Doncon 2010 Preview Squad Leader

Updated 100709

Ratta-tat-tat ... and other assorted combat sound effects optional
Kursk: August 1943. The men were poised at the edge of the street, ready to make the assault. The Russian Lieutenant stood up and made the signal to advance. As the squads ran across the street, German machineguns and rifles opened fire, mowing the men down. The Russians died in the streets, the last hope of taking the village gone with their last breath. What end of the barrel will you be on this year?

This is Squad Leader, a game of WWII tactical combat in Europe. Now you make the instant decisions resulting in life or death of your men, victory or defeat for your army, for you are the Squad Leader. You direct the fire of your squad, select your plan of attack, or set your defenses against massed Russian human wave or armor assaults. Will that hedgerow provide adequate cover for your flanking efforts, or will your men be cut down by the American machinegun position in the woods? The decision is irrevocable and yours alone. You must live or die by the results.

This Squad Leader tournament provides you with two goals. One is to defeat your enemy in each battle and to be crowned the champion of this year's competition. The second goal is to raise the rank of your Personal Leader Counter (PLC) to the highest possible standing. Each act of daring or cowardice by your PLC will not go unnoticed on this battlefield. Who will have the highest rankest PLC at the end? Will he get there through acts of bravado or by steadily pushing his men to greatness? You will decide.

SQUAD LEADER AT GROGNARDCON

Grognardcon is a special Pre-con consisting of an amalgam of ten of the old classic hex-style wargames under the watchful eye of GM Bruno Sinigaglio: Afrika Korps, Anzio, Bulge '81, Gettysburg, Panzerblitz,Russian Campaign, Squad Leader, Wooden Ships & Iron Men and 1776. All use the Free Format scheduling device which allows players to schedule preliminary games at their convenience. Play as many or as few preliminary games as you like but only your best three results in each game will determine the four finalists to advance to Single Elimination play at the end of the week. Each event will be turned over to its own GM on Tuesday for resolution in the normal manner - the only difference is that participation in Grognardcon gives you three additional days to qualify with preliminary games in the events of your choice. Play at Grognardcon is free to all Tribune level members and subject to an added fee for others.

  1. WBC FREE FORM FORMAT. This Tournament uses a Swiss Elimination format for the preliminary rounds followed by a Single Elimination format for the four players with the best performances during the Swiss segment. Entrants may play multiple games during the Swiss segment, which begins during the PRECON on Saturday, and which concludes during the CON on Saturday. Best performances will be determined as described below in paragraph 4.
  2. SQUAD LEADER SCHEDULE. The schedule consists of 3 segments, GROGNARD PRECON Swiss, CON Swiss and DONCON Playoffs (semi-finals and Final).
    a. GROGNARD PRECON SWISS. The PRECON Swiss Segment consists of FOUR daily heats: Saturday 1200, Sunday 0900, Monday 0900 and Tuesday 0900. The PRECON Swiss Segment continues through Tuesday, 1900 hours, whereupon the CON Swiss Segment begins. Essentially, the PRECON Swiss Segment simply continues unabated into the CON.
    b. CON SWISS. The CON Swiss Segment consists of five daily heats: Tuesday 1900, Wednesday 1000, Thursday 0900, Friday 0900 and Saturday 0900. The Swiss Segment ends on Saturday at 1600 hours, at which time the four players with the best performances during the Swiss Segments will advance into the Playoffs.
    c. DONCON Playoffs. All games played during the Swiss Segment, which includes the PRECON Swiss and the CON Swiss, will be used to determine the four best players. The two-round playoffs begin Saturday with the semi-finals at 1700 hours.
  3. SELECTED SCENARIOS.
    Suggested Scenarios are identified for the preliminary rounds; although players are given some leeway should they agree to play another scenario. The scenarios for the Semifinals and Finals are defined. Each round will have one scenario from the two levels of play in the Squad Leader system (i.e., SL/COI or CD/GI). To determine which level of play, both players will agree upon the level for each round. If the level of play cannot be agreed, then the Squad Leader scenario for that round will be played. Once the level of play is determined, one die will be rolled to determine who plays what side. Example: a roll of 1-3 "Player A" is the Germans, 4-6 "Player B" is the Germans.
    Copies of the Selected Scenarios will be available at the tournament. Due to the nature of some of these scenarios, certain adjustments or rules clarifications have been added. The tournament scenarios will be defined and posted by June 30, 2010 on the Squad Leader Academy website. A number of selections will be defined for SQL and COI for the Prelim Round to accommodate both slow/rusty players and faster/veteran players. A number of selections for the Prelim Round for COD and GIA pairings will also be defined.
    Matched players in this Squad Leader Series event play at the lowest agreed rules level (SQL/COI or COD/GIA) from selected scenarios for that round with players bidding for sides. Best Personal Leader competition runs in parallel. Limited advance matches can be arranged by prior GM agreement to facilitate scheduling. SQLA rule conventions and compiled Q/A are in force to supplement the last published rulebooks: SQL (4th); COI (4th); COD (1st); and GIA (2nd). SQLA tournament edition rulebooks if completed will be made available to all participants. Additional plaques are presented by the GM for the Best Personal Leader performance and elimination of the defending PLC champ (Andrew Cummins).
  4. PLAYER PERFORMANCE RATINGS.
      1. A player receives 10 points for each victory.
      2. A player receives 1 point for each loss.
      3. A player receives 2 points for each victory tallied by an opponent that he defeats. All of the defeated opponent's games will qualify for the scoring of these points, but only the first game against a particular opponent will qualify for these bonus points.
      4. Bonus Point Examples: if player A defeats player B, then player A receives 2 points for all games won by Player B during the Swiss segment; however, if Player A and B play each other a second time, no bonus points will be awarded regardless of who wins.
      5. Players receive no credit or points of any kind for any subsequent match vs a previously played opponent in the preliminaries.
  5. PERFORMANCE RATING TIEBREAKERS:
    a. Head to head play is the 1st tiebreaker.
    b. Points scored VERSUS mutual opponents is the 2nd tiebreaker.
    c. Points scored BY mutual opponents is the 3rd tiebreaker.
    d. Points scored BY all defeated opponents is the 4th tiebreaker.
    e. Points scored BY all opponents is the 5th tiebreaker.
  6. Entrants may play every day during the Swiss segment, if so desired. Entrants may play multiple games during the Swiss segment.
  7. The GM will determine match pairings for each round. Present yourself at the kiosk during any round you wish to join. If you wish to play more than one game in a day, the GM will attempt to arrange two games for players who want them this is subject to availability of opponents.
  8. Each player will be given a Match Sheet, which will list game, opponent and start time.
  9. When opponents are assigned, they must inform the GM when they will start their game and when they expect to finish. If the players cannot agree on a reasonable start time, they will be required to begin the game within one hour.
  10. If an assigned opponent does not appear for a mutually agreed upon start time, the GM will forfeit the game to a player who is waiting. The player who is waiting must alert the GM that a forfeit is imminent within 15-minutes of the start time listed on the Match Card. If the tardy opponent fails to appear, the game will be forfeited to the player who is waiting at 20-minutes past the start time on the Match Card. There is no deviation from this procedure; therefore, if a waiting player alerts the GM beyond the specified 15-minute alerting period - there will be no forfeit - instead, the game will be cancelled.
  11. The results of completed games should be reported to the GM as soon as possible using the Match Card. If game results are not reported to the GM by the end of a Swiss round (2300 hours), both players will be credited with a loss. EXCEPTION: The GM will permit players to continue past 2300 hours, but they must inform the GM beforehand that they expect to finish after the 2300 deadline.
  12. The GM (or assistant GM if the game involves the GM) reserves the right to adjudicate any game at the end of the time limit for the round. If one player is moving at a significantly slower pace than the other, this will be taken into account in the adjudication.
  13. WBC rules require submission of a Winner's Claim with the top six players listed in order (although there may be no prizes for some of these finishes for this event). At the end of the Swiss, players will be ranked in order from 1 to 6. The final 5th & 6th places will be determined from these standings.
  14. The GM will submit the results of ALL games played for inclusion into AREA.
  15. The four players with the best performance during the Swiss will advance to a Single Elimination semi-final at 1600 on Saturday. The 1st place finisher will play the 4th place finisher, and the 2nd place finisher will play the 3rd place finisher. The GM will post the match assignments for the semi-finals by 1600, Saturday.
  16. The GM will post the match assignments for the semi-finals by 1600, Saturday. If players qualifying for the semi-finals do not intend to participate, they should alert the GM, so that lower ranked finishers may be moved up to play in the playoff rounds.
  17. If any of the four players qualifying for the semi-final fail to appear at the Kiosk by 1515, Saturday, they will be dropped from further participation. Players who finished lower than 4th in the Swiss segment may move into the Single Elimination rounds, if they are present at the Kiosk on Saturday at 1515, when higher rated no-shows are officially dropped.
  18. The two winners of the semi-finals may mutually arrange to play their final game at a convenient time after the semi-final, subject to approval by the GM. The final championship game must be completed by midnight, Saturday, at which time the results must be reported to the GM.