CyberVASL XX

pipiol

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Dear all,

A new edition of CyberVASL is now open for sign-up. If you are interested in joining this tournament, please send an email to CyberVASL {at} outlook {dot} com (please be sure that you include exactly "CyberVASL XX" in the subject of the email), indicating your real name, and email. By doing so, you accept that I will use this information and pass it to others for the exclusive purposes of running the tournament.

All rules are below, but here is a summary:

  • As usual in latest autumn tournaments, there will be previous league round before single elimination matches. Groups of 2-4 people, playing one game against each other player in the group. Best of each group will advance into the playoffs, which will be single-elimination as usual. The player limit will be 32.
  • Unfortunately, ASL ratings do not count PBEM games anymore. Therefore, I will only use our ELO rating computed inside our tournament to make the pairings, at least until ASL ratings take into account PBEM games again.
  • I will take sign-ups until 1st October. The tournament will start around 3rd October with all players who signed up until 1st October.
  • All sign-ups must be done by email. No late sign-ups will be admitted.
  • I will give some "badges" to participating players, for achieving some targets. The purpose is only to add some spice to the tournament, with no other intention or implication.
  • There is a tool capable of detecting cheating behavior, based on the logs of the game. Since it is not fully automated, each player will have some limited access to it, to ensure it is used with moderation. In particular, you can ask for an analysis of your current game, but if the tool fails in detecting cheats, then you will not be able to request it neither in this tournament nor the next one you are participating. Of course, if a player is detected cheating, he will be immediately expulsed from current and future tournaments. I hope this threat is enough to discourage all cheaters from participation, so hopefully I will not need to run the tool ever!

COMPLETE RULES:

  • The tournament starts with a league phase: Players are grouped into small groups of 2-4 people (depending on total number of players). Groups will contain a maximum mix of skills.
  • In each group, each player should play a game against each other in the group. This means 1-3 games per player.
  • In order to give players time to complete this extra load of games, this league phase will last for 6 months.
  • Only first player in each group will advance into the playoffs. Only the number of wins count. Ties in the number of wins can ocurr; in that case, I will simply randomize among co-winners (I thought about other possibilities, but decided to keep it simple).
  • After that, in each playoff round, people will be paired, and only the winner of each game will continue in the tournament.
  • Default method of play is VASL PBEM, no optional rules and VASL dicebot. Other methods, rules or dice are allowed upon agreement of both players.
  • All games of a round must be completed no later than three months (six months in the league phase) after the previous round finished. All games have to be running (i.e., both setups done, and turn 1 started) after one month from the start of the round (in the league phase, at least one game running in the first month, and either one finished or all running by the second month).
  • Deadlines are NOT flexible. At the end of a round a winner must be declared. Failure to this will imply a double loss to both players. Please only sign up if you can send at least one log per day most of the time, as speed is very important when playing PBEM.
  • All pairings will be predetermined at the start of the tournament, and you will be allowed (and encouraged) to start your next round game as soon as you know who is your opponent. This will give you more time to complete the new game, as the three months period only starts once all games for the previous round are finished. I will try to regularly remind people about new games that can be started.
  • Depending on previous forfeits, it is possible that some players are not paired in a given round. In that case, those players will automatically advance to the next round.
  • Pairings will be based on ELO ratings computed at the start of the tournament, based on previous CyberVASL games played. League groups will be designed in a way that best players will tend to play between them only in latest rounds, i.e. groups will contain the maximum mix of skills.
  • If you feel that you are not going to have time to complete your game in time, please resign as soon as possible, to allow your opponent to start his new round game ASAP.
  • If your game is not finished, (or the game has not started after the first month) then the player more responsible of the delay should politely declare his opponent as the winner, no matter how the game was going.
  • All results (win/lose/forfeit) can be notified by either player, either by posting here or sending an email to CyberVASL {at} outlook {dot} com. In the latter case, please be sure that you include exactly "CyberVASL XX" in the subject of the email. Please communicate in a similar way scenario and sides chosen, as well as the moment when you effectively started to play turn 1.
  • All games (except those not started after the first month) will be reported to ASL Player Ratings (http://asl-ratings.org), but only when PBEM games are counted again.
  • In case a rules dispute appears, please consult the rulebook and the rules forum in GameSquad. Only when this doesn't clarify the answer, you can ask me for a decision. Both players should explain their point of view, with specific references to rules. In this respect, I maybe request advice from experienced players, who will also be responsible of deciding when the dispute affects one game in which I am playing.
  • Cheats: There is a tool capable of detecting several types of cheats in a given game, based on VASL logs. Any player can request its use for his current game, but if the tool fails to find cheating behavior, then the requesting player cannot use it neither for the rest of the tournament nor for the next one in which he participates. Detected cheating players will be immediately expulsed from all current and future CyberVASL tournaments.
Sign-up rules:

  • The sign-up period will last until 1st October at most.
  • Tournament will start around 3rd October (earlier if the 32 seats are filled fast).
  • All sign ups must be done by email.
Specific suggestions for selecting scenario and sides:

  • ANY scenario can be chosen. Please take into account time availability of you and your opponent, to ensure that the scenario is small enough to be played by the deadline.
  • One of the purposes of the tournament is to encourage people to play against new opponents, in order to learn from them both in terms of rules and strategy.
  • Therefore, to encourage less experienced people to join, it is suggested that (when the players have different experience levels) the less experienced player selects 3-4 scenarios, and pass them to his opponent, who in turn selects one of them and randomize sides. In this way, less experienced players can adjust the scenario selection to their rules knowledge.
  • If both players have a similar experience level, then they can agree on any way they want.
  • To facilitate this procedure, all players will have an associated experience level (based on CyberVASL ELO), that will be communicated when the pairings are done.
  • Please have a list of your 3-4 preferred scenarios prepared in advance, to avoid unnecessary delays.
Good luck to all!

Sergio


PD: List of current participants (up to 15th September):

Vic Rosso
Pablo Garcia
Tom Arnold
Maurizio Grassi
Sergio Puente
Mike Johnston
Alex Koestler
Fabio Mazzucchelli
John Garlic
Tuomo Lukkari
Tom Yetter
Blake Ball
John Lehman
Robert Mac Ginley
Jeff Howell
 

Tuomo

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I like this tournament format, but I confess I'm not a fan of PBEM anymore. How many of these games are played live on VASL (at the agreement of both players, of course)?
 

John Garlic

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I enjoy the PBEM League and PBEM. It's a different beast from live VASL and FtF, but I still find it useful as a place to hone skills, internalize rules, and try out one of the 3192 scenarios I have that I haven't played yet!. W/L immaterial for that. The real thing I like about the VASL CyberLeague is finding new opponents and the minimal ghosting, which always bugs me. Most of my games are PBEM, although I am open on live online if time can be found.
 

Stewart

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I enjoy the PBEM League and PBEM. It's a different beast from live VASL and FtF, but I still find it useful as a place to hone skills, internalize rules, and try out one of the 3192 scenarios I have that I haven't played yet!. W/L immaterial for that. The real thing I like about the VASL CyberLeague is finding new opponents and the minimal ghosting, which always bugs me. Most of my games are PBEM, although I am open on live online if time can be found.
I find ghosting more prevalent in PBeM. The reason I stopped using that format.
literally 80%. Not worth my time...would rather solo the game...At least I can spit in the other guys face at the end and tell him how badly he played.
 

John Garlic

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I do mostly VASL PBEM, and over the years, have gottena pretty good group of guys I play who are very reliable. All great opponenets. Several of them I met through the VASL CyberLeague. I agree on ghosting being a not good thing, but it works pretty good now.
 

pipiol

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We are starting in one week. Last call!

Updated list of participants:

Vic Rosso
Pablo Garcia
Tom Arnold
Maurizio Grassi
Sergio Puente
Mike Johnston
Alex Koestler
Fabio Mazzucchelli
John Garlic
Tuomo Lukkari
Tom Yetter
Blake Ball
John Lehman
Robert Mac Ginley
Jeff Howell
Frank Kelly
Tom Repetti
 

ASL1

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Afternoon
Haven't played in a year but ready to get back to playing. Count me in.
Cheers!
pierce
 

pipiol

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And we are off!

Groups:

Group A:
Pablo Garcia
John Lehman

Group B:
Vic Rosso
Tuomo Lukkari

Group C:
Tom Arnold
Pierce Mason
Tom Repetti

Group D:
Maurizio Grassi
Blake Ball

Group E:
Mike Johnston
Robert Mac Ginley

Group F:
Alex Koestler
Tom Yetter
Frank Kelly

Group G:
Fabio Mazzucchelli
John Garlic

Group H:
Sergio Puente
Jeff Howell

Have fun!
 

ASL1

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Evening all you ASL Berserkers!
Tom Repetti's Germans held off a final assault by my Russians in our match of J198 "The Valley Of Glory." Our match went down to the final Russian MPh. Exciting to say the least! A lot of decisions to be made by both players in this scenario and well designed by Ken Dunn. What a great way to get back to playing ASL after a year's absence. Thanks to Tom for a great ASL experience! We did play our match live VASL.

Cheers ya'll!
Pierce
 

Tuomo

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J198 - tough choice for the Germans, deciding how much to put in the central buildings and how much to put around J4. I can't see the value of putting anybody on the other hill (X4); the Germans just don't have the manpower to spare. I ended up with 2.5 squads, an LMG, and the 8-0 in the middle, with a HS in M8 to slide over there via the back of the hill if necessary (which it was). In retrospect, that really wasn't enough; the Germans wanted another HS around R7 and another one to hold onto Q5, which can be covered nicely from the J4 area.

The 81mm MTR started in I5 with a spotting HS in H4; the idea was to crush any Russians coming in on that side and then move the MTR to J5 so as to get direct fire on that area. Worked a charm, up until the MTR boxcarred and didn't affect the middle of the board once he repositioned. Still, not a bad job by the MTR here, although if the Germans want to put that extra HS in Q5, they should use the 7-0 as a Spotter if they really must. Nobody would blame them for just starting the MTR in J5 and being done with it; I couldn't find any other good candidates, really.

I originally thought it would be a no-brainer for the Russians to exchange the two tanks for removing the Ammo Shortage (question, though - SSR2 refers to removing "this penalty" - does it mean the Ammo Shortage in general, or the EXC that extends the effects of Ammo Shortage to any Russian MMC that rolls doubles when using its IFP?), but in retrospect, Pierce's tanks did just fine rumbling up adjacent to S7 and R8 and just blasting away. Two things, though - a tank really needs to get LOS to Q8 to keep the Germans from skulking, and the Russians need to keep the definition of "Good Order" in mind, should they choose the building VC. German units in Melee aren't GO, so the Russian tanks can VBM those buildings (Stopping, of course, A11.15) and hold them in Melee for the infantry to follow up and clean up.

Kind of a nail-biter in the middle, really.
 
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John Garlic

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My Germans have begun their attack against Fabio Mazzucchelli's British in Tunisia. ROAR says DB12/OB6 is fairly balanced, but initial turn has the British in a hard place. We'll see as it goes forward.
 

ASL1

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Good Afternoon
Tom Arnold's Germans defeated my Russians in our playing of J199 "Too Rapid An Advance." Fun Scenario. Thanks to Tom for a great game.
Cheers!
Pierce
 

degiabo

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Howdy,
I have just successfully led the Russian's final advance to John Galric's German-held trenches, playing WO 45 (Better than Nothing).
Thanks to John for the challenging game.
Giasone
 

degiabo

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And a few days ago my Germans resisted the early assault of the Pará (Fabio Mazzucchelli) on the village playing J214 (Raff's Orders) leaving them no hope of going for the Castle.
Thanks very much to Fabio.
After the game we took a look at "ROAR" and it seems to be a very unbalanced scenario, so I was very lucky when we roll for the sides.
Giasone
 

degiabo

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Hello all,
I have just successfully led the G.I. defense to Tom Repetti's German attack, playing AP 143 (Late for Chow).
Thanks to Tom for the many chances he gave me to improve my playing skills in such a short scenario.
And once again thank to Sergio for his commitment to keeping the tournament going.
Giasone
 

pipiol

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League phase has ended, so the playoffs can start!

Here are the pairings for quarterfinals:

Pablo Garcia (Hero) -Mike Johnston (Elite)
Vic Rosso (Hero) -Alex Koestler (Elite)
Tom Repetti (2nd line) -Giasone De Boni (2nd line)
Maurizio Grassi (Leader) -Sergio Puente (Elite)
 

pipiol

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Semifinals:

Pablo Garcia (Hero) -Giasone De Boni (2nd line)
Alex Koestler (Elite) -Maurizio Grassi (Leader)
 
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