WargameReplays

Barbarossa to Berlin PBEM Tournament Rules

How to Sign-up

To sign-up for the tournament, send an email to btb@wargamereplays.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 please include your ACTS identity.

Game Rules

The GMT 2006 Edition Living Rules are considered to the official version of the rules. All tournament games will use the the campaign game scenario with no optional rules. In addition, several Official Tournament Clarifications are in effect. These clarifications are based on past rulings on CSW and/or on a literal reading of the rules as written. One critical clarification has be reprinted below.

Special Turn 1 Mulligan for Allies: The "Turn 1 Mulligan" (the last paragraph of 4.4) is superceded by the following for this tournament.

If the Allied player did not draw either Soviet Front reinforcement to start the game, then use the following procedure:

• Axis Turn 1 Action Round
• Axis attrition
• Allied Turn 1 Action Round
• Allied Attrition
• Allied player discards all or all but 1 card(s)
• Axis player discards cards if desired
• Axis player ends turn in ACTS
• Both players draw cards for turn 2. Order is not important.

If the Allied player still has not drawn a Soviet Front reinforcement card, then during any Action round in turn 2, he can play the Soviet 3 Front Reinforcement card by playing a 3OP card or higher as OPs (so the opposing player sees what card is being used). He should not discard a 3OP card at the beginning of the turn nor announce that he has failed to draw a Soviet Front reinforcement card. Note that this procedure is not entirely consistent with the rules and supercedes the rules in this case. When the Soviet 3 Front reinforcement card is drawn later in the game, the Allied player should play it as an event immediately and draw a replacement card.

Bidding

Both players will ‘bid’ to determine who plays the Axis. The the player with the lower rating will bid first. If both players have the same AREA rating, a die roll will determine the first bidder (e.g., even player 1 bids first, odd player 2 bids first). A player without an AREA rating is considered to have an AREA rating of 5000. AREA Ratings are posted here.

The bid is added to 20 to determine the VP level required for an Axis AV. In addition, the bid is subtracted from 20 to determine the amount of VP awarded to the Axis player for the play of Totaller Krieg. A positive bid assumes the Axis is the favored side (and thus the bid will help the Allies in order to balance the game). A negative bid assues the Allies are the favored side.

The player bidding first, announces his bid to play the Axis. Each subsequent bid must be greater than the previous bid. Declining to bid is equivalent to accepting your opponent's bid at which point your opponent gets the AXIS at the declared bid. Note: If you want to play the ALLIES, bid low for the AXIS! Hint: Experience has shown that a balanced game, between equally experienced players, will exist with a bid between 0 and +2, inclusive.

Bidding Examples: Bidding +2 would mean that a player would need 22VP for an AXIS AV and would only get 18 VP from the Totaller Krieg card play. Bidding -1 would mean that a player would need 19 VP for an AXIS AV and would get 21 VP upon the play of Totaller Krieg.

Time Commitment

Expect to average about one card play per day. Exact speed of play is at the discretion of the participants. It is recommended that players establish some initial guidelines as to when to follow-up with their opponents regarding 'non-response' or to communicate anticipated lengthy delays.

Participation

BPA membership is not required for this tournament. All players are encouraged to participate. Players must have internet access, and a valid email address. Changes in email address should be forwarded to the GM. Players must own a copy of the game (either edition).

AREA: Games will be reported and participants will receive AREA ratings based on their successes.

Gamemaster

Jay Meyers will be the GM. Tom Gregorio and Paul Hubbard will serve as assistant GMs. (Contact the GMs)

Format

Preliminary Rounds (rounds 1 and 2): There will be two preliminary rounds. Participants who win in either round will advance to the single elimination round. Participants who lose in both rounds will be eliminated from the tournament. Participants are not required to play in both preliminary rounds, but not playing in a round is considered a loss for tournament purposes.

Single Elimination Rounds (rounds 3 to 7): Participants that qualify by winning at least one preliminary round game will advance to the single elimination rounds. Participants that lose a single elimination round game are eliminated. The participant that is undefeated in the single elimination rounds (regardless of that participants preliminary round record) is the champion.

Pairings:

Round 1: Participants will be randomly paired to determine the round 1 match-ups. Participants will not be seeded or paired based on past participation or records.

Round 2: Round 1 winners will be randomly paired with another Round 1 winner; Round 1 losers will be randomly paired with another Round 1 loser.

Rounds 3 to 7: Participants with a 2-0 record after the Preliminary rounds will be placed in the "Upper Pool." Participants with a 1-1 record will be placed in the "Lower Pool." Pool assignments are fixed after the preliminary rounds and do not change for the duration of the single elimination rounds. In each single elimination round (rounds 3 to 7), match-ups are determined by randomly pairing an Upper Pool participant with a Lower Pool participant. It is likely the two pools will not have the same number of players. Members of the larger pool will in some cases be playing another member of their pool. Again, the members selected to play within-pool will be done using a random process.

Eliminators and Byes:Byes will be avoided if possible. If there is an odd number of players in a given round, an "eliminator" will be solicited to play. Eliminators will come from eliminated participants or will be recruited by the GMs. The eliminator cannot advance even if he wins. If a bye is required, it will be randomly assigned each round; under no circumstances will a player be offered two byes in this tournament.

Schedule

Each round will be approximately three months in duration with an intention to finish the tournament within ~18-24 months. The first round will be slightly extended to give participants time to become familiar with the format and pacing while the final rounds will be shorter as it is expected that the now-experienced players will be able to play a bit faster.

Note: The above schedule is subject to change. Late entrants will be accepted into the first round. However, their matches must still be completed by the scheduled completion date or the match will be considered a loss for the late entrant (if both players are late entrants, both are considered to have lost). Because players can lose either preliminary round game, late entrants can still advance to the single elimination games by skipping or failing to complete the first round.

Incomplete Games

If a game is not completed, and the players cannot decide among themselves who won, the player who consumed the least amount of time is the winner. There will be no adjudications. E-mails as well as the ACTS journal will be used by the GM and his assistants to determine which player used the most time.

Rules Disputes

Rules questions/disputes should be addressed to the GM. Neither the GM nor his Assistants will rule on a game in which they are involved. Players should be as descriptive as possible, including supporting evidence or diagrams of the situation in question as the answer will be based on the information provided. Questions may also be posted to CSW but the GM rulings are authoritative and final.

Method of Play

Cards and Moves: It is required that players use the Automated Card Tracking Site to play their games. Matches conducted FTF, PBM or using a different PBEM method are not considered valid matches unless there is an accompanying ACTS journal. Moves must be recorded in ACTS. Players may exchange files but the official record is what is posted in ACTS.

The ACTS site provides recordkeeping of moves, provides a die roller, and serves as a secure card dealer. There is no fee for use of the ACTS web site. It should be noted that all game journals are considered public and may only be deleted by the players when requested to do so by the GM.

Dice:Players may choose to use a subset of the requested dice as long as it is clearly identified, in advance, which rolls are to be used. For example, the Axis player can call for 8 dice for three battles and declare that only dice rolls 4-6 are to be used. The defending player rolls all dice; rolling the dice indicates that the attacking player's move was reviewed and validated. If too many dice are rolled, trailing dice are discarded. If too few dice are rolled, the player rolling the first set of dice should request additional results.

It should be noted that no specification of, or requirements for, PBEM aides (ADC2, CB, etc.) is being made. Players may also choose an alternate method for rolling dice but all results must then be posted into the ACTS journal.

Error Handling and "Take backs"

If you or your opponent makes an illegal move, you are obligated to point out the error in the ACTS log when you realize it has occurred. The error should be corrected or undone so that the move is legal. If dice have been rolled, a card has been played or a card has been drawn, then the illegal play stands and will not be redone unless both players agree to backtrack in the game to the point of the error. If players agree to backtrack, then any cards that were played since the error are picked up and any dice that were rolled will need to be rerolled. Cards that were drawn however are kept. If players are unsure how to fairly resolve an error, they should consult the GM.

Both players should discuss how they want to handle "take backs"--instances where you change your mind after posting a move in ACTS or make a typing error in the log. If both players agree to play with "take backs", then as long as dice have been not rolled and your opponent has not responded to a posted move, you may redo any move (card play, advance, loss, etc.). If players do not agree to "take backs" then the default is that what is posted in ACTS is official and stands--in this case, players will need to very careful about what they post. The vast majority of players allow take backs.

Reporting

Both players should report the completion of the game to the GM.

Relevant information to be submitted includes: sides played, bid, final VP score, turn of game end, and method of victory.

Prize

This tournament is being played for the pride of knowing you are the BTB World Champion!

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions? Check out the FAQs or contact us.

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