Atilla,, the last Euro of the convention, was held downstairs in the wargame room at 9 on Sunday. Sunday is get away day, but 20 gamers overcame the morning blues for one last shot at wood.. Four decided that they did not want to advance as they were leaving shortly so we went with five boards of 4, with one board not advancing. So, sixteen would-be conquerors spread Huns across the European continent, sowing havoc and jostling for tribal leadership with the four winners advancing to a final round of conflict. Matt Calkins overcame quality competition on the final board to pull out the victory.

In few games does the theme (bloody barbarism) conflict more with the presentation (cute meeples) and mechanic ('investing' in tribes for periodic payouts). Atilla is bloody in name only. The final included Kathy Stroh, Greg Thatcher, Davyd Field, and Matt Calkins.

The participants were relaxed and tossed jokes after a long week of gaming. Some tribes sprinted forward while others seemed to question their decision to leave the steppes in the first place. Matt followed his play-your-junk-until-second-round strategy and as a result ended up trailing the pack. In the second turn he made it all back, however, deploying a tile early when a good opportunity presented itself.

This tournament saw two philosophies on how to play cards in a conflict. "Internationalists" boost their favorite tribes, hoping to preserve their point value. "Isolationists" use conflicts to cycle unwanted cards out of their hands and never bother to reinforce their favorite tribes - often they do their favorite tribes harm by adding to the strength of their enemies. (The eventual winner was a strict isolationist.)

The pack split decisively in the third turn. Matt ended the round on his terms, using a double-play tile to force three conflicts, but couldn't prevent Davyd from having an excellent round as well. Davyd was strong in the Red, Black, and Green tribes, all high-scoring.

Their lead in several tribes was paper-thin, however, and vulnerable to well-played attacks from Kathy and Greg. Both stole the Blue tribe from Matt, who had invested his 2-step tile there and scored handsomely on the previous turn. Greg stole Black from Davyd with a last-minute 2-step placement of his own. Matt did everything he could to stay ahead of Davyd in Red, the most important tribe in which the two leaders went head-to-head.

Matt tried to end the game by playing the last two Red tribesmen onto the board. Nowhere could they be placed without starting a conflict, so he put them together, hoping they'd be more likely to survive the battle that way. Only if the Red migrants survived on the board (leaving the Red pool empty) would the game finish. By a single card, the Red tribe survived the battle, and Matt succeeded in ending the game in his favor.

All in all Attila was a fun and inviting get-away morning game. We need more short Sunday morning games and it is hoped that it will return next year. (Thanks to Matt Calkins for providing a winners' eye view of the final.)