[Gambit]

I will be running the 360TV Lightning Tournament at Game Summit in Ottawa on Sunday August 30th. I'm expecting mostly new players, but others are welcome to bring their own armies within the constraints of the rules below.

The Lightning Tournament Base Rules

1.0. A tournament will consist of no more than 8 players on 4 maps, with eight pre-generated armies available. If more than one player wants the same army, then the Organizer will decide by a random method who gets the army, and the other players will have to accept their second choice.

1.1. Prior to the start of the tournament, the organizers will spend 15 to 20 minutes provide a brief overview of the important rules, including Movement Modes and Speeds, Cover and Concealment, Active Detection, Forward Observation, Direct and Indirect Fire, damage resolution, electronic warfare and communication events, and Command Points. Experienced players are expected to help new players if they have any questions during the game. If the experienced player does not know, they will call on the Organizer for the answer.

2.0. Player generated armies must have no more than 2 combat groups equaling 360TV, built at any Priority Level from 1 to 4. Every army must include at least one combat group with at least 2 walker vehicles with arms or climbing equipment(includes gears, frames, mounts, and/or striders, *not* infantry). An army cannot have more than a maximum of 9 units and 9 actions. Players with 1 Combat Group can choose to divide it into sub-squads before each game.

2.1. Support points are provided at 1 SP per PL as per the rules. Support Options must be chosen prior to the tournament start and each option can only be used once during the entire tournament (e.g.: A player builds a PL1 Northern force of a GP Squad and a Light Tank Squad and purchases two medium artillery strikes with his one SP. He uses one strike in the first game and uses the second strike in the third game).

2.2. Player generated armies with support options must be reviewed by the tournament Organizers prior to the start of the tournament for legality.

3.0. Each map will be 24"x36" with terrain laid out by the tournament Organizers. This includes Table Effects and Unusual Events (exception: For Variable Time Limit, start rolling the die after turn 2 instead of turn 4), Deployment Zones and Objectives. Deployment is limited to within 6" of each player's home edge. Organizers should set time before the start of the tournament for players to familiarize themselves with the conditions and objectives on each board.

4.0. Each round will be 75 minutes long consisting of three phases:

4.1. Assignment Phase (7 Minutes) - Players are paired off with opponents by the Organizers and assigned to a table with specific objectives for their army. Players set up their combat groups and then roll for initiative. Support Options can be kept secret to all but the tournament Organizers.

4.2. Game Phase (60 minutes) - This is how long the game is expected to last. Judges will announce the start of the round, the halfway point, and 5 minutes remaining. If at the end of the 60 minutes some games haven't ended yet, the Organizer will call time and all play will stop. The Judge will award VPs based on objectives achieved up to that point. Break ties based on Success Level, VPs, then PL, as per the Locked and Loaded rules. If this still results in a tie, the Judge will ask each player what his plans for the remaining turn were, then decide based on estimated results of the tactics. If all else fails, winner will be decided by coin flip.

4.2.1. Speedy play is expected. Players may notify the Organizers if they feel a player is deliberately slowing the game down. If a player is judged by the Organizers to be deliberately slowing the game down, they shall be given a verbal warning. On the second offence, they will forfeit the round and their opponent will be awarded full victory points.

4.3. Resolution Phase (8 minutes) - The Organizers determine who won and who lost each game and determine the pairings for the next round. Players reorganize their forces and prepare for the next round. Winning players receive 1 point, and losing players receive 0 points. Organizers will note what support points were used by each army that round.

5.0. There will be 3 rounds per tournament. Each round will pair players with a similar number of points, with no player allowed to play the same opponent twice. Set-up is as follows:

5.0.1. Players randomly given a Number between 1 and 8.
5.0.2. For the 1st round, pair off the players and assign them the following maps: Board 1 – 1&2; Board 2 – 3&4; Board 3 – 5&6; Board 4 – 7&8.
5.0.3. For the 2nd round, assign the players to the following maps: Board 1 – Winners of 5&6 and 7&8, 1&2; Board 2 – Losers of 5&6 and 7&8; Board 3 – Winners of 1&2 and 3&4; Board 4 – Losers of 1&2 and 3&4.
5.0.4. For the Third round, try to place the two players with 2-0 records on a map neither of them have played, if possible. Then pair the next four teams at 1-1, ensuring that nobody plays the same person or the same board. If the latter is not possible, then make sure that players play on the opposite side of the board they previously played. The 0-2 players get the board that’s left over.

5.1. If there are only 6 players, then set up as above, but have the winning player with the lowest VP total play the losing player with the highest VP total. If there are only 4 players in a tournament, then simply set up a round-robin format, moving the players between different boards as shown above. In the case of an odd number of players, the Judge could either get a volunteer to fill in for a missing player, play the missing spot himself (realizing that he will need to adjudicate and interrupt his game), or give the odd player a bye.

5.2. After all 3 rounds are completed; the Organizer will total the VPs for each player from each round. The winner is the player who has the won the most number of rounds. In the case of a tie, award the tournament victory to the winner with the highest VP total at the end of the tournament. In the case of identical VP totals, then the winner should have the lowest PL. The same rules apply to determine the runner-up. The winner will receive a $50 gift certificate for use in the DP9 online store.

The Scenarios:

"What's Yours is Mine": You've been glaring at each other's bunkers across no man's land for ages. Now is the time for action!

"King of the Mountain": Your sattelite network is disrupted and the local terrain is playing havoc with communications. To reach higher ground, break out the climbing gear!

"In the Land of the Blind": Looking for a energy-signature needle in a lab complex haystack, you'd like to have a word with Intel who thought it was a good idea to use a sandstorm as cover...

"With Friends Like These": You've got to get your intel to HQ tout suite, so blow through your opponents. But what's that rumbling in the distance?

[Gambit]

Pre-generated army factions available on day of Game Summit:

- Southern Republican Army
- Humanist Alliance Protectorate Army
- Mekong Peacekeepers
- Norlight Armed Forces
- Western Frontier Protectorate Army
- Peace River Defence Force
- Black Talons
- Colonial Expeditionary Force (Earth) with Caprice back-up.

[flatline]

For those not in the know, can you provide a link to the Game Summit site?

Also, does an army have to be completely painted if we bring our own?

This post has been edited by flatline: 07 August 2009 - 08:30 AM

[Gambit]

Here is the Game Summit link.

As for painted, So long as they have at least primer (aka. arctic camo), that should be fine, but I'd rather not see bare-metal minis.

[mike_a]

Holy wall of rules batman. Your not messing around these days it seems.


This reminds me that the sheets you had didn't have all the various weapon swaps for the armies included in there sheets,
so I made some word documents with cards that have been edited in paint if you want those.

We were playing a few test games the day before and I noticed that the AGM jags didn't have AGM's on there
datacard so all the new players never knew they even had it, I can eamil you those files if you want.

I'm gona go to this for sure as it really is quite fun.

Thanks;
Mike

P.S. It has been my experience that an army consisting of 2 light tanks (huns, LHT, ect) and a GP squad is very good.
(of the 2 times I have seen it run both the winning armies had that sort composition)

[flatline]

I just realized this was on the Sunday, not the Saturday. I won't be able to make it after all.

[Henshini]

FYI, I cross posted your tournament here.

[Gambit]

Thanks, Henshini.

And sorry mike, I thought I had given you the corrected datacards. I've been changing the information by hand.

[mike_a]

Oh, well maybe I just took the first set without looking at the rest or something.

Can't be expected to understand more the 10% of waht you read on vacation.

Thanks;
Mike

[Bryan R]

I was going to attend, and run demos, but something personal has come up and it doesn't look like I'll be able to make it.

Hopefully I'll be able to see you guys at Fandom in September.

This post has been edited by Bryan R: 12 August 2009 - 10:52 AM

[Kris_Din]

I just hope that everything is going okay for you, Bryan. Hope everything with the family and friends is well, I would hate to hear of there being health or welfare problems with your loved ones. God bless you and yours, man.

-Kris Din

[Gambit]

Just a reminder: the tournament will be held on Sunday from 2-6pm. I just finished building the PRDF army and the Red Bull looks HUGE!

The schedule of events can be found here.

Looking forward to seeing you all then!

[Jakar Nilson]

Gambit, on 28 August 2009 - 04:33 PM, said:

Just a reminder: the tournament will be held on Sunday from 2-6pm. I just finished building the PRDF army and the Red Bull looks HUGE!

The schedule of events can be found here.

Looking forward to seeing you all then!

I'm also working on my own army. Painting up a MILICIA cadre. I feel like I'm going to get whipped a lot...

[Coyote]

Game Summit was fun, came over and said hello to the tournament players. The main organizer seemed really keen on the game, even though he kept saying the DP9 was partnered with Steve Jackson Games in the production of the game. I let him know that it was the RPG that SJ was doing.

He was so keen that he's thinking about building some terrain and organizing a demo or something next year. He even talked with the guy running the painting masterclass about painting up some miniatures for it. DP9 should get in touch with him. It's Corey Tamas, his e-mail is corey@gamesummit.ca

Don't get me wrong, DP9 runs a great tourney at Cangames with awesome prize support, but having someone else come in and get interested in the game is exciting.

[flatline]

Coyote, on 30 August 2009 - 10:44 PM, said:

Don't get me wrong, DP9 runs a great tourney at Cangames with awesome prize support, but having someone else come in and get interested in the game is exciting.

Nothing wrong with free marketing, especially when somebody else want's to do it for you. This sounds like a great idea!

[Gambit]

I agree with Coyote, Corey approached me and said that he'd get his master painter to paint up some Blitz armies and build some tabletop terrain pieces for us.

As for the Tournament itself, we had 6 new players try out the game and two forum regulars. Much thanks to mike_a and Jakar Nilson for helping explain the rules to their opponents as they went along. I have to admit I did a really poor job of explaining the rules this time around - I lost two prospective players because I took too long to explain things. I might go with just the quickstart rules next time instead, but it would be best if I work on my delivery to be more clear and concise.

The actual games started around 2:50 and the last game ended at 6:15, with 5 of 9 games finishing within 1 hour. Not too bad.

And congratulations to the winner, newbie Mike Weild and his HAPF army! I'll post more details in a one-shot in the next Aurora issue.

[flatline]

Another bonus to having the organizers of Game Summit keen on HG is that this is a semi-annual event if I'm not mistaken, so a potential three tourneys a year (including CanGames) in Ottawa is not bad at all!

This post has been edited by flatline: 31 August 2009 - 09:12 AM

[mike_a]

Quote

I have to admit I did a really poor job of explaining the rules this time around

I really don't think it was all that bad, theres no way you can learn everything about a game by having some dude talk at you. Everyone seemed to pick up the basics very easily as soon
as dice got rolling.

The tournament has been played a few times now and all the times everyone had fun and the new people picked it up easily, so since it works its probaly a good idea not to try and 'fix' it to much.

Thanks;
Mike

P.S. I forgot to take my camera to work so I'll send you the pictures later on or tommorow.

[Coyote]

Game Summit is moving to an annual instead of semi-annual event. Too bad, but it needs greater attendance and going once a year should help. Also, quality should improve.

[Jakar Nilson]

Coyote, on 31 August 2009 - 01:54 PM, said:

Game Summit is moving to an annual instead of semi-annual event. Too bad, but it needs greater attendance and going once a year should help. Also, quality should improve.

When will it be held during the year?