Great Campaigns of the American Civil War: 2018 PBEM Tournament: Rules

Rules

How to Sign-up

To sign up for the tournament, please send an email to Mark Booth at gcacw.gm@gmail.com. To participate in the tournament you must have a valid email address. Please use the address that you wish to receive tournament information by email and include your ACTS identity. Please sign up by November 5, 2018.

Qualifications for tournament entry:

Must be a member of the Boardgame Players Association (BPA), PBEM level ($10) or higher, in the year that the tournament begins.
Must have an email account.
Must have an ACTS account.
Must own a "hard copy" of either Atlanta is Ours! or Roads to Gettysburg II: Lee Strikes North.
All games will be played using v1.3 of the Standard Basic Game Rules that come with both Atlanta is Ours! and Road to Gettysburg II.
A PBEM aid (VASSAL) is encouraged, but not required. If the players cannot agree on a PBEM aid, then no aid will be the default (moves will be swapped via text posting on the ACTS log). Live play over VASSAL is acceptable (and encouraged!), as long as players can find a mutually agreeable time.

Gamemasters

Mark Booth is the GM; Ed Beach, Justin Rice, and Chris Withers are the Assistant GMs.

Event Format

The tournament consists of a set of preliminary rounds that will advance up to 16 players to the single elimination portion of the event. Two losses in the first four preliminary rounds will remove a player from advancement to the single elimination portion of the event, although such players may continue to play in all of those preliminary rounds. Not playing in a round would count as a loss for purposes of advancement. Based on past participation in GCACW PBEM tournaments, four rounds would be sufficient to advance up to 16 people with three wins or more. In such a case, byes would be provided to the highest ranked players in the first single elimination round if fewer than 16 people qualified. If participation is much above that from past tournaments, we may need an additional, elimination round to reduce the field to 16 players. If participation is below that in the past, then the number of tournament rounds may be reduced.

The planned rounds, each of which uses a scenario from either Atlanta is Ours! or Roads to Gettysburg II: Lee Strikes North, are as follows:

Round 1: 11/15/18 to 1/31/19: Battle of Resaca (AIO)
Round 2: 2/15/19 to 4/30/19: The Wagoneer's Fight (RTGII)
Round 3: 5/15/19 to 8/15/19: McClellan's Opportunity (RTGII)
Round 4: 9/1/19 to 11/15/19: The Battle Continues (RTGII)
Round of 16: 12/1/19 to 2/15/20: Kennesaw Mountain (AIO)
Quarterfinals: 2/22/20 to 5/22/20: Battle of Gettysburg (RTGII)
Semifinals: 6/1/20 to 8/23/20: Battle of Atlanta (AIO)
Finals: 9/1/20 to 11/30/20: The Pipe Creek Plan (RTGII)

Pairings:

In Round 1, players without AREA ratings will be randomly paired with another player without an AREA rating. Players with AREA ratings will be randomly paired with another player with an AREA rating. In subsequent rounds, pairings will be made randomly between players with identical (or nearly identical) won/loss records so far in the tournament.

No player will play the same opponent more than once until the single elimination portion of the tournament. This could force some pairings to be outside their won/loss record.

If there are an odd number of players who want to participate in any preliminary round, the GM will ask all tournament entrants if they are willing to play a second game that round as an eliminator. The player chosen to face the eliminator will be determined randomly among those players with the lowest record to that point, except in the first round it will be a player randomly selected from among those players with AREA ratings of 5000 (unrated player) and below. The eliminator will be the volunteer whose AREA rating at the beginning of the tournament is closest to the player chosen to face the eliminator. An eliminator will also be utilized to the extent possible if a player drops out before a game begins but after pairings have been made. This game will not count toward the eliminator's tournament standings or tie-breakers, although it will count toward the eliminator's AREA rating, and the game will not count toward the other player's head-to-head competition tie-breaker.

Seeding among the players who advance to the single elimination rounds will be based on the following criteria (in this order):

1. Number of wins
2. Number of rounds played
3. Head-to-head competition
4. Strength of opposition by AREA rating
5. Winners of Round 4
6. Strength of opposition within tournament
7. Die roll or a coin flip

For purposes of the seeding and breaking ties, head-to-head competition will be measured by the won-loss percentage in games among the otherwise equally-ranked players, with no games played as such counting as a zero winning percentage. The measure of strength of opposition by AREA
rating will be the average AREA rating of the player's opponents as of the
start of the tournament. If needed, a second strength of opposition measure,
the strength of opposition within the tournament, will be measured by the
won-loss percentage of the player's opponents in the tournament.

The sixteen-player single-elimination round will be seeded based on the above criteria. Matchups will be as follows:

Round of 16:
Game 1: No. 1 seed vs. No. 16 seed
Game 2: No. 2 seed vs. No. 15 seed
Game 3: No. 3 seed vs. No. 14 seed
Game 4: No.4 seed vs. No. 13 seed
Game 5: No.5 seed vs. No. 12 seed
Game 6: No.6 seed vs. No. 11 seed
Game 7: No.7 seed vs. No. 10 seed
Game 8: No.8 seed vs. No. 9 seed

For the quarterfinals, the winners of the above eight games will be seeded in the same order used for the round of 16.

Quarterfinals:
Game 1: No. 1 seed vs. No. 8 seed
Game 2: No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed
Game 3: No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed
Game 4: No. 2 seed vs. No. 7 seed

Semifinals:
Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4

Finals: Semifinal winners

Game Rules

The GCACW Standard Basic Game Rules version 1.3 will be used for all games.

Rules Disputes: To resolve rules questions or disputes, players should feel free to email the GM. GM Mark Booth will rule on disputes except for games in which he is participating, in which case AGM Justin Rice will make the ruling. Should those two both be involved in the dispute, AGM Ed Beach will make the final ruling.

Die rolls: All die rolls will be conducted using the ACTS internet die roller. At the start of each round, the GM will create ACTS logs for each game. Unless otherwise specified, initiative and combat dice rolls will be Union first, Confederate second. If excess dice are accidentally rolled, discard the extra rolls and keep only as many as you need starting with the first results. If too few dice are rolled, simply roll additional dice (keeping the ones already rolled). The only allowable exception to using ACTS is if both players agree to play "live" via VASSAL.

Adjudicated games: At the start of each round, players will be notified of the deadline for finishing their games. This deadline will be strictly enforced. Any games that do not conclude on time will be adjudicated. A designated assistant GM will examine the game state and declare a victor. The only exception is if one player is guilty of exceptionally slow play (as shown in the ACTS log time stamp), in which case that game will not be adjudicated and the GM will automatically declare his/her opponent the winner. We all understand that real life intervenes from time to time, so please let your opponent and the GM know as soon as possible if circumstances arise that interfere with your ability to play in a timely fashion. The GM will evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis and may show more leniency to players affected by circumstances beyond their control. Likewise, if you feel your opponent is playing too slowly without good cause, please inform the GM as soon as possible so that the issue can be addressed and/or taken into account if adjudication is needed. Finally, please note that any player who fails to complete a game after entering the round and does not provide an explanation to the GM will not be allowed to play in future rounds.

Bidding

Before your game begins, email GM Mark Booth with your choice of sides and how many VPs, if any, you would be willing to give your opponent in order to play the side of your choice.

If both players want to play opposing sides, then there is no bid and play proceeds normally.

If both players want to play the same side, the player with the highest bid receives that side in return for giving his/her opponent bonus VPs equal to the bid.

If both players want to play the same side and have the same bids, sides will be determined randomly by the GM. The winning player gets the side of his/her choice and the losing player gets bonus VPs equal to the bid.

If a player is opposed by the GM, then each player should email Justin Rice with their bids.

Missing a Round

It is not necessary for players to play in all four preliminary rounds, but your chances of advancing to the final will be greatly enhanced if you do. If you miss a round, you will need victories in the other three rounds to advance. You may continue to play in the preliminary rounds of the tournament even if you miss a round (and regardless of your record in any case) unless you drop out in mid-round (see above). Makeup games will not be permitted, so if your goal is to win the tournament, make sure to play in all preliminary rounds.

Error Handling

Any errors identified by an opposing player are resolved by backing up to the point of the error and playing from there (i.e., ignoring any die rolls or moves that occurred after the error). If, however, the opposing player has made a subsequent move or game die roll prior to the identification of the error, play is not revised and the error stands. Example: player A moves, then player B moves. Once player B starts moving it's too late to redo any of player A's moves in the event player B later recognizes an earlier error. Exception: If there is an error calculating combat modifiers, you do not reroll the combat. Rather, play back tracks to the combat with the error and using the original die rolls for this combat, recalculate the result using the correct modifiers. Play continues forward from that point (i.e., subsequent initiatives and combat die rolls are ignored).

Tournament Prizes

The winner of the tournament will receive a BPA Plaque ("Wood"). Other placing players will receive "Laurels". See the BPA for more details.

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