Rolling dice around the world.

In August I returned to Serbia for the European Team Championships, a multi-national team tournament for Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k, and Flames of War. It's my third time attending, and my second trip to Sebia (which isn't something I ever thought I'd be saying). My first two years I was a player for the Canadian team (they couldn't fill a whole squad, so needed mercenaries), this year I was a coach for the USA team. A coach doesn't play any games, but he watches all of them, running messages from players to the captain, flagging down judges to answer questions, and help the captain plan for pairings and match ups. On the surface it might look really odd to spend money to fly to Europe to just watch games, but it was a very engaging experience. I was constantly on the move, planning, updating the captain on how our teams were doing, and running the odd errand. I was able to catch up with old friends from the past year, and make some new ones. Our accommodations were much nicer this time around (a four star hotel as opposed to student dorms), the exchange rate was as favorable as ever, and the women were still unbelievably attractive. Our team faltered a bit at first, and were within range of a top ten finish, but went down big against Russia in the last round. We ended up 16th out of 32, our worst year ever, but as far as coaching I was told by all involved that I was the best they'd ever had. My investment may also bear fruit: since I showed my commitment by coaching, I'm in strong consideration to play on the team next year if I want to. Next year, we are playing in Prague. Now that will be a city worth going to!

About a month after returning I got to play at the Crossroads GT in Elmira NY. I had four wins and one draw, and came in 21st out of 104 players. A rather good year, with lots of fun games. I have one or two chances of trying to get into the US Masters in February, but if I don't make it there's always next year.