Fall Valour: WDS Tiller Operational Campaigns Tournament No 03 FWWC Rules

[HMCS Rosthern]

Update 20241218: contents subject to change.

Tournament Eligibility and General Rules

All entrants must be registered members of The Blitz Wargaming Club Tiller Operational Campaigns Ladder. New members without previous reported battles are welcome. All entrants must have up to date profiles listing all of the games they own. 

This tournament has 20 entrants, divided into two teams,

1. Team 1: “Entente”
   
2. Team 2: “Central Powers”.
   

Entrants compete for Tournament Points, which are derived from the  Total Points accrued by the First Side. The entrant on either team with the most Tournament Points is the winner of the tournament. 

Entrants remain on their selected team for the duration of the tournament. The tournament format requires an even number of entrants, so we can match up Entente and Central Powers entrants for each round. 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 Central Powers side and an entrant on Team 2 can not take the Entente side. 

Entrants must own the 3 titles in the FWWC series, France’14, East Prussia ’14, and Serbia ’14. All title installations must be 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 20241216 v4.05.1 is the current version. It is unknown whether there will be a new patch version before the tournament ends.

This tournament is a commitment. Do not enter this tournament if you have any concerns about completing it. 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. This will be more than generous.

If an entrant drop outs a backup entrant will be found. Backups assume the tournament points accumulated by the entrant dropping out. Entrants that drop out are not eligible for any tournament prizes. Backups that assume the drop-outs points are eligible for tournament prizes. Tournament Points for uncompleted games are assessed with the current Total Points accrued when the game was abandoned.  Drop outs 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.

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.

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

The Tournament consists of 6 rounds, featuring two scenarios from each FWWC title. Team 1 entrants are paired with Team 2 entrants, and any 2 entrants will only play each other once. 
Each round the organizers notify the entrants in a thread the:

• Round start date and an end date,
  
• Scenario to be played from any of the three titles,
  
• Team 1 vs Team 2 game pairings.
  

All games must be completed and reported to the organizers by the end date (see Navigating this Tournament). Games not completed must be reported as is, i.e., the Tournament points are assigned based on the current Total points.

The scenarios were selected from an inventory of balanced scenarios curated by ComradeP and the WDS FWWC team. Thank you ComradeP and the WDS FWWC Team!!

An optimal tournament format is a full round-robin – All entrants on Team 1 play all entrants on Team 2. Since there are 20 entrants and we can’t fit 10 rounds in 1 year, this tournament is a partial round-robin of 6 Rounds, i.e., 40% of the possible pairings can’t be used. The selected pairings over the 6 rounds are an arbitrary attempt to pair entrants with entrants of their approximate skill level. The scheme tries to avoid Grognards playing beginners, and cashing in on tournament Points, and gives lower skill players a chance at some major victories. The effect of this is to balance the chances for all entrants to win the tournament.

To be clear, this is not a mirrored tournament. Only one game is played per round.

Entrants will only know the pairings for the current round, and will not know the scenarios of future rounds.

Each round the entrants in the pairing compete for 100 Tournament Points plus bonus points. The Tournament Points awarded to the entrants, i.e., assigned to the First Side and Second Side, add up to 100. Tournament points are awarded based on the following formula taking the First Side Total Points and the 4 victory values for the scenario as inputs. Entrants with Major Victories can get 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. Details on how to award points:





Navigating the Tournament

Register as an entrant in the tournament. Registration must include your

• theBlitz handle
  
• your email,
  
• your desired Team
  

Each round, follow these steps.

1. Find your round opponent.
   
2. Complete the scenario.
   
3. No later than the End Date, post on this thread the result, including:
   - The names in the pairing, in first side and second side order
   - The First Side Total Points.
   
4. Report the game result at theBlitz.club. All games 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 theblitz.club medal prize will be awarded to all of the entrants.

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.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to ComradeP and the WDS FWWC team for curating a balanced scenario inventory.
ComradeP researched the Delayed Disruption Rule.
Thanks to Mr. Grumpy, for his ongoing support.