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"Well, in Parliament we do it
this way ...." ... Ric Manns seems to be amused by defending
champ Nicky Palmer's war stories. |
"Six, seven, eight ... awright,
who is trying to play Luxemburg? I tolf you, only seven players
allowed." |
the prodigal son returns
The
WBC 2008 Diplomacy tournament differed from the 2007 event
in a number of ways. This year a silver shiv was awarded for
a very nice stab by England on a German player that went from
7 in '03 to 3 in '04 and to 0 in '05. The draws had fewer participants,
so the action was faster and the tension was thicker.
The dedicated room we used last year worked great for us again,
the luxury of having the ability to be as loud as we need to
during WBC [where space is at a premium] something that we have
now grown accustomed to. We also had blocks of wood for best
country awards.
There were five boards, like last year, and we had a number
of return participants. Nick Palmer took a break from Parliament
and came back to defend his crown, but missed by 'this much'.
There were two boards on Friday which finished with a 2-way and
a 3-way draw. Saturday morning had two more boards with a 2-way
draw and a 5-way draw. Sunday's lone board was filled with lots
of action as the top scorers were jockeying for position on the
leader board, but it ended up a 4-way draw.
This year's board action was much faster as the draws had
significantly less people involved -- player's were playing for
that 'solo' at the end of the tunnel. Two new comers to the convention
walked away with the 1st & 2nd place awards and that was
because they were involved in the 2-way draw. Next year should
prove tougher for them to duplicate since they are now a known
quantity [here at WBC].
WBC has official plaques for the top 4 finishers, but we gave
out mini-plaques for the rest [top board finishers were Thomas
Haver, Eric Grinnell, Nick Palmer, Brian Sheldon, Daniel Broh-Kahn,
Paul Konra & Paul Camina]. The Silver Shic was awarded to
Dylan Routh for his stab on Brian Sheldon.
Overall everyone liked the format and there were a few suggestions
that will be utilized next year. Quite a few of the players said
they were going to talk to people to have more participants next
year - they truly enjoyed the venue and the way that the tournament
is run.
Unfortunately, the event has fallen on hard times in recent years
compared to its prosperous run at Hunt Valley and the lofty days
of 141 players at the last World Dipcon hosted AT WBC. Participation
at Lancaster has never recovered and this year the event fell
out of the Century for the first time. It will need membership
support in the December vote or a Sponsor to return in 2009.
The WBC 2008 Best Country Awards went to:
Tom Haver |
Paul Konka |
Nick Palmer |
Eric Grinnell |
Paul Camina |
Tom Haver |
Eric Grinnell |
Austria |
England |
France |
Germany |
Italy |
Russia |
Turkey |
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