Euroquest Recap
Another year, another Euroquest on the books. It's the only gaming tournament I participate in, so I was there for pretty much the duration & participated in as many tournaments as I could. Skipped the wild card this time, a whopping two Can't Stop games both of which were horrid, & only a few 'Play to Win' games, I played but didn't win. Also stayed out of the side tourneys & demos. In the past 5-6 years, I made it into 5 semi-finals & 1 final. This year, I made 2 finals, qualified for 6 semis and played in 4 of them. Twice I was eligible for 2 semis that were played at the same time. Figures. Also was reduced to just 1 heat of Ticket to Ride - my strong game - by both finals being against TTR heats. My one heat of TTR (& lone heat of Castles of Burgundy, another one I'm good at) were atrociously bad. Some of the worst games I've every played of them.
Meanwhile, I learned two tourney games this year - Thurn Und Taxis, where I picked up two very close seconds, but opted for St Petersburg instead, in which I'd also landed a pair of seconds, played the semi against 3 sharks, & finished second again. They were all
convinced I was 'playing it wrong', but hey, I beat two of them. I've made semis in Settlers of Catan & Lords of Waterdeep before, but this time I graduated to the finals. I alternated terrible & great games at Settlers, meaning the great game was the semi & the terrible was the final. I wound up 4th. I never actually won a heat of Waterdeep, but did make the semis & won handily there. The final was close until the very end, when I finished 3rd. My friend Jay won the tourney. I rocked the Splendor heats, but came up one turn short in the semi. One more turn, augh. Last year I was knocked out of the Carcassonne tourney by the eventual champ; this year, I made it to the 'elite eight' before losing by 1 point. If nothing else, I seem to be getting generally better at tourney play.
The non-gaming aspects of the con...not so great. Won a game, but had no idea what any of the games were & picked something randomly. Went to the auction store & found one deal, but wasn't able to go back to bid on anything else. Couldn't afford to buy any new games. Locked my keys in the car Thursday night & had to get AAA out there. Lot of people I like to see didn't make it this year; lot of the ones that did make it weren't their usual selves this year.
Which leads to the part that the worst - one of my favorite people to play games with, Doug Hoylman, died last week. Pretty much that's all we know, he died. Doug had played nearly every game every created & he was a great & very willing teacher. He probably taught me half the games I know, even taught my nephews a couple games. A really patient & pleasant gentleman. we missed him this weekend & I'm already a bit adrift. I'm going to miss him a lot.
Meanwhile, I learned two tourney games this year - Thurn Und Taxis, where I picked up two very close seconds, but opted for St Petersburg instead, in which I'd also landed a pair of seconds, played the semi against 3 sharks, & finished second again. They were all
convinced I was 'playing it wrong', but hey, I beat two of them. I've made semis in Settlers of Catan & Lords of Waterdeep before, but this time I graduated to the finals. I alternated terrible & great games at Settlers, meaning the great game was the semi & the terrible was the final. I wound up 4th. I never actually won a heat of Waterdeep, but did make the semis & won handily there. The final was close until the very end, when I finished 3rd. My friend Jay won the tourney. I rocked the Splendor heats, but came up one turn short in the semi. One more turn, augh. Last year I was knocked out of the Carcassonne tourney by the eventual champ; this year, I made it to the 'elite eight' before losing by 1 point. If nothing else, I seem to be getting generally better at tourney play.
The non-gaming aspects of the con...not so great. Won a game, but had no idea what any of the games were & picked something randomly. Went to the auction store & found one deal, but wasn't able to go back to bid on anything else. Couldn't afford to buy any new games. Locked my keys in the car Thursday night & had to get AAA out there. Lot of people I like to see didn't make it this year; lot of the ones that did make it weren't their usual selves this year.
Which leads to the part that the worst - one of my favorite people to play games with, Doug Hoylman, died last week. Pretty much that's all we know, he died. Doug had played nearly every game every created & he was a great & very willing teacher. He probably taught me half the games I know, even taught my nephews a couple games. A really patient & pleasant gentleman. we missed him this weekend & I'm already a bit adrift. I'm going to miss him a lot.