The Dustbin

[stockwellpete]

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[random27]

Like all , i want to thank you pete

[Ray552]

Thank you for running the tournament.

[carpenkm]

Yes, thank you Pete for your hard working making another enjoyable season - apart from the High Middle Ages which was obviously broken in some way

[stockwellpete]

Final tables

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[stockwellpete]

Final Tables

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[stockwellpete]

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[stockwellpete]

In the tightest division of the season, Kerait and his Moorish army has pipped sarmation and carpenkm to win automatic promotion from Late Antiquity Division D. Well played Kerait.

[stockwellpete]

Final Tables

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[stockwellpete]

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[Bodhran]

Just one word : THANKS !

[stockwellpete]

Here are this season's winners . . .

Classical Antiquity (3 vouchers) - Warg1, dim30 and ray552 (all 32 points)

Late Antiquity (3 vouchers) - Malabar26 (36 points), gamercb (35 points) and Snugglebunnies (31 points)

Early Middle Ages (2 vouchers) - Stew101 (36 points) and Giacofa93 (36 points)

Biblical (2 vouchers) - pantherboy (29 points) and SpeedyCM (28 points)

High Middle Ages (3 vouchers) - Nosy_Rat (32 points), TaBai (31 points) and Marvin_the_Arvn (31 points)

Themed Event (2 vouchers) - CyberHetman and Kroche

I will send these out by PM tomorrow.

[Barrold713]

This is madness Pete. An utter madness so many are so glad you do so well.

Thank you so very much for your efforts in running this with class and as much grace as any mere human can ask from another.

Cheers and enjoy the break.

Send me a challenge if you want a game.

BDH

[Barrold713]

Congratulations and you're welcome.

All the best upward and onward. We can say that we knew you back when...

Cheers
BDH

[Barrold713]

Thanks to our sponsor for their generous support of this league.

Cheers to all our Slitherine friends.

BDH

[tyronec]

Just a little feedback on the TE.
I loved the mirror matches.
Large historical battles would not be my preference for future tournaments, too large and I miss the troop selection and deployment.

[Aetius39]

Thanks for making another great tournament!^^

[stockwellpete]

End of Season Report

Recruitment was down by about 20% for Season 11, compared to the records set in the previous season, but there were still 97 players entered once everything had settled down, the second highest number that we have ever had in the tournament. Classical Antiquity was the only section to retain its 6 divisions though, while Early Middle Ages was the most affected by the decline in numbers, shrinking from 6 to just 4 divisions.

There was a new DLC for the High Medieval section and the Themed Event had a late medieval theme, which was very popular and allowed us to run two pools of twelve players again. Other than that everything else was pretty much the same as before.

Classical Antiquity
ericdoman1 emerged as the new champion in Division A using a very powerful Spartan and Roman combination, which saw him finish with 7 wins, 2 more than anybody else in the division. Geffalrus finished second, using the same Antigonid army with which he became champion in Season 6. tyronec was third, also with a Roman army. It was very tight at the bottom with Challenge1 eventually being relegated by just 1 point, despite using the quite successful Hannibal in Africa army. Morbio was the player just escaping the drop.

hidde was a bit unlucky to be placed in Division B at the outset as his FOG2DL rating was only fractionally lower than a couple of the players put into Division A. As if to prove a point, and despite losing his second match, he put in a very dominant performance with the Hannibal in Italy army to win the division by 8 points ahead of Aetius39 and oscarius. batesmotel and rexhurley struggled badly all season and it was rexhurley, and his Syracusans, who eventually finished in the relegation position.

It was a successful return to the FOG2DL for Warg1 in Division C where, after losing his first match, he proceeded to reel off 8 consecutive victories with his Pyrrhic army to edge out dim30, who was using the same Spartan and Roman combination used by ericdoman1 in the top flight. snooky51 was third, also using a Roman army. At the bottom, TomoeGozen had a very difficult season with the Achaemenid Persians and was relegated after managing only one victory.

Delbruck continued his steady progress by winning Division D, registering an impressive 8 wins with his Roman and Numidian army. He was always in command of proceedings, finishing well ahead of joggy and tmac11, who both managed 6 wins. The relegation battle was close again with deeter losing out by 1 point after a late revival by Rob123, who won 3 of his last 4 matches. It was the second relegation for the Syracusans this season.

Division E was very exciting with the lead changing hands a number of times during the season. In the end MarcoCato75 and his Seleucid army just got the better of newcomer DocVanNostrand’s Graeco-Bactrians to win promotion by 1 point. Kroche finished third. angel42052 and bomber23 struggled all season and angel42052’s solitary win with his Bosporans was enough to relegate bomber23 and his Hannibal in Africa Carthaginians. It was a second relegation for this army as well this season.

Division F was won by ray552 with his Galatian and Roman army, who finished 5 points ahead of Giacofa93 and sivispacem. ray552 improved substantially from a mid-table finish in Season 10, while Giacofa93 is certain to move up the divisions after further successes elsewhere this season. sivispacem only lost one match all season and may well be a candidate for discretionary promotion next season. At the bottom both LindsayCole and olddog52 were unable to register a win, but it was LindsayCole and his Macedonians in the wooden spoon position at the end with just one score draw to olddog52’s three.

Late Antiquity
Snugglebunnies is the new champion of Late Antiquity after putting together an unbeaten season with his Jewish Revolt army. All these matches can be seen in the AAR forum. Snugglebunnies finished just 2 points ahead of a strong finishing Nosy_Rat, who was using the Pictish army, with tyronec and his Bosporans third. Batesmotel found the going very tough with the Germanic Horse Tribes and was relegated without posting a win.

Division B was very tight but it was another success for the Jewish Revolt army, this time led by Morbio, who finished narrowly ahead of MorkinTheFree and dim30. dim30 was going exceptionally well with a Roman and Bedouin army and looked odds-on to take the promotion place, but then suffered defeats in his last 2 matches. The relegation battle involved 5 players until near the end but late revivals from lydianed and rexhurley left kraff and his Sassanid Persians in the relegation position.

A fantastic clean sweep and 36 point maximum by Malabar26 and his Byzantine army totally eclipsed the opposition in Division C. snooky51 had another solid performance to finish second with Conteshard in third place. Again, the relegation battle involved 4 or 5 players and it was Ironclad with the Kingdom of Soissons army who eventually finished in bottom place.

Division D was the closest contest in the whole league with the top 3 players only being separated by 1 point. Kerait, using an unfashionable Moorish army with Byzantines, took the promotion place with just 6 wins ahead of sarmation and carpenkm. bomber23 and his Dacians were relegated.

Division E was plagued a bit by slow play, but this did not stop gamercb and his Scots-Irish army following up their excellent showing in the KO Tournament from winning all 9 matches and just missing out on a 36 point maximum. Delbruck’s Bedouins and Byzantines finished second with 7 wins with Sgt0gre third. LindsayCole added a second wooden spoon with his Pictish army.

Early Middle Ages
ericdoman1 with his Irish army is the new champion after narrowly finishing ahead of harveylh and tyronec in Division A. All three players posted 8 wins and a defeat after a second defeat for ericdoman1 was declared void after mr cholo was forced to withdraw from the tournament. I cannot remember the last time we had 3 players with 8 wins in the same division. Late reserve Questar17 found it difficult to settle into the tournament and was relegated after posting just one victory with his Byzantine army.

In Division B Stew101 scored a magnificent 36 point maximum with his Viking Ireland army to win by 11 points from Nijis and his Khorasanians. IMC was third. At the bottom paulmcneil using a Dailami army was somewhat surprisingly relegated after very late revivals from kraff and lunecastle. Just 2 points separated the bottom 4 players at the end.

A very good contest in Division C saw Blagrot and his Arab Conquest army narrowly triumph ahead of snooky51 and Morat. random27 was also in the running for most of the season before suffering 2 late defeats. deeter and his Byzantines found it very hard and he was relegated with just 1 point.

Giacofa93’s Franks were far too strong for the opposition in Division D and he posted a 36 point maximum to win by 13 points from the improving duo of ilpars and wmpryor. 4 points separated the bottom 5 players at the end and it was Doyley50 and his Anglo-Danish army who finished in the wooden spoon position this time.

Biblical
pantherboy successfully defended his championship by winning Division A comfortably by 6 points from klayeckles with MorkinTheFree third for the successive season as well. SLancaster was relegated.

In Division B SpeedyCM took the promotion place with 7 wins, and a late run of form saw lydianed move into second place ahead of kraff. IMC was relegated, finishing just 2 points behind edb1815.

Another successful campaign for ray552 saw him win Division C, finishing 8 points ahead of Captainwaltersavage and random27. lunecastle was tailed off with just 2 wins to be relegated.

Division D was tight with the promoted player carpenkm winning just 6 matches and the relegated player bomber23 winning 3. At one stage of the season carpenkm was actually in bottom place!

Giacofa93 triumphed again this season with 8 wins in Division E, ahead of Kroche and ilpars. gamercb and olddog52 shared the wooden spoon after finishing with identical records.

High Middle Ages
Nosy_Rat seems to have got the hang of this High Middle Ages malarkey now after posting 8 wins in Division A with his Andalusian army to become the new champion. Last season he was nearly relegated! This time he finished 4 points ahead of the previous winner harveylh with ericdoman1 back in third place. Newly promoted oscarius and his Sicilians found it much too difficult and was relegated without posting a win.

In Division B, CyberHetman posted 9 wins and a 36 point maximum to win by 10 points from SLancaster and Triarii. Getting a clean sweep at any time is a fabulous effort, but this was a very tough B division including lots of players with Division A experience. At the bottom paulmcneil managed to defeat Karvon in the very last match of the season to send him down. Both players finished on 3 points.

There was a very good contest in Division C where Captainwaltersavage continued his progress with a German army by pipping kraff to the automatic promotion place. Warg1 was 4 points back in third place after making an indifferent start. At the bottom, poor old General Shapur was tailed off in the relegation place with a hapless Anglo-Norman army.

Newcomer TaiBai and his Castilians just got the better of Marvin_The_Arvn in Division D, both players finishing on 31 points. Delbruck was third. At the bottom, surprisingly, it was carpenkm who struggled badly with those hapless Anglo-Normans again, managing to accrue just 1 point all season.

Jack-3kBattery and his Papal army finished 3 points ahead of Tratmot and his Germans to win promotion from Division E. Unfortunately he did not finish his matches in the other sections so is unlikely to feature next season. GraftMalt, CaptainPunka and wmpryor all registered a very solid 6 wins to finish in the top half of the season. At the bottom Supervark ended up in the wooden spoon position after withdrawing from the tournament half-way through.

Themed Event
In Pool A CyberHetman beat tyronec in the final 2-0 after being unbeaten at the group and semi-final stage. I had initially put him in Pool B before I checked the automated tournament results! The beaten semi-finalists were paulmcneil and Cunningcairn.

Kroche emerged victorious in the Pool B final after a fantastic tussle with Captainwaltersavage was decided narrowly on the tie-breaker with the match score level at 1-1. The beaten semi-finalists were carpenkm and Zawzgrzyt.

Summary
Another excellent season overall, I feel. Plenty of exciting and very hard fought divisions and a few stunning performances resulting in 36 point maximums.

There is nobody completely dominating things at the moment and although we have lost some of our best players from recent seasons, including Macedonczyk, pompeytheflatulent and LuciusSulla, we are maintaining a healthy “A” list with the addition of players such as ericdoman1 and the emergence of tyronec, Stew101 and CyberHetman. Snugglebunnies won his first championship this season as well. There are also a number of players further down the divisions who may make the top grade in the next season or two including Malabar26, Warg1, TaBai and Giacofa93.

I think the Biblical section needs a rest now as we are “wearing out” the armies a bit. It desperately needs a new DLC to broaden the army choices really, but I am not sure when that is going to arrive. So, for next season, we will use the Silk Road Mod instead and then revert to Biblical for Season 13 in February 2022.

My big concern at the moment is about slow play and how it seems to have got a bit worse again this season. There were a couple of divisions where the relegation or wooden spoon positions were substantially decided by the adjudication process, which is something that I always look to avoid. So I feel like I need to do something a bit different now.

It is quite tricky because there are a number of different things happening at the same time. Obviously some players get fed up during the season and start slowing down; others just seem to be very one-paced despite prompts from me to speed up; while there is also a small group of established players who seem to leave things to the last minute season after season. In addition, there are one or two players who never seem to issue a challenge themselves and always wait to be challenged by their opponents. This is just lazy and can cause problems if you have 2 players like this in the same division.

Obviously, the whole point of the tournament is to have some fun and no-one wants to have a draconian system in place where players fear expulsion for minor transgressions. But I think I need to do something a little bit more formal now that will target players who are repeatedly slow, while leaving alone players who are completing their matches at a reasonable pace. I need to talk to Anders and Ian first about this, but I hope to have something new in place for the start of next season.

My thanks to hidde (Anders) and ianiow (Ian) for all their help once again with tables, charts and adjudications. And thanks to Francesco and Marco for arranging the sponsorship from Slitherine.

I hope to see you again for Season 12, which will start on October 1st. Invitations will go out over the weekend of 18/19 September.

[LindsayCole]

A great time, thanks for a fantastic tournament.

[stockwellpete]

All the prize vouchers have now been sent out by PM. Slitherine store only, no time limit.