CA-SoCal Heroscapers

[superfrog]

I'm not a huge fan of bringing two armies (unless that's the only "trick" of the format). If you bring one army each, though, this does create an issue with 2v1s. The easy solution is to have 2-3 stock armies to pick from, and then continue as you described above (2 separate OMs and all that).

The "map mashup" idea is cool, although I worry a bit that it would be a hassle to set up on the day of. The last thing you want is two maps that don't connect (because one map has hexes square to the player and the other has hexes with a corner facing the player). An easy way to avoid that would be to pick a bunch of "line up on two sides of a field" maps, but I get the feeling that those aren't your favorite .

That said, if you (or someone else) is willing to pair up maps ahead of time and ensure that you could bridge them effectively, I'm all for it.

[superfrog]

I like everything you just said.

[superfrog]

@Xotli , do you want to make a thread for this event?
@Heroscaper 101 , it looks like this is only a few hours away from where you live. Wanna make the drive?

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by superfrog

I like everything you just said.

Cool. I'll try to formalize that and make some proposals.

Originally Posted by superfrog

Xotli, do you want to make a thread for this event?

Well, usually @warriorneedsfoodbadly makes the thread. But I can do it, if he doesn't have an opportunity to do it in the next day or so.

[DjKniteX]

I haven't played in awhile but if anyone near Game Empire wanna get some games in, I'm down!

[Xotli]

Okay, here's the rough outline of what I'm pondering. I really want to get some feedback on this from everyone:

• Everyone must bring a primary army. This army will be exactly like our armies for the past few years (520 pts, 1 restricted primary unit/300pts for commons, 1 restricted filler unit), except maybe we could allow Marvel. Or maybe not—still flexible on that point.
• Everyone may bring one or more extra armies; all extra armies go into the "army pool." Armies for the pool follow all the same rules as primary armies except that they cannot include a restricted primary unit (1 restricted filler unit still okay). My reasoning for this is that I think that armies from the pool should not be so good that you'd rather have them than your primary army.
• We will divide into as many games as necessary to allow all participants to play. Basically, it'll break down like this:
  • 6 players – 2v1, 2v1
  • 7 players – 2v2, 2v1
  • 8 players – 2v2, 2v2
  • 9 players – 2v1, 2v1, 2v1
  • 10 players – 2v2, 2v1, 2v1
  • 11 players – 2v2, 2v2, 2v1
  • 12 players – 2v2, 2v2, 2v2
  • 13 players – 2v2, 2v1, 2v1, 2v1
  • and so forth
• Every game will consist of 2 people on one side and either 1 or 2 people on the other. If there are two, that's team play; if one, that's solo play.
  • For the first round, the only rule we'll follow is that newbies (meaning our younger players and anyone who's playing for for the first or second time or whatever) don't get assigned to play solo. Otherwise assignments can just be random.
  • For the second and subsequent rounds, solo play (if any) goes to the currently top-ranked players.
  • Solo players must use their primary army, and must choose one extra army from the pool.
  • Team players will probably each use their primary army. However, they may, after consultation, replace one (and only one) of the two primary armies with an extra army. To make this decision, the team may consider how their armies play together, and the terrain of the map, and the primary army of their opponent(s), but not any extra army that their opponent(s) may choose. Final army choices for both sides are announced simultaneously. Therefore, it could be a viable strategy for a team to swap out an army just to insure that their opponent(s) don't know exactly what armies they'll be facing.
• Each game is played on a combo map, which consists of two standard BoV maps (maybe add in the ARV maps as well?), which are glued together by a few small terrain pieces, which act as a "bridge" between the two maps. On the bridge will be 2 or 3 glyphs—I'm thinking perhaps 2 power glyphs and a treasure glyph. We could use the same glyph list that we made (but never used) for last year.
  • Glyphs encourage armies to cross over from one map to the other.
  • There are always 4 armies per combo map. Since each combo map has 2 maps, and each individual map has 2 starting zones, this works out perfectly: one army per starting zone.
  • Combo maps are glued together such that starting zones are at either end. Teams sit side-by-side.
  • Games are played for 45 minutes or until one pair of armies is destroyed, as per usual.
• At the end of each game, scoring works pretty much like normal:
  • Count up however many points each army has left on the board. Only points actually on the board count:
    • If you bring less than 520 pts in your army, that puts you at a disadvantage immediately.
    • Undropped AE, unsummoned rechets, clinging gnids, and Mok-riding dwarves—plus anything else I forgot about that has either left the board or never got to it in the first place—don't count towards your points. If it ain't on the board, it don't count.
    • Team players each get the points remaining for their own armies. Solo players get the average of the points remaining between their two armies. I think it has to be this way for solo players, because otherwise they'll just completely sacrifice their extra army and turtle with their primary. Team players could either do points remaining for their own armies, like I said originally, or they could do average points remaining between their two armies (i.e. same as solo players), which might encourage them to have each other's backs a bit more. Either way could work.
  • Wins are assessed as follows:
    • If a solo player has more points (total points for both their armies, in this case) than the opposing team's total, the solo player gets a win.
    • If the team has more points remaining, they each get a win.
    • That might seem at first like there's an imbalance somehow, but obviously you can't give the solo player 2 wins or anything wacky like that. It should all work out mathematically.
  • Strength-of-schedule is assessed as follows:
    • Add up the wins of all your opponents.
    • For any given game, if you played team opponents, just add their number of wins together.
    • For a game in which you played a solo opponent, multiply their number of wins by 2. (I'm pretty sure you have to do this to make the math work.)
  • Tourney winner is then determined totally normally:
    • First add up your wins.
    • For players with equal numbers of wins, compare strength-of-schedule.
    • For players with equal numbers of wins and strength-of-schedule, compare total points remaining across all games.

I'm pretty sure that's all there is to it. We may need a little more bookkeeping, like:

• We need a little more formality on how we choose armies from the pool. Specifically, what happens if two people want the same army from the pool?
• We also need a little more formality in actually presenting the choices to the opposing side. Probably just every army is written down on a piece of paper and that way everyone can trade papers beforehand and look over the armies they'll be facing.
• We need to make sure solo players have 2 different colors of 20-sided's and 2 different colors of OMs, so their armies can be kept completely separate.
• We need to make sure we have enough armies in the pool that everyone who wants to trade out can do so. Essentially, we need as many armies as there are individual maps (not combo maps).
• We need to choose the maps ahead of time and pair them up such that they will fit together nicely (as superfrog pointed out).
• I'll put together a list of every unit in the game that works on "friendly" units, in case people want to refer to that when building armies.
• We'll have to have a way to track what belongs to who. With combo maps composed of 2 full maps plus bridge pieces, and extra armies plus extra 20-sided's and OMs, making sure all parts get back to their prospective owners will be crucial.

Anything else people can think of? Anyone want to weigh in on the points I left open for discussion? Anyone want to say this is all too crazy and we should do something else entirely? It's not too late to change our minds on anything at this point ...

[superfrog]

That's all long and complicated but if you go through the trouble of reading it it's quite straightforward and spells things out quite nicely.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by DjKniteX

I haven't played in awhile but if anyone near Game Empire wanna get some games in, I'm down!

Do you think you'll be able to make it to our tourney on 11/3? It'll be in Sherman Oaks, not too far from Pasadena.

Originally Posted by superfrog

That's all long and complicated but if you go through the trouble of reading it it's quite straightforward and spells things out quite nicely.

Yeah, it's longer than it strictly needs to be, because there's some discussion of "why" that isn't technically necessary for understanding "how." Once we have the thread up, I'll write up a brief summary, and then put just the actual rules part in a spoiler.

Oh, and speaking of the thread: @warriorneedsfoodbadly , if you have a chance to make it tomorrow, awesome. Otherwise, I can prolly hack it up tomorrow night.

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by Xotli

Oh, and speaking of the thread: @warriorneedsfoodbadly , if you have a chance to make it tomorrow, awesome. Otherwise, I can prolly hack it up tomorrow night.

Okay, it took me 2 nights to get to it, but it's done now. Please, everyone head over there and pile on with your comments/objections/hopes/dreams/complaints/aspirations/suggestions. I love hearing from my target audience.

[DjKniteX]

Dang don't think I'll be able to make it out next weekend D:

[Xotli]

Originally Posted by DjKniteX

Dang don't think I'll be able to make it out next weekend D:

Awwwww. Well, I'll move you to the "no" column for now then. Hopefully you can make it next year, or, hey: let us know if something frees up and you can make it this year after all. Last minute folks are always welcome!

[superfrog]

Okay, who wants to play sometime this Spring? Doesn't have to be a tournament or anything, I'd just like to get together and play some 'Scape.