Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

<Some info on how we beat the tourny blues and gimmick armies>

After several years of attending tournaments which included
armies 'designed' to beat specific opponents lists, we decided to
hold our own local tournaments with some modifications that were well
received by all.

The tournaments were in no way meant to be overly serious or
competetive - mainly an excuse to have a party over a few days.

Points scoring was based on various attributes of the opposing army
as well as end game results (though using a very abstract points
system).

Scoring ranged from 1 (totally disagree) to 4 (totally agree) <note
the absence of a fence sitting '3' in a 1 to 5 or a 1 to 3 range) in
the following categories. Accordingly the highest points scorer in
each category was awarded the trophy for that category (multiple
trophies for ties).
The highest combined points scorer was the tournament winner. This
helped the lists become more 'historically' oriented than gimmick
oriented. Gimmick players rarely gained any trophies apart from
Valhalla or Berserker and of course never the highly prized
historically accurate.

Most Able Commander (rate your opponents ability to run his army -
i.e. generalship)

Best Presented AND Historically accurate (figures to look right and
the army size/ratio and units to be the correct size, type,
deployment from historical sources - players were encouraged to
discuss this in detail - usually over a guinness or two).

Berserker (a much prized category - "did your opponent make every
possible atatck and run his troops very aggressively).

Gentleman player - did your opponent conduct himself in a gentlemanly
manner i.e. did not bicker over rules or attempt to bend them.
<points were invariably gained for buying your opponent beer!>.
That was perhaps the most prized of all categories. Stopped the
players who tend to get 'agitated' when they are not winning from
being a problem.

Valhalla (not added in to the points total but a one off trophy for
the highest damaged inflicted).

Damage done to opponent (added to your score) 1 point for every
destroyed/routed enemy unit <<told you it was abstract>> 0.5 points
for shaken/off table. LI units were rated at 0.5 and 0 points
respectively.

Damage taken (basically the wooden spoon for the person who took the
most damaged) scored as per damage done. Note there was no
true 'wooden spoon award' for lowest overall points scorer of the
tournament. We did consider a 'town bike' award for one player who
never won a game but ran very very tough lists.
An interesting point is that the overall tournament winners were
usally either winner of this category or came close!

Notable events/funny comments during the game - always a laugh to
read out.

This sytem led to players running as historically accurate a list as
they could put together from historical sources.

It also encouraged players to fight, rather than aim for a 5-5
standoff if that assured them a tournament victory <<easily obtained
with a stake/palisade list >>

Some players did 'gimmick' their lists (and were quite open about
it) but only to do their best to obtain the valhalla or berserker
trophies!

Note lists were 1300 points, checked by the umpire for validity <<ity
the late imperial roman list player - what a nightmare to check
conditions!>> and games were usually about 31/2 hours (yes long
lunches were a standard!)

Also tables had mostly historical terrain with a couple of 'nasty'
tables thrown in (one was almost 100% forest with a narrow track down
the centre and steep& rough hills on the flanks). Mainly to avoid the
unhappy tournament usuals of terrain favouring either Close/loose or
cavalry exculsively <<one venue I attended over the years had almost
completely open tables with the odd hill or small wood!!)

Hope this was food for thought. My own favourite was sumerian
(earliest list) massesof LI supported by very good LTS and LMI/LHI.
I usually came close to taking the most damage but usually did well
overall - opponents claimed it was like fighting two armies. (you
can save your LI from evaporating by placing LTS units behind them -
keeps LC at bay) and the Heavy Chariots just loved LMI/LHI.

Cheers!

John



--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "Holder, Scott <FHWA>"
<Scott.Holder@f...> wrote:
> Perhaps this explains the proliferation of 'tourny lists' as
opposed
> to those of us who play for the historical pleasure and base and
run
> our units as per historical evidnce <<where permitting>>.
>
> >One thing that we do here is split the tourney format over a given
weekend in
> to an "all open" event and a "theme" event with the latter
emphasizing histori
> cal groupings. Yeah, people still optimize lists within a theme
event but we
> also tend to see armies hithertoo deemed unplayable. In 2003,
we're all about
> The Crusades in one form or another with the added wrinkle at Cold
Wars of ha
> ving a themed campaign tourney (or as Rob Turnball more accurately
calls it an
> "attrition" tourney).
>
> scott