TS Tournament - Other Information

Other Information

GM and AGMs

The GM is Darren Kilfara, and the two Assistant GMs will be Ananda Gupta and Christopher Schwalm: Darren will handle most of the procedural enquiries, while Ananda (who will provide official rules clarifications) and Christopher will be involved in overseeing the pairings procedure for Preliminary Phase games and will rule on any games in which the GM and/or the other Assistant GM are involved. Rulings made by any GM are final.

Please be advised that the GMs will not monitor games in progress in an official capacity, except to ensure that they are completed in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of the players involved to ensure that they are interpreting the rules correctly – the GMs will not go back in time to remedy any incorrect interpretations after the fact.

Method of Play

All games will be played on the Automated Card Tracking Site (ACTS). Each game will be created by one of the players involved and moderated by the GM. 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.

NOTE: Players will be responsible for tracking their own moves. A CyberBoard module for TS is available for download via GMT’s Twilight Struggle website and is highly recommended; if each player wishes to exchange .gmv/.gam/.gsn CyberBoard files, they may do so, but it is not mandatory. However, if such files are not exchanged, it is highly recommended that players confirm the locations of their playing pieces on a regular basis – the end of each turn being an opportune moment for sharing files and/or posting and comparing the Influence each side has in each country. All players will be responsible for the repercussions of their own recording errors.

Rules and Rules Disputes

All games will use the second edition of the TS rulebook (available for download at GMT’s Twilight Struggle website). The official FAQ and errata should be used in conjunction with the second edition rules, particularly with regard to card clarifications.

It is expected that all participants will play the game with good sportsmanship and in the spirit in which the game is designed. The special PBEM rules and guidelines listed here are meant to guide players in the application of the written rules of the game along these lines – any incidents in which a player looks to manipulate these rules to his advantage against the spirit of the game should be brought to the GM’s attention. The GM retains the right to punish the offending player should circumstances warrant, e.g., by forcing the offending player to Discard a card or cards from his hand, docking him tournament points in the standings, or possibly expelling him from the tournament altogether.

PBEM Considerations (important!)

The ACTS module for TS is not completely idiot-proof – please pay close attention to the following list of procedures which should be followed (prepared by Christopher Schwalm):

· All card plays (including Headline Events and The China Card) can be undone, provided your opponent has not rolled a die or played a card in the interim.

· ACTS automatically increases DEFCON by one after the turn is advanced.

· Only advance the turn once. Even if you feel the process is timing out, wait it out. If need be, log out and then log back in to make sure what turn is active.

· If Defectors is played as a Headline Event by the US, any starred Headline Event played by the USSR must be returned to the USSR player's hand and then discarded.

· If The China Card is to be passed face-down to your opponent, play the card normally but without using any Operations Points.

· If The China Card is to be passed face-up to your opponent then use the "Give to Opponent" button.

· If CIA Created, Lone Gunman or Aldrich Ames are played as Events, the victim must copy and paste his entire card manifest into an ACTS message.

· ACTS does not have a provision to automatically reveal cards. This must be done only once, i.e., future changes to your hand (discards and extra card draws) do not need to be revealed.

· If UN Intervention is played to cancel an event, that event must be discarded, i.e., use the "Discard" button.

· If SALT Negotiations or Star Wars is played as an event, the player can sort through the discard pile to reclaim a non-scoring event. Care must be taken to avoid taking an event already removed from the game. Cards eligible to be reclaimed are those in the discard pile but NOT in the permanently removed pile.

· If Shuttle Diplomacy is played as an event, the players must track its effect without using the card; ACTS contains no provision for setting a card aside. (In the TS CyberBoard module, there is an event marker for this purpose.) In the event that Shuttle Diplomacy remained in effect during a reshuffle it must be discarded for no effect and replaced when drawn, regardless of whether it was in effect when drawn.

· The event Formosan Resolution is tracked correctly on ACTS. However, players must be sure to mark when it expires. (The TS CyberBoard module contains a marker for this purpose.)

Concerning other errors and procedures which are unique to the PBEM format:

· What if too many dice were rolled? Simply remove the excess dice, from the bottom up.

· What if dice were rolled for the wrong reason? Ignore the results and reroll the right amount of dice, specifying the right reason.

· What if a player draws too many cards? The offending player should randomly discard down to the correct hand size, making sure that the other player sees the card in question.

· What if a player plays out of turn? The player must undo the card play (and all effects thereof) and return the card to his hand.

Slow Play/Adjudication (important!)

Everyone plays at a different pace, and there must be some tolerance and sportsmanship toward players who do not play with lightning speed – the goal is to ensure that all games are completed on time (and not, e.g., at the pace of 1-2 days per turn). However, the tournament is designed to operate at a fairly brisk pace, and players will need to average at least one e-mail each per day to finish a full-length game on time.

If you are concerned about completing your game on time and believe your opponent is playing too slowly, please e-mail the GM, who will review the Game Journal in ACTS to assess the situation. A slow play warning may be issued in the event that the GM agrees with you; such a warning will constitute evidence of slow play for future reference.

In the event that a game has not been completed by the deadline, which for this purpose will conclude at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US) on the End Date for each round, the faster player over the course of the game will be judged the winner and receive 10 points to the loser’s 0, regardless of board position or VP level. The two players will be asked to agree upon which player was slower; if they cannot agree, the GM and/or AGMs will analyze the Game Journal in ACTS to make a determination. If it is impossible to identify one player as being faster than the other, both players will receive 0 points for the round and the game will be discarded from the records, as though it had never happened.

Prizes

The tournament winner will receive a BPA PBEM Twilight Struggle Championship Plaque, and points toward the annual BPA “Caesar” award. Apart from that, bragging rights are always handy to have…