FoG at Cold Wars 2014

[hercimurthemediocre]

(Since what made it into the Cold Wars PEL is a bit different than I intended, I will try to make it not sound so complex)

FoG "Flex" format tournament (aka "ALL FOG" tournament gaming)

Play from one to six games of Field of Glory, Field of Glory Renaissance, and/or Field of Glory Napoleonic rules sets in either 15mm or 25mm.

Tournament Round Schedule: Friday and Saturday March 7th and 8th
Morning (9am to 12:30pm)
Afternoon (2pm to 5:30pm)
Evening (7pm to 10:30 pm)

15mm games will be at 800 points on an 6'x4' table.
25mm games will be at 700 points and use 40mm MUs on an 8x5 table.

We will be playing 6 tournament rounds with a new format. It is a more loose format to support all of the FoG rules sets (Ancient/Medieval, Renaissance, and Napoleonic.) Players can play from one to six rounds and choose their preferred rules set and scale (15mm or 25mm) that they want to play. Standard 25 point scoring will be used. The top 3 scores for each player will be counted to determine who wins the tournament.

What I need for players to do is to tell me what they would like to play (army list and scale) and how many games they would like to play. I will also need to know what time slots you are available for. Also make note of any requests or references regarding what rules set, scale, time and/or how often you would like to play. Be as specific as you like and I will do my best to accommodate you.

I will nominally state that we'll try to focus on Friday for ancients and Saturday for Renaissance. It doesn't have to be that way or stay that way for everyone.

I will post specifics about who will be playing what rules set, scale, and in what time slot by March 1st. Please email me with the following details before that time:

Rules Set, Army List Name, year, scale, number of games you wish to play with this army
(repeat as needed for each army you want or are willing to play)

Jeff Fletcher (superfletch@gmail.com)

[babyshark]

Fletch:

I am willing to play all three rules sets, and swing between them as needed for you to balance the numbers. All in 15mm, as that is what I own. My first choice is FoG:AM, second is FoG:N, third is FoG:R. I will sort out my army lists and send them to you shortly.

Marc

** Would some nice FoG:R moderator move this to the tournaments sections, please?

[stecal]

Fletch:

I am willing to play all three rules sets, and swing between them as needed for you to balance the numbers. All in 15mm, as that is what I own. My first choice is FoG:AM, second is FoG:N, third is FoG:R. I will sort out my army lists and send them to you shortly.

Marc

** Would some nice FoG:R moderator move this to the tournaments sections, please?

Ditto, I am just bringing everything for all 3 periods in 15mm. Could also do 25mm in Anc or FOGR if there is demand

Steve Callahan

[hercimurthemediocre]

It's a bit later than promised I needed to make some changes.

I should first note that this is subject to change, but I will notify you directly if I need to make a change. I expect that there are going to be some additions and hope that there won't be any more subtractions

Friday's schedule was a bit difficult to work out and I did my best to suit everyone's preferences. I am open to suggestions for changes if anyone is unhappy (I will continue to look at this.)

If a name is listed in parenthesis, it is to note that this needs to be confirmed or may need to be moved to another scale to make even numbers or prevent players from playing each other twice. My name (Jeff Fletcher) is always listed this way so that I can add, drop, or move myself to make even numbers.

If I missed anyone, please let me know. The sooner the better.

* I am still searching for some opponents for Cy Taylor in 25mm ancients any time on Friday. Prior to this weekend, we had five players that could do 25mm ancients. Due to cancellations, his only possible opponent now would be me.

The Schedule:

Friday Morning

FoGA/M
15mm: Marc Crotteau, Mark Brumala, Kalpesh Doshi, (Jeff Fletcher)
25mm: Cy Taylor, Mike Kelly (updated, thanks Mike)

FoGR
15mm: Joseph DiCamilo, Chris Richards,

Friday Afternoon

FoGA/M
15mm: Kalpesh Doshi, (Jeff Fletcher)
25mm: (Cy Taylor)*

FoGR
15mm: Ted Grulke, Stephen Callahan, Mike Kelly, (Chris Richards), (Jeff Wiltrout)
FoGN
15mm: Marc Crotteau, Joseph DiCamilo

Friday Evening

FoGA/M
15mm: Mark Brumala, Kalpesh Doshi
25mm: (Cy Taylor)*

FoGR
15mm: Jay Stone, Jeff Wiltrout, Ted Grulke, Mike Kelly

FoGN
15mm: Marc Crotteau, Stephen Callahan

Saturday Morning

FoGR
15mm: Doug Anderson, Stephen Callahan, Marc Crotteau, Joseph DiCamilo, Chris Richards, (Bob Sulentic), (David Guinn), (Jeff Fletcher)

25mm: Mike Kelly, Walt Leach, (David Guinn)

Saturday Afternoon

FoGR
15mm: Doug Anderson, Mark Brumala, Stephen Callahan, Marc Crotteau, Ted Grulke, (Chris Richards), (Bob Sulentic), (Jeff Wiltrout), (Jeff Fletcher)

25mm: Walt Leach, David Guinn

Saturday Evening

FoGR
15mm: Doug Anderson, Mark Brumala, Marc Crotteau, Chris Richards, Jeff Wiltrout, (Walt Leach), (David Guinn), (Jeff Fletcher)

25mm: (Walt Leach), (David Guinn)
Jeff "superfletch" Fletcher

Cover: Hercimur the Mediocre (cause superfletch is usually taken.)

[hercimurthemediocre]

These were the standings counting best of 3 scores at the Cold Wars "All FoG" tournament:

1 Kevin Swanson (ECW Royalist, 1809 French) 67 points
2 Marc Crotteau (Serbian, LTYW Catholic, 1809 French) 67 points
3 Mike Kelly (Ottoman*, ETYW Catholic*) 57 points
4 Mark Brumala (Later Med. German, Late German States) 50 points
5 Chris Richards (LTYW German) 47 points
6 Walt Leach (Scots Covenant*) (2 games) 39 points
7 Jeff Fletcher (Maurikian Byzantine, LTYW German)** 34 points
8 Kalpesh Doshi (Western Wei) 34 points
9 Ted Grulke (Transyvanian) 32 points
10 Jeff Wiltrout (Jacobite Scots/Colonial Portugese) 29 points
10 Bob Sulentic (Early Imperial Spanish) (2 games) 29 points
11 David Guinn (Early Swedes, Scots Royalist*) 24 points
12 Doug Anderson (LTYW German) 21 points
13 Al Applegate (TYW French, 1813 Prussian) (2 games) 19 points
14 Dan Hazelwood (Dylami*) (1 game) 18 points
15 Cy Taylor (Palmyran*) (2 games) 12 points
16 Joe DiCamilo 10 points
17 Jay Stone (ETYW Swedes) (1 game) 7 points
17 Steve Callahan (Italian Wars French) 7 points

* Denotes 25mm

Notes: Kevin won out over Marc due to Kevin's victory in his game over Marc.

We had 19 total players, 15 of which played at least three games out of a possible six rounds. We had at least 3 games and as many as 8 games going on in any one time slot. We had two new players in Chris Richards and Ted Grulke which is always encouraging.

All things considered, the new format worked fairly well. I believe that is a credit to those that played and were very flexible in what and when they were willing to play. Special thanks to all those who were willing to switch back and forth between armies, scales, or even to jump in or out for a round to make things work. It wouldn't have worked without that flexibility.

The general consensus seemed to be that this format worked pretty well. If there were any negative comments, I didn't hear them. I honestly think that there were more pros than cons given the nature of the group that played. Many seemed to benefit from the flexible scheduling and may not have played in a traditional format. To be fair, our/my worst fears were not realized and the worst case scenarios did not occur, so it may be safe to say that there was some luck involved. Also, this format seems more suited to generating friendly games than a fair and balanced competition. For example, it could have happened that #1 and #2 in the points never played head to head. As it was, they played in round 5 where typically one would be playing for the victory in the final round. So, definitely not an ideal situation.

I was asked more than once if this would be the format going forward at HMGS East conventions. Short answer is for Historicon, probably not (Historicon is a different animal.) For Fall In and Cold Wars, possibly, but by no means certain. I was pleased with many aspects of the format, I am willing to do it again, but it was more work and stress than I expected (I was warned, I know.) Anyway, it was a great time and I enjoyed all my games. I hope that everyone else had a similar experience.

Thanks,
Jeff Fletcher