at the 2005 Setters of Catan World Championships.
I had a great time playing Settlers and visiting the Essen Game Show in 2005. I took my family along - wife Allison, 12-year-old daughter Christie, and 9-month old son Aaron (see photo of him as my lucky mascot!). Players Settlers was quite a challenge, as there were a lot of excellent players - but was a lot of fun.
The first day of playing (Saturday) consisted of 4 games of Settlers, against people from different countries. My first game was going well, and I was looking good for keeping the longest road, when I made the mistake of trading with an opponent who then split my road, and I then struggled.
My second game I never got lucky with the dice rolls, and also someone was helping the person about to win by trading with them! My third game was looking good for a win, but on 9 points everyone picked on me by robbing and blocking my hexes - and just when I got the resources I needed to win, someone finished ahead of me! In the final game I managed a win at last - the person who was winning got picked on, and I managed to catch up by getting the longest road, while he lost his largest army! Unfortunately I did not have enough wins and points to get through to the second and final day - I came 21st, and needed to be in the top 16 to go through.
Anyway not playing on Sunday, gave me a chance to see the great Essen game show. It is amazing how many stands there were - over 700. There we also 100s of new games. We had a great time wandering around the show, and bought lots of games to take home - just as well we took an empty suitcase! The weather was also warm and sunny during the show. Luckily I managed to pre-order the great new Scottish Fragor game "Shear Panic", as it was sold out before the fair begun!
On Sunday we also watched the awards being given to the Top 4 at Settlers, with Klaus Teuber (the game inventor) there to hand out the prizes. The overall winner actually won every game he played.
After the show we stayed in Germany a few days longer, visiting cities in the area. Unfortunately the best weather was at its best during the show, and by the end of the trip there was a lot of rain!
I look forward to the 2006 Scottish Settlers Championship, as it would be great to try and go back to Essen!
Gavin Shearer
20 February 2006