Oxcon Settlers Report 2003

Another year, another settlers tournament; but this year saw several major changes. First of all, I was in charge of the tournament instead of playing in it; and secondly we were to fit five rounds in the time available, rather than just four.

From my point of view it all started rather too early on the Sunday morning; I had breakfast with Dan and Phil who had been sleeping over; before printing off some rather hastily prepared scoring sheets and wandering over to the mitre. Arriving just before 10, all seemed rather rosey, the diplomacy tournament the day before had, by all accounts been a success; with only slight question marks over the performance of the Mitre - a new venue for us.

Players quickly arrived, and for a while it looked like we would easily make 9 boards; but all to quickly the sign up deadline had passed, and all told there was only enough people for seven boards, with one extra, and several people "on their way". After quick discussions with the committee; the decision was taken to start things off, and an initial set-up was worked out. Fortunately three more people arrived almost immediately afterwards, so a "late" board was formed.

From that point the first two rounds before lunch proceeded reasonably smoothly - in the first round Phil Williams earned his victory the hard way, drawing 7 knights out of 8 cards; while it was nice to see newcomers such as Howard Goble and Ian Lynagh hit the ground running, with 10-7-7-6 and 10-7-7-5 victories respectively. The second round that led into lunch saw one amazingly long game; which saw the middle "11" unavailable for building on, due to the initial set-ups. During the two hour marathon; only one "11" was rolled; Caroline Berry picked up 9 knight cards out of 13 to secure her largest army; but Dave Percik managed to draw out a 10-9-8-7 victory. There was also the famous "singing table", that seemed to not so much sing, but bleat continuously throughout their game!

Howard Goble took a small lead into lunch, that he was never to surrender; but he was hard chased by Martin Devreaux, the only other person on two victories; although a TD error at the time put a third person on two victories. Fortunately this mistake didnt affect the top rankings at the end of the tournament; it certainly made him realise the necessity of good software to run a large tournament.

After lunch, the third round went without much incident, as Howard Goble cemented his lead, and the tournament director was persuaded to join a game of Bali. Bali does seem to be a very good game, unfortunately I have yet to grasp it, and came a poor last, despite comments that I was in a strong position throughout. It also had the effect of putting me slightly behind on my organisational work; and slightly more stressed as lack of sleep started to kick in.

The game finished just as the fourth round was about to finish, and for the first time, time pressures seemed to affect some of the boards; as the sixty minute limit was broken by two boards; and with the last round soon to start; one board nearly suffered from a "no wins" situation. Fortunately it was avoided; helped by a few big production rolls. Round 4 also saw the biggest win of the tournament - with Howard Goble notching up a 10-6-5-2 for a huge 71 tournament points.

As the fifth round start, it seemed there was no stopping Howard Goble - it was clear that only a huge defeat would enable anyone else to take up the running. By sheer coincidence, the second runner at the time, Gordon Aickin was on the same board; along with Chris Dickson and Ivan Woodward; on what was to be the decisive board. Meanwhile Marcus Welbourne and Dave Percik, both on two wins and some other strong results, were battling it out with Steve Cox and Chris Dawe for what was shaping up to be the board to take the spoils of a podium position. But the first result in, was Mark Stretch, with a 10-8-6-4, which, while leaving him behind Howard even before his last score was in, did put him within breathing distance of a podium finish; after two other strong wins.

However it was not to be, And although Gordon was overcome by Howard Goble, his second place kept him above Mark Stretch by one and a half tournament points. Meanwhile Marcus Welbourne overcame his board to claim a second place, nearly as clear as Howard Gobles first place.

A quick strawpoll was taken at the end, to see how people felt about the Mitre - it was apparent that light was a small problem, but overall it was far superior to the Keble location that had been used for the past two years, and was well worth paying for.

Final comments should be made, first of the young Michael Woodward, unfortunate winner of the "wooden spoon" award. I think he impressed everyone with his maturity; and I certainly hope to see him again next year. Secondly congratulations to convention organiser and worthy new dipsoc president; Richard Huzzey for organising such a smooth oxcon; and enabling me to run the settlers without anything else to worry about (even if he did stab my tournament to organise a card game instead!).

James Pinnion

The full results are available at www.geocities.com/jpinnion/oxsett2003.xls