Settlers World Championships
I was one of the representives for Scotland at the 2005 Setters World Championships.
How did the World championships go? Well, firstly the show is massive. If you never been before, as I hadn't, and are considering it you've got to go. It is at least ten times bigger than any show I've been to in the UK and the almost all the games are cheaper compared to UK prices. You do need to be a skilled packer of suitcases and have one eye on your baggage weight limits however.
So what about the tournament? You get to play 4 games in day 1, each board was randomly determined as per the standard game rules. From memory my results were:
- Game 1: Second
- Game 2: First
- Game 3: Second
- Game 4: Third
[You can see the full picture of one of John's games here.]
Special note should be given to game 3, I normally consider Settlers to take about 45-60 mins to play. In this game the board was extremely tough and it took 45 mins before all of the players had placed there initial 2 settlements and the whole game lasted well over 2 hours. Hopefully the longest game of settlers that I will ever play!
>Overall that placed me 20th out of 54, just a couple of points of making it to the top 16 and qualifying for day 2.
Despite not making day 2, I definitely enjoyed the day and it was good to play at that level. The international nature of the players gives each game a different flavour. Thankfully the language of the tournament was English as my German isn't up to "two sheep for one ore?". I didn't take up the offer of the Hotel accommodation so can't comment on that but if you get the chance to go and play I would recommend it, I certainly enjoyed it.
John Wilson
20 february 2006