TOURNAMENT FORMAT AND SCHEDULE
The format of the tournament will be Single Elimination. There will be a Mulligan Round on Tuesday night at 1900, with the tournament proper starting Wednesday morning. Winners of the Mulligan Round will get a bye for Round 1, while losers in the Mulligan Round are not eliminated and may play in Round 1. The Wednesday rounds will be continuous, starting at 0900. The time limit will be four hours per round with Rounds 2 and 3 tentatively scheduled to start at 1300 and 1700. If there is an exceptionally large turnout there will be a Round 4 at 2100. There will be very little time between rounds. The default times for the semifinals and Final are scheduled for Sunday at 0900 and 1300, respectively, but these games may be played at any time later in the week when mutually agreed to by the participants and the GM.

If there are only three undefeated players entering the semifinal Round, then a Round 3 (or 4) loser will be recruited to play as an Eliminator. If the Eliminator wins his game, then the winner of the other game will be the Champion and there will not be another round.

TOURNAMENT RULES
All games will be of the Annus Mirabilis Scenario. The official 3rd Edition Rules will apply and none of the Official Optional Rules will be used. In addition, the three Special Rules listed below will be in effect. As per Rule 13.14, a draw will count as a victory for the French player.

SPECIAL RULE #1—Starting with the Late Season 1757 turn, at the beginning of EVERY turn—after the cards have been dealt and examined but before the first Action Phase—the British player may retrieve one British Regulars or Highlanders card from the discard pile and place it in his hand AFTER RANDOMLY discarding one card from his hand*. He may not retrieve the card that he has just discarded. The turn then proceeds normally.

* NOTE: If the Surrender! card is discarded, the French player (only) has the option to declare a reshuffle of the deck at the end of that turn. He may wait until the end of the turn before deciding.

SPECIAL RULE #2—The French 1-4 Marine Detachment units (only) are now just one step. Whenever one of these units takes a step loss it is permanently removed from play instead of being flipped to its 0-4 side. For purposes of taking losses as a result of battle, assault, attrition or event, whenever a French stack that includes both 3-4 Regulars units and 1-4 MD units takes losses, all 3-4 units in the stack must be flipped before any MD units are eliminated. CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR: For purposes of this rule when taking losses for winter attrition, the Marine Detachments are considered to be reduced (flipped) units.

SPECIAL RULE #3—The At Start VPs are to be set to French 3 in all games.

Rule Clarification: The Designer has ruled that the reference to besieged fortresses in the first sentence of Rule 8.22 should also include besieged forts. That is how it will be played in this tournament. What this means is that Ohio Forks would NOT be considered to be controlled by the British for victory purposes under Rule 13.12 if a British fort in that space was being besieged by the French at the conclusion of the game.

SEEDINGS/PAIRINGS/BYES
The eight players with the highest AREA rating will be seeded. If there are less than 16 players in the tournament this number will be adjusted downward accordingly. Each of the seeded players in Round 1 will play a random unseeded player and any excess unseeded players will be paired randomly amongst themselves. In the following rounds pairings will be completely random.

If there is an odd number of players in Round 1, then the highest finishing player from 2013 who is playing will get a bye. If there is an odd number of players in subsequent rounds, then an eliminated player from a previous round will be recruited to play as an Eliminator. If an Eliminator cannot be found, then the highest eligible finishing player from 2013 who is playing will get a bye (no player can receive more than one such bye for the tournament).

TIEBREAKERS
Players will earn tiebreak points equal to the AREA rating of each opponent he defeats (zero points are earned for a loss). For the purposes of resolving ties when determining the standings, the player(s) with the highest total tiebreak points will finish higher. If a tie must be broken between players who have an equal number of tiebreak points, then the player with the lower AREA rating will win the tie. If a third tiebreaker is required, then the player with the most games played as the British will win the tie (if they are still tied, then a coin will be tossed). Unrated players will be assigned a provisional rating of 5000 for tiebreak purposes. Eliminators can earn tiebreak points.

DETERMINING SIDES
In most games the sides are to be determined randomly (roll dice). HOWEVER, after Round 1 the GM may assign sides when announcing pairings in an attempt to even out the sides played by each player. For example, if Player A and Player B are matched to play in Round 2 and Player A played as the French in Round 1 while Player B played as the British, the GM will assign Player A to play as the British for that pairing. The goal for the tournament will be that each player will play each side an even number of times if at all possible. Therefore, when announcing pairings after Round 1, the GM will also announce the sides or whether sides should be determined randomly.

In addition to the plaques, special prizes may be awarded if the GM sees fit. Period weapon replicas, books, CDs and hand painted tin soldiers may be awarded. In addition, Medalists (plaque winners) will receive merchandise credits courtesy of GMT.

DEMO
A demonstration will be held at 1700 on Tuesday for anyone interested in learning the game from the GM. In Round 1 any unrated player will be presumed to be a “New” player and will be exempted from playing a rated player. In addition “New” players will not be paired against each other in Round 1, and the GM will attempt to pair them with experienced players who are amendable to playing a “teaching” game in Round 1.