Starting Date: Monday March 2, 2019
Cost: FREE!
Map List: Vassal Custom. The Official Vassal Regional Map List will be:

1. Cloud City
2. Off world Shipping
3. Anchorhead
4. Rhen Var
5. Spynet HQ
6. Rebel Fortress

Legal Pieces: All WotC and V-Set pieces, up through and including V-Set 19 (including the BHC pieces). Please take note that you are welcome to use V-Set pieces, although you’ll need to use proxies for V-Set 16-19 since those pieces have not yet been added to the Vassal Module.

Squad Format: 200pt Constructed. All SWMGPA Floor Rules will be in effect, including errata and decisions made by the SWM Balance Team.

Judge: Spryguy1981. I'd like to have another judge who can rule if a dispute arises in one of my games; please volunteer if interested.

Prizes: Bragging rights. Name and Squad will be placed in a Forum of Honor and the deep respect of all the highly skilled players on Vassal.

Format: Standard Regional Format: Swiss rounds based on attendance, then cutting to a Top 4 for playoff rounds (1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd, then the winners play each other in the Finals).

Game Length: 70 min rounds, including setup time. Since we’ll all be using Skype, there is no reason why the game has to take longer than 60 minutes, but since the Vassal interface might not be completely familiar to some players, we’ll make it 70 just to be fair to everyone. Players need to keep track of their own time during their matches. Set a countdown timer. (Skirmish Tracker App is AMAZING for this!)

System Requirements: You must have Skype, or at least some sort of live voice-chat capability such as FaceTime or a basic phone call, in order to play. Seriously, there are so many different avenues available to us now that there’s really no good reason not to have a way to speak with your opponent.
You must also have the newest versions of the Vassal mod (version 11) and the V-Set extensions (v 10.0) and (v 11-15) on your computer.

Player Requirements: You must make a faithful and reasonable effort to check your BMs at least once every 24 hours after the tournament has started. You are responsible for staying up-to-date on what is going on with the tournament, and for communicating with your opponent each round in order to schedule and play your game. I will send a BM to all players every time a new round of pairings are announced. BM permitting.


How to Register
1. Sign up in this thread
2. Before 8:00 pm EST on Saturday, March 1st, send me a BM that includes ALL of the following information for yourself:
-Real name
-Screen name on Vassal
-Skype name
-Map choice
-A Bloomilk squad link for your squad. Make sure that your squad is set to Public rather than Private.
As with any Regional tournament, your squad and map choices will apply for the whole tournament. You may not change your squad or map after the tournament has begun.


How the Tournament Will Run
This year the tournament will be run over the course of several weeks, as it was last year, so that everyone can fit their games into their own schedule.

Each round, once pairings are announced, players will have 10 days in which to contact their opponent, schedule and play their game, and then report the results. When I announce the pairings I will also announce the deadline for completing those matches. If you need an extension on your game, you must bloomail me BEFORE the round closes. Your bloomail should include the reason why you need an extension and how long you need. This is a grey area here but extensions will be approved or denied based on my discretion. I know this could be an unpopular choice having sole discretion for this, but it needs to be in here. If you do not receive the approval for an extension, you will receive a loss and your opponent will receive a 3 point victory.

The winner of the game is responsible for reporting the game results. Please report your game results in THIS thread, and then send me a brief BM, stating that you’ve reported your results. Reports need to include the player names, the squads, the map that was used, and the score after 70 minutes of play. Match summaries of one sort or another are welcomed too, but not at all necessary.

If it turns out that all the matches have been completed their match before the week’s time is up, then we’ll start the next round a little earlier. Regardless, players will never have more than 10 days to complete match, once that round’s pairings have been announced.

In the case of any match not being completed by the deadline, both players will receive a double-loss unless one player can demonstrate that his/her opponent has been completely non-responsive to communications. But please don’t let it get that far; if your opponent is still non-responsive after 24 hours then contact me via BM immediately.

Gaming disputes (ie, slow play, cheating, etc) that arise during the game should be directed to me via BM. I'll be checking my BMs regularly once the event begins. Rules questions can be sent directly to our expert SWM rules gurus (one of the benefits of a format like this). Be sure to take note of the time remaining in the match when you pause for a situation like this, so that you can continue with that same time after you’ve resolved the dispute.

We will be using a strict 3-2-1 scoring system: it will be “200 or 2.” No exceptions. Since people will be playing at different times, there is no way to reliably contact someone to resolve a dispute, and so please just play fairly and at a good speed. Seriously, it's not like there are big cash prizes on the line or anything! :) Consider this preparation for GenCon or other big events, where you'll need to know how to play quickly if you want to do well.

Special Rules for this tournament are as follows.
1. All rooms will be UNLOCKED (mine included) unless both players agree to lock the room.
2. Insulting, harassing, and belittling of other players will not be tolerated. There will be no warnings or leniency, if you do not abide by this rule, I will enforce penalties.
A. First Offense you will lose 1 point from your total score
B. Second Offense you will lose 3 points from your total score so if you are 4-0 with 12pts and have 2 offenses you will only have 8 points.
C. Third Offense is a final offense and you will be removed from the tournament regardless of how well or poorly you are doing.
These enforced penalties will apply to any offending party. I.E. I call Tim a cheater, and he calls me a sore loser. 1 point penalty for both. Period. Most of us are adults here and we need to act in that regards. So if you and another player get into it, both of you lose points regardless of who started it.

If there are any questions, comments, or concerns about this whole process please post them here. If there are rules you think I need to include, post them here.

I want this to be a great tournament and for everyone to enjoy themselves. So get signed up and get these squads and maps submitted and lets roll!

Something NEW!!!!! Since we have 16 players with 2 essentially dropping out I am going to have a top 8 and a bottom 8 bracket so that we can play more minis,

in

in

Still a thing?

I would be up for practice games. I'll be free in a few hours.

Map list has been updated as well
Cloud City
Off world Shipping
Anchorhead
Rhen Var
Spynet HQ
Rebel Fortress

This list coincides more with the Restricted legal list for this year

Remember guys and gals ASAP on those squads

I'm in...assuming I can remember how to play. :)
Big thanks to Shawn for the reminder!

Also, I'll see if I'm able to find time to update the Vassal mod with sets 18 and 19. (V-Sets 1-17 are already available.) If I do get the update done, it will likely be before midnight on Sunday. I'll post in this thread if I'm able to get it finished. I've got a number of other things going on right now so it'll be a challenge to fit it in, but since we'll be playing a whole tournament, it'll probably be worthwhile.

Just finished 5 years worth of study, so why not!

Link to V-Set 19 Cards

It's not too late. Deadline for submitting squads is today.