Greetings Gentlemen,
Congrats to everyone for surviving another Season. I’ve been really enjoying my matches and the competition is getting fiercer and fiercer. Since the Group round prior to Season 1 I’ve been able to watch a number of players really improve at all levels of play.
Season 5 saw a number of changes to how the League operates. So far the changes appear to have been for the better and with the further modifications underway for Season 6 I hope we will be one step closer to the final model. My goal is to find a highly streamlined system that will minimize the attention required of the administrator.
This Season will see a shift to Leagues organized by period rather than expansion partly to cut down the number of Leagues to a more manageable size and create greater diversity in matchups. Also this Season will see the birth of the Super League which will take advantage of the League Rating system and be governed by a different set of rules.
Please take the time to reread the rules paying particular attention to how the Super League will be handled and regarding updating the online spreadsheet.
I hope everyone continues to enjoy their matches and I look forward to crossing swords with as many of you as possible.
" Aut viam inveniam aut faciam." I will either find a way, or make one. --- Latin proverb attributed to Hannibal
1. The Divisions
The league will now be made up of 7 distinct Leagues based on periods rather than expansion packs except for one. The Leagues are Biblical Pre 600 BC, Classical 600 BC – 26 BC, Imperial 25 BC – 495 AD, Dark Ages 496 AD – 1100 AD, Early Medieval 1100 AD – 1300 AD, Late Medieval 1300 AD – 1500 AD & The Super League. Each League maybe further subdivided into “A”, “B”, “C” Divisions etc. depending upon the number of players within said League. Up to 10 players will participate in each division with excess going into another group. If the lowest Division has less than 10 players than it will remain open for new entrants who do not have a league rating or are rated for the lowest division play. Depending upon league performance players will shift between divisions either going up or dropping. New players will start in the bottom divisions.
2. Joining & Selecting an Army for your Period League
For the period based leagues (e.g. Classical, Dark Ages etc.) each player is required to select a specific army list (e.g. Early Armenian – Tigran the Great) from the appropriate DAG (ROR, SOA, IF & SAS) and post it to the appropriate thread for their League (e.g. Season 6 Recruitment - Classical). In each group no two players are permitted to field an identical list though each variant may be fielded by a different player. For example one player may select Bosporan (early) while another takes Bosporan (mid) and finally a third player opts for Bosporan (late). Each season players are not allowed to reselect an army list they have chosen in a previous season until they have played 5 different lists with each list originating from a different nation. I wish to encourage variety within the league and broaden players play styles.
When posting your selection you are required to make a 1st, 2nd and 3rd preference. Players will be awarded their choice based upon their ranking. Lower ranked players will receive their 1st preference while the highest ranked players will often receive only their 2nd or 3rd choice and oft times be required to make a 4th selection.
For the period based leagues (e.g. Classical, Dark Ages etc.) each round you will field a 500pt army from your own list. You are free to customize the army before each battle.
3. Joining & Selecting an Army for the Super League
To be eligible to join the Super League you must first possess a League Rating. This will mean completing at least one season in at least one period based league (e.g. Classical, Dark Ages etc.). Players will be drafted into their respective Divisions based upon this rating.
To enter you post a request to join within the “Season 6 Recruitment – Super League” thread only indicating your player ID and your League Rating. DO NOT POST YOUR ARMY SELECTION.
The next step is to select a specific army list (e.g. Early Armenian – Tigran the Great) from any DAG (ROR, SOA, IF, LT & SAS) and create a 500pt army. Players will be locked into what they select for their army for all their matches. There will be no customization before each battle like in the period leagues (e.g. Classical, Dark Ages etc.). Once you’ve built your army you will be required to email me at pantherboy@hotmail.com with your selection.
There will be no restrictions upon players regarding army selection and as such if two players nominate the same army and appear in the same Division then so be it. I’m hoping with such a diversity of lists available that this will be a rare occurrence. Also as far as not playing with a previously fielded army in the league this ruling does not apply to the Super League. If you really want to you can play the same list each season.
4. Participation in Leagues
This Season I’ll be enforcing some limitations upon participation. A player is free to join any number of Leagues as long as they have completed all their matches. Any player who has been able to complete 80% or more of their League games will be free to join 2 Leagues. Players who have been unable to complete the majority of their matches will be restricted to 1 League. New players to the League will also be limited to 2 Leagues though in later Seasons they will be able to participate in more once they have a proven track record.
5. Match Preferences – FOW & Double Moves
“Double Moves” and “FOW” will be mandatory for Season 6. This is mostly due to the fact that the vast majority of players use these options and by creating consistency eases game setup for players and administration of the league for me.
6. Scoring
Scoring for this season will be awarded for wins, losses and draws. A tally of battle groups broken and lost will be kept record of in the event of a tie breaker being required when determining overall ranking. Results for your Division can be found in the thread “LoEG Results & Tables”.
3 points - win
1 point - draw
0 points - loss
7. Match-Ups
Please go to the relevant thread for internal messages in your league. The first post will contain a list of players and their chosen armies for your match-ups. Either player is permitted to set-up their games as long as they select FOW & Double Moves. If the match has been incorrectly set-up then the player who did not set-up the game will have the choice to restart but only by Turn 2. A game that has reached Turn 3 will become fixed and must be played to conclusion.
8. Reporting Games
Reporting results will be incumbent on the player who won the battle. They will be required to log into the Slitherine Forum and post the result publically on the appropriate thread (e.g. Classical Battle Results). Results posted should be reported in the following format;
Division (A/B/C etc.)
Player ID (army) (BG lost / BG total) vs Player ID (army) (BG lost / BG total)
Example
Division A
pantherboy (Later Seleucid) (25/23) vs CharlesRobinson (Late Republican Roman) (14/23)
The next step is to update the online spreadsheets. I have posted links to online spreadsheets for each of the leagues within the “LoEG Results & Tables” thread under the post for Season 6. Each link will take you to a series of spreadsheets detailing each division table plus another sheet showing the ladder. What this means is that tables and ladders will always be up-to-date as long as results have been recorded.
At the end of each season I’ll delete all the battle results threads and then set them up anew. The LoEG Results & Tables thread will continue to record every Season’s data.
8.1 How do I enter the results onto the spreadsheet?
What you do is cross-reference the two players involved and then enter the same information as you post on the results thread. You enter lost BG's / total army BG's for each army under the appropriately headed column. Once this is done everything else is auto-calculated (e.g. points for match, total player points, kill ratio, ladder adjustments etc.). I have color-coded the tables for ease of search.
Please note one major difference. In Season 5 there were greyed boxes which players were asked to avoid entering results in. This Season I’ve altered the tables so that it won’t matter which field you enter your result in as it will automatically update its mirror. This means you can enter the result on your line or your opponents and the mirror will automatically update.
8.2 Reporting a draw.
Simply enter the current tallies for both players as usual and the table will automatically calculate the points. If both players have opted for a mutual draw then enter 0 for BG’s lost or whatever number it was at when the draw was agreed to.
8.3 I can't enter anything onto the ladder sheet.
This is intentional. I have locked those sheets as there is no need to enter anything on them. They self-calculate everything. All you need to do is look at them to see where you stand in that particular division.
8.4 Why don't you lock the cells which we shouldn't use on the table sheets?
Google docs doesn't have that capability and as such I must trust that nobody is malicious though you can only access the sheets through the link in the league. I hope google adds this function in the future but people have been requesting it for over a year so I don't have high hopes.
8.5 What do I do if I make an error?
You can use the undo function in the toolbar to go back if you make a mistake. Because it is online it can operate slowly so please be patient and do not repeatedly hit something as the table maybe trying to calculate and needs time to catch up. If all else fails just exit and PM me and I'll quickly fix it. I have a template of the tables and access to the Slitherine post for old results and will be able to amend any problems very quickly.
9. Absent Players & Neglected Turns
If you have the option to claim a game due to no activity from your opponent then please feel free to do so and report what the current casualties are if possible. Also don’t be too concerned about players who may have dropped or are unable to play. It is obvious who they are by looking at the results table and at the end of the Season I simply award the game to their opponents unless they didn’t complete any games in which case I’ll remove their name from the list.
10. Keeping Track of Games
It is advised that each player maintain a personal record of their completed matches. In this way you will know who you still have to play and have records of all the completed games in the advent of a mix up at my end. The easiest way to accomplish this is to copy and paste the first post in your league’s internal messages thread which details each player in your division and what army they will be fielding. Then record your results beside each player as per reporting games in Section 8 above.
11. Player Etiquette
So far players have conducted themselves with the utmost of sportsmanship. I don’t feel it is necessary to discuss how players conduct themselves but I do have one request. For ease of management if you wish to quit the League or won’t have time to finish your matches then please notify me. An explanation isn’t required. The purpose is to allow me to either delete you from the League (if games haven’t been played) or issue forfeits on your behalf rather than you sitting there as a ghost player with your opponents trying to contact you. You will always be welcome back though limited to 1 League as per section “4. Participation in Leagues”.
12. Season 6 Table Explanation
