TOURNAMENT FORMAT AND SCHEDULE
The format will be Swiss Elimination. There will be three or four rounds of Swiss play starting on Monday and the four players with the most wins will advance to the Elimination Rounds. The Monday Swiss rounds will be continuous, starting at 1300. The time limit will be four hours per round with Rounds 2 and 3 tentatively scheduled to start at 1700 and 2100. If there is a large turnout there will be a Round 4 on Tuesday at 1800. There will be very little time between rounds. The default times for the semi-finals 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.

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 2011: 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: Recently 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 game end.

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 seeded player shall maintain his seeding until he loses a game.

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. "New" players (see below) will not be paired with seeded players in Round 1 or with each other.

Players with the same number of wins in Rounds 2 through 4 will be grouped (a "Bracket") and paired within such Bracket. The pairings for Rounds 2 through 4 will be determined as follows:

In the Bracket of undefeated players, each seeded player from the top down will be paired with a random unseeded player if possible. If there are not enough undefeated unseeded players to match up with the seeded players, then the top unpaired seeded player will play the bottommost unpaired seeded player, the second highest unpaired seeded player will play the next lowest unpaired seeded player, and so on down the line until everybody is paired.

In all other Brackets pairings will be completely random.

If there is an odd number of players in any Bracket, then the highest rated player of the Bracket directly below will be bumped up to the higher Bracket to even it out. If necessary due to an odd number of total players, a bye will be given to the lowest rated player with the fewest wins still playing in the tournament. Notwithstanding this framework, in the Swiss rounds a player will not be paired with an opponent he has already played in 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 who will advance to the Elimination Rounds and for determining the final standings, the player(s) with the highest total tiebreak points will advance or be ranked 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.

DETERMINING SIDES
In most games the sides are to be determined randomly (roll dice). HOWEVER, in Rounds 2-4 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 who plays all four Swiss rounds will play each side twice if at all possible (or will play each side at least once if there are only three Swiss rounds). Therefore, when announcing pairings for Rounds 2-4, the GM will also announce the sides or whether sides should be determined randomly. In the semi-finals and Final sides for all games will be random with the following exception: in any game where an undefeated player is playing a player with one loss, the undefeated player will have choice of sides.

PRIZES
In addition to the plaques, special prizes may be awarded if the GM sees fit. Unfortunately, the tournament tradition of awarding period weapon replicas has been discontinued due to new convention rules. However, books, CDs and hand painted tin soldiers may still be awarded.

DEMO
This year the tournament has been changed to a Class B event in an effort to attract new blood, and inexperienced players are now welcome. A demonstration will be held at 1000 on Monday 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.

 Prize List: Tin soldiers, period replica weapons and books will be awarded to deserving players at the discretion of the GM. In the past these special prizes have been awarded to the other laurelists, to the best new player, to the winner of the biggest upset and to the top sportsman. In addition, Medalists (plaque winners) will receive merchandise credits courtesy of GMT.