La Tana dei Goblin Pisa takes back the record trophy for the Wings of War match with most players: 81
On the bygone Feb 21, 2007 La TdG Pisa set a record that held out for almost one year. On Sunday Jun 14, 2009 La TdG Pisa retooks the title in a sunny afternoon of June, when 81 warlike pilots challenged one another in what will be dubbed as the most crowded match of Wings of War ever played till now.
During the 1st PisaGioca, La Tana dei Goblin Pisa organized, ran and unpired a really crowded match of Wings of War with the crystal-clear aim of beating the official record of 61 players.
In spite of the sun (Italy & summer), the sultriness and the local time (15:30 in June, 14th!!!) one by one many people showed up, some being veterans of the game, others simply intrigued by this attempt, a few attracted by the growing knot of people that was around a long (20x1m) and unusual table in a town square.
So in a maelström of further tables being added, two wanna-be players submitting in a last time sign-up, fellows complaining about their not-so-manly pink airplane (forgive him, oh you keen fans who are reading), our ranks grew to the point that no more miniatures were available and some players had to use their own!
Andrea Angiolino, who was already in Pisa to lecture at Pisagioca, kindly lent himself out to explain the (core) rules being used to the newbies, scouring along the table high and low, far and wide.
Is there a better witness for such a record?
The battle raged on featuring naïve self-destructions (out of the flying space by the 2nd turn...) and strokes of luck (such as 9x'0' damage cards collected by a blessed prussian she-pilot), whiplashes of misfortune (we witnessed to apocalyptic scenes like a player taking her first damage at midgame but an explosion one) and veterans bewitching the public (yes there was a public too, those who came after the miniatures' availability dropped to 0) with acrobatics; in two ours doom and glory swayed back and forth over the two factions..
The few remaining survivors were scattered over the 10 tables, so we redeployed them on a smaller squared playarea 2mx2m.
Picure by courtesy of www.gioconomicon.net
And from the epic dogfight only one winner emerged: his name is Riccardo Angori flying a plane aligned with the Triple Entente.
Beside the satisfaction of succeeding in beating the record, we had the much bigger pleasure of involving many youngsters, friends and fans who enjoyed the time they spent playing together this wonderful and, for some of them, unknown game.
This couldn't have happened without the help of a lot of people. Reporting all names would be impossible so we just say a BIG thank you to the most prominent aiders:
- Andrea Angiolino, for the support before, during and after the record attempt;
- NG International/Giochi Uniti for the huge pile... no landslide... of miniatures and material they lent us;
- All the Goblins (members of La tana dei Goblin - Pisa -> The Goblins' Lair - Pisa) who came to take part to the match, printed ads, provided logistical support (tables, hiring people...), keeped an watchful eye on the games exposed at our stand and mainly to the ones who repacked all the miniatures, checking the airplane-deck cards too!
- All the 81 players, some of them who came from distant towns for the event, others who were last-minute recruitees who by chance where strolling through the square. Without them there could be no record, and more important there would have been no fun if each of them wouldn't have accepted to sit down with strangers to try playing in a team!
A small hint to anybody planning to attempt to beat our record: you are welcome, but be in a hurry because we are already organizing to gather a overwhelming crowd of 100+ people...
La Tana dei Goblin Pisa
PS: In the next days we will publish on www.goblins.net a photogallery with pictures from the event; for more information email us at tdg.pisa@goblins.net.
