Okay, 3 hours sleep a night for 4 days, no showers, and a near death
experience driving in Germany were the bad points. 
The good points - everything else. 
Having 2 War-rooms and an Input
room, with a kitchen to relax in was great. Ulrik and Bue get our thanks for
organising this event, and it was very interesting to see the game swing
both ways. (If we could have a room for everyone to meet up and chat that
would be ideal!) The Scandanavians were great hosts, and all the players
friendly and a great atmosphere was clearly around. If you haven't played
this sort of game then it's great fun, and you get to learn a lot.
Quick report on gobal events that both teams are aware of (as I played the
Ice King please excuse the obvious DS slant to events, so my apologies for
that):
We're now on turn 16, with the Turn 1 looking very good for the FPs, then
2-7ish for the DS, followed by a swing back in the favours of the FP made
the game an excellent challenge. Turn 15 sees the Rhudaur capital and Dol
Guldur fall somewhat earlier, with the South Gondorian/Sindar fleets having
attacked the Harad on turn 1. No inroads have yet to be made into Mordor,
but the Witch King is now under a lot of pressure and will likely soon fall.
(North Harad now under threat as most of Southern Harad has now fallen
except their capital).
In the East the Eothraim lost 3112 but halted the onslaught at that point
(later lost 3612 as well). NM have lost 4415 and Dilgul (4217), and the
Sindar has had 3/4 PCs revealed. However, the FP are now advancing strongly
on Mordor, and it is not sure if the DS can hold them off at this point.
The FP have a very strong economic base at present but no access to Cursing,
but having just acquired the Ring of Wind they are in a strong position as
their Ems take out PC after PC in Mordor. Overall the DS should win, but
the FP are better organised, and coming back strongly so it waits to see how
events continue in coming turns.
Turn around was slower than hoped, but still everyone had an excellent time
from what I could tell. Great fun and recommended for all. As we used this
as a testing base for running more of these sort of events away from the UK
we felt that it went very well. From our viewpoint having the game process
and print out more quickly, and a slightly faster way of getting turns in
would be very helpful - we've got some plans about that which we'll put
forward (24 hour car/ferry journeys are great for chewing the fat!) We're
provisionally planning two events in the Summer in the UK, and possibly one
in the US - where would be best for that? All welcome.
Clint