Unit Battle Royale 2010: No More Entries - Go Vote!

[LordRaidor]

UNIT BATTLE ROYALE 2010



Who Will Be This Year's Victors?...

[LordRaidor]

Contest Rules and Regulations

To celebrate the 4th birthday of HeroScapers.com, the Battle Royale is back! Once again, this brute-force popularity contest will feature a new public poll each day for a month to decide which units will advance through the tournament. The final battle will be waged and the Grand Champions crowned on May 3rd, 2010 (HSers.com's 4th b-day).

For the first round of battle (16 polls), six units will go head-to-head each day, with only the two most popular units advancing to the next round. The remaining 15 battles (Regional Semi-Finals, Regional Finals, Semi-Finals, and Finals) will have only four units competing each day and will advance the top two.

(If you want to see how the Battle Royale played out last year, click here.)

ENTERING THE CONTEST:
There will be no prizes for the Battle Royale this year, but registered members of HeroScapers.com can compete for prestige and glory by predicting which units will triumph in each daily poll. Members must submit their guesses on what ALL the polling results will be BEFORE the polling begins. Entries will be scored on their accuracy, and the highest scorers will earn the well-deserved respect of their fellow HSers (or custom forum titles, if they'd like)!

Note that these polls aren't based on which units are the srongest, or the best sculpts, or the most cost-efficient; it's a popularity contest. Game potential will undoubtedly come into play, but people will also vote for units because they look neat, or have cool abilities, or just have a special place in their hearts for no predictable reason. The contest isn't about finding the 'best' units, but rather guessing which units will get the most votes.

To enter the contest, examine the tournament bracket and pick the two units each round that you think will get the most votes (1st and 2nd place in the daily poll). A completed entry will consist of 62 numbered unit picks total (the top 2 in each of the 31 polls), in numerical order as shown on the tournament bracket. Submit this list of all 62 winning picks as a Private Message (PM) to LordRaidor. Entry PMs must be received on or before April 2nd, 2010, to be eligible for scoring.

ENTRY SCORING:
In the first round (first 16 polls), entries will score ONE point for each contestant they picked that does actually advance, or TWO points if they predicted the proper standing that day as well. For example, let's say that the "DAY 1" poll ends with "Unit A" in 1st place and "Unit B" in 2nd. An entry that predicted "A" as 1st and "B" as 2nd (right units, in order) would earn 4 points. An entry listing "B" for 1st and "A" for 2nd (right units, wrong order) would only score 2 points. An entry picking "A" as 1st and "C" as 2nd (one unit, proper standing) would also get 2 points. An entry guessing "B" as 1st and "D" as 2nd (one unit, wrong place) would be worth only 1 point.

Each round after the first will score double the points from the previous round. The second round (8 polls) would therefor score 2 points for each correct choice, or 4 each with the proper placing. The third round (4 Regional Finals) will likewise score 4 (or 8) points, the fourth round (2 Semi-Finals) meriting 8 (or 16) points, and with the Final Round (last poll) worth 16 (or 32) points per accurate pick, respectively. After all polls have been completed, the grand total of all the points earned by an entry will be that entry's Final Score, that being anywhere between 0 points minimum and 320 points maximum.

TECHNICAL NOTES:
Any ties, during daily polls or final scoring, will be broken by d20 roll. Participants must have a valid HSers.com member account to enter, and Administrators and Moderators of HeroScapers.com may enter this contest (with the exception of the contest facilitator, LordRaidor). Only the first entry per member account will be accepted - no changes or alterations to an entry will be allowed once it is submitted.

Also note that during the polling process, only ONE vote will be tabulated from any one unique IP address per poll per day. If multiple users with different accounts (spouses, siblings, co-workers, etc.) submit poll votes from the same IP address on any given day, all votes from that IP address will be totaled separately as a 'sub-vote' instead. Any ties during 'sub-votes' will be broken by d20 roll. The 'winning candidate' with the most sub-votes from each IP will be given 1 vote in the real poll and all other votes from that IP for that day will be discarded.

[LordRaidor]

Addenda and FAQ
(Important Q&A from this thread will be summarized here)

First of all - credit where credit is due:
This contest was inspired by and based upon the annual Character Battles at GameFAQs.com. If you want to see where this concept originated, or get an idea how it will play out, go take a look there.

Secondly - BRAGGIN' RIGHTS:
The recession has hit me kindof hard, so I will unfortunately not be able to offer physical prizes to the winners of this year's UBR. The participants who come out on top will get nothing more than bragging rights this time around, though I will also be willing to stake out a few custom user titles to the winners, if they desire.

ENTRY SUBMISSIONS:
AS OF APRIL 2, 2010, no further entries are being accepted. I will NOT be able to check entries for 'correctness', so double-check it yourself twice before you click 'submit'. If an entry has fewer or more than 62 numbered unit picks, it will be rejected, and you will be notified of this by return PM. Once I get an acceptable entry from a member (with 62 numbered picks), that member will be sent a confirmation PM, and any additional later entries or 'corrections' from that member will be ignored (sorry).

SPELLING/ACCURACY:

Originally Posted by Fuzzie Fuzz

...How exact do we have to be to qualify? If we misspell Tor-Kul-Na, does it not count? How about full names? Do we have to type "Raelin the Kyrie Warrior (RotV)" every time, or will "Raelin (RotV)" do? "Zombies of Morindan" vs just "Zombies?"

Good question. The answer is: "you have to be exact enough to fool my spreadsheet/scoring program". ^_~

The 'scoring' will be done by an Excell workbook, which will be looking for 'unique qualifying tidbits' in the cells. If "Zombies of Morindan" is the winner, it'll probably be looking for "Zom". In that case, "Zombies" would work, ...but "Morindan" wouldn't. As I said before, I won't be 'double-checking' any entries myself, but I will try to 'oversee' scoring to make sure no points are missed. Your best bet is to spell them exactly as they are on the entry form (cut-and-paste from the PDF for the easiest solution), both to ensure you get the points you deserve, and to make my life a little bit easier.

PUBLICITY:
If you'd like to promote the UBR and encourage more entries, feel free to cut-and-paste the following code into your signature:

HSers.com 2010 Unit Battle Royale
Now Accepting Entries (click here for details).

Any additional relevant questions from this thread will be extracted regularly and summarized here with their answers. Any and all questions, comments, and/or suggestions are welcomed and encouraged.

(As of the "Last Edited..." time noted below, 61 valid entries were accepted, from: 'Scaper94, A_Train, AliasQTip , BiggaBullfrog, Bobofdeath's Dad, Bonecrusher, BurnyFlame, dickflea, dok, Dysole, Firemaster, FOOTBALLDUDE88, Gold1, GreenLanturn, Griffin, Heroscape Elffy, heroscapenoobs, hoju511, iceman3317, ICEMASTER, J-Unit94, Joeys123, jsmkd, kenjib, KillaAttila, Killometer, King of the Marro, Krizo, lafleurhero, Land-based AE, Lo Pan, LUCKE13, MattserTruckRally, Mombo101, Mossman, myrealnameisjeff, myrealnameisjon, NecroBlade, nyphot, ollie, Paronychodon, Ranior, Ravenhale, Rich10, Riggler, RoninValentina, scorpiusx, Shedim Kabal, sniperviper, Sonlen4MVP, SymphonyScaper, tcglkn, That Guy0715, TheSparkleInYourWater, tom, Ty the Awasome, Vermilyion, Warlord Alpha, Whitearrow, whitestuff, and ZBeeblebrox)

^_^
-LordRaidor-

[LordRaidor]

And finally, a few notes about this year's bracket and (unit) combatants. Some of you may notice that not all of the HS units have been included in the 2010 UBR. There were a number of good reasons for limiting the units in the Battle Royale this year, but the most important one was simply SIZE. With the 'small' HS expansions since the last UBR, plus adding the Marvel and D&D Master set figs, including absolutely everything would have made the tournament simply too large for me to handle. Moreover, all of the 'big hitters' from last year would have just been easy bets for making the finals again this year. And let's face it, all of the 'chumps' that got squashed early last year would just have been in for the same fate again...

So, both to make the contest more managable and the competition a little less predictable, here's what will NOT be in the UBR this year:

Last Year's Winners - That's right. To prevent them from being slotted instantly to the top of everybody's brackets, the top EIGHT unit from last year will be sitting this one out. Those units would be: 4th Massachusetts Line, Braxas, Cyprien Esenwein, Kaemon Awa, Krug, Nilfheim, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior (RotV), and Sonlen. Perhaps in a few years, we'll pull ALL the UBR Champs from three or four years running and give them their own 'Tournament of Champions', but for now, the easy bets are on vacation.

Last Year's LOSERS - The sad truth is: some units just aren't destined for greatness. Last year, we had a good bit of 'dead weight' in the brackets, as reflected in the final poll results. Some units were just out of their league. To save them the embarrassment of being humiliated again this year, any unit that scored less than 13% of the voters in the first round last year will not be returning this time. I know that you might like some of those units (I know I do), but to make room for all the new stuff, something had to go. Perhaps in a couple of years, we'll pull all of the 'losers' from 3 or 4 years running and have a 'Little League' Tournament for all of these guys, but for now, they're out of the limelight. Just for the record, those units that didn't make the cut are alphabetized here:

Spoiler Alert!

Acolarh, Anubian Wolves, Arkmer, Armoc Vipers, Arrow Gruts, Ashigaru Harquebus, Ashigaru Yari, Blade Gruts, Blastatrons, Chardris, Concan the Kyrie Warrior, Deadeye Dan, Deathstalkers, Deathwalker 7000, Deathwalker 9000, Dumutef Guard, Dzu-Teh, Emirroon, Empress Kiova, Fyorlag Spiders, Gladiatrons, Grok Riders, Hatamoto Taro, Heavy Gruts, Iskra Esenwein, Jorhdawn, Kelda the Kyrie Warrior, Khosumet the Darklord, Kyntela Gwyn, MacDirk Warriors, Major X17, Marcu Esenwein, Marrden Hounds, Marrden Nagrubs, Marro Drones, Marro Drudge, Master Win Chiu Woo, Me-Burq-Sa, Mimring, Moriko, Obsidian Guards, Ornak, Otonashi, Parmenio, Rechets of Bogdan, Retiarius, Roman Archers, Roman Legionnaires, Runa, Sacred Band, Saylind the Kyrie Warrior, Shades of Bleakewood, Shiori, Sir Denrick, Sonya Esenwein, Spartacus, Sudema, Swog Rider, Tagawa Samurai Archers, Tarn Viking Warriors, The Einar Imperium, Theracus, Thorgrim the Viking Champion, Tornak, Valguard, Venoc Vipers, Warden 816, Warriors of Ashra, Zetacron, and Zettian Guards

And Lastly, Inanimate Objects - I know some of you will be disappointed by this decision, but the Breakable Wall and the Fortress Door have been disqualified from competition. The Fortress Door did have a decent cult following last year, but most of the voters felt the door should never have been in the running. For that reason, it and its Marvel cousin will not be in the UBR this year. Perhaps in a couple of decades I'll collect all the inanimate objects and have a 'Garage Sale' Competition...

Anyway, that's what you've got. The seeding for the brackets this year was 'mostly' random. What that means is that the units were shuffled randomly, then dropped into the brackets via two sorting conditions. The first condition was that exactly TWO squads and FOUR heroes were seeded into each first round battle. The second qualifier was that no two units from the same 'expansion or master set' were placed in a first round battle together. Beyond those two restrictions, the seeding was completely random.

That's all the small-talk I can come up with for now. Please feel free to discuss the UBR here in this thread if you'd like. Remember that PM entries must be received by me on or before April 2, 2010.

Good Luck, and Have Fun!

^_^
-LordRaidor-

[arp12]

Cool, I wasn't expecting the Unit Battle Royale to return again. Never made a bracket, but it was fun to vote every day and observe the results.

Originally Posted by LordRaidor

First of all - credit where credit is due:
This contest was inspired by and based upon the annual Character Battles at GameFAQs.com. If you want to see where this concept originated, or get an idea how it will play out, go take a look there.

I thought they were really similar. Now I know it's not just a coincidence.

[kenjib]

Awesome! Thanks for running this again LordRaidor. It was a lot of fun last year. I think Spartacus and Retarius should have been given a second chance, though, given their redemption with the release of the Capuans.

[J-Unit94]

Very cool LordRaider, these are always very fun. I'll be getting my bracket in soon enough.

[Xn F M]

Thanks for starting this up again LR. I'm wondering how much the "metagame" may be changed from last year considering we now have last year's results to take into consideration.

[Grim]

This might save some folks some typing. In the spoiler is a numbered list from 1 to 62 with a space after each number.

(there used to be two lists here, the first had periods, the second didn't - now it's the only one here)

Spoiler Alert!

1
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[Killometer]

Woo-hoo! Last year's BR started 2 days before I joined HSers, and waaay before I felt like I knew much about the game/this site/members preferences/etc., so I'm glad that it's come back when I can play.


Edit: All right, the brackets are all printed out-it's time to get to work!

Just to make sure-we do NOT pick who we think is going to win the Championship round?


Edit edit: Nevermind, I figured out how it works.

[gorthan313]

NOOOOOOOO! All of my highest ranking characters from last time(Moriko, Krug, the Door, Dund, and the Anubians) are out this time around! Oh well, I guess I'll actually have to think this one through.....

[Ranior]

Thanks. Looks fun and I'm actually going to enter this year. (Still don't know why I didn't last year...)

Also...who's up for a Charos cult this year?