It took me a while to write this article, in part because I was stunned and speechless for some time after the amazing weekend at Castle Stahleck.

First and foremost, it’s the number of players that made this tourney weekend a special one: 170 players from 14 different nations showed up, playing six tournaments for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game and five for Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game. Two months before the event, I started to get nervous, knowing that the Hall of Knights has space for up to 100 players, and at that time we had already reached that number. Of course, there would be more. In the end, we had 120 participants in the A Game of Thrones joust, so we had to split and use another room, which, fortunately, worked perfectly.

A great community of gamers

I also knew organizing an event like this wouldn’t be an easy task, but I was again fortunate to have assistance from people like Johnny, who ran all the Warhammer: Invasion events, and Yannick, who did a perfect job organizing the A Game of Thrones Championships. Plus, whenever we needed help, there was a crowd of volunteers.

The most rewarding thing for me was that many players told me that they not only liked the tourneys, but they also found the atmosphere and community especially enjoyable.

Two artists made an appearance this year: Tiziano Baracchi and Nacho Molina displayed their artwork, signed cards, and were always ready to chat with the players.

Rising above the rest

And now, we hail the champions!

• Congratulations go to the winner of the Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game Championship, Jakub “Jaszczur” Serafin from Poland. As stubborn as only dwarves can be he stood victorious against the onslaught of the Empire.
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Melee Champion Gregoire “fishiste” traveled from France and proved that House Lannister has the most famous knights of the realm.
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Joust Champion Martí Foz traveled from Spain. His victory proves Winter has Come, brought by the Iron Fleet of Greyjoy (We do not sow, nor do we let anybody else!)

We will have more details (results, reports and photos) available soon on the Stahleck homepage (in the archive).

Additionally, you can look for Tourney of Stahleck 2011 on Youtube.com to find a video offering a short glimpse of the final A Game of Thrones melee table.

Thanks to everyone who made Stahleck 2011 a memorable weekend! I hope to see you all next year. The eighth Tourney of Stahleck will be held during the weekend of November 16th to the 18th, 2012.

Editor’s Note: Jakub’s Warhammer: Invasion tournament report is already available, and we will soon post Martí Foz’s tournament report for the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game European Championships.