This year’s theme: Growing our player base and a new format! (Class C Event)

In an attempt to increase participation, we are altering the tournament’s format to include the first round before we begin continuous play Our event this year will also be a Class C event, encouraging newer players to join and the the rest of the tournament will be continuous

Players wishing to have a learning game with the GM or another veteran player may request to do so at any round prior to the single elimination rounds. We would like to invite new players into the Sekigahara community, and this is a great way to learn the game.

About the game:

Sekigahara is a diceless Euro-style wargame with a focus on hand-management. It is based on the campaign that founded Japan's Tokugawa shogunate. The game features several unique, elegant mechanisms that make it appealing to wargamers and euro gamers alike. Games commonly play in about 2-2.5 hrs, and while the rules are straight forward, the strategy is more intricate, involving bluffs, calculated risks, and hand management. Attending the Demo is sufficient for learning the rules, although a few plays may be needed before you feel like you “get it”. New players may play in any one Round as a learning game with an experienced player. As a Class C event, you are also welcome to show up to the first Round without knowing the game. We’ll pair you up with someone to help you learn the rules as you play.

The game is played primarily with blocks and cards. Each of the two armies is composed of multiple factions (clans). Rectangular blocks represent your armies, displaying the insignia of the clan they belong to. Blocks marked with a banner indicate the leader (or daimyo) of that clan. Other blocks have cavalry or guns attached, which grant them additional features in combat.

During this time period, the loyalties of many clans were fluid. In Sekigahara, the cards that compose your hand represent this. To deploy a block into battle, a card with a matching insignia must be played. A select few cards can challenge this deployment. Thus, proper management of your hand is vital.

Throughout the campaign, each side will receive reinforcements, partially based on your current board position. Before the start of each week, you will receive additional combat units. At the same time, you will also need to discard part of your hand and then draw fresh cards, forcing you to reconsider which of your armies can most fully fight during the coming week.

Historical setting:

Did you see the new tv series, Shogun, which won like all of the Emmy’s in 2024? If you have, then you know the plot and background of Sekigahara. That show (and Clavell’s book) are based on the events in Japan at the end of the 16th century, which ultimately culminate in the battle of Sekigahara.

After a century of constant conflict (the Sengoku Jidai), Japan has almost become fully united. In Osaka, the forces loyal to the young Toyotomi heir have assembled around Ishida Mitsunari, the leader of the Western army. In Edo (now Tokyo), an Eastern army loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu has formed. In Sekigahara, you play as one of two warlords fighting for control of Japan during the samurai era. Your goal is to capture or kill the opposing leader. Barring this, your goal is to control more of the vital castles and resource points throughout Japan at the end of the 7-week campaign.

TOURNAMENT DETAILS:

Key points:

• Using the new Discs Variants rules (link below) with 2nd edition rules
• Players bid for sides
• 8 players to single elimination after initial rounds
• Using the Heats Most Wins standard tie-breakers, listed below, for advancing to Single Elimination Rounds

During the initial rounds, participants will be matched based on number of wins and will not play the same player twice unless there is no other option. This latter restriction will take precedence over the number of wins each player has.

Players may play in any number of Rounds. Please reach out to the GM via e-mail, at the Demo, or at the first Rounds to coordinate. At the conclusion of the Swiss Rounds, all players with 3 wins (4-0, 3-0, or 3-1) will advance to single elimination play. Additional players with 2 wins (2-0, 2-1, 2-2) will advance based on the number of entrants to have 8 players in the Single Elimination Rounds. As we are using HMW-Points as a tie-breaker, a player who is 2-2 will have more points than a player who is 2-1 or a player who is 2-0. So, playing in more heats is better, but not required! In recent years, at least one player with 2 wins has advanced into the Semifinal. The first GM tiebreaker is a player’s best loss, which we detail below.

Discs Variant

We will use the new disc variant rules that Matt has publicly released. The post can be found at https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3512846/disks-variant

Additionally, the disc variant rules are available on Yucata and can be played there. Feel free to e-mail the GM for a game or for more information about this variant. Here are key rule changes for the Discs Variant:

• 9.1 Toyotomi Hideyori
  • The Toyotomi Hideyori disk is placed at Osaka castle. His disk represents the loyalty Ishida forces feel to the Toyotomi regime. When taking losses after an Ishida attack (not a defense) anywhere on the board, the Ishida player may opt to lose the Toyotomi disk rather than one block. The disk can also be taken as a loss in the defense of Osaka castle during a siege. Losing the disk does not mean the death of Hideyori. If Osaka castle is taken, the regent is captured and the game ends in a Tokugawa victory.
• 9.2 Sanada Masayuki
  • A disk (labeled with the Sanada mon) is placed in the circle next to Ueda castle before the game begins. Any loss inflicted on Ueda castle in a siege may, at the Ishida player's option, destroy this disk instead of a block
  • When taking losses anywhere on the Nakasendo road (from Edo to Kyoto, including both endpoints) the Ishida player may opt to lose the Sanada disk rather than one block. This may apply to siege losses at Gifu castle, but it does not apply to overruns
• 2.1 Instant Victory
  • The Tokugawa player wins instantly if Ishida Mitsunari (shown on the right) is killed or Toyotomi Hideyori is captured (due to the fall of Osaka castle). The Ishida player wins instantly if Tokugawa Iesayu (the black Leader block shown in 3.2) is killed. If both sides win instant victory in the same battle, the Ishida player wins. **Fall of Osaka Castle means that Tokugawa controls the castle, not that the disc in the castle is lost.

    In this tournament, we will use second edition rules, which have only one important difference from the first edition: the inclusion of two new Uesugi blocks on the board at the start of the game: Two units are added to the initial deployment. The blocks 3-Uesugi and 1-Uesugi-Gun get a circle deployment mark in the lower right corner, and two additional deployment circles appear in the Aizu location.

Bid for sides: Players will begin with a bid for sides. Randomly determine the first bidder. Bid in blocks (zero or higher), specifying the side. The winner gets their choice of side, and the loser gets the bid number of blocks added to their recruitment box at the start of the game.

Please see my Sekigahara online tournament home page for more information on past tournaments or useful links related to Sekigahara. There may be an updated tournament page in the future: https://sites.google.com/view/sekigahara/home.

Once the Rounds are finished, the advancing players will be announced and paired up. If there are more than 4 players advancing, they will play a QuarterfinalThe GM expects all players with at least 3 wins to advance and some players with 2 wins to advance. However, this will be determined by total attendance.

Below are additional rules and advancement scenarios as well as tournament clarifications. These are listed here as a formality. The GM is happy to go over any of these with you but knowing the below are not required for playing in the tournament. So, if you are a new player, don’t worry too much about these items! Instead, focus on having fun!

Rule Clarifications and specifics for in-person tournament:

• 7.4.3 Overruns and Castles: Enemy units who control a castle cannot be Overrun”
  • The GM favors a tweak to this rule, specifically during the combat phase: if units who control a castle decide to conduct a field battle, they are subject to the overrun rules, and thus may be overrun if outnumbered 4:1. However, this decision is not made until the combat phase. During the movement phase, any blocks that move are stopped at the occupied castle. This rule modification is primarily important for Osaka and Ueda, where a single block could choose “field battle”, preventing a besieging army from also killing the disc, even if there are 12 besieging blocks to one defensive block. This feels too “gamey” for the GM. If a single block on the field would be overrun, then it would be overrun on any field… or forced to flee into the castle, resulting in a siege. Additionally, overruns can happen in combat (rule 8.8.5). This rule is not one that I expect to see frequently, but I believe this makes for a better game
• 7.2 Mustering Into Combat: Blocks can be Mustered into a combat situation only if the combat was initiated by blocks on the board—an attack cannot come from the Recruitment Box, but it can be supported from there
  • This rule does NOT mean that a force currently under siege may muster a block into the castle to add another defensive block. Instead, this rule means, a block under siege may come out of the castle to fight AND then blocks may be mustered to support the combat. It is the GM’s ruling that the block in the castle MUST initiate this combat with the mustered blocks; i.e. it is at risk in the combat, although it does not need to be deployed during the battle. This clarification solely has to do with whether blocks under siege are sufficient for allowing mustering in space. They are, but those blocks must then engage in field battle – they may not elect to go under siege. Discs are not sufficient for mustering blocks in the space

I hope these clarifications will help to avoid any confusion. I know the first one is counter to how many people play the game, and I have seen different interpretations for the second one as well.

The GM will remind players of these rulings before the tournament starts and will take any questions or concerns from the community. Thank you!

Learning Games and seeded players

Newer players often love to play a learning game as part of their first Round. Where possible, seeded players will be paired up with players desiring a learning game. The seeded player will be given a win (essentially a bye), while the other player will be given a loss. However, the players can then discuss strategy as they play the game. Learning games must receive GM approval and can only be done once per player. All other games MUST be competitive. All players are welcome!

Provided there are sufficient players (16+ at a single Round) to warrant seeds, seeds will be given out based on AREA ratings and BPA laurels. These seeds will only apply during the Rounds, before the single elimination phase. Undefeated seeded players will not play against each other, when possible. Defeated players will lose their seed designation for the rest of the Rounds.

Tournament VPs: We will record VPs at the end of the game to help break ties. The number of VPs gained in a loss will be a tiebreaker for certain situations. A win is a win, period. For losing players though, they will be awarded points as follows:

• For an instant loss, the losing player will receive VPs equal to the current week number. So, 1-7 VPs
• If a player misses a match, they will receive 0 VPs (they did not get to week #1)
• For games decided by VPs, the losing player will receive 7 VPs + the number of end-game VPs that they scored
  • So, a max of 7 VPs for the seventh week + 13 VPs for 13 points on the board when they lost = 20 VPs. This score should be written on the score sheet. This score will only be used for tie-breakers, such as advancing a player to the single elimination Round or for determining placement for the purpose of Laurels (specifically, the 5th and 6th placed finishers).

3rd and 4th place finishers: Upon completion of the Semifinal, the players who lost in the Semifinal will decide whether to play for 3rd place or whether to simply award 3rd to the player who lost to the eventual Sekigahara champion. If the players cannot agree, then the GM will default to simply awarding 3rd place to the player who lost to the eventual Sekigahara champion. This being said, the GM would love to see a match for 3rd place and will include those notes in the write up, if recorded!

Filling out the Single Elimination Bracket

All players with at least 3 wins will move on to the single elimination bracket. Additional players with only 2 wins will advance to fill out the single elimination bracket to 4, 6, or 8 players, depending on the number of entrants.

Determining Single Elimination Pairings

Players will be seeded and paired based on their tournament records as the first criterion. After that, seeds will be determined based on input from the GM and assistant GMs or veteran players no longer in the tournament. Once the top seeds are determined, other players will be randomly assigned seeds within the bracket.

To summarize, seeds are determined based on:

1. Most wins
2. Head-to-head results
3. Input from GM/veterans no longer in the tournament on who the best players are
4. GM will use AREA totals and BPA laurels, if still in the tournament
5. GM will use personal opinion, largely based on AREA and BPA total, if eliminated from the tournament
6. Neutral veterans (assistant GMs) will confer with the GM based on their years of play
7. Random draw if remaining players are considered “even”

The highest seed will play the lowest seed and so on: 1v4, 2v3. Or, 1v8, 4v5, 2v7, 3v6. The bracket will be announced prior to any Quarterfinal/Semifinal matches begin. Players will have the right to voice any concerns. Once the elimination games begin, the bracket will become final and not be altered.

Additional Prizes: GMT may provide merchandise certificates to the Plaue winners. In Sekigahara, we have a tradition of giving Honor Prizes for those who play several Rounds, despite potentially poor results. While we are optimistic that this tradition may continue, it is not guaranteed. Typically, these have also been samurai figurines, letter openers, or the like. There are also commonly prizes (figurines, etc.) for specific feats, like most enemy leaders killed or largest battle won.

HEATS: MOST WINS - POINTS (HMW-P):

1. Most Wins (e.g., total in all heats entered)
2. Total Points – Players earn the following pints in each heat they entered:
   • 1st Place - 1,000 points
   • 2nd Place - 100 points
   • 3rd Place - 10 points
   • 4th Place - 1 points
   • All other places - 0 points
   • e.g. player has a 1st, 2nd, and 4th in three heats: total points would be 1,101
3. GM Specific Tie-breaker:
   • Most points scored in loss (instant loss = 1-7 pts, pt loss is 7+ pts at end game)
   • Strength of schedule (most opponent wins)
   • Head-to-head results
   • Random draw
4. High dice roll.

Links: