***Rumblings Of War II: The Boots & Tracks Brawl***

[Treeburst155]

This is the first official thread for this final WineCape CMBO tourney. This tourney will start the first week in June if all goes well.

I will treat the current CMBB sign-up list (and waiting list) as the list for this new CMBO tourney. If you do NOT want to play in a CMBO tourney, and you are on this list, post here and I will remove your name.

We will have three distinct tourneys of 24 players each. There will be no playoffs between the three tourney winners. The winners of Tourney I and Tourney II will each receive six bottles of WineCape's finest South African Wines. The winner of Tourney III will receive a comparable prize that is yet to be determined.

Tourneys I and II will consist of WineCape Tourney veterans. Tourney III will consist of the leftover vets plus WELL SCREENED new guys.

This means nobody is on any waiting list per se. If people in tourneys one and two bow out before we start then vets will be taken from the third tourney to fill the slots. If you are a WineCape tourney vet who has not signed up yet, just post here to get on the list.

The list below does not define which tourney you will be in. I will be doing that later based on past performance and whether or not you're a newbie to these tourneys. Within each tourney, sections will be determined in a random manner by drawing names out of a hat.

If you are a new guy you need to email me at Mikeman@cablelynx.com. I will need to exchange a few emails with you and also get a home phone where you can be reached. ALL new guys WILL receive a phone call from me, whether you live in Paris or Pompeii.

"Rumblings Of War II: The Boots & Tracks Brawl", sign up list:

1) Jarmo*

2) The_Capt*

3) C. Rohde*

4) Uber General*

5) mPisi*

6) JonS*

7) redwolf*

8) JeffWilders*

9) Joseph Porta*

10) John Kettler*

11) Thomas Norton*

12) Pixelmaster*

13) Strider*

14) Warhammer*

15) THumpre*

16) a1steaks*

17) Wreck*

18) Big Dog*

19) Fate*

20) StugIII*

21) MrSpkr*

22) Combined Arms*

23) Holien*

24) John Jelinek*

25) Ugbash*

26) wadepm*

27) Juha Ahoniemi*

28) Visom*

29) Scheer*

30) Bimmer*

31) Beckman*

32) Jack Trap*

33) Tabpub*

34) White4*

35) Michael Dorosh*

36) Ali*

37) Cogust*

38) mike8g*

39) Lopaka*

40) Bertram*

41) Tero*

42) von Lucke*

43) Torbhen*

44) Soddball*

45) Mick_Oz*

46) Kiwi Joe*

47) Kanonier Reichmann*

48) Ricochet*

49) GeneralSV*

50) Zipper*

51) U8led*

52) Jeb*

53) EASY-V*

54) Mikeydz*

55) Kunstler*

56) Heavy Drop*

57) Jon L*

58) Sgt Gold*

59) Cpt T*

60) Gunnersman*

61) Vader's Jester*

62) Hobo*

63) Vadr*

64) Ligur*

65) Lord Dragon*

66) Hoopenfaust 101*

67) f1shlips*

68) Silvio Manuel*

69) Jim L.*

70) I-Man*

71) R.C.*

72) Nemo*

* confirmation email received

(List Updated June 1, 1045 hrs (GMT-5)

Treeburst155 out.

[ June 01, 2002, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

[WineCape]

Yes, RoW III will now be the CMBB tourney instead once the game is released. And yes, 2 prizes of 6 bottles South African wine will go to each of the 2 group winners, postage/freight on me too.

Sincererly,

Charl Theron

-----------------

"Hey man, I'm drinking wine, eating cheese and catching some rays…."

-- Donald Sutherland (Oddball) in "Kelly's Heroes"

[JPS]

I am afraid real life won't let me participate as actively as I should. So see you in RoW III!

JPS

[Slangton]

I am highly interested in joining a tournament, but always missed the sign ups. If you have room for another 'newbie' than I would love to participate. Guess someone will post back if I might be tested for the tournament?

[Treeburst155]

JPS,

You have been removed from the list as requested. We will look forward to your participation in the CMBB tourney.

Slangton,

Email me at Mikeman@cablelynx.com so you are on record with the other newbies who want in. This helps me keep things straight. I'm juggling lots of names here.

Treeburst155 out.

[Treeburst155]

Rather than post a new sign-up list periodically, I will just update the list at the top of the thread.

If you do NOT want to play in one last CMBO tourney, and you are on the list, please post here so I can remove you. There will be an entirely new sign-up period for the CMBB tourney, once a firm release date is announced for the game.

Treeburst155 out.

[Ari Maenpaa]

Hi TB155,

please, remove me from the list. I just haven't got enough time to start another tourney right now when couple of others are still under progress.

On the other hand I'll be very eager to participate in the forthcoming CMBB tourney.

Thank you,

Ari

[Bigdog]

TB did you get my mail? If not can you sign me up please?

[Treeburst155]

Ari,

You will be removed from the list. I look forward to your participation in the CMBB tourney. Check the forum often once we have a firm release date for the game.

BigDog and other new guys who emailed me,

I have all of your emails. You will all hear from me soon.

Treeburst155 out.

[Treeburst155]

OK, this has been on page one for awhile now so most, if not all, who would like to be removed from the list have probably already spoken up.

The next step is for me to get a nice list of email addresses, along with a nickname to associate with each one. In the end I will have 72 players to keep track of so I'll need some help from you guys.

Here is what I want you to do for me, please. Email me. For the SUBJECT of the email, type in your username for this forum. This is the ONLY name I will know you by. This is the name that you (or your opponent) must use when reporting game results or submitting AARs. Your opponents must be aware of this name too in case they report the results of your game.

In the body of the email, type the email address you would like to use for all tourney related mail. If you have more than one you would like to use for this purpose, type them both into the body of the email.

That is all I need from each player to put a nice up-to-date address book together.

Also, this short email will be considered a final confirmation of your desire to play in this last CMBO tourney. If I don't get this little email from you by May 15th you will be removed from the list.

So, your forum username is the subject of the email, and your email address(es)goes in the body of the email. Do not send blank emails! Type the address in the body of the email.

IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE, do not worry about this confirmation email at this time. You have not been admitted yet. Only those already on the list need send the email. I will be getting with you new guys very soon. Be patient.

Because we have many who have never played in a Rumblings Of War style tournament, and because there will be some changes, I will explain how the entire tourney will work in one long post. I will explain how the "regular season" works, the playoffs, the scoring system, game results reporting, AARs, the prizes, etc..

Players should bookmark this thread. It will be the source of all answers to questions about the tourney. If you forget how to properly report a game (there will be only one right way ), this is where you will find the answer.

In order to handle 72 people efficiently there will have to be some simple rules for reporting game results and submitting AARs. Thirty seconds of your time can save me over five minutes in processing time!

Check this thread often, and bookmark it for future reference. Over the next week or so, I will be filling it with information about the tourney that you will need and/or want to know.

When I post tourney info here, feel free to ask questions. Others will probably have the same questions. This will help make the thread a useful reference for tourney related info.

NEWBIES- Email me if you want to join in the fun. There are many slots open in Tourney III.

VETS Post here to instantly reserve a slot. This offer stands through MAY 3RD! That's only three more days! After that I will begin accepting newbies who have the right stuff IMO, so no guarantees after MAY 3RD. Right now I have nine newbies interested in participating.

That is all for now, gentlemen. Don't forget to email me if you are already on the list! Subject is your forum username, email address in the body. You have until May 15 to do this!

Treeburst155 out.

[ May 01, 2002, 01:14 AM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

[gredeker]

Treeburst, I am afraid that I must join the ranks of the fallen and sit this one out. I still plan to participate in the CMBB tourney.

Good luck everyone! And Section I folks - somebody needs to beat Wreck this time!!!

[Holien]

Redeker get back in here...

I will call your beloved and explain why she must lose you to CM...

This is not fair CDIC, Kingfish all out of it. To cap it all I will end up in Wrecks and CIKS stream and be drowned by their thrashing...

H

[ May 01, 2002, 05:24 AM: Message edited by: Holien ]

[Michael Dorosh]

Email sent Mikey - but my server is acting up. Hope you get it...

[Juha Keratar]

Treeburst, I didn't sign up on the CMBB tournament list when the Nordic CM Championships players were asked, as I probably won't have fast enough computer to run CMBB when it comes out. But I'm very interested in joining this CMBO tournament.

-Lunael

[Redwolf]

I think one of us is confused about what to mail and to post.

You write we should email for ROW II (done) and post here for ROW III (I do), is that really what you meant?

[Scheer]

Hi Treeburst155,

email is sent.

[Treeburst155]

Redeker,

You're off the list. We'll see you in the CMBB tourney. Look for the sign-up thread once a firm CMBB release date is known.

Juha Keratar,

You are in. Send confirmation email to me. Subject: [your forum username]

Body: type in your email address

Redwolf,

Vets should post here to sign up for the tourney, like Juha Keratar just did. Once on the list, I need the little confirmation email. You are all signed up and confirmed.

M. Dorosh,

All is well.

Treeburst155 out.

[Strider]

Email sent...

[Bimmer]

I'm in. Email's on the way.

[Treeburst155]

HOW IT WORKS-Part I

Once the 72 players have been assigned to one of the three tourneys (24 in each) as described in the first post to this thread, they will be further divided into four sections of six players. This division into sections will be done in a completely random manner by drawing names out of a hat.

Your section is where the "regular season" action is. You will play one game against each of the people in your section. You will also play each scenario one time. This means you will play five games in the "regular season". The sides you play, and your attack/defend duties could very well come out lopsided. You may play the Germans four times, or you may find yourself defending four times. The only guarantee regarding your matches is that you will play each scenario once, and each member of your section once.

The scenarios will be provided by the "Boots & Tracks" design team headed up by SuperTed. They will be historical/semi-historical scenarios never before seen by the community. The guys at B & T are working on our scenarios right now. Without them the tourney would not have happened.

The scenarios may or may not be balanced. Don't count on a fair fight! The scoring system will determine balance. It is possible to "lose" the battle, and still win if you perform better than the median established for that side of the scenario. I will explain how this works later.

You do not need to understand the nitty-gritty of the scoring system, although some may be interested. You need only be aware of the following:

1) Points for contested VL's will be split. This means final game scores will always total to 100. There is a very good reason for this I'll not get into now. If you think "gamey" you can probably figure it out.

2) Voluntary surrender is ALWAYS bad. Your opponent gets too many points for all the people he captures. You should always withdraw your people from a hopeless situation. This way you deprive your opponent of capture points. The game will auto-surrender you once your global morale drops to a certain point. Every unit that you successfully withdraw off the map will lower this global morale. Try to have all your people step off the map together once you are near the auto-surrender point. This prevents capture of units who would have made it off, but didn't due to the auto-surrender.

If you score very poorly in relation to the median for a scenario you will suffer a penalty (your score will be made even worse). This is to discourage surrender, and careless play just to get the game over with. If your score is that low compared to the median we assume you surrendered or got purposely stupid. WITHDRAW YOUR TROOPS IF POSSIBLE when faced with a bad situation!!

I'm telling you all this because it is quite possible you will find yourself in a very bad situation due to deliberate scenario imbalance. Do not give up!! Withdraw!! The median score for your side of that scenario may only be 20 points. IOW, if you score 32 points you did very well. You can "lose" and still win if you get your people to safety so they can fight again another day.

3) Your goal with each scenario is not so much to beat your opponent (could be impossible), but to get the highest score of the 36 people (three tourneys) who play that side of the particular scenario. "Winning" the game may be virtually impossible due to imbalance. You never know what hand you may be dealt.

[Treeburst155]

LAUNCHING THE TOURNEY

Each player will receive the schedule for his section only. Where your name is on the LEFT you will play the Allied side for that scenario. Along with the schedule of games you will receive a contact list with all the email addresses of your five opponents. When you receive these the tourney is officially underway.

After this, over the course of the next several days, you will receive an email for each of the five scenarios. For games where you are the Allies you will find two briefing files attached, a general briefing and your Allied briefing. This email will also contain your password for that scenario. Your German opponent will start the game. To open the first file from him you will need to use the password I provide you. This will put you in the Allied setup phase.

If you are playing the German side you will also receive a secured saved game file in addition to the two briefings and password. By 'secured' I mean that the briefings have been stripped out, the game begun, and the passwords entered. This is the file you will use to start the PBEM game. It will be a .cmb file, not a .txt file. Start the game just as you would any other new PBEM game. The only difference is that you will have to enter the password I provide you. You will find yourself in the Axis setup phase.

DEADLINES AND GAME RESULTS REPORTING

All games should be completed within 90 days of the date I send out the last scenario files. This means you will need to keep at it. Don't be the one to hold up the show. Don't get lazy. Take your turns. We want to at least get into the playoff stage before CMBB comes out. The tourney cannot be scored until ALL games have been completed.

The LOSER reports game results. If you end up being on the weak side of a few unbalanced scenarios you will find yourself having to report most of your games. This is, as they say, tough luck.

Game Report email needs to have the subject, "Game Report". The body of the email must contain the following information:

Tourney Number (1-3), Scenario Title, Your username on this forum, the side you played, your score, your opponent's username and his score. The body of the email should then look like this if you are Fred:

Tourney 1, The Ambush, Fred (Axis) 37, Joe 43

Reporting games in this manner will save me a great deal of time. With 72 people I NEED to have games reported this way. Do not send me final game files. Keep these in a safe place in case of disputes.

[Treeburst155]

(I'm having to break my huge post up into several smaller posts. I have some sort of HTML error somewhere that I can't find)

FOG OF WAR

No discussion of scenarios is allowed on the forum until ALL players in all three tourneys have completed a scenario. I will let you know when it is alright to talk about a scenario. It won't happen until near the end of the tourney.

No game results are to be revealed on the forum. You won't know who beat who until all is revealed at the end. Think before you post, and remember, no games scores, no blow by blow descriptions of the last movie, no general discussion about the scenarios, etc..

THE NABLA SCORING SYSTEM

Your game scores will be recorded on an input file for the Nabla Scoring Program, created by Jarmo Hurri (Nabla). The Nabla program will crunch the scores and spit out your Nabla Score, also called your "Tourney Score", for each scenario. Below is what the program does:

1) Checks for game scores that total less than 100. Adjusts to 100 if necessary (60-30 becomes 65-35)

2) Determines the median score for both sides of every scenario based on all 36 instances of that scenario.

3) Determines the distance, plus or minus, of your score from the median for each scenario.

4) Calculates a Nabla Score based on this distance from the median using a rather complex formula.

5) Averages all five of your Nabla Scores to give your final Tourney Score.

By establishing a median for each side of a scenario we determine the balance of the scenario. Your score is then compared to this median. If you score 30 points and the median is only 20 for that side, then you have done very well inspite of your "loss". This is why you don't want to surrender. You never know what the median of a scenario might be. You won't know this until the end. Establishing scenario balance (the median) means we can measure relative performance within your section without the necessity of balanced scenarios. This is a major breakthrough for competitive CM IMO!! With this scoring system we can play virtually any scenario and not worry about unfairness due to the balance issue.

AARs

Bonus points will be added to your final Tourney Score if you submit AARs. Each full credit AAR will be worth 4% of the highest player's tourney score (before adding his AARs). If you write five full credit AARs you will receive additional tourney points equal to 20% of the highest players tourney score.

AARs will receive either full credit or half credit. You must write more than just a few short paragraphs for full credit. I will let you know if an AAR is too short soon after you send it to me. You don't have to write a book either. Just give us a fairly good description of how the game played out.

You are not required to write AARs. You just get a few extra points if you do. This could put you ahead if you're in a tight race in your section.

The primary purpose of the AARs is to provide the scenario designers with feedback on their work. If you've ever designed a scenario for the community, you know how rare it is to get this feedback. Writing AARs is one way to express your thanks to the designer. Even negative feedback is welcome as long as it's constructive and not mean spirited.

Another thing AARs do is help people learn to improve their tactics. Every scenario is played twelve times in a tourney such as this. There are eleven other people who had to deal with the same tactical situations you did. It can be very instructive to learn how others handled things, especially if you did worse than most. (BTW, all the AARs will be sent to you upon request once you have completed your games.)

Lastly, by writing an AAR (feedback) you are doing the community a small favor. This is because the designer can tweak the scenario based on feedback before releasing it to the community. Having a scenario played twelve times by twenty four different people is a great test of a scenario. I think it's safe to say that very few scenarios get that degree of testing before they are put out to the public. They may get played twelve times, but not by twenty four different people, and certainly not under blind conditions.

Those of us who enjoy these tournaments need new scenarios (security). In return for these scenarios the designers get the feedback they like.

IMPORTANT!

Submitting AARs

1)AARs should never be sent in with game results. Send them in a separate email.

2)AARs can be .txt, .doc, or .pdf files. Do not write them in the body of an email.

3)AARs should not be more than 4 MB UNcompressed. Screenshots can cause you to go over this limit easily. I would recommend the .pdf format if you want to include several screenshots.

4)In the subject line of emails containing attached AARs, write your username and the scenario name. For example: Madmatt, The Ambush

THE PLAYOFFS

Everybody makes it to the playoffs! However, only the four section winners in each tourney are eligible for the prize. The four section winners will play a 3 scenario round robin. The second place finishers in each section will do the same, and so on. If you place last in your section, you will face the other three last place finishers in the playoffs. The playoffs will be scored exactly like the "regular season". Those of you who aren't eligible for the wine (not first in section) are still very important to the tourney. Your scores will determine the accurate median we need for the playoff scenarios.

THE PRIZES

The winner of the "First Place Playoff" in each tourney will win the prize. The winners of Tourney I and Tourney II will each receive six different bottles of WineCape's fine South African wines, postage paid to their doorstep. The winner of Tourney III will receive three almost new VCR movies. They are, "Stalingrad" (by the people who made "Das Boot"), "Cross Of Iron", and the somewhat obscure "A Midnight Clear". I purchased these a year ago from Amazon.com and watched them all twice. All three are very good war movies IMO, and the tapes are in mint condition.

REPORTING MIAs

In order to keep all games proceeding at an acceptable pace we need to identify any potential dropouts (MIAs) promptly so I can find out their intentions regarding the tourney, and replace them if necessary.

Please email me if you have not heard from an opponent in 3 days unless that opponent has informed you beforehand of his inability to send turns for a specified period of time. This way I know what is going on. The tourney cannot be scored until every last game is completed. By informing me of possible problems (3 days and no turns) I can act promplty so matches don't get way behind. It's up to you guys to keep me informed.

That should cover just about everything. Ask questions if you have them. I probably left something out, or explained something in an unclear manner.

Treeburst155 out.

[ May 16, 2002, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: Treeburst155 ]

[Michael Dorosh]

Can AARs be in HTML - ie in the form of a web page? Frankly, long AARs without illustrations bore the hell out of me.

[ May 02, 2002, 01:24 AM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

[Treeburst155]

Yeah, HTML AARs would be great! Watch the size though. Convert bmps to jpg or gif.

I guess if you put the AARs on your own site you could just send me the link, and I could pass that on to the designers. In any case, HTML is fine.

Treeburst155 out.

[Sir Uber General]

Email sent TB, big salute to you and the B&T team for putting together another tourney