Stratford Scramble Tournament #1(Completed)

[MikeC_81]

Man, you guys finished fast. I forced a map reroll so Mouser and I are delayed by a day or so but we are starting to get into fighting now.

Karvon already brought up not facing the same army twice unless it is the final round. Is there anything else you guys want to see done different next time? Ex. Veto on army selection if someone picked an army you absolutely didn't want to use? Or a format change like paired mirror matches?

I like the current setup with the very simple score allocation and no paired mirror matches. Possible changes could include no map veto available (only if both players mutually agree), because it's just random map selection, right, and let's play with what we get (die rolls, etc.) I also agree with Karvon in not meeting the same army twice unless it is the final round. Also, chosen armies should be from different countries (i.e., no two Arabs armies, whether from same or different time periods), which will increase variety.

Would you do army selection on a first come first serve basis?

I don't think veto of army is really viable and sort of defeats the point of random assignment. What would you do in place of a vetoed list?

I hate mirrored matches and only rarely play them, only if I happen to like both armies reasonably well. I definitely wouldn't play in a league/tourney using them.

I am not planning any changes. I am just putting out feelers to see if people want something different. The idea of this format was to avoid a total Chaos Tournament situation where potluck might just hand you a godawful army that is no fun to play. With people picking the armies before being randomized, most armies should be reasonably competitive since players must play it at least once. At the same time, since you might face your own army during the scrambled rounds, there is no excessive pressure to pick the best metagame army out there. The idea was the be able to get interesting picks that might not make it in a DL environment. A strict win/loss advancement system discourages draws as does the map veto which should minimize the chances of stalemate terrains. I also like 1200FP and with the DL inexorably moving to 1600FP, I decided to see if I could make my own playground for fun and interesting games.

Just trying to figure out if the tournament format met those goals I had. The only problem with a swiss tournament is that it is restricted to one game per round per player. I personally like a light load since I only really ever have 2-3 games on a time but I know others are more voracious in their appetite.

[kronenblatt]

Would you do army selection on a first come first serve basis?

Yes, why not: There are so many countries, so will be plenty left to choose from anyway.

[Karvon]

I have no problem with first come, first served for army selection with a limit of one player per list. There are so many lists to choose from, if you're running an open all DLC tourney as opposed to a more narrow time frame like DL. Also, it motivates players to pick early, rather than hang back and see what others might select before picking.

[kronenblatt]

... It motivates players to pick early, rather than hang back and see what others might select before picking...

Good point, Karvon.

[Karvon]

I often wait till the deadline to pick for DL to avoid choosing the same army as someone else and missing my pick. There's no incentive to submit early.

[MikeC_81]

I often wait till the deadline to pick for DL to avoid choosing the same army as someone else and missing my pick. There's no incentive to submit early.

Yea ok, I will do the restriction along the DL's guideline with a first come first serve basis for the next one. Thanks for the feedblack

[MikeC_81]

MikeC beats GrayMouser 61-42. I'll post final round this evening.

[MikeC_81]

Players welcome to Round 3!

Playing for the Wiener Crown it is MikeC vs Karvon (2 - 0) records

Playing for 3rd place we have GrayMouser vs Rob123 (1 -1) records having won the first round

Playing for 5th place we have GaryS vs Captain (1-1) records having won the second round

Playing to avoid the Sea Slug Crown is Kronenblatt vs Wmpryor (0-2) records.

If this is incorrect, let me know asap.

Everyone uses their own army pick in this final round. Remember each player has one map veto that must be exercised immediately after army selection. For Side B this comes immediately upon your first turn following army selection. For Side A this comes on your second turn after Side B has flipped the turn back over to you. Once you use up your veto you are stuck with the map unless your opponent also vetos so use it wisely!

The deadline is August 23rd 00:01 GMT.

Code: Select all

MikeC			Byzantine 988 AD	vs	Karvon			Arab Conq 638 AD
				
GrayMouser		Assyrian 681 BC		vs	Rob123			British 600 AD - Viking Allies 900 AD
				
GaryS			Arab Conq 638 AD	vs	Captain			Macedonian 328 BC
				
Wmpryor			Ghaznavid 962 AD	vs	Kronenblatt		Dailami 928 AD

[kronenblatt]

Challenge set up for Wmpryor (Ghaznavid 962 AD) vs Kronenblatt (Dailami 928 AD).

password: stratford

PM sent.

[MikeC_81]

So uh... I don't have 10 dollar vouchers to give out but...the winner can add the crowned wiener dog and the loser can add jester sea slug to their signatures

[MikeC_81]

sea slug jester

[kronenblatt]

I'm happy to use any avatar to get rid of that WWII cannon (or whatever it is) that I currently have... Even if that means that sea snail.

[Rob123]

Rob123 (British 681BC with Viking 900AD allies) Challenges TheGrayMouser (Assyrian 681BC)

PW GrayM

PM sent

[Captainwaltersavage]

Challenge set up and accepted, so we are on track.

[kronenblatt]

Wmpryor (Ghaznavid 962 AD) ties with Kronenblatt (Dailami 928 AD) 52-52.

A memorable battle; last rounds' scores seeing 48-50, 52-50, 52-52.

Since none of us wants to be a lonely sea slug, we'd like to split the win and refrain from the coin flip. And thus end on a high note.

But of course we'll abide by the rules and the decision of the Tournament Management, whatever that may be.

[MikeC_81]

Wmpryor (Ghaznavid 962 AD) ties with Kronenblatt (Dailami 928 AD) 52-52.

A memorable battle; last rounds' scores seeing 48-50, 52-50, 52-52.

Since none of us wants to be a lonely sea slug, we'd like to split the win and refrain from the coin flip. And thus end on a high note.

But of course we'll abide by the rules and the decision of the Tournament Management, whatever that may be.

Haha, it's fine, the pics were just a joke. I'll record it as tied for 7th in the final standings

[Karvon]

Karvon's Arab Conquest 638 AD ground through MikeC's Byzantine 988 AD 45-17.

The two armies met on a coastal plain. The sea walled off our left flank. We had a nice long slope running along the front of our deployment area with some woods scattered woods and a hamlet anchoring the right flank. A small marsh lay in about the middle of the field a bit to the right. A large forest was located a bit further to the right, walling off much of that flank. A huge patch of rough ground was on our far right blocking off the right edge of the field. Most of the field was, otherwise, fairly open, making me a bit nervous considering the amount of cavalry the Byzantines could bring to play. He also could bring a lot more light foot and light horse than I, and he had a lot heavy foot archers, so I expected to be under a hail of arrows. I brought a core of 8 superior spear supported by a pair of veteran Dailami and a couple of Bedouin foot. I added a couple of massed bowmen to support my light foot screen. Finally, I had a reserve of half a dozen lancers supported by a pair of camels for disrupting the enemy cavalry.

Initially, I deployed my spears in line along the central slope with my mediums hidden in the woods and hamlet on my right. I had my mounted held back hidden behind the ridge in reserve. My light foot spread out to screen the spear line. If the Byzantines brought a cavalry heavy force, I figured I could hold them off on the slope, if they went more balanced, or better yet, infantry heavy, I would advance my line to engage them using the central marsh as an initial anchor point to be held by my medium foot. In either case, my mounted would serve as a mobile reserve.

I was pleasantly surprised when the Byzantines marched into view in a long line opposite our ridge. It was primarily an infantry force, a lot of heavy bow of mixed morale. A couple of spear units and a handful of light foot rounded out the infantry. A pair of cataphracts supported the center and a pair of lancers supported each flank. We would attempt a full scale assault, relying on our spears to carve up his foot bows with our mounted in reserve for exploitation or reaction to potential flanking attempts.

The two lines advanced to contact without too much fancy maneuvering. The lines drew into engagement range in about the center of the field with our mediums securing the marsh and our spears extending beyond that. Our light foot aggressively attacked and pinned or drove off the enemy lights. Our spears in close supported helped kill off those trapped. Next, our spears got stuck into his heavy bowmen and began to grind these down. The Byzantine lancers attempted to overrun our spears at several points, but bounced off several times before settling to hold us in place.The cataphracts charged in and stuck, resulting in a long inconclusive melee. Our spears punched through in the center and we brought some lancers up to help exploit. On our left, one spear fought off a pair of units for a long time before finally breaking. A camel we brought up to chase off a light foot got caught up in that fight as well and eventually broke as well. Our our right, we swung our mediums out of the marsh, once most of the enemy were engaged, and overwhelmed then spear and bow holding the end of the line with some help from our reserve lancers. Our center exploiting spear flanked the enemy foot on our left and disrupted the enemy spear brought up to contain them on our right, and the Byzantines collapsed.

Another hard-fought win for the Arab spear, who generally lived up to the superior billing.

A final scene of the field

[kronenblatt]

Wmpryor (Ghaznavid 962 AD) ties with Kronenblatt (Dailami 928 AD) 52-52.

A memorable battle; last rounds' scores seeing 48-50, 52-50, 52-52.

Since none of us wants to be a lonely sea slug, we'd like to split the win and refrain from the coin flip. And thus end on a high note.

But of course we'll abide by the rules and the decision of the Tournament Management, whatever that may be.

Haha, it's fine, the pics were just a joke. I'll record it as tied for 7th in the final standings

I really liked the sea slug crown though.

[MikeC_81]

Congrats to Karvon for being the champ! It would have been more of a fight but those Spearmen refused to break to sustained missile fire and charged right in!

[Captainwaltersavage]

GaryS beat me in our match 67 : 38.

I won the right flank cavalry battle but left my other flank too weak to resist his veteran spearmen and dailami infantry. It was well fought but I was outmanoeuvred and could not get my victorious troops back into the battle fast enough to support the isolated phalanxes. Good game!

Captain Savage