Team Northern Ireland At The ETC 2011 Day 2 (You Did Us Proud)

So the dust has finally settled on this years ETC and the final standings or up so how did our little country fare against some of the big boys, well by no means were we a pushover, and it seems that we have learned through experience of what the event is all about.

Day 2 began with game 4 Russia again another hard matchup as they and did reasonably well last year, but it wasn't enough for us to secure a win and suffered a defeat.

Game 5 Greece and a fantastic draw was achieved which was our second for the tournament which meant it all went down to last game 

Game 6 Norway I'm sure there were some nerves going into this to see whether we could obtain our first win and although reports are a bit sketchy it appears that Norway for whatever reason didn't take part in their final game, which meant that they suffered a massacre of 160 to 0 which meant that the team achieved its first win. It will be interesting when I get a chance to speak to the guys to see exactly what happened but a win is a win in my book, no matter what, and with the final results it meant that Northern Ireland over the course of the weekend lost 3 drew 2 and got their first win. Which meant that Northern Ireland achieved 20th a major improvement on last year.

So once again a big well done to everyone you did us proud.

Warhammer 40,000 Finals

1: Germany (10 pts)

2: Poland (10 pts)

3: United States (9 pts)

4: Sweden (8 pts)

5: Spain (8 pts)

6: France (8 pts)

7: Wales (8 pts)

8: England (7 pts)

9: Finland (7 pts)

10: Switzerland (7 pts)

11: Latvia (7 pts)

12: Denmark (6 pts)

13: Ireland (6 pts)

14: Belarus (5 pts)

15: Italy (5 pts)

16: Scotland (5 pts)

17: Russia (5 pts) 

18: European Union (5 pts)

19: Belgium (5 pts)

20: Northern Ireland (4 pts)

21: Czech Republic (3 pts)

22: Austria (3 pts)

23: Norway (2 pts)

24: Greece (1 pts)

From the outset, I think the team was more prepared than previous years and a lot of the credit ultimately gos to their captain, Johnny 65 for the hard work and effort that has been put into tournaments throughout the year. which gives the team the much-needed practice that they need to compete on such a level.

Also a big shout out goes to all the clubs and the players involved namely Arkam gaming centre, that makes our little scene over here go from strength to strength each year.

So where does it go from here? Get involved!!

Well the only way is up it seems this year that if you can draw in your games, you can definitely win them, which has been a problem in games at the ETC in previous years. Also our community is a lot stronger players for the first time this year have to qualify to get into the team which meant ultimately there is hunger to compete for a coveted spot, which can only be a good thing. 

Team Northern Ireland At The ETC 2011 Day 1

For those that don't already know over the course of this weekend is the European Team Championships in both warhammer and 40k which in turn sees, some of the best players from countries all over the world competing to become champions. 

Although reports for our own team are a bit sketchy at the minute it appears that in our first game against Austria we managed a very reasonable draw which was a fantastic result considering we have never won a complete round at the ETC before, so I'm sure Johnny and the guys will be very pleased.

In game 2 it appears that we have been up against a lot tougher opponent being Sweden which unfortunately meant it looks like we lost. 

In game 3 we were paired up against European team since there was an odd number of teams taking part players volunteered to form another team to fill in the gap, again it looks like this stage we took another loss. 

Below is the standings after day 1 and by no means are we last

1. Germany 6 (+184)

2. Poland 6 (+144)

3. Sweden 5 (+162)

4. Italy 5 (+68)

5. USA 4 (+100)

6. Spain 4 (+46)

7. England 4 (+40)

8. Latvia 4 (+34)

9. Wales 4 (+20)

10. France 4 (-6)

11. Czech Republic 3 (+36)

12. Euro Merc Team 3 (0)

13. Switzerland 3 (-10)

14. Belgium 3 (-28)

15. Republic of Ireland 3 (-58)

16. Denmark 2 (-12)

17. Scotland 2 (-16)

18. Finland 2 (-56)

19. Norway 2 (-94)

20. Belarus 1 (-38)

21. Austria 1 (-52)

22. Northern Ireland 1 (-144)

23. Greece 0 (-180)

24. Russia 0 (-1140)

That was pretty much the end of day 1 pairings for day 2 were already posted up at the close of play and it looks like Russia is next. 

Hopefully today Team NI get off to a good start with Russia and who knows even possibly get our first round win, that in itself would mean so much to the guys, and hopefully compensate all the hard work and effort that they have put in over recent months and weeks, after all were not Brazil we are Northern Ireland.