Struggle of Nations Tournament
2011
Required HPS Game:
Campaign Waterloo
NWC President Mark Jones and Associates:
Tournament Moderators!
The purpose of this tournament is to provide a registered NWC event in which players can gather and engage each other in entertaining combat. It is intended to be a fun way for members to interact, meet other members who they may never have met, and strengthen the bonds between the officers across our club. Officers participating in this tournament are to conduct themselves with honor at all times, remaining respectful of their opponents and abiding by the rules outlined herein. Every effort will be made by the Tournament Moderator to match players of relatively equal ability in each tournament round. As the tournament progresses from single player matches in Rounds 1 and 2 to multi-player matches in Rounds 3 and 4, experienced players will be paired with less experienced partners. This provides an opportunity for the more experienced players to teach their less experienced partners based on the knowledge they have gained from their many battles in the NWC. This tournament will specifically not pair the most experienced officers together so that they can run rampant over the junior officers in our club. This tournament is intended to be a fun, social event of learning and interaction among the fine officers that we have in the NWC.
TOURNAMENT RULES OF PLAY (MOE IV MODIFIED):
The following rules will apply to all battles conducted in the 2011 Struggle of Nations Tournament:
M – MELEE
M.0 Players must agree before the game to use either the “no melee elimination optional rule” or an Embedded Melee house rule.
M.1 If the “no melee elimination optional rule” IS NOT BEING USED, then all melée combat takes place in an Embedded Melée Phase within the player turn. The player may move and/or fire as many units as he wishes, setting up his melée combats for the turn. He then executes ALL melée combats. He may then move and/or fire any units still eligible to do so, but may not conduct any further melée combat for the remainder of the turn. Players will have to agree on whether or not the optional rule or the embedded melee phase, or both, is in effect.
M.2 Melée attacks against skirmishers (if numbering less than 100), wagons, and/or leaders may be conducted at any time during the turn. Overruns by charging cavalry can occur BEFORE the embedded melee phase.
M.3 IF THE EMBEDDED MELEE RULE IS IN EFFECT: Charging cavalry may still melée multiple hexes in one turn, but the first two of these melées must take place within the embedded Melée Phase. For example, charging cavalry MUST initiate their first melee within the melee phase. It may then attack a second hex BEFORE melees involving other units are initiated. In other words, charging cavalry can conduct two (2) melees BEFORE all other melees are conducted. This allows cavalry an opportunity (though limited) to penetrate and cut off retreat routes. AFTER all other melees are done, then charging cavalry can undertake their third and fourth melees if they desire. After the initial melee, attacking cavalry can move through clear terrain, overrun skirmishers, artillery, and wagons without restriction. These actions do not count as melees. Cavalry intending to conduct such melée attacks must, obviously, charge BEFORE the embedded Melée Phase.
S – SKIRMISHERS
S.1 Skirmishers in clear terrain must remain within 3 hexes of any unit of their brigade when an enemy unit is in sight and is within 20 hexes.
S.2 Skirmishers that are in the open may use any brigade of their division to be attached to if all of the formed infantry of their brigade is destroyed.
S.3 Skirmishers may melée other skirmishers, artillery, or wagons and/or unaccompanied leaders without restriction. However, skirmishers can only melee formed units (ordered or disordered) if the units are of equal or less strength than the attacking skirmishers.
S.4 Skirmishers that are deployed in the open at the beginning of a scenario may remain in place or may advance for cover. If they advance towards the enemy without formed infantry they must make it to cover in one move.
C – CAVALRY
C.1 Cavalry may not charge into covered terrain (villages, towns, woods, marshes, chateaux, etc.). They may however continue a charge-melee into one hex of covered terrain but the first melee must have occurred against a non-covered terrain hex. Cavalry may charge across hedges, embankments, and streams.
C.2 Cavalry units with a strength of less than 25 men cannot be used in covered terrain to block road movement of larger units (also see miscellaneous rule #6)
MISCELLANEOUS
1.
Artillery may not enter any chateau hex unless forced by combat to retreat into a chateau. If this occurs, then the artillery cannot unlimber.
2.
Leaders and supply wagons will not be used to take enemy objective hexes or to prevent the retreat of enemy units. (The Waterloo game engine does not allow this to happen.)
3.
Squares are not allowed to be formed in (or move into) covered terrain. If the cavalry can't get to you why form square? (The Waterloo game engine does not allow squares to be formed in covered terrain. It does, however, allow squares to move into covered terrain. To reduce the number of house rules, we will let the game engine govern in both cases.)
4.
Individual officers and wagons can never be used to prevent retreats. (The Waterloo game engine does not allow this to happen.)
5.
Units may be voluntarily removed from the map board without penalty unless those units would be isolated with zone of control (if zone of control extended beyond the map edge).
6.
Formed units with a strength of 25 or less cannot move next to enemy units, may not be used to block retreat routes, and should generally be withdrawn from the front lines whenever possible.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS:
Cover Hexside: Hedges, Forts, Creeks, Walls, Streams, Rivers... Any hex side that would disorder line infantry passing through it.
Cover Terrain (Hex): Woods, Rough, Marsh, Orchards, Village... Any hex that would disorder line infantry entering it.
DEFAULT OPTIONAL RULES:
Officers participating in tournament battles are free to agree on the Optional Rules under which they will engage. Officers choosing to select their own Optional Rules must send a written copy of their agreement to the Tournament Moderator before the commencement of their battle in a given tournament round. This email should contain statements from all officers that they agree to conduct their battle in accordance with the optional rules contained therein. All battles will be played with the Fog of War option selected and the Slider Bar set to dead center. The Tournament Moderator will setup all battles to ensure that the initial settings are correct, including the optional rules. All players should check the optional rules selected at the beginning of their game to confirm that the setup is correct according to their agreement with their opponent(s).
The following Optional Rules will be considered as the default rules in all cases where the competing officers cannot reach an agreement:
TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE:
All players will participate in the first round scenario together. Upon the conclusion of the first round, the victorious officers will continue to play in the Winner's Bracket of the tournament. The officers who are vanquished in the first round will continue to play in the Loser's Bracket of the tournament. In this manner, all officers will get to participate in at least two rounds of the tournament. Any player suffering a loss in the second or subsequent rounds of the play will be eliminated from the tournament.
TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS:
The first round scenario will be a single player meeting engagement with a Corps (approx. 20-25K men) on each side of the field. It will be 40-50 turns in length, but the first part will involve maneuvering for position which should go rather quickly. This gives the opponents a better chance to select their ground and setup their battle plan the way they want it to progress. You will have 60 days to complete the game. This will be a very balanced test of all aspects of the game including scouting, maneuver, deployment, ebb and flow adjustments, and close in tactical combat. The better player will definitely determine the outcome.
The second and subsequent round scenarios will be custom designed for this tournament. It is intended that the second round scenario will be a single player engagement, but it is possible that it could be changed to a multi-player match if required to accommodate the final number of players participating in this tournament. The third and fourth round scenarios will be multi-player games. All scenarios will have a designated time period in which they must be completed.
In order to complete the tournament in a timely matter, players must be diligent in the turnaround time for their games. In the event that a player fails to execute a turn within five days, his opponent may claim a Major Victory for a forfeited match, unless both players have agreed ahead of time that their game will be postponed longer than five days. In these instances, the players should send the Tournament Moderator an email outlining their mutual agreement. Any matches not completed by the established deadline for a particular tournament round will be scored by the Tournament Moderator based on the status of the game when the deadline was reached.
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TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:
Players will be paired in the tournament based on their relative Skill and Experience. It is intended that players be as evenly matched in each round as possible so that the games will be more enjoyable for all participating parties.
A player's Skill is determined based on the total number of victories that are contained in the officer's NWC Battle Record at the start of each tournament round. The total victories, both Major and Minor, will be added together and divided by the total number of battles that player has completed. Based on the result, the players will be divided into the following Skill levels:
·
Skill Result = 0.00 – Skill Rated as “Very Low”
·
Skill Result < 0.25 – Skill Rated as “Low”
·
Skill Result < 0.50 – Skill Rated as “Medium”
·
Skill Result < 0.75 – Skill Rated as “High”
·
Skill Result >= 0.75 – Skill Rated as “Very High”
A player's Experience is determined based on the total number of battles that have been completed in the officer's career at the start of each tournament round. This number receives an Experience ranking as follows:
·
Battles Completed < 3 – Experience Rated as “Novice”
·
Battles Completed < 6 – Experience Rated as “Seasoned”
·
Battles Completed < 11 – Experience Rated as “Veteran”
·
Battles Completed < 26 – Experience Rated as “Elite”
·
Battles Completed >= 26 – Experience Rated as “Grognard”
TOURNAMENT AWARDS:
All officers completing the first round of the 2011 Struggle of Nations Tournament will receive a Tournament Ribbon, regardless of whether they win or lose their initial battle, as depicted below:
The officer's who emerge victorious from the Winner's Bracket will receive Medals for their fine achievement as depicted below:
TOURNAMENT SCORING:
All battles will be decided by victory level, however, should a battle end in a draw, the victory result will be determined according to the following rule:
Tiebreaker Rule - Should a battle end in a Draw, the winner will be determined based on the Casualty Point Differential (CPD). The casualty point differential is the numerical difference in casualty points incurred by each army in the battle (this includes infantry, cavalry, artillery, and officer casualty points). To calculate the CPD, subtract the Coalition casualty points from the French casualty points. Objective points are not counted in the CPD. For such cases, the officers should report the CPD to the Tournament Moderator and not the final score displayed in the Victory Level Dialogue of the game.
As much as possible, French officers will be paired in battle against their Coalition adversaries.
In all cases, every officer participating in the battle shall confirm the level of victory to the Tournament Moderator.
ARBITRATION:
The Tournament Moderator will act as arbitrator in those situations where the opponents cannot agree or where a rule requires interpretation. All decisions rendered by the Tournament Moderator in such instances will be final and binding to all parties.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
All questions, comments, complaints, optional rules documents and anything else specifically pertaining to this tournament should be sent to mark.jones@neel-schaffer.com.