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Northern Ireland, the winners of the 2023 championship, was the team to beat and the remaining teams from England, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland had refined their lists over the last few months and practiced until they were happy that it would definitely be a ‘Battle Royale’!
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The event consisted of four rounds played over four days with armies that were 115 points. The initial draw was a random draw that saw NATO players up against WARSAW PAC players. From there players were pitted against each other with the same wins and/or points. Scoring was done by wins, followed by victory points. For those players with the same number of wins and points a count-back system was used using the points of players they played and points scored against them. Draws were recorded as losses for both players per WWIII: Team Yankee guidelines.
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Throughout the weekend, each team would play the other three and then the final round would be determined based on the Team Points scored.Even before each round started, the opposing Team Captains would be mentally battling it out against each other as they went through the player and table pairings – with each of them having to use the Attack, Manoeuvre, and Defend stance at least once during this procedure.To make things even more challenging, there could be no duplicate army nationalities in each team, which led to many poker faces (and sometimes head-scratching!) as teams vied to get the best possible advantage.This procedure was partially helped due to the army lists being published on the official WWIII: Team Yankee, Team Yankee UK, and Team Yankee Ireland Facebook groups before the event, but it was still a tense time as players waited to see if their captains had managed to avoid matching them against armies that they’d have difficulty dealing with!
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Round 1 started with the ‘Battle of the Irish’ and the traditional rivalry between England and Wales which perfectly mirrored the rugby Five Nations that was also being hosted in Cardiff in February!
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There are plenty of battle reports and event write-ups on various WWIII: Team Yankee social media groups so I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow reports but, suffice to say, Team Northern Ireland showed their determination as they ripped into Team Ireland by winning all of their games.Things were a lot closer between Teams England and Wales, with Team Wales achieving two Wins, a Draw, and a Loss – enough to just beat Team England.
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Lunch, then the Best Painted Army selection was quickly followed by Round 2, with Team Wales now facing off against the unbeaten Team Northern Ireland, and Team England playing against Team Ireland.Things didn’t go as smoothly for Northern Irish as the Welsh players put up a real fight with the result being only one Victory Point difference between both teams, but it was enough for Team Northern Ireland to claim the three Team Points awarded to them as the winning team. Team Ireland fought valiantly against Team England as they tried to pull a win out of the bag, but it wasn’t to be – Team England walked away with the winner's three Team Points.The score at the end of Day One was Northern Ireland with six points, England and Wales both on four points, and Ireland following behind with two points.
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There were plenty of tall stories and laughter while the teams socialised at a local All-You-Can-Eat buffet but everyone knew that the position of Champion Team was definitely still up for grabs!
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| An early start on Sunday saw Team Wales playing against Ireland, and Team England facing Team Northern Ireland, and it wasn’t long before the player pairings were done and the games began.Ireland put up a really strong fight but Wales was on a roll and looking for the chance to challenge Northern Ireland, with Wales walking away with four wins and claiming their three Team Points for winning.Team Northern Ireland didn’t have it all their own way as Team England won one of their games and forced a draw in another, but the two remaining wins resulted in Team Northern Ireland claiming another three Team Points. |
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A break for lunch and then it was time for the teams to play against the team with the closest Team Points to them, resulting in Team Ireland (three points) playing against Team England (five points), and Team Wales (seven points) playing against Team Northern Ireland (nine points) again.There was a fair bit of discussion amongst the store staff and some of the spectating customers as to who would claim the title at the end of this round, with Wales being the favourite – probably more because of them being the Home Team rather than any other reason!
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And what a round it was!Team England scored three Team Points to Team Ireland’s one, and the Welsh team drew with Team Northern Ireland, with one Win and one Loss each as well as two Drawn games!This resulted in each of them claiming two Team Points but it was enough to allow Team Northern Ireland to hold onto their title of Champion Team!
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At the end of the tournament, the final results were:
1st Place - Team Northern Ireland (11pts)
2nd Place - Team Wales (9pts)
3rd Place - Team England (8pts)
4th Place - Team Ireland (4pts)
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Most Sporting Team - Team England
Best Painted Army - Oliver banks (West Germans)
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What an event it was! As Tournament Organiser, it really was a pleasure to be able to watch some of the games and see the friendly rivalry throughout the event.A huge ‘Well Done’ to everyone who took part – but the question that remains is will Team Northern Ireland be able to walk away again with the title of Champion Team next year?
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Fancy taking part next year?If you want to participate as part of one of the existing teams, why not get in touch on the official WWIII: Team Yankee, Team Yankee UK, and Team Yankee Ireland Facebook groups and let the relevant Team Captains know?If you’d like to put a team together that’s not already represented at the event and would like more details, just give a shout-out on the official WWIII: Team Yankee Facebook group.
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