Post by paulisper on Nov 19, 2022 15:50:15 GMT
This is an early notification for those who like to plan their diaries well in advance! Britcon 2023 will be taking place on 11th-13th August at Nottingham University and DBA will be expanding from the standard one day competition format (held on the Saturday) into a two day summer festival of DBA, making use of both Saturday (12th) and Sunday (13th) of the event. Most of the games presently played at Britcon (eg. ADLG, Armati, DBM, etc.) are of a two or three day format and on the UK scene there is currently no DBA tournament played over more than one day and we hope that there will be sufficient interest in doing something 'a little different' from the norm and thus add a unique flavour to DBA at Britcon.
The framework for the weekend will aim to be as follows:
1. The two days of gaming will run from Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon. Players can opt to play on both or either of these two days, which gives people flexibility to just game on the one day which works for them, or aim for both days, if they really wanted to go 'all-in' and get the full Britcon experience! A variety of options for people to stay overnight on the Saturday will be available, so that we will hopefully have a social get-together after the Saturday's gaming, adding to the weekend's fun. Accommodation options include the opportunity to stay at the University of Nottingham's student halls, if this is of interest, and the pricing was pretty reasonable this year.
2. On Saturday there would be three 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each, with Sunday having two 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each. Timings will aim to be approximately 9:30am-12:30pm, 1-4pm & 4:30-7:30pm on Saturday and 9:30am-12:30pm and 1-4pm on Sunday, with each game lasting around 50 minutes. This will give additional flexibility for people to play as many of the 'mini' tournaments in each day, so for instance, if they didn't want to commit to and max out on 9 games in the day, it may be that a gamer on the Saturday plays the first two tournaments, if they wanted to be away by 5pm, or travel on Saturday morning and play the second and third tournaments, or they could play the first and third and have a break in the middle to have a breather, browse the show and have a leisurely lunch and a chat. Lots of choice there to cater for different persuasions...
3. This format will allow us to put on a range of themes across the weekend and, hopefully, increase the diversity of the competition. Sometimes, with the standard UK format of 5/6 games on one day, particularly if it's an open tournament, you play with one army across the whole day and, if it's turning out to be a bit of a dog, or the dice gods are not smiling on you, then this can become quite a long, hard slog and the tournament could be over for you after 2 or 3 games! With a mini-tournament theme, if it's not going well, then never mind, as another one is just around the corner! This will also give the advantage of bringing a range of armies to play with and hopefully add to the variety of the weekend's competition. Themes will be planned so that it is possible for an army to play in more than one over the weekend, should the owner prefer, and 'loaner' armies will be available, for those with limited armies of their own or for people not wanting to transport too many over the weekend.
4. The mini-tournaments will have a range of themes, examples of which could be based on periods (eg. book 1 armies, Asian Persuasion, Europe 1000-1200) and/or armies (eg. Armies and Enemies of Persia, The Crusades), and/or army mixes (eg. Wimp Wars (min 6 elements of LH/Ps), Mounted Mayhem (min 9 mounted elements)), with one of them to be a pure 15mm Open tournament. The new Graham Fordham Trophy will be competed for over the course of the weekend and the winner will be the gamer with the highest points average, with a minimum of two mini-tournaments to count. We will endeavour to ensure that players do not play each other more than once over the weekend, wherever possible, to increase the diversity of opponents played, and a Swiss Chess style system will operate for rounds 2 & 3 in each mini-tournament.
5. Current pricing, based on Britcon 2022's costings, would be around £25 for Saturday (which would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher) and £20 for Sunday (again, this would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher, for those not at Saturday's gaming).
The themes will be announced in due course and it is likely that entries will open on the BHGS system in the spring - I'll keep you informed.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at the new look Britcon in the summer of 2023!
P.
The framework for the weekend will aim to be as follows:
1. The two days of gaming will run from Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon. Players can opt to play on both or either of these two days, which gives people flexibility to just game on the one day which works for them, or aim for both days, if they really wanted to go 'all-in' and get the full Britcon experience! A variety of options for people to stay overnight on the Saturday will be available, so that we will hopefully have a social get-together after the Saturday's gaming, adding to the weekend's fun. Accommodation options include the opportunity to stay at the University of Nottingham's student halls, if this is of interest, and the pricing was pretty reasonable this year.
2. On Saturday there would be three 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each, with Sunday having two 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each. Timings will aim to be approximately 9:30am-12:30pm, 1-4pm & 4:30-7:30pm on Saturday and 9:30am-12:30pm and 1-4pm on Sunday, with each game lasting around 50 minutes. This will give additional flexibility for people to play as many of the 'mini' tournaments in each day, so for instance, if they didn't want to commit to and max out on 9 games in the day, it may be that a gamer on the Saturday plays the first two tournaments, if they wanted to be away by 5pm, or travel on Saturday morning and play the second and third tournaments, or they could play the first and third and have a break in the middle to have a breather, browse the show and have a leisurely lunch and a chat. Lots of choice there to cater for different persuasions...
3. This format will allow us to put on a range of themes across the weekend and, hopefully, increase the diversity of the competition. Sometimes, with the standard UK format of 5/6 games on one day, particularly if it's an open tournament, you play with one army across the whole day and, if it's turning out to be a bit of a dog, or the dice gods are not smiling on you, then this can become quite a long, hard slog and the tournament could be over for you after 2 or 3 games! With a mini-tournament theme, if it's not going well, then never mind, as another one is just around the corner! This will also give the advantage of bringing a range of armies to play with and hopefully add to the variety of the weekend's competition. Themes will be planned so that it is possible for an army to play in more than one over the weekend, should the owner prefer, and 'loaner' armies will be available, for those with limited armies of their own or for people not wanting to transport too many over the weekend.
4. The mini-tournaments will have a range of themes, examples of which could be based on periods (eg. book 1 armies, Asian Persuasion, Europe 1000-1200) and/or armies (eg. Armies and Enemies of Persia, The Crusades), and/or army mixes (eg. Wimp Wars (min 6 elements of LH/Ps), Mounted Mayhem (min 9 mounted elements)), with one of them to be a pure 15mm Open tournament. The new Graham Fordham Trophy will be competed for over the course of the weekend and the winner will be the gamer with the highest points average, with a minimum of two mini-tournaments to count. We will endeavour to ensure that players do not play each other more than once over the weekend, wherever possible, to increase the diversity of opponents played, and a Swiss Chess style system will operate for rounds 2 & 3 in each mini-tournament.
5. Current pricing, based on Britcon 2022's costings, would be around £25 for Saturday (which would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher) and £20 for Sunday (again, this would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher, for those not at Saturday's gaming).
The themes will be announced in due course and it is likely that entries will open on the BHGS system in the spring - I'll keep you informed.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at the new look Britcon in the summer of 2023!
P.