Slitherine

After a life of virtue and glory, Theodoric was now descending with shame and guilt into the grave; his mind was humbled by the contrast of the past, and justly alarmed by the invisible terrors of futurity. One evening, as it is related, when the head of a large fish was served on the royal table, he suddenly exclaimed, that he beheld the angry countenance of Symmachus, his eyes glaring fury and revenge, and his mouth armed with long sharp teeth, which threatened to devour him. The monarch instantly retired to his chamber, and, as he lay, trembling with aguish cold, under a weight of bed-clothes, he expressed, in broken murmurs to his physician Elpidius, his deep repentance for the murders of Boethius and Symmachus. His malady increased, and after a dysentery which continued three days, he expired in the palace of Ravenna, in the thirty-third, or, if we compute from the invasion of Italy, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign.

(From The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon)

Theodoric the Last: a tournament about the (potential) fall of the Ostrogoths

The Year of The Lord 526...
... Just after the death of Theodoric the Great...
... A power vacuum, within the realm, outside...
... Nearby rivals seek to exploit the turmoil, picking up the shards of the Ostrogothic kingdom, and conquer Italy...
... Will Theodoric not only be the Great, but also the Last?

This is a very simple ladder-style up-or-out tournament for five players over a maximum of seven rounds, in which players fight each other with early sixth-century AD army lists over getting first to Ravenna. Players will get a limited set of army lists to choose from and will be forced to use different army lists each time, for the sake of variety.

Theodoric the Last is now concluded after the full seven rounds.

Overview

• Seven rounds (maximum, with potential for immediate victory).

• 5 players (an uneven number in order to not fight the same player twice in the same round).

• Each player starts on his own track, in tile IV, four steps from Ravenna.

• The different tracks have effect only on available map types, not on army lists.

Victory conditions

• First player to reach Ravenna or last one standing (after all other players have been knocked out) wins an immediate and GREAT victory.

• If several players reach Ravenna in the same round or if none has reached Ravenna after seven rounds, the winner is the player with the most victories in total, as attacker and defender.
  • In the case of ties, best casualty difference between the players involved in the ties determines the victor.

• A player being pushed back too far (four steps too, to the black tile) at the end of a round gets immediate knockout from the tournament with no further rounds to be played (whether as attacker or defender).

Army lists

• Army lists are not linked or limited to any particular tracks or tiles but can be applied anywhere, for any track and tile.

• Seven army lists (for attackers and defenders):
  • Byzantine 493-550 AD.
  • Frankish 496-599 AD.
  • Gepid 493-567 AD.
  • Hunnic (Western) 455-559 AD.
  • Lombard 493-567 AD.
  • Vandal 500-534 AD.
  • Visigothic 419-621 AD.

• Additional eighth army list (only for defenders):
  • Ostrogothic 493-561 AD.

Attackers

• All attackers select their army lists (from the seven above) before the defenders:
  • The players can as attackers select an army list only once during the tournament.
  • Several attackers cannot select the same army list in the same round, so selection order will be based on casualty differences the previous round, with the best attacker selecting first.
  • If attacker has no army list available, then defender will select for attacker, among those not already selected that round.

• Attacker selects map type if he is in tile V to VII.

Defenders

• The defending players select army lists (from the eight above), subject to the following limitations:
  • Each army list only once during the tournament.
  • Never the same army list as the attacker in the same battle.
  • Not the same army list as himself being attacker in the same round.
  • Several defenders cannot select the same army list in the same round, so selection order will be based on casualty differences the previous round, with the best defender selecting first.
  • If defender has no army list available, then attacker will select for defender, among those not already selected that round.

• Defender selects map type if attacker is in tile I to III.

• Defending opponents get rotated clock-wise every round, based on a pre-determined schedule.
  

Battles

Setting up battles

• Battles to be set up by the defender (with himself as Side B) and played out as follows:
  • Attacker's and defender's selected army lists, with no allies.
  • Open Battle.
  • 24 turns.
  • Large, i.e., 1600 FP for each side.
  • Wide, i.e., 40x32.
  • Map type from among the ones below, depending on attacker's track (the first type being the fallback for each track):
    • Red track: North European Plain, North European Agricultural, Steppe.
    • Purple track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Mediterranean Mountains.
    • Yellow track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Desert.
    • Blue track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Mediterranean Mountains.
    • Green track: North European Plain, North European Agricultural, North European Wooded.
  • Defender selects map type if attacker is in tile I to III, with attacker selecting if in V to VII.
  • In tile IV, map type is agreed between attacker and defender, with fallback map type used if no agreement can be made.

Effects from battle outcomes

• If the attacker wins the battle, he advances one step on the track, but if he loses, he is pushed back one step on his track.

• Draws have no effect.

Hi, Can I Join?

Hi Andreas,

I've not got much on in terms of games at present, so if slots are still available please let me know.

Regards Stewart.

Hi, I would be interested.

Please let me know if I can join!

Hello,
I like to join.

Many Thanks

also like to join if any slots left.....thankee thankee......

Attack declarations (this first round in the order of signing up)

1. Indibil: November 22. Stew101 defends.
2. Stew101: November 23. Armchairbaron defends.
3. Armchairbaron: November 24. heidipie defends.
4. heidipie: November 25. kronenblatt defends.
5. kronenblatt: November 26. Indibil defends.

Please note that

• Attack declarations are posted in the tournament thread.

• Date (midnight CET+1 (Ravenna) time) above indicates deadline for the attack.

• Once you have declared an attack, please PM the player next in line, who will then be free to declare his attack, up to his deadline, so we all don't need to wait for each player's deadline.

• Rules are found in the third post of the tournament thread.

• You can attack with an army list with only once during the tournament.

• You can't attack with the same army list that another player already has selected for his attack this round.

• No defending army lists are posted yet.

• In this first round, player 2 will defend against player 1, player 3 against player 2, and so on, ending with player 1 defending against player 5. This will then rotate clockwise for each new round, so each round sees new defenders.

Hi, Indibil attacks with Byzantine army.
Good Luck

Thanks, Indibil !

As a pedagogical comment for this first round, with Indibil attacking with Byzantines, the following applies:

- Indibil can’t attack with Byzantines again for the remainder of the tournament.
- No other players can attack with Byzantines this round.
- Stew101 (defending against Indibil this round) can’t defend with Byzantines.
- Indibil himself can’t defend with Byzantines this round.

Hi all.
I choose to attack with the Visigoths.

Good luck everyone.
Stew.

And with Stew101 attacking with Visigoths, the following applies:

- Stew101 can’t attack with Visigoths again for the remainder of the tournament.
- No other players can attack with Byzantines and Visigoths this round.
- Armchairbaron (defending against Stew101 this round) can’t defend with Visigoths.
- Stew101 himself can’t defend with Visigoths this round.

And so on…

Armchairbaron attacks with Frankish 496-599 AD.

This means that no other players can attack with Byzantines, Visigoths, and Franks this round.

Etc…

heidipie attacks kronen with Western Huns of year 455 etc.....

kronenblatt attacks with Gepid 493-567 AD.

Defenders selecting army lists (this first round in the order of signing up)

1. Indibil defends. (November 24). In Purple track: kronenblatt attacks with Gepid 493-567 AD.
2. Stew101 defends. (November 25). In Yellow track: Indibil attacks with Byzantine 493-550 AD.
3. Armchairbaron defends. (November 26). In Blue track: Stew101 attacks with Visigothic 419-621 AD.
4. heidipie defends. (November 27). In Green track: Armchairbaron attacks with Frankish 496-599 AD.
5. kronenblatt defends. (November 28). In Red track: heidipie attacks with Hunnic (Western) 455-559 AD.

Please note that

• Defenders' army lists are posted in the tournament thread.

• Date (midnight CET+1 (Ravenna) time) above indicates deadline.

• Once you have posted, please PM the player next in line, who will then be free to make his post, up to his deadline, so we all don't need to wait for each player's deadline.

• Rules are found in the third post of the tournament thread.

• You can defend with an army list with only once during the tournament.

• You can't defend with the same army list that another player already has selected for his defense this round or with the same army list against which you're defending.

Hi ,
I will defend with Visigothic,
what about the terrain?

Indibil wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 3:04 pm Hi ,
I will defend with Visigothic,
what about the terrain?

See rules:

• Map type from among the ones below, depending on attacker's track (the first type being the fallback for each track):
  • Red track: North European Plain, North European Agricultural, Steppe.
  • Purple track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Mediterranean Mountains.
  • Yellow track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Desert.
  • Blue track: Mediterranean Plain, Mediterranean Agricultural, Mediterranean Mountains.
  • Green track: North European Plain, North European Agricultural, North European Wooded.

• Defender selects map type if attacker is in tile I or II, with attacker selecting if in VI or VII.

• In any other tile (i.e., III - V), map type is agreed between attacker and defender, with fallback map type used if no agreement can be made.

You're defending against me this round, i.e., in my Purple track and I'm currently, like everyone else, in tile IV as you can see on the map.

Hi all,

I will defend the yellow track with Hunnic (western) please.

I'll choose the default Mediterranean plain to save any need for a discussion.

Stew.