Latest Announcements

On this page you can find the latest announcements regarding this years Tourney of Stahleck and anything related.

Closing of Registration

Released: 03.09.2023

Hello everyone! As September comes, we need to intensify our preparations for this year's edition of Tourney of Stahleck. In regard to participation prizes, we will need to have some exact numbers soon and that is why we will need to close registration for the tournament. We will try the following approach: Normal registration will be open for another week, until Sunday September 10th 2200 (GMT+0). After that date we will close the registration form and will set the maximum capacity for this year according to the current number of participants at that time + a small reserve. It would be really helpful if those of you who want to come, but are not registered yet, could decide until next Sunday before we set the maximum capacity. At the very moment we have 182 players registered for Joust and 89 players registered for Melee. Also, there are still around 30 beds available at the Castle, which makes a spontaneous decision in the next few days very easy for you, as you will only really need to plan your travel to and from the Castle and the deck you are playing 😄

Registration for Stahleck 2023

Released: 27.05.2023

Greetings, esteemed knights and fair ladies!

We are thrilled to announce that registration for this years Tourney of Stahleck will open on Sunday, 4th June at 10:00 AM (GMT). Prepare yourselves for an unforgettable display of skill, cunning and camaraderie as we gather once again at the lovely Castle Stahleck at the banks of river Rhine in late November this year.

The tourney of Stahleck 2023 will be held from 17th to 19th November at Castle Stahleck near Bacharach, Germany. Please check out stahleck.eu for all details on the event.

The registration for the tournament has to be done using the electronic registration form on our website as in previous years. The form will be available here. Please check all the information on how the registration process works beforehand to guarantee a smooth experience for all of us.

Looking forward to see you all at the Castle!

Final information

Released: 12.11.2022

Dear fellow Thrones Gamers,

The date of the tournament is nearing and we would like to give you some (hopefully final) information. We know it is a very long text, but please read the information carefully.

1) Participation Prizes

You will receive your participation prizes (the printed set of cards) during the registration process of the first main event you are participating in (either Melee on Friday or Joust on Saturday). We understand that many of you will want to use the cards in your decks or maybe for test games as well, so to give you time to prepare your decks and sleeve them, there will be several opportunities for you to pick them up before registration if you want to.

On Thursday at 14:00, 18:00 and 21:00 we will be in the Rittersaal on Castle Stahleck and hand out cards. Please be there on time, as we have many other things to prepare as well. We will not sit and wait for a certain amount of time, however everyone that shows up at the specified times will be able to get their cards. Furthermore, you can pick up your cards on Friday during the Melee Swiss rounds. Just come to the TO table in the Town Hall of Bacharach and ask about the cards.

Another issue with the participation prizes is weight and volume. As you will be receiving a whopping amount of 720 cards (!), this is not to be taken lightly (pun intended). The weight of each set will be around 1.3 - 1.5 kg! We don't know yet how exactly the cards will be delivered, but we expect that we will not have a container for every pack, so you might want to bring something to store your cards. Please consider this when you plan the logistics of your travel back home from the Castle.

2) Card Legality and Decklists

The tournament will use Standard v1.5 card legality.

Only cards from Core Set, Deluxe boxes, FFG Cycles, The Things We Do For Love and GOT released packs can be used. Note that all cards except agendas are banned from The Things We Do For Love pack in Standard v1.5.

Cards that you are using should match the dimensions, weight, hardness, etc. of the officially released cards. Each card must consist of one piece only. The cards must be printed in full color using the templates provided by GOT.

Only official FFG and GOT promos can be used in your draw and plot deck. You can use any promos of House Cards and Agendas as long as they are not offensive and contain the full and correct text of the Agenda.

Your draw and plot decks have to be sleeved using sleeves with opaque backsides. Cards should not be identifiable by their back.

Additionally we would like to remind you that decklists are mandatory for each of the main events. We would prefer you to use electronic decklist submission, links to the form are below, but we do still accept decklists in paper form. However beware that handwritten decklists are prone to errors and decklist errors may result in you being disqualified.

Decklists must be legible and must include number of copies of each card used in the deck Cards are identified by their title If multiple cards share the same title as the card in the deck, the version used in deck is identified by either: Name of the product (Box, Cycle or Pack) in which that version was released Abbreviation of the aforementioned product name as used on thronesDB.com ThronesDB id of that card (Janos Slynt (AtSK) could be identified as Janos Slynt (04010))

If you want to use electronic decklist submission follow these steps:

  1. Create your deck on thronesDB

  2. Make sure you allow deck sharing in your profile settings

  3. Fill out the form

    1. Joust - Joust Decklist form deadline for electronic submission is Saturday 8:00
    2. Melee - Melee Decklist form deadline for electronic submission is Friday 9:00

  4. Do not edit the provided deck before the tournament

The deadlines for electronic submission are in place, because we will be copying the decklists after those times. This also means that if you modify your decklist and/or your deck sharing options before those times, these changes may have an impact on your decklist submission.

The forms also require you to provide a raw text copy of the decklist as exported from thronesDB. This is a fallback option for cases where players forget to allow deck sharing or other technical issues arise. Your linked deck will have a precedence.

3) Traveling to Castle Stahleck

We were informed that the road between Castle Stahleck and Bacharach town is closed due to road constructions. According to the information there is an alternative road to the Castle, however there might be a limited number of parking spaces. If you can avoid parking your car near the Castle that might help. This should be the route which you can use to drive from Bacharach to the Castle: Google Maps

4) Staying at Castle Stahleck

This year we have many new faces at the Castle, which is awesome. Therefore I want to add some words for those who are not familiar with the Castle and / or the tournament. Castle Stahleck is a “Youth Hostel”. In Germany this means that it is not quite equal to a hotel as you might know it from other countries and some of the services you would expect from a hotel will not be available. Main differences are that usually no towels, soap and shampoo is provided in the rooms, so please bring your own with you. Also, there will not be any sort of room service during your stay, you are responsible for your room yourself. Bed sheets are provided but you will need to make your bed yourself and on the day of departure you will have to return your bed sheets to the collecting point.

Smoking is only allowed on the outdoor premises (as is almost everywhere in Germany the case)!

Regarding food, there are three meals per day that are included in your stay: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. You will receive some sort of bracelet to identify yourself for the kitchen staff. The first meal included is Dinner on the day of your arrival, so if you arrive for example Thursday before Lunch they might not give you the bracelet before Lunch is finished. Do NOT lose or destroy your bracelet, else you will need to buy a new one or won’t get any food! The Castle Staff will tell you the exact times of these meals, but they are adapted to our tourney schedule anyway, so no worries there. For these meals you can eat whatever they offer (there are usually two different options for cooked meals) and there is also a small variety of drinks (water, juices, tea, …) at your disposal. After your meal, you are asked to clean your table, meaning you should return your dishes to the collection point and wipe your table with the provided rags. If you want to eat outside the normal meal times there is a bistro available where you can order snacks like small pizzas. You can also buy beers and other drinks there. Everything you obtain from the bistro is not included, so be prepared to pay for that (either by cash or debit card, credit cards are not widely accepted in Germany).

We have a full reservation for the Castle from Thursday to Monday. This comes with several perks: We are not bound to all of the normal house rules (especially periods of rest do not apply), the bistro is open longer than normal and external guests (all the players that do not stay at the Castle) can visit as long as they want. However, it does not mean that we can do whatever we want. Please be reasonable and responsible during the whole duration of your stay 🙂

For further details about the house rules at the Castle please consult: Code of Conduct

To enter your room at the Castle, you will need a Keycard. The first person that checks in for a room will receive a Keycard automatically, all other persons can obtain additional Keycards by making a deposit of 10€ (Germans love their Pfandsystem). This deposit can only be done with cash and you will receive your 10€ back on the day of your departure when you return your Keycard. The person that receives the first Keycard is also responsible to return it, so if you pass it around you might want to keep track of that as well.

5) Playing the Only Game That Matters

We have tried to arrange an extended weekend full of Thrones for you. Please check the schedule of all planned events here: Schedule As you can see, there are also many side events planned. Side events are small tournaments with special rules and formats. All of them, except sealed drafts, have no entry fee and it’s all about fun. Go ahead and check if there is an event that might be right for you. Please note that it is your responsibility to be at the right location at the right time in order to participate in the tournaments and events. As we are almost 200 players in the main event we have a tight schedule and can not wait for single people that are late. Furthermore we want to point out the Winner’s ceremony on Sunday at 14:00 in the Rittersaal. We want to celebrate our new champions there, so don’t miss it!

6) Playing other Games

Huge part of the Stahleck experience and fun is playing Thrones and other board games at every spare minute. As the castle will be very crowded with people, let me add a few words about playing board games. There is a whole room in the tower (4th floor) that will be available for board gaming and will not be used for tournaments at all. Feel free to go there at any time. Apart from that, you can play everywhere you like. We will try to mark each table that will be used for a tournament or side event at a specific time. Please understand that tournaments and side events have priority and you will be asked to free these tables if you use them nevertheless. So choose carefully where you set up camp for your cheeky little game of Twilight Imperium ;)

Can't wait to see you all at the Castle!

The Castellans

Participation prizes

Released: 17.09.2022

Greetings Friends of Stahleck! We want to give you some more information on the participation prizes for this year's tournament, the "proxy issue" and everything that depends to these topics.

First, we decided to give every participant of this year's Stahleck one full playset of printed cards from all the card designs done by G.O.T. That means: All cards from Redesigns, Forgotten Heroes, Jade Sea, Hear My Words, For the Realm, Bran the Builder. 3 copies of every card, in total 660 cards. We know that some of you already own all these cards and therefore this participation prize might not be what you hoped for. To make up for that we will also try to throw in additional 20 Full Bleed Alt Art Cards from the new card sets which will be Stahleck exclusive.

The main reason for this decision is that we want to try to encourage more "offline" play of our beloved game. We believe that with more people owning physical copies of the new cards, person-to-person games will become more prominent and this will help the game in the long run. After all, at least half the fun in Thrones is traveling to foreign places and meeting up with awesome people.

Some implications that come with this decision: We will stick to our original "no proxy"-policy. With every participant receiving a full play set of all new cards, this should no longer be a problem. However, just to be precise, our definiton of which criteria the cards must meet to not count as proxies:

  • Matches the original FFG cards in dimensions, weight and paper-thickness
  • Full-color print of the original printfile provided by G.O.T.
  • Consists of one single piece of paper

Another thing is that we will need to finalize or print order very soon to get all the cards in time and for good conditions. Therefore we will need to limit the participation numbers at the end of the next week (Saturday, 24th September, 23:59 GMT+2) to make sure that every participant will receive the printed cards. Unfortunately we can not wait any longer because with this kind of cost we can not afford to order spare sets just in case there are late-joiners.

Because of this we would like to encourage you to registrate for the tourney until next Saturday if you are still not decided. The registration fee can not be refunded, however, registered participants will receive their participation prizes in any case, even if they can not show up to the tournament.

Physical card printing

Released: 04.08.2022

We are currently checking out the options to organise a print run of all the physical cards released by G.O.T. for everyone who is interested. Please fill out our short survey on this matter, if you are interested in obtaining physical copies of those cards: https://forms.gle/aUs7GXmMCZDpHjUz6

Participating in the survey should not take longer than 5 minutes and would help us a lot. The survey is not binding in any way and will be open until August 18th 2022. Thank you :)

Reopening of Registration

Released: 11.07.2022

Dear all, due to the unbroken demand for more participant spots in our Joust tournament, we will reopen the registration. We have expanded the capacity for the Joust main event to 250 players now.

However, this good message comes with a small drawback: In order to make this step, we will need to change our refunding policy a bit. Therefore full refunds will only be possible until end of July. This does not apply in the event of a cancellation of the whole event in case of a severe change of the pandemic situation, in which case we will be able to refund the accommodation cost for those who stay at the Castle. After July we will not be able to refund the tourney entry fee, however, you will still receive your participation prizes in case you cannot make it to the event if you are willing to cover the shipping costs. As in previous years, the transfer of an existing registration to another player who is interested in joining the tournament will be possible at any time.