WC 2018 Naarden - Part 1/3
What a truly wonderful and remarkable (for many reasons) the WC 2018 has been. In the previous blogpost I've written about the preparations from an organisational perspective which I hope has been an interesting reaad for many. All the preparations add up in time invested, for the entire organisation team. For me the main focus of this WC was to ensure everyone would have a good time, welcoming people, assisting the organisators of the WC days, basically being a good host.
Barrage (thursday - day #1)
For me, venues usually don't matter much. A simple hall with tables, chairs and some decent lighting will suffice. When we look at the location where the barrage tournament was held, the "vestingsmuseum"
one can only note that this truly is a remarkable location for a Stratego tournament. A fortress, military setting. Cannons, walls, water, soldiers with 18th century costumes to fire the cannon for the opening. It's a pity the logistics would have been too much of a challenge to host the main event of the WC 2018 in this location, it definitely would have been an unforgettable experience for all.
While setting up the tables, computer, etc for the barrage tournament, the first people from the media were coming in also. I don't think that ever in the history of Stratego thus far, a tournament (barrage + main event) has ever generated this level of media attention before. Many interviews were also conducted prior to the first day of the WC.
Back to the actual tournament and fortress story. The opening was done by having the four soldiers in costume tell a story about the fortress, the hierachy (Dutch are into bureaucracy, so this must've been natural to us :)) meant that the captain gave orders to the gunnery sergeant who then would give the orders to the two soldiers responsible for carrying out the blast of the day; the cannonshot.
Besides the huge amount of media and barrage tournament participants, it was also very satisfying to see that a lot of players who would end up playing in the main event but did not play in the barrage tournament did specifically come to the fortress just to witness the cannonshot.
The fortress was decorated by Stratego banners and a massive barrage board.
One would almost forget, but, many interesting games of barrage were played that day too! The turnout of players was higher than expected, we hoped for 16-18 and would be really satisfied with 20. In the end it turned out to be 24 and this is also without players who only came by thursday to witness the cannonshot. For me personally, besides winning the actual tournament, the barrage tournament also functioned as some sort of last warming up for the big battles ahead the coming days. Another reason why I find the barrage tournament important is because one actually has some time to welcome new players, catch up with them, ensure they're having a good time etc. It was good to meet people like Angel and Luc for example.
One of the reasons, for me, why I, ultimately, agreed to host the barrage tournament in the fortress is because the people of the location were genuinely interested in our event during our visit back in March. This once again when during the registration period a man came to the computer table to register two players who found out, that very day, there would be a Stratego barrage tournament here, in the fortress. It turned out that the person I just referred to as "a man" actually was the director of the fortress. Often those kind of people show their face for 20 - 30 minutes to make sure "their people" have done everythting right and then will leave. Much to my surprise, the director actually stayed the entire event and also was genuinely interested in the event. During the prize ceremony he even showed up with drums. Interesting to note is that after the live WC had concluded on saturday, the fortress director also came by because he wanted to know how the main event ended, first hand, instead of reading it somewhere in a newspaper.
I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great experience during the barrage tournament. Seeing some faces from the past show up is a good thing, just as good as seeing fresh blood coming all the way from the other side of the ocean (Canada, USA). The ones that missed the barrage tournament really missed an unique experience. Luckily we still have the pictures :).
After the event had ended, some went home, some joined the city walk organised by the fortress and Dennis while some other unfortunate souls went to the main event venue to set up the tables and computer for the main event.
Barrage (thursday - day #1)
For me, venues usually don't matter much. A simple hall with tables, chairs and some decent lighting will suffice. When we look at the location where the barrage tournament was held, the "vestingsmuseum"
While setting up the tables, computer, etc for the barrage tournament, the first people from the media were coming in also. I don't think that ever in the history of Stratego thus far, a tournament (barrage + main event) has ever generated this level of media attention before. Many interviews were also conducted prior to the first day of the WC.
Back to the actual tournament and fortress story. The opening was done by having the four soldiers in costume tell a story about the fortress, the hierachy (Dutch are into bureaucracy, so this must've been natural to us :)) meant that the captain gave orders to the gunnery sergeant who then would give the orders to the two soldiers responsible for carrying out the blast of the day; the cannonshot.
Besides the huge amount of media and barrage tournament participants, it was also very satisfying to see that a lot of players who would end up playing in the main event but did not play in the barrage tournament did specifically come to the fortress just to witness the cannonshot.
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| Group pic of participants |
The fortress was decorated by Stratego banners and a massive barrage board.
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| Decorations |
One would almost forget, but, many interesting games of barrage were played that day too! The turnout of players was higher than expected, we hoped for 16-18 and would be really satisfied with 20. In the end it turned out to be 24 and this is also without players who only came by thursday to witness the cannonshot. For me personally, besides winning the actual tournament, the barrage tournament also functioned as some sort of last warming up for the big battles ahead the coming days. Another reason why I find the barrage tournament important is because one actually has some time to welcome new players, catch up with them, ensure they're having a good time etc. It was good to meet people like Angel and Luc for example.
One of the reasons, for me, why I, ultimately, agreed to host the barrage tournament in the fortress is because the people of the location were genuinely interested in our event during our visit back in March. This once again when during the registration period a man came to the computer table to register two players who found out, that very day, there would be a Stratego barrage tournament here, in the fortress. It turned out that the person I just referred to as "a man" actually was the director of the fortress. Often those kind of people show their face for 20 - 30 minutes to make sure "their people" have done everythting right and then will leave. Much to my surprise, the director actually stayed the entire event and also was genuinely interested in the event. During the prize ceremony he even showed up with drums. Interesting to note is that after the live WC had concluded on saturday, the fortress director also came by because he wanted to know how the main event ended, first hand, instead of reading it somewhere in a newspaper.
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| Two barrage masters battling it out |
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| Fortress director (left). WC Organiser (middle). Barrage inventor (right) |
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| #1 Pim Niemeijer (middle) #2 Axel Hangg (right) #3 Roel Eefting (left) |
I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great experience during the barrage tournament. Seeing some faces from the past show up is a good thing, just as good as seeing fresh blood coming all the way from the other side of the ocean (Canada, USA). The ones that missed the barrage tournament really missed an unique experience. Luckily we still have the pictures :).
After the event had ended, some went home, some joined the city walk organised by the fortress and Dennis while some other unfortunate souls went to the main event venue to set up the tables and computer for the main event.
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