|
|
Rank: Moderator
Groups: Member
, Moderator
Joined: 9/23/2008
Posts: 1,487
Location: Lower the Hutt, New Zealand
|
So.
Reading some of the things that folk are saying on the Worldwide Stocktake thread (Keep it up!), it looks like that there are lots of areas where there are a handful of people. We have a Vassal Regional and I know that there have been Vassal Leagues before, but I don't know much of the history. Can anyone tell me what has been done with Vassal competitions before? Could we create a series of leagues that interlink and run outside of Regional Season - or in Regional Season... I'm keen to start the conversation as I think that Vassal will keep the small groups or the single players with no groups! in the game.
Discuss.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/29/2008
Posts: 1,784
Location: Canada
|
There have probably been dozens of different vassal tourneys and leagues over the years, from a 6-month long round robin league (run by Chimaera, if you guys remember back to 2005), to some simple 4-round Saturday tournaments for no other purpose than to play and try out the new pieces.
The most recent league of note was the Gamer's Vassal League (GVL), run by Fool for something like 4 seasons; it was a league that tried to alleviate the somewhat stale metas under WotC by removing certain power pieces from play (Lord Vader, Mara Jedi, Thrawn, Mas, Doombot, etc), so that some of the lesser pieces could get used. Players could earn more pieces for their teams by playing more matches. It was very heavy on administration, but it was also probably the most popular of all the leagues that have been run, in my memory.
Honestly, all it takes to run a Vassal tourney/league is someone to organize it, and interest from enough players to make it worthwhile.
Personally, I would LOVE to see a series of Vassal leagues and/or tourneys, regardless of when they run. If people are interested, I'd even be willing to help organize one.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 12/26/2008
Posts: 2,115
Location: Watertown, SD
|
thereisnotry wrote:
Honestly, all it takes to run a Vassal tourney/league is someone to organize it, and interest from enough players to make it worthwhile.
One other much needed thing: Rules for expediting the tournament/league for missed games and absences. Many a league has died when 1-2 people just either can't get their game in or vanish from the face of the earth and hold up the entire thing for everybody else. As as little as a week's delay can cripple or outright kill a league. Me, I'd be interested in one, but can't commit as my work schedule is rather poor for getting games in (My free time tends to be between 10PM and 5 AM CST).
|
|
Rank: Moderator
Groups: Member
, Moderator
Joined: 9/23/2008
Posts: 1,487
Location: Lower the Hutt, New Zealand
|
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 2/25/2011
Posts: 806
Location: Wisconsin
|
That sounds like a pretty solid way of operating a league kez: Quote:Konrad system
In a few tournaments which run over a long period of time, such as a tournament with one round every week for three months, a flexible system called a Konrad tournament can be used. A player's final score is based on his best results (e.g. best ten results out of the twelve rounds). Players are not required to play in every round, they may enter or drop out of the tournament at any time. Indeed they may decide to play only one game if they wish to, although if a player wants to get a prize they need to play more rounds to accumulate points. The tournament therefore includes players who want to go for a prize and play several rounds as well as players who only want to play an off game. This system is used by a few chess clubs in Norway
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/29/2008
Posts: 1,784
Location: Canada
|
Perfect! I really like the idea.
There are a number of different ways to do it. In Chimaera's 200pt league the people who played the most games were the ones who finished the best...it was better to be 5-3 than 4-0. This wasn't based on Swiss-style pairings, though: it just relied on people getting on Vassal frequently enough to play a game vs someone whom they had not played against yet.
Another way to deal with no-shows is that you could do Swiss-style pairings, and every "round" lasts a week. We did this in the two recent X-Wing Minis tournaments that I took part in recently. Squadbuilding rules and registration are the same as for a normal Swiss tournament. Pairings are announced on Monday morning each week, and results need to be reported to the league administrator by midnight on Sunday (for example), or else both players will receive a loss. If one player wanted to play but his opponent didn't respond, then he would be given a forfeit win. That system can work too, because a no-show player only hurts himself and the rest of the tournament will continue without having to wait.
And as for the point brought up by EmperorDragon regarding rules for absences, I had considered that part to be under the Organizer's responsibilities. It is CRUCIAL that the Organizer clearly spells out all the rules before the tournament starts, so that players can be clear what they're signing up for.
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/29/2008
Posts: 1,784
Location: Canada
|
In fact, right now is a great time to start a round-robin style league, because it can help people to prepare for Gencon. People can playtest various squad options and variations against a variety of opponents, and since it's a league, there is incentive to keep on playing. This has been done before, and it was called the Gencon Prep League. It kind of fizzled out, but I think that was due more to poor organization than to a lack of player interest.
And IMHO, one of the most important features of such a league would be that you never know what kind of squad your opponent will be playing, so it perfectly mirrors the variety that you're likely to find at Gencon. That, and it would help to get more people to sign on to Vassal, which is always a good thing.
I've never had a LGS near me that had a playgroup, and I've never been able to successfully start one, so Vassal has been my LGS all these years. So I'd like to do whatever I can do to help SWM thrive on Vassal. Thanks for starting this topic, Kez!
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 10/16/2010
Posts: 88
|
I played in the Chimaera tournament, is already that long ago? I actually came in pretty high. Top 3 or 4? Something like that. Got to know Nickname, Fingersandteeth and many other extremely good players that since left the game. It really cemented my love for the game especially after running into people problems at my local store. (To be fair I went only 3 times or so.) But coming back to Vassal. Yea great tool.
There are some impressive improvements since I last played it based on the instructional video. I believe that whoever plays it must be having Skype or something similar, so that the games can go faster.
Cheers
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/14/2009
Posts: 1,728
|
I don't think fingersandteeth has left the game, isn't he a designer?
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/29/2008
Posts: 1,784
Location: Canada
|
corranhorn wrote:I don't think fingersnadteeth has left the game, isn't he a designer? Yes, he is designing V-Set 7 right now. But who said he had left the game?
|
|
Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/14/2009
Posts: 1,728
|
PrimeClone did, unless I read him wrong. PrimeClone wrote: Something like that. Got to know Nickname, Fingersandteeth and many other extremely good players that since left the game.
|
|
|
Guest |