"Wild Bill's Rumblings Of War"- A Tournament

[Treeburst155]

Yeah, what Kingfish said.

You know who you will be playing so utilize the several weeks you have to get to know each other a bit. Discuss my "Potentially Gamey Tactics" with each other. Here they are again:

POTENTIALLY Gamey Tactics

1) Setting fire to "squares" or buildings unoccupied by enemy troops, ESPECIALLY to deny a VL or covered access to one.

2) Advancing large formations along the map edge.

3) Scouting with AT teams, crews of knocked out vehicles or guns, MG teams, and anybody who is "low" on ammo.

4) Recon with light (cheap) vehicles well into enemy territory.

5) Exposing AT teams SOLEY for the purpose of drawing enemy fire.

6) Ordering vehicle and gun crews to participate in an attack or hunt down enemy teams or spotters.

7) Rushing infantry straight at a known enemy position (especially through cover) with no supporting/suppressive fire.

Know your enemy and how he intends to fight! Prevent problems before they occur.

Don't post AARs to the forum! If you want the up to 10 bonus points for an AAR just send it to me. I will distribute it to Wild Bill, his staff, WineCape, and all tourney participants who have completed that particular scenario. When you complete a scenario you will receive all AARs for that scenario that are in my possession. As new ones come in for that scenario you will be sent those also.

TO THOSE WHO MISSED OUT:

I'd like to start another tournament once this one is underway and running smoothly, BUT, Im afraid of running into the release of CMBB. This could cause interest in any CMBO tournament to drop off significantly. The participants might never finish. For this reason I will hold off on any new tournaments until CMBB is out. The next Winecape tournament battle will be on the Russian Front!

Treeburst155 out.

[Frenchy]

Bummer....

[Wild Bill Wilder]

A quick note to all those who will be locking and loading soon. We are progressing very nicely on this Tourney series.

I have a deep personal sense of satisfaction with what is being done.

My thanks to two real heroes, Winecape and Treeburst. I sometimes think they are real gluttons for punishment. They have taken on a prodigious task and deserve our thanks. I personally could not begin to do the job they are doing. Bravo Zulu!

And the testers! Well, what can I say about them? It would never be enough! What a great bunch of gamers! These guys are the heroes. They are really busting their asses and our primary focus after making some very "different" attack-defend scenarios is that of balance.

Please remember, the fortunes of war befall all of us.

The next card in the deck may be an ace or it may be a three of diamonds. That is the part that no amount of testing will disclose.

But I assure you you won't feel overwhelmed. Neither will you feel overconfident. If that does happen, well two or three turns will change all of that

Just be ready for some very hard fights, approaching the battlefield from various points of view.

I think that it will be an experience, win or lose, that you will fondly remember.

Back to the drawing board. I just wanted to stop by and say a quick hello to the gang!

Wild Bill

[JonS]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Treeburst155:

Yeah, what Kingfish said.

You know who you will be playing so utilize the several weeks you have to get to know each other a bit. Discuss my "Potentially Gamey Tactics" with each other. Here they are again: ...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

TB155, I've been following this and your other tourney threads erratically over the last couple of weeks, and I wanted to clarify something based on your post above.

In the other threads you seem to have taken an (understandable) position which could be paraphrased as "As far as I'm concerned, there are NO gamey tactics. Sort it out amoungst yourselves and don't bug me with it!"

Does the same thing apply to ROW, or will the potentially-gamey tactics list be policed given the different nature of this tourney (pre-set, pre-purchased, historically based scenarios)?

Cheers for the clarification

Jon

Oh yeah: WAHOO!! I'm in!!! And in Group One no less. There are some talented prose-merchants on this board, so I guess my writing skills must be better than I thought ... :cool:

Oh yeah 2: Good game on Saturday night

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: JonS ]

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: JonS ]

[von Lucke]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wild Bill Wilder:

My thanks to two real heroes, Winecape and Treeburst. I sometimes think they are real gluttons for punishment. They have taken on a prodigious task and deserve our thanks. I personally could not begin to do the job they are doing. Bravo Zulu!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here! Here! And yet another Here for Wild Bill as well!

[Treeburst155]

There will be no attempt to enforce any "Gamey Tactics Rules"; therefore, you have no recourse should gamey tactics be employed against you. The HONORABLE gamey tactician would be upfront about how he intends to play. That's why you should discuss my "Potentially Gamey Tactics" list. Consider the list "talking points" to touch on with your opponents. Gamey tactics aren't so big a deal if you KNOW your opponent is going to use them.

Treeburst155 out.

[John Kettler]

First, my thanks to all concerned for the opportunity to participate in what looks to be a truly memorable affray, one vastly more to my taste than "buy your own" MEs.

Second, greetings to my not-yet-met-in-battle foes, some of whom I know of through their posts.

Third, greetings to my esteemed and eternal foe Kingfish, who by his mere presence in this section guarantees a knock down, drag out fight. Mark me well, all ye in Section II, this guy is clever as a fox, speedy as a gazelle, and ferocious as a cornered wolverine, on speed, with rabies. Whatever the outcome, you'll know you've been in a fight. Your task is to make sure he has the same awareness when the game's over.

Fourth, do DARs count for bonus points? I find them much easier to do than AARs, since I can do them incrementally, don't have to clog my computer with all the previous game files, go back and review them, etc.

Regards,

John Kettler

PS

Kingfish, please send me your latest megabattle with WineCape file or equivalent. I haven't had a report in many days.

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

[The_Capt]

*Crackle of Radio*,

Smell of Desiel,

"Charlie, Charlie One this is India Niner..

Oscars in Figures Three",

A bird takes flight into the morning sun,

The Horrible Beauty of Her Savage Face,

Freedom.

I do love this game.

[Holien]

Hi Chaps,

A quick thanks for being let into the Tourney.

I feel bad that not all can play and am sorry that all can not play.

Hello Group two I look forward to some good fights and I hope I will prove good enough to give challenging and fun games.

An e-mail will be on the way tonight regards who I am and how I play (regards "Gamey") etc...

I will now start researching my opponents. So if you know anything of :-

"Kingfish" "Tom" "Stix" "John Kettler" "von Lucke" "Peter Svensson" "Georges"

Then any hints or tips gratefully received.

I look forward to playing some handcrafted scenarios from the Master Wild Bill. (This is the real reason why I forced myself to feel like a school boy sitting an exam and praying that I had done enough.)

Win or Lose I have won already as I am being allowed to play and this will be fun...

Thanks chaps..

Regards H

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: Holien ]

[Kingfish]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Third, greetings to my esteemed and eternal foe Kingfish, who by his mere presence in this section guarantees a knock down, drag out fight. Mark me well, all ye in Section II, this guy is clever as a fox, speedy as a gazelle, and ferocious as a cornered wolverine, on speed, with rabies. Whatever the outcome, you'll know you've been in a fight. Your task is to make sure he has the same awareness when the game's over. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, there went my chance of pulling a “Hi, I’m a newbie and this is my first time playing CM” trick.

The tourney hasn’t even begun and John is already playing head games with the other section 2 opponents, shifting the focus onto me while he silently waits in the shadows, like a Pak43 in ambush (Hmm…Pak43…Lion sur Mer…Churchill AVRE slowly rolling into the crosshairs…Ahhh, sweet memories).

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Fourth, do DARs count for bonus points? I find them much easier to do than AARs, since I can do tem incrementally, don't have to clog my computer with all the previous game files, go back and review them, etc <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I’ll make it easy for you. Just write “I’m being overrun!!!” and e-mail it to Treeburst155. That should take care of our game, and free up some HD space

[Juha Ahoniemi]

Firstly, millions of thanks to all those who made this tournament possible. I'm sure it will be a jewel among all tournaments. We are not worth it !

But let me ask about some security issue (I apologise if it has mentioned already): There will be absolutely no chance for starting player to see the whole scenario, right? I mean, passwords will already be in? If not, there will almost certainly be some speculation that player who started the game just loaded "newborn" file (after mailing it), set some password and spied the enemy forces. Normally I would trust my opponent but when there is Excellent wine at stake, I tend to get paranoid...

Gladly waiting my destiny and eager to fight,

Juha

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: Juha Ahoniemi ]

[L.Tankersley]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Juha Ahoniemi:

But let me ask about some security issue (I apologise if it has mentioned already): There will be absolutely no chance for starting player to see the whole scenario, right? I mean, passwords will already be in?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A note to the organizers: in the CPX dry-run for CMMC, we discovered that a "tournament-saved" scenario has a potential security flaw. The first player reads the briefing, does his setup, and then creates a file to mail to the second player. But this email file can be opened and the specific scenario briefing can be read by either player before a password is required. That is, one player has the opportunity to read his opponent's briefing.

For this reason, if briefing text contains details about available forces or other sensitive information, I recommend that the organizers send out "pre-started" scenario files with passwords already in place.

[Treeburst155]

You know, Leland, you've been helping my out quite a bit over the last few weeks with your posts. I thank you for that.

I don't quite understand how you can "pre-start" a scenario. By doing so, you deny the players a setup phase. Perhaps this is worth it however. Another idea would be to send the Allied briefings outside the game. There would be no in-game Allied briefing for the German player to look at (Germans will always start the game). I'll get with Wild Bill on this one. Thanks for enlightening me as to the "security leak".

Treeburst155 out.

[Kingfish]

Treeburst,

Delete the briefing from the scenario and replace it with a side-specific word doc.(or equivalent). You can then e-mail it along with the scenario.

[Treeburst155]

Juha Ahoniemi,

Tournament Saved scenarios prevent the player who starts the game from seeing the other side's forces. In a tournament saved game, the first player has no choice as to which side he starts the game from. This decision is made when performing the tournament save.

Kingfish,

I think I will do what you suggest. I'm just going to remove the Allied briefings from the scenarios, tournament save the scenarios, and mail the Allied briefings separately.

Scot Johnson has just informed me of another way to beat the problem, but I think it may be easier just to remove the Allied briefings before tourney saving with the Axis to start each game.

John Kettler,

You could write DARs and store them until the game is finished. Then send me the whole lot. You would have one excellent AAR at the end. I would probably just keep adding to the same text file after each turn rather than have many separate documents if I were you. If you are really limited on storage space just send me the file when you hit 50 Kilobytes or so. That's actually quite a lot of text. Remember also, since these are "private" AARs you can actually talk about your plans and such.

Treeburst155 out.

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

[Juha Ahoniemi]

Thanks, TB155. I thought it must be so, but it is nice to be sure. Paranoia I guess, maybe it is time to double my medication, hmm .

I just thought somebody might use any means necessary (and possible) to get his hans on those wines...

Prepare to meet thirsty enemy, foes! (eyes glowing like madman's)

-Juha

[Enoch]

Treeburst, Winecape, Wild Bill, and all playtesters thanks for the time and effort in putting this together. I appreciate it and look forward to starting play.

A quick question for Treeburst, is the use of the end game randomizer going to be something for individual players to work out amongst themselves or is it going to be standardized for the whole Tourney? I've never used it but it might be useful.

Thanks.

[Treeburst155]

Hmmm... I can delete briefings in the editor but I cannot copy them from within the .cmb. I will need separate text files from Wild Bill, or I will need to use the method relayed to me by Scot Johnson, which is very interesting. Here's how it's done:

"Here's something I got from Citizen.

1. Setup the units on the map and save it, but don't save it as a tournament

save.

2. Now start the game as the allied player in hotseat.

3. Enter a password for the allied player.

4. When the setup screen appears don't do anything but hit the GO button.

5. Enter a password for the Axis player.

6. When you get to the setup screen just save the game.

7. Send the newly saved game file and axis password to the axis player.

8. Email the allied password to the allied player.

The axis player opens the game and gets his full setup phase. After sending

the file to the allied player the allied player also gets his full setup

phase. Sounds weird but it works."

EDIT: This method does indeed work. I just tried it. It's a bit tedious to do over and over again like I will need to do for the tourney, and subject to screw ups by me as far as passwords, etc.. Instead, I've asked Wild Bill to send me all the .txt files of the Allied specific briefings. The Allied player will simply receive his side specific briefing before he gets the first game file from the German player. When the game file goes out to the German player the Allied briefing will go out to the Allied player. This has the added benefit of informing the Allied player that his opponent has received the game file from me.

[ 08-28-2001: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

[Stefan Fredriksson]

Bummer...

But at least that will give me more time for other PBEMs

And to be honest, I am more of a beer-guy than a wine-guy. The wine would have made a great gift to girl-friend though, for being patient the times I play CM while she is around.

Good luck to all participants!

[Treeburst155]

I forgot to address the BER question. If players want to use the BER that's fine with me as long as BOTH players agree to use it. Keep in mind the BER can only SHORTEN pre-made scenarios.

[Enoch]

That is a good point about the BER and shows why you are running the show.

[CombinedArms]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Panzer Leader:

Shoot! On the reserve list, hmm, who to assassinate?...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm on the reserve list, too. I don't want to wish death, destruction, or even major injury on anyone, so here's wishing a major promotion with extensive new responsibilites (or maybe a brand new baby?) on some tournament member--forcing them to resign. My next wish is for a lucky roll so I can take part.

So near and yet so far.

[Olduvai]

What's a BER?

[Treeburst155]

Olduvai,

Go here for explanation and download of th BadCo Endgame Randomizer: http://www.badcoinc.com/ber/Index.htm

Treeburst155 out.

[Olduvai]

OK, got it. Thanks for the reply. I obviously need to stay current on the boards!