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Post by Simon on Aug 16, 2022 7:11:30 GMT
Currently, I run four tournaments a year as follows
June - Bakewell - Open - any army
August - Britcon around a historical theme
September - Bakewell - matched pairs from any book.
January - Bakewell - special theme.
I am looking for some inspiration on the last one. This is normally a non-historical theme. Previously we have done things like Blind General (not knowing how many pips you have left), limits on troops with higher combat factors (eg nothing above 3) and requirements to have certain numbers of specific element types eg Light Horse and Artillery.
Any ideas out there on special themes?
Cheers
Simon
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Post by menacussecundus on Aug 16, 2022 7:20:36 GMT
Richard Pulley ran a series of special themed events in Chichester before he retired; any army with a chariot general, any army with a Wb General, any army with a LH general, any army with at least ?6LH, any army with at least one double based element.
You might be able to recycle one of those.
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Post by stevie on Aug 16, 2022 7:59:43 GMT
I love the blind general format (...but then again, I'm weird...  ) |
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Post by Brian Ború on Aug 16, 2022 10:38:27 GMT
I love the blind general format (...but then again, I'm weird... )Me, too.  Some further ideas can be found here. But what I always like best is a scenario with historical background. And what about transfering a scenario like Stamford Bridge into a completely new setting (middle east, asia etc.) and time, e.g. not III/X armies, but any other? According to participating armies. And you could refight battles that happened 500, 1000 or 2000 years ago. |
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Post by Haardrada on Aug 16, 2022 11:00:36 GMT
The Blind General theme does fit the idea of a "special theme" but combined with a different era to the more normal selection could make it more challenging.
I'd suggest armies and enemies of Post-Mongol Russia 1246AD-1533AD or The Chinese Warring States 480BC-202BC...both offers a group of armies of different diversity and mobility...but other eras can offer more diversity or a larger selection of armies.
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Post by diades on Aug 16, 2022 11:32:17 GMT
Any army with no fast foot?
Any army with at least six solid pike?
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Post by Tony Aguilar on Aug 16, 2022 12:28:20 GMT
I love the blind general format... I am surprised as I didn't think you were fun at parties.  |
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Post by sheffmark on Aug 16, 2022 13:51:38 GMT
Richard Pulley ran a series of special themed events in Chichester before he retired; Richard Pulley's retired!!!  |
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Post by sheffmark on Aug 16, 2022 14:06:49 GMT
Any ideas out there on special themes? Tony does a number of 'special themes' on his YouTube videos, so there's some good ideas there. Personally I like the idea of encouraging people to bring armies that don't normally get to competitions, so maybe armies with a set number of warband or pike? If you wanted to change the standard DBA format you could go with Collision Course, but that would entail people having to familiarise themselves with the rules and set up etc before the event. Also, never having played this, I'm not sure whether it would take longer than the standard DBA game, but it may encourage armies not often seen on the board such as fast moving LH and Cav armies? I'm less in favour of very narrow time periods or geographic areas as people may not have suitable armies, which may put them off attending? |
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Post by stevie on Aug 16, 2022 14:58:44 GMT
I love the blind general format... I am surprised as I didn't think you were fun at parties. Ha! I did get thrown out of a party once because of a cat. Now I like cats (see fanaticus.boards.net/thread/1149/cats-battle ), and at this particular party the hostess had a very friendly cat that didn’t mind being handled. Well, I placed this cat upside-down under my left armpit, put its tail in my mouth, and every time I squeezed my left arm the cat made a meeow sound…so I marched around pretending to play the bagpipes! I have never been invited back. (P.S…I was was very, very drunk at the time…)
Annnny waaaay, back to tournament themes. Instead of the usual order-of-battle type themes, why not have one based on terrain?:- “Skiing in Holland”: all armies must have Steppe home terrain… “Up the hill and down again”: all armies must have Hilly home terrain… “Tropic Thunder”: all armies must have Tropical home terrain… ♫ “Oh I do like to be beside the sea-side”♪: all armies must have Littoral home terrain… Just a (probably bad) thought.  |
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Post by Simon on Aug 16, 2022 15:50:38 GMT
I am surprised as I didn't think you were fun at parties. Ha! I did get thrown out of a party once because of a cat. Now I like cats (see fanaticus.boards.net/thread/1149/cats-battle ), and at this particular party the hostess had a very friendly cat that didn’t mind being handled. Well, I placed this cat upside-down under my left armpit, put its tail in my mouth, and every time I squeezed my left arm the cat made a meeow sound…so I marched around pretending to play the bagpipes! I have never been invited back. (P.S…I was was very, very drunk at the time…)
Annnny waaaay, back to tournament themes. Instead of the usual order-of-battle type themes, why not have one based on terrain?:- “Skiing in Holland”: all armies must have Steppe home terrain… “Up the hill and down again”: all armies must have Hilly home terrain… “Tropic Thunder”: all armies must have Tropical home terrain… ♫ “Oh I do like to be beside the sea-side”♪: all armies must have Littoral home terrain… Just a (probably bad) thought. Actually - think this is quite a good idea! I see Tony is doing a Steppe theme at his Florida gig. |
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Post by martin on Aug 16, 2022 18:11:06 GMT
I am surprised as I didn't think you were fun at parties. ♫ “Oh I do like to be beside the sea-side”♪: all armies must have Littoral home terrain… Just a (probably bad) thought. The Littoral Only theme came up within Richard Pulley’s tournaments…..and it was really good fun 🤣🎲😎 |
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Post by martin on Aug 16, 2022 18:14:52 GMT
Any ideas out there on special themes? Personally I like the idea of encouraging people to bring armies that don't normally get to competitions, so maybe armies with a set number of warband or pike? I'm less in favour of very narrow time periods or geographic areas as people may not have suitable armies, which may put them off attending? Narrow time bands and geographical areas does discourage players…..not many have a long list of available armies. Also, there’s a danger of it getting ‘samey’… Personally, I enjoyed the low grade armies we had to use at Bakewell a while back…no more than 2 elements factor over +3. |
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Post by Baldie on Aug 16, 2022 18:24:52 GMT
I always thought it would be great if everyone had same army, granted a bit of a mare to decide which army everyone has.
Themed enemies/battles are great but again narrows field of available armies peeps may have.
Chose a terrain type maybe exclude arable given how many there are.
Everyone brings an army but randomised armies when opponents are chosen call it "Keys in the bowl", you may never play with your force ever or play with it every game.
Then taking inspiration from Little Wars TV, you can play any army but dress in the right costume.
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Post by Ken Gordon on Aug 16, 2022 18:26:42 GMT
Personally I like the idea of encouraging people to bring armies that don't normally get to competitions, so maybe armies with a set number of warband or pike? I'm less in favour of very narrow time periods or geographic areas as people may not have suitable armies, which may put them off attending? Narrow time bands and geographical areas does discourage players…..not many have a long list of available armies. Also, there’s a danger of it getting ‘samey’… Personally, I enjoyed the low grade armies we had to use at Bakewell a while back…no more than 2 elements factor over +3. I like that idea; since psiloi ‘heavy’ armies can be fun. Tony’s videos of these matchups always seem to produce good games. |
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