VASSAL Organized Play 2021


​Greetings, fellow admirals and Armada fans!

The Clone Wars are upon us, and with them, the Armada 1.5 rules and a bunch of errataed cards. The Armada module has received a massive facelift with version 4.0.0 and the lobby is crawling with players. At the ass end of 2020, I threw together a relaxed tier CW-only tourney that drew 50+ players in no time. It's a more civilized age for Armada indeed.

The module is a labor of love for me, but I'm VERY pleased to see players use it. Anyway. To keep the momentum, I'm announcing Vassal Organized Play 2021! 

We're talking quarterly tournaments, plus league play. Rather than run these as "plain" events, each event will have a "twist/flavor." Nothing too deviant - we don't want to change too much, just enough to keep things interesting.

QUARTERLY TOURNAMENTS

These events are tentative - no final decisions as to format have been made. Timing is relative; Q1 doesn't necessarily mean Jan-March, more like 'before Q2.' 

Points in red are considered to be tentative/notes to self.

2021 Q1: Wave 10 is slightly delayed. The second CW-only tourney is therefore postponed until Q2 2021. 

For Q1 we're doing a 1-day event instead:

  • Sunday, March 21st. Right after VWC21 Swiss is done.
  • 3 rounds standard Swiss.
  • No time zone split!
  • Time-limited: 2 hours 15 min per match, same as normal. 
    • Lunch breal.
  • Tourney Special: Hondo in Slave I is a cross-faction squadron!
Read more here.

Here are some tentative ideas for the rest of the year:

2021 Q2 (updated 21st March): For this event, we'll be using a variant of AMG's unconventional Warfare rules. I'll provide a branching perk tree and fleet-building restrictions specifically tailored for this event. 

2021 Q3 (updated 21st March): Combination of escalation and "build your own commander" using abilities derived from RitR. Fleet sizes increase with each round and you also gain XP that can be spent to further customize your commander.

2021 Q4: Hyperspace Event for Armada. This concept is taken from X-wing, where a variable array of ships and upgrades are available (changes a couple of times each year). So maybe Imps can't take Mithel. But the ISD-1 can take a Defensive Retro. I'll provide fleet builder support for this.

LEAGUES

1st Half 2021: Team league. Starting as soon as wave 10 is fully revealed. Maybe in April?

Faction-locked teams. 3 players per team. Split between EURO and NA sectors to keep scheduling manageable (if enough teams). There will be 4 rounds. The team with the most combined tourney points (across both sectors) after those rounds is the winner.

Listbuilding restrictions: Uniques are unique  WITHIN THE FACTION. Objectives are also considered unique in this regard.

Read more about it here.

2nd Half 2021: Individual league. Planned to start late summer/early fall. Rotating lists. 6 matches total. 

Listbuilding restrictions: Uniques are unique TO EACH PLAYER OVER THE COURSE OF THE LEAGUE. Objectives are also considered unique in this regard.

VASSAL WORLD CUP

This is BiggsIRL's baby, but I mention it here anyway. Qualifications run late in the year, with the actual WC starting in January. This is Vassal's only Premier Tier event!

Read about it here.

EVENT SOFTWARE

https://tabletop.to/ will be the platform used to track events, with fleet submissions using Google forms (very nice for statistics).

VASSAL OP 2021 GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP

At the end of the year, a Grand Champion will be declared based on performance across all competitive events.

Check current GC points here.

The following points are awarded (subject to revision):
  • Participation: 1 point
    • Join a tournament, play at least 1 game.
  • Playing all your games: 1 point
    • Don't walk out on your fellow players mid-event.
  • Advancing to the next round: 1 point
    • Can be awarded multiple times. The VWC, for example, can award this twice - one for Swiss and once for eliminations.
  • Runner up: 1 point
    • You almost did it.
  • Winner: 2 points
    • You did it. Congratulations!
The following tournaments award points (subject to revision):
  • VASSAL Clone Wars Tournament (it ended in 2021 so it counts).
  • VASSAL World Cup 2021
  • Q1 2021 Tournament
  • Q2 2021 Tournament
  • Q3 2021 Tournament
  • Q4 2021 Tournament 
  • H1 2021 Team League
  • H2 2021 League

Prize Support

I've decided to offer some real prizes for the Grand Champion and the runner-up. To this end, I'm donating some money that can be converted into Armada gift vouchers. I do this because I can afford it and because I want to. I'm not rich so don't get delusional 😎 

If you want, you can also chip in. This is ENTIRELY voluntary. It's OK if no one donates a single dollar or euro. The prizes will be adjusted accordingly is all.

Link to the fundraiser: https://gofund.me/8f5afe55

3 comments:

  1. How do you sign up. I want to join all the events and I am pretty sure I can get a 3 man team together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Signups haven't started yet. I'll announce it here, on Discord, reddit, BBG, FB, etc. in the not-so-distant future.

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