squad leader as part of Grognardcon

Kursk: August 1943. The men were poised at the edge of the street, ready to make the assault. The Russian Lieutenant stood up and made the signal to advance. As the squads ran across the street, German machineguns and rifles opened fire, mowing the men down. The Russians died in the streets, the last hope of taking the village gone with their last breath. What end of the barrel will you be on this year?

This is Squad Leader, a game of WWII tactical combat in Europe. Now you make the instant decisions resulting in life or death of your men, victory or defeat for your army, for you are the Squad Leader. You direct the fire of your squad, select your plan of attack, or set your defenses against massed Russian human wave or armor assaults. Will that hedgerow provide adequate cover for your flanking efforts, or will your men be cut down by the American machinegun position in the woods?

The decision is irrevocable and yours alone. You must live or die by the results.

This Squad Leader tournament provides you with two goals. One is to defeat your enemy in each battle and to be crowned the champion of this year's competition. The second goal is to raise the rank of your Personal Leader Counter (PLC) to the highest possible standing. Each act of daring or cowardice by your PLC will not go unnoticed on this battlefield. Who will
have the highest rankest PLC at the end? Will he get there through acts of bravado or by steadily pushing his men to greatness? You will decide.

Grognardcon is a special Pre-con consisting of an amalgam of ten of the old classic hex-style wargames under the watchful eye of GM Bruno Sinigaglio: 1776, Afrika Korps, Anzio, Bulge '81, Gettysburg, Panzerblitz, Squad Leader, The Russian Campaign, Waterloo and Wooden Ships & Iron Men. All use the Free Format scheduling device which allows players to schedule preliminary games at their convenience. Play as many or as few preliminary games as you like but only your best three results in each game will determine the four finalists to advance to Single Elimination play at the end of the week. Each event will be turned over to its own GM on Tuesday for resolution in the normal manner - the only difference is that participation in Grognardcon gives you two additional days to qualify with preliminary games in the events of your choice. Play at Grognardcon is free to all Tribune level members and subject to an additional fee for all others.

WBC FREE FORM FORMAT. This Tournament uses a Swiss Elimination format for the preliminary rounds followed by a Single Elimination format for the four players with the best performances during the Swiss segment. Entrants may play multiple games during the Swiss segment, which begins during the PRE-CON on Saturday and concludes during the CON a week later. Best performances will be determined as described below under pairings.

SCHEDULE. The schedule consists of three segments, GROGNARD PRE-CON Swiss, CON Swiss and CON Playoffs (Semi-finals and Final).
a. GROGNARD PRE-CON SWISS. The PRE-CON Swiss Segment consists of two daily heats:, Saturday 1400, Sunday 0900, The PRE-CON Swiss Segment continues unabated into the CON.
b. CON SWISS. The CON Swiss Segment consists of five daily heats: Monday 0900, Tuesday 0900, Wednesday 0900, Thursday 0900 and Friday 0900. The Swiss Segment ends on Friday at 2300 hours, at which time the four players with the best performances during the Swiss Segments will advance into the Playoffs.
c. CON Playoffs. All games played during the Swiss Segment, which includes the PRE-CON Swiss and the CON Swiss, will be used to determine the four best players. The two-round playoffs begin Saturday.

SELECTED SCENARIOS.
These scenarios are selected for either their brevity in turns, small opposing forces or their play balance. Each round will have one scenario from the two levels of play in the Squad Leader system (i.e., SSL/COI or COD/GIA). To determine which level of play, both players will agree upon the level for each round. If the level of play cannot be agreed, then the Squad Leader scenario for that round will be played. Once the level of play is determined, one die will be rolled to determine who plays what side. Example: a roll of 1-3 "Player A" is the Germans, 4-6 "Player B" is the Germans.
Copies of the Selected Scenarios will be available at the tournament. Due to the nature of some of these scenarios, certain adjustments or rules clarifications have been added. The tournament scenarios will be defined and posted by June 30, 2010 on the Squad Leader Academy website. A number of selections will be defined for SQL and COI for the Prelim Round to accommodate both slow/rusty players and faster/veteran players. A number of selections for the Prelim Round for COD and GIA pairings will also be defined.
Matched players in this Squad Leader Series event play at the lowest agreed rules level (SQL/COI or COD/GIA) from selected scenarios for that round with players bidding for sides. Best Personal Leader competition runs in parallel. Limited advance matches can be arranged by prior GM agreement to facilitate scheduling. SQLA rule conventions and compiled Q/A are in force to supplement the last published rulebooks: SQL (4th); COI (4th); COD (1st); and GIA (2nd). SQLA tournament edition rulebooks if completed will be made available to all participants.
Additional plaques are presented by the GM for the Best Personal Leader performance and elimination of the defending PLC champ (Bill Thomson).

LOCATION: The primary location for the GROGNARD PRECON start of the tournament will be the Heritage Room during the Pre-Con and Conestoga 1 during the main convention.
AREA RATINGS: Although AREA ratings will NOT be used to determine pairings, All games in this tournament will be AREA rated. All players without an AREA rating will be given a starting rating of 5000 for tournament and recording purposes.
PAIRINGS: Pairings in the Free Form system are made with whomever is available to play during either the GROGNARD PRE-CON or regular WBC. Players must play a minimum of three games to be considered for the playoffs. If there are ties, then strength of schedule is used. For example, for each game that your top three opponents have won among them, you receive a bonus of 2 points each. This scoring system gives players an incentive to seek out the strongest players for matches early on.

The specifics of the system are as follows:

a. All game results and player ratings will be posted and updated as results are reported.

b. Performance ratings will be based upon the best three games played by a participant.

c. Games in excess of the three best will not affect a player's performance rating.

d. A player must play at least three games to advance to the single elimination phase.

e. Performance ratings for a player will be obtained as follows:

(1) A player receives 10 points for each victory.

(2) A player receives 1 point for each loss. Note: if advancement to single elim requires three games played instead of three games won, then points for losses must be included. For example, if a player wins 2 and loses 2, his record would garner 21 Game Points for his three best games (10 + 10 +1), with the other loss ignored.

(3) A player receives 2 points for each victory tallied by an opponent that he defeats. All of the defeated opponent's games will qualify for the scoring of these points, but only the first game against a particular opponent will qualify for these bonus points.

Bonus Point Examples: if player A defeats player B, then player A receives 2 points for all games won by Player B during the Swiss segment; however, if Player A and B play each other a second time, no bonus points will be awarded regardless of who wins.

PERFORMANCE RATING TIEBREAKERS:

a. Head to head play is the 1st tiebreaker.

b. Points scored VERSUS mutual opponents is the 2nd tiebreaker.

c. Points scored BY mutual opponents is the 3rd tiebreaker.

d. Points scored BY all defeated opponents is the 4th tiebreaker.

d. Points scored BY all opponents is the 5th tiebreaker.

Additional plaques are presented by the GM for the Best Personal Leader performance and elimination of the defending PLC champ (Bill Thomson).