19th Annual International Risk® Championship

[GreecePwns]

How many players in all were there? 10 CCers is a lot to me.

70-80? That was our estimate, I don't know if Steel ever got official numbers.

Wow. That's a good showing for us then.

[sully800]

The finals:

Happy left early Sunday morning to play in the Second Chance tournament which is $15 buy in for eliminated players and the winner gets 75% of the pool. By the time I arrived she was breathing her last and eliminated shortly thereafter.

With 2/6 players in the final game, and 1/4 of the players who won a game in the tournament, I felt that Conquer Club had made a rather strong showing. It was also nice to hear many of the people that we talked to say they were going to join the site and see what it was all about (I think I even persuaded some people away from Lux and Grand Strategy ) But in addition to that, I felt like CC had a rather good shot at taking home the overall prize since two of us (albeit, rookies) had advanced to the final game.

This was the first 6 player game of the tourney, which means your options are more limited from the start- fewer men, fewer countries, fewer continents to go around. I was dealt 6 cards in Asia and one in Europe, so despite rolling a 6 and being able to place my men first, I couldn't make a stab at any continent. As ourhero recounted, he had 2 countries in Aussie and placed all of his men there as did his new nemesis Dick. I was pleased to see that, even though I didn't think they would duke it out....it would prevent someone from grabbing the easy continent, right? Well I was even more pleased when Dick began attacking ourhero, thinking he would severely weaken them both and I could sweep down from Asia into a new luxurious home. Unfortunately Dick Killed 15 men and only lost 3, so Aussie was a strong hold and ourhero was on the ropes before his first turn.

As the game progressed the continent holders grew strong as always, and I was on the low side. When sets were at 20, I had 3 cards and a set and the player after me was relatively weak and holding 4 cards. Unlike in CC, the TOC allows you to cash in after eliminating a player as long as you have a set- no minimum of 5 cards. So I took my shot and eliminated the broken force in America, knowing that there was a 4/5 chance he had a set not accounting for wilds. Add in the fact that we had seen 21 cards cashed an none of them wild, it gave him a pretty good shot of holding one of them in his hand as well and having a guaranteed set. So I took my shot, whittled men men down but eliminated him with about 15 left over....only to realize the inevitable: No set. So now I have a relatively low amount of men and I'm holding 5 cards once my turn is over. The next player was the big power in South America, and eliminated me easily and became a powerful force for the rest of the game. As ourhero recounted earlier, Dick fought back and eventually tried to eliminated the SAmerica player. It came down to 4 men against 3 and then dwindled to 2 against 1. With his final die Dick eliminated ourhero and sealed his fate as a 2 time champion of the IRTOC.

First place on the left:arrow: 6th place on the right.

Poor lighting, I know. They wanted pictures in front of the prizes, but with the sun in the background you can hardly see anything.

Dick chose the 8 day 7 night vacation package as his prize. Ourhero picked a hand carved relief version of the classic map. 3rd took a table and chairs with risk themed graphics, and 4th took the mini fridge. I ended up with 4 Risk games and 2 other war oriented board games, and 6th place was left with 3 framed pieces of Risk memorabilia.


Me with a pile of board games.


After the conclusion of the last game we took a final picture of the CC members left at the tournament.

From right to left: Myself, Happy2seeyou, Steelhorse, arkaxow, Haucky, ourhero's son and ourhero16. Not shown in any pictures is spidey, champion of Steelhorse's IRTOC satellite tournament hosted on this site. Her prize for winning was an entry into the tourney, and it was great meeting her as well.

I would like to thank Steelhorse for his hard work in the tournament and for being a great host and tour guide And congratulations to mbohn, wildstar and haucky for winning their games and advancing to the semifinals. And of course a big congratulations to ourhero16, for coincidentally being our hero and finishing the highest of any Conquer Club member! I can't think of a more fitting username to take such an honor.

Now get back to your games CC, and start practicing for next year!

[Optimus Prime]

Hellllooooo Steelhorse.

Why is it that I thought he was like 65? I could have sworn it. That makes me laugh.

You thought he was 65 because one of us posted that in another thread, maybe in the tourney area. lol

That would explain it.

[happy2seeyou]

[wicked]

Is it always in the same town? I hear it's kinda lacking in bars.

[happy2seeyou]

I didnt see that sully posted the same pic...

[Incandenza]

Wow, sounds like you guys had an incredible time... tho I AM a bit disappointed that a CCer didn't win the whole thing!

[bedub1]

no worries happy...your picture is larger and easier to see....

And I have to agree.....I'm sad a CC'er didn't win....it sounds like everybody was continent grabbing.....when I play escalating nobody really cares about continents....all about positioning and blocking.....were these guys noobs or is it just me?


(Sigh...i know everybody's gunna say it's just me....should i post this in flame wars too?)

[sully800]

no worries happy...your picture is larger and easier to see....

And I have to agree.....I'm sad a CC'er didn't win....it sounds like everybody was continent grabbing.....when I play escalating nobody really cares about continents....all about positioning and blocking.....were these guys noobs or is it just me?


(Sigh...i know everybody's gunna say it's just me....should i post this in flame wars too?)

It's because on here its very hard to get a continent since theres 3 men on each country. In the TOC you deploy your own men, so 1 person puts them all in Africa, one puts them all in SA and one puts them all in Aussie. If you try to stand up to those people you are likely to lose most of your men early. And if you don't stand up to them they'll have a bonus the whole game and keep a good advantage.

[rebelman]

Good to see ye chose an Irish bar.

[wicked]

I don't believe they had much of a choice.

[Herakilla]

I didnt see that sully posted the same pic...

dont worry they are two VERY different pictures! look at yourself in each, notice a difference?

[sully800]

I didnt see that sully posted the same pic...

dont worry they are two VERY different pictures! look at yourself in each, notice a difference?

hahaha

All the ones on my camera with Happy sitting on the wall are great. The wind was blowing her hair up in the back so she has some huge spikes/horns

[happy2seeyou]

I didnt see that sully posted the same pic...

dont worry they are two VERY different pictures! look at yourself in each, notice a difference?

hahaha

All the ones on my camera with Happy sitting on the wall are great. The wind was blowing her hair up in the back so she has some huge spikes/horns

I was horny in your pics??

[reverend_kyle]

no worries happy...your picture is larger and easier to see....

And I have to agree.....I'm sad a CC'er didn't win....it sounds like everybody was continent grabbing.....when I play escalating nobody really cares about continents....all about positioning and blocking.....were these guys noobs or is it just me?


(Sigh...i know everybody's gunna say it's just me....should i post this in flame wars too?)

It's because on here its very hard to get a continent since theres 3 men on each country. In the TOC you deploy your own men, so 1 person puts them all in Africa, one puts them all in SA and one puts them all in Aussie. If you try to stand up to those people you are likely to lose most of your men early. And if you don't stand up to them they'll have a bonus the whole game and keep a good advantage.

I would pwn at that tourney(that's how it is on landgrab where I was once third).

I'm so in next year.

[Nephilim]

helluva job everyone, wish i had been there!

CC represent!

[john1099]

hey Courtney, by next year at this time I should have my full license, so you and I will go, ok?

I'm pretty sure its only like 4 hours from here!

[wicked]

CC should sponsor all admin staff to go next year. Then there'd be no getting out of the mod meeting.

[ourhero16]

I was also surprised about how important it was to get a continent to win games, as opposed to an often successful strategy on cc of wandering and building. Getting australia was still the best, but getting africa was also very good, because people tended to leave you alone.

I lost my 1st game quickly by trying the wandering strategy, won my 2nd by taking s.america, and won my 3rd by taking africa. And of course, lost my last game not being able to get anything.

[Steelhorse]

Hello all!!!

First a little "housekeeping."

Hellllooooo Steelhorse.

Hehehe, Hellllooooo wicked.

Why is it that I thought he was like 65? I could have sworn it. That makes me laugh.

Hehehe, Hellllooooo Optimus.

You forgot to mention my speech.. Note to self... don't give me a microphone after only 6 hours of sleep in 2 days and after a night of drinking that started at 2pm!

Truer words have never been spoken. The staff member who gave Happy a microphone was immediately reprimanded for making such an aggregious lack of judgement.

Now, on to business.

Wow...what can I say...it was an awesome weekend. Thanks to Sully for doing such a great job recapping the games, providing some great pictures, and summing up the whole weekend. I couldn't have recounted it any better myself.

I'll keep this short so as not to repeat Sully, but the best part of the weekend was meeting all the new faces of the friends I (we) have made on CC. It was great bringing both the RiskTOC and Conquer Club families together to share in one common passion---playing Risk.

Final numbers for the tourney were around 75 players (give or take a few). And, I believe we had about 10 CC'ers. The numbers were a bit down compared to previous years, but the CC'ers came through and made it very respectable.

A few shout-outs:

Carrot Khan- Carrot won her entry in the satellite tourney I ran a few months ago and flew in from Chicago just to play and hang out with us. I was really rooting for her, but she had a rough go of it, and ran in to some crummy luck early on. But, her dedication and sacrifice to be there did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. It was great to meet her and I look forward to seeing her again next year.

ourhero16 and chunk o meat- hero brought his 9 year old son to play. To me, this is what the game is all about...one generation sharing a great pasttime and passing it on to another. The love of the game was passed on to me by my dad, and chunk o meat is following in the same footsteps. Hero did great in the tournament, represented CC well, and his son is about 2 years away from kickin all our butts...trust me.

Happy2seeyou- Happy wasted no time in endearing herself to everyone(no surprise there ). She drove 10 hours on Friday to play in the tourney, and then played in her first round game no less than a few hours after she arrived. Talk about love of the game!!!

Haucky- I have actually known Haucky for a few years. He is one of the tourney regulars (and past Champion) and has been coming for quite a few years now. As usual, it was great to see him again.

Sully800- Dude, it was great meeting you. I now have another friend in the area. We went out on the town (what little of it there is) Saturday night with Happy and her friend and had an absolute blast...closed the place down!!! Nuff said. And, Sully represented CC big time and did us all proud. Glad you enjoyed my "dodgeball" story...hehe...almost fell off his stool.

arkaxow- Here's the guy with the laptop. He, too, has been coming to the Risk tourney for a number of years. Talk about the ultimate gamer!! In between games, he was on his laptop playing more games, while the rest of us were catching our collective breaths from our previous games and mentally recooping to get ready for our next round. I had the chance to sit down and chat with ark for a while and he showed me the different gaming stuff he was in to. Very cool, bro...thanks for sharing and I'll see you next year.

wildstar- He was at my table in my first round game...and kicked my arse around the map...badly. Super nice guy, but I really don't like him very much.

Just kidding.

mbohn- Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with mbohn. I think while he was playing, I was off, and vice versa. But, I know he did a great job and made it to the semi's. Way to represent and I hope to get to spend more time getting to know you next year.

She Wolf- you were truly missed.

Wow, I rambled on for longer than I expected. In closing, thanks again to all the CC'ers who participated. I know those numbers will grow and I look forward to meeting more of you.

I plan on holding 2 satellite tourney's this year for a seat in next year's tourney so stay tuned for the announcements (about 3 months and 6 months from now).

I may update this post if anything else pertinent comes to mind.

Till then, may the Dice Gods smile upon you.

Steelhorse

[She Wolf]

awesome recap Sully. while reading your posts it seemed like i was almost there. you guys played very well and well, i am not surprised of the outcome of the games. i am confident CC will rule the playing field next yr.

next yr without a doubt i will go. i missed the best time.

congratulations to all the CC'ers

i'm doing a happy dance now. so glad you can't see that.

I'm probably the only hispanic in the entire world who has 2 left feet and no sense of rythm. but, for you guys i try.

again, You guys are Freakin' awesome.

[MikeFromLux]

Congratulations - FYI the 'powerhouse' in SA is a friend of mine - he goes by the handle 'Aqua Regia'....

[FistK]

Great pics and recap! I am definitely going to go next year.

[sully800]

Congratulations - FYI the 'powerhouse' in SA is a friend of mine - he goes by the handle 'Aqua Regia'....

Does he play on here? Or a different site?

He was a great player from what I saw at the final table. My money was on him to win it from the start.

[Haucky]

Nice job Sully with the story and pictures.