Winter Operations - Kharkov '43: Tiller Operational Campaigns Tournament No 2

[HMCS Rosthern]

For Outlaw Josey Wales 


Update 20240901

Tournament is now on!. Please register soon as we propose to start on October 1, 2024. Please provide feedback on the Tournament Rules presented here. Tournament Rules are subject to change. 
    

Tournament Eligibility and General Rules

This is the official thread for this tournament. All news, updates, etc. are found in this thread. Check this very first posting regularly, as it is subject to change and is updated with tournament round information. The tournament entrants are required to post on this thread as we progress through the tournament (More on that below).

All entrants must be members of The Blitz Wargaming Club Tiller Operational Campaigns Ladder, i.e., have a handle like "HMCS Rosthern". New members without previous reported battles are welcome. All entrants must have up to date profiles at theBlitz.club listing all of the games they own. Entrants register by using theBlitz.club Private Messages (see blow). 

This tournament will accept up to 32 entrants, and a minimum of 12 entrants. Registrations are first come first serve. Once the tournament starts no new entrants will be allowed. The tournament format requires only that there are an even number of entrants. If we end up with an odd number, the odd entrant out will be the replacement (backup) for any entrant that has to drop out. Addition people can have their name added to the backup list in case we need to replace dropouts as the tournament progresses. Backups assume the points accumulated by the entrant dropping out. Entrants that drop out are not eligible for any tournament prizes. Dropouts will be sent on a mine clearing detail with a flame thrower next watch. Having described the drop out policy, we want to avoid dropouts.

Entrants play in all rounds. Registering for this tournament is a commitment to complete 6 games. Do not enter this tournament if you have any concerns about completing it.

An objective of this tournament is to give entrants opportunities to play against new and different PBEM opponents. So even if its late in the tournament and there is no hope of winning, there still is that next game to meet and compete against someone new.

The tournament will use scenarios from any title in any the WDS Tiller Operational Campaign game series, i.e., Panzer Campaigns (PzC), First World War Campaigns (FWWC), and Modern Campaigns (MC), as long as the titles are common to all entrants, and they are published in theBlitz.club database. Entrants registering for this tournament must be prepared to play a scenario from any of the common titles. Entrants must have their title installations patched up to the latest version. Any game, started before a version change is available, must be completed before upgrading, and the entrants must upgrade their title after completion of the scenario. As of 20240901 v4.04 was rolled out to all titles, and v4.05 is just beginning.

All players agree to process turns promptly. Tournament rounds (see below) will be assigned a start and end date by which time the round must be completed. The allotted time will be more than generous.

All entrants accept that the organizers are the final authority of any disputes, questions, or issues that may arise during play. Spirit of the Law will apply more so than Letter of the Law. In other words, be considerate, and make a good effort and everything is fine.  Drag your feet and pay the piper.


Tournament Format

Entrants join 1 of 2 teams at registration time, representing the historical adversaries of the 3 Tiller Operational Campaign series. Choosing the teams is first come first serve. Once we have reached 32 entrants or we close the tournament to new entrants, the teams will be balanced by the organizers.

• Team 1: Allies (FWWC), Allies (PzC), NATO (PC)
  
• Team 2: Central Powers (FWWC), Axis (PzC), Warsaw Pact (PC).
  

Entrants remain on that team for the duration of the tournament. Tournament organizers determine the entrant pairings for a game by selecting a player from each team. Team 1 entrants will never be paired with Team 1 entrants, likewise for Team 2 entrants. The organizers will ensure that any 2 entrants will only play each other once. Entrants can only take the side of the scenario corresponding to the historical adversary their team represents, e.g., an entrant on Team 1 can not take the Axis side and an entrant on Team 2 can not take a British side. 

The Tournament consists of 6 rounds.
Round 1: Team 1 First Side in the Round scenario.
Round 2: Team 2 First Side in the Round scenario.
Round 3: Team 1 First Side in the Round scenario.
Round 4: Team 2 First Side in the Round scenario.
Round 5: Team 1 First Side in the Round scenario.
Round 6: Team 2 First Side in the Round scenario.

For Rounds 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 are assigned scenarios that are deemed by the organizers as representing a similar situation, and similar chances of obtaining tournament points. For example, the First Side in Rounds 1 and 2 might be a mobile force attacking an enemy that can only play a delaying game, and there is evidence to suggest the scenarios are balanced. The entrants will have to accept that the organizers could get it wrong and choose scenarios that inadvertently give one side a round advantage. Not all scenarios are going to be absolutely balanced where a draw is most likely, but every effort will be made to ensure the above scenario pairs provide balanced chances to the First Side across the two games.

The selected scenario will be small, SM1 or SM2, and an absolute maximum of 25 turns. The time limit for each round is 2 times the number of turns in the scenario plus 10 days.

The round pairings must notify the tournament organizers when they start and when they end the game. If all games are finished and reported before the end date the round will be ended. Uncompleted games are counted as is (i.e., the current scenario Total Points are used for tournament calculations (see below). How to report a game will be described in the Navigating this Tournament Section.

Each round the entrants in the pairing compete for 100 Tournament Points and up to 5 Bonus Points. Available Tournament Points are summarized by:


All entrants need to know is get the best results possible and up to 100 Tournament Points and 5 Bonus Points will be awarded. But for those that want to know, this chart shows how the Tournament Points and Bonus Points are calculated.



Entrants with Major Victories have additional bonus points to rate their performance. The bonus points are likely only to matter to distinguish who got the better result having had the same number of Major Victories.


Navigating the Tournament

Register as an entrant in the tournament with HMCS Rosthern using theBlitz.club Private mail. Registration must include your

• theBlitz.club handle
  
• your email
  
• your desired Team
  

Each round, follow these steps.

1. Find your round opponent. See the round pairings, below.
   
2. No later than the Start Date + 3 days, post on this thread the names in the pairing and that you have started the game.
   
3. Complete the scenario.
   
4. No later than the End Date, post on this thread the result of the pairing.
   

         The theBlitz.club handles in the pairing, in first side and second side order
         The First Side Total Points
         Major Defeat Victory Value
         Minor Defeat Victory Value.
         Major Victory Victory Value.
         Major Victory Victory Value.

Tournament standings will be published after each Round. 

All battles can be reported on the Ladder for Points per normal play.


Prizes and Rewards

The winner is the entrant with the most Tournament points accumulated over the six rounds, from Team 1 and Team 2. In case of a tie (which should be very unlikely) a mirrored play off game will be scheduled to decide the winner. The winner of the tournament receives a free game courtesy of the Wargame Design Studio.

An honorary prize will be awarded to all of the members from the team that accumulated the most points over the six rounds.

All entrants that do not drop out of the tournament, and backups that replace dropouts, are entered in a draw for a free game at the end of the tournament from the Tiller Operational Campaigns forum administrators.  Mr. Grumpy will make the draw.


First Round Start: October 1, 2024.

My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack. - Foch

[Steel God]

This are very few relatively well balanced scenarios of SM 1 or 2,  I can foresee issues with players not being able to agree on a scenario that places them at a disadvantage (unlike a mirror match where the balance is provided by switching sides).  Other than scenarios being assigned by the Moderator I’m not sure how to address that.

Am I reading the rules right when it says the Winning Team will be awarded a prize?  With potentially 16 players per team I would assume we’re not talking a free game as a prize.

[HMCS Rosthern]

This are very few relatively well balanced scenarios of SM 1 or 2,  I can foresee issues with players not being able to agree on a scenario that places them at a disadvantage (unlike a mirror match where the balance is provided by switching sides).  Other than scenarios being assigned by the Moderator I’m not sure how to address that.

Am I reading the rules right when it says the Winning Team will be awarded a prize?  With potentially 16 players per team I would assume we’re not talking a free game as a prize.

Lack of balanced scenarios: 
I need to think about that. Basically 1 pairing could play a balanced scenario getting 50 points each, and another pairing could play a game where a major victory is very likely and one player gets 100 points. Selecting a scenario could turn out to be more decisive than player skill. Trying to design a tournament where entrants can select from ANY Tiller Operational Campaign series, makes assigning a scenario more difficult. Thanks for the feedback and I will address this, somehow. 

Prizes:
1 free game for winning the tournament
1 free game for randomly selected entrant
1 "virtual bragging rights" for the  team with the most points (no free game).

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

It only work if everybody plays the same scenario.  You play for axis, your points only go against other axis players.  If you lose the game, your points are only compared to other axis players.  Balance is not necessary.  

Tourney director chooses the scenarios for each round.  Then, you should only have one title and play a tourney line in there.  Next tourney, play a different title.

[Iceman]

I agree with the above. While I love the format and don't particularly like mirrored play, the scenario will determine the winner more than skill. Also, in my opinion, a 20-turn limit eliminates a lot of mechanics that allow one's "skill" to shine. Fatigue, morale, deployment, HQ distance, etc. These all play less of a role (in the case of the latter, less of a chance of affecting play) in smaller scenarios. When you are only playing 15 turns, what's stopping me from (as offense) pushing full steam ahead regardless of the status of my troops to take VP, or get lucky with some assault results and snag a victory due to it? It becomes more of a puzzle and less a battle of minds.

I see three ways to address this. 

1. After obtaining all entrants, poll for the most common titles held, once you do,  you can choose the most common three. Then, you can choose x amount of scenarios of 40-60 turn length based on Blitz's reported balance. While there might be slim pickings for balanced scenarios of that length, I am sure there is enough for a 3 maybe 4-round tournament not including a head-to-head final. This works because as you have it set up, there are 6 rounds of 20 estimated turns, that is 120 turns for the tournament for those who make it that far. If you do an average of 50 turns per round for 4 scenarios, that's 200. 80 more turns yes, but you let the game shine and the skill reveal itself. 

This predicates itself on the fact that I do not believe we are in any rush to complete a tournament. Perhaps make a rule that only those who can return a turn every other day at max can enroll to keep the pace going, but you are already running two tournaments at once, what's the difference if one takes a little longer? 

2. Run the tournament as you have it but instead of choosing teams, you choose a stance—defense, or Offense. The best defender or best attacker wins the tournament, and the organizer chooses the scenarios based on commonalities along with balance. 

3. Keep the tournament as you have it, but restrict scenarios to meeting engagements. I am unsure how many of those there are, but this SHOULD add some balance into play. 



Overall, I commend you for taking the time and doing the heavy lifting to get a tournament going. The competitive potential of these titles is immense, and often neglected (AI players    ). I am excited to partake, no matter the format!

[Steel God]

Having run my fair share of Tournaments in my time, I can tell you why the scenario lengths are kept at short ones....because if you have long ones you'll never finish.  Some players will finish at a brisk pace, others will take 2 or 3 days to process a turn.....at a 40 turn scenario that's 240 days for 1 round if each player is eating 3 days.  If other folks managed a day a turn they'd been done in 80 days and then sitting idle for 160.....and they would lose interest.  I have seen it more times than I can count....hence, Tournaments stick to short small scenarios.  My first round opponent in the current Tournament made the same comment that you did Iceman.....the short ones don't show case the players talents.....and the truth is they don't showcase certain talents, but they will showcase other talents.  As a player who enjoys the long view of PzC play I appreciate where you're coming from, but for Tournaments, Nasty, Brutish and Short is the best way to go if you want to avoid the scourge of all Tournaments............drop outs.

[Mr Grumpy]

Having run my fair share of Tournaments in my time, I can tell you why the scenario lengths are kept at short ones....because if you have long ones you'll never finish.  Some players will finish at a brisk pace, others will take 2 or 3 days to process a turn.....at a 40 turn scenario that's 240 days for 1 round if each player is eating 3 days.  If other folks managed a day a turn they'd been done in 80 days and then sitting idle for 160.....and they would lose interest.  I have seen it more times than I can count....hence, Tournaments stick to short small scenarios.  My first round opponent in the current Tournament made the same comment that you did Iceman.....the short ones don't show case the players talents.....and the truth is they don't showcase certain talents, but they will showcase other talents.  As a player who enjoys the long view of PzC play I appreciate where you're coming from, but for Tournaments, Nasty, Brutish and Short is the best way to go if you want to avoid the scourge of all Tournaments............drop outs.

Having seen the "drop outs" issue so many times over the years I cannot endorse Paul's comments enough, it is unfortunate that the smaller scenarios do not always allow a players talent to be decisive and a lucky disruption result here and there can sway the result, but it really is the only way to complete Tourneys. 

Just treat the Tourneys as a bit of fun, to stir up interest and allow members to meet players whom normally they might never had the pleasure to play against. 

[ShipwreckedFool]

I appreciate the idea of allowing everyone to pick their own scenario, but I am in agreement with most of the thread regarding its impact to the balance of a non-mirrored tournament. Beyond that, I also think there is something to be said of everyone playing the same scenario (or same few scenarios). In such a format, you would be able to compare your own performance to the tournament average. I think it'd be pretty interesting for a round to pan out and be able to look at the scores and say "Ahah! I did better than all of them!" Or maybe, "Huh, I should really go back to the drawing board..."

[HMCS Rosthern]

My design objectives for Tournament No2 were:

• Design a system that did not use mirrored games.
  
• Any title in any of the Tillers Operational Campaign series could be played, and that the entrant pairings got to choose the scenario. I am restricting which titles can be used, and I am dropping the ability to choose as it makes managing a balance of opportunities in the tournament more difficult.
  
• Give each entrant pairings some points even for defeats. One reason for this is to provide some granularity on Tournament and Bonus Points awarded, otherwise I would likely end up with a bunch of ties in Tournament Points.
  

Scenarios will only be selected from a pool of TOC series titles common to all tournament entrants. Any series is in scope, so entrants must be prepared to play all 3 series. I did consider restricting this tournament to PzC only, and that may yet come to pass.
 
Each round a scenario assigned by the organizers. The rounds alternate which Team is the First Side, The First Side in Rounds 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 will be assigned scenarios will be deemed by the organizers as representing a similar situation, and similar chances of obtaining tournament points. For example, the First Side in Rounds 1 and 2 might be a mobile force attacking an enemy that can only play a delaying game, and there is evidence to suggest the scenarios are balanced. The entrants will have to accept that the organizers could get it wrong and choose scenarios that inadvertently give one side a round advantage. Not all scenarios are going to be absolutely balanced, but every effort will be made to ensure the above scenario pairs provide balanced chances to the First Side.

The Total Points will be used to calculate the Tournament Points and Bonus Points, so as to provide a normalized scoring.

Comments? I give it a few days before making the changes official.

[HMCS Rosthern]

My design objectives for Tournament No2 were:

• Design a system that did not use mirrored games.
  
• Any title in any of the Tillers Operational Campaign series could be played, and that the entrant pairings got to choose the scenario. I am restricting which titles can be used, and I am dropping the ability to choose as it makes managing a balance of opportunities in the tournament more difficult.
  
• Give each entrant pairings some points even for defeats. One reason for this is to provide some granularity on Tournament and Bonus Points awarded, otherwise I would likely end up with a bunch of ties in Tournament Points.
  

Scenarios will only be selected from a pool of TOC series titles common to all tournament entrants. Any series is in scope, so entrants must be prepared to play all 3 series. I did consider restricting this tournament to PzC only, and that may yet come to pass.
 
Each round a scenario assigned by the organizers. The rounds alternate which Team is the First Side, The First Side in Rounds 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 will be assigned scenarios will be deemed by the organizers as representing a similar situation, and similar chances of obtaining tournament points. For example, the First Side in Rounds 1 and 2 might be a mobile force attacking an enemy that can only play a delaying game, and there is evidence to suggest the scenarios are balanced. The entrants will have to accept that the organizers could get it wrong and choose scenarios that inadvertently give one side a round advantage. Not all scenarios are going to be absolutely balanced, but every effort will be made to ensure the above scenario pairs provide balanced chances to the First Side.

The Total Points will be used to calculate the Tournament Points and Bonus Points, so as to provide a normalized scoring.

Comments? I give it a few days before making the changes official.

Please see the very first post for updates to the Tournament Rules. 

I am proceeding with this tournament, but we need a minimum of 12 entrants.

The proposed start date is October 1, 2024.