Margin of Victory

We are actually more than halfway through the Groeup phase of the Manoeuvre tournament but here are the results after 9 games. I’ll post some more updates at the conclusion of this phase.

Groeup A:
Sara 2-0
Rick 1-1
Hai 0-2

I think I need to eat my words on my initial assessment of this group. I barely squeaked out a victory against Hai in the first game after being down 4 units to 2. Then Sara trounced me in our match. She’s the one to beat now.

Groeup B:
John 2-0
Russ 1-2
Aaron 0-1

John took two quick victories against Russ to start his tournament. But Russ pulled off a victory against Aaron so he’s got a chance. This group could still go 2-2 across the board.

Groeup C:
Joe 2-0
Brad 1-1
Jess 0-2

Jess’s gut reaction when she saw her grouping has unfortunately been correct after losing to both Joe and Brad in one night.

So far the Russians have been the most used army. I think most people are using them to feel out the skill level of their opponents – pick a strong army but save the strongest in case they will need them in the re-match.

This has been a pretty exciting tournament so far stay tuned for more updates.

It’s not as big as I was hoping, but we’ve got 9 people signed up for the Toeurnament. The top player from each bracket plus the next best record will make it to the elimination bracket. The groups were decided randomly:

Groeup A: Rick (me), Sara, Hai
Groeup B: John, Russ, Aaron
Groeup C: Joe, Jess, Brad

I was happy to see that there is a game owner in each of the groups (John, Joe and me). This will help facilitate the games being played.

As far as the groups go, the experience levels are fairly well distributed. But based on number of games played alone, I probably have the best shot of advancing. Of course I will have to make sure I don’t underestimate Sara or Hai either.

My wife, Jess, was bummed with her grouping. Joe is a very talented player. And Brad, although he just learned this game a couple weeks ago, beat me in both of our games. For her sake, hopefully his beginner’s luck has run out.

Group B is the “Group of Death.” Aaron is the least experienced player in that group, but he is certainly capable. Because this group is the most evenly matched it’s likely that only one of these guys will come out of this stage.

Best of luck to everyone and I look forward to my first game with Hai on Wednesday.

As promised in my last post, I wanted to set-up and participate in a Manoeuvre tournament with my friends. There’s 4-5 of us that have played this quick playing, but very strategic wargame and several others that have tried it and liked it. So after some back-and-forth with friends about how to run it, here’s the preview of the tournament.

Manoeuvre Toeurnament 2011
Stage 0: Free Play (January ~ February)
This stage will be the learning stage. Anyone that is interested in playing but doesn’t know how to play will be taught the game. This will also give people an opportunity to brush up on their strategies and/or dice rolling abilities. People that try the game and decide it’s not for them can still back out at this point.

Stage 1: Group Stage (March ~ April)
All players will be randomly assigned to a group (think World Cup). In this group you will play all of the other group members once (possibly twice if numbers are low). Your final ranking within the group will be determined by your win/loss record. Each game you play will use the rules as printed for the 2010 version of this game. The only difference is that you choose your own armies but cannot play with the same army twice within this stage.

Stage 2: Elimination Rounds (May ~ June)
The top 2-3 players from each group will be seeded in a single elimination bracket. Strength of Armies used will break ties with the weaker armies used seeded higher. Rules will be the same as the group phase. You can’t use the same army twice, but the army options are reset for this phase. The winner will be crowned champion of Manoeuvre …at least for 2011.

The plan I had originally was much too complex and would probably turned off a lot of the more casual gamers. This is a simple system and should allow for ease of play by everyone. So far there are 7 people that have expressed interest and a few more I think that I can convert before March.

I’m also hoping the top players will be able to get together for a one day throw down in the elimination phases. And the championship game may be a best of 3 series. But we’ll see how it the initial stages go first.