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As you may, or may not have heard The Black Ocean is hosting a tournament at the 2012 Battle Foam Wild West Shootout 2 / Boota Con 3 Day Indy GT.

So along those lines I am attempting to make up a simple system to run a Firestorm Armada tournament.

I recently played at the Bay Area Open and they had a great system. They set it up with a simple win, loose or draw as a result for a game. This made calculating battle points unnecessary and made the time between rounds minimal.

They also used "bracket points". These were secondary objectives that had no real affect on the game but were used to place like scoring players in the appropriate bracket and used to break ties at the end of the tournament.

The whole tournament was run Swiss style which pits players with the same score against each other.

Overall it was the best run tournament I have been to, hands down.

Below is my attempt to emulate this with a added twist. Secret, and different value Primary objectives per round. I believe this is a similar system that Malifaux uses.

So from all of you I would like some critques on the system so far. Questions is you have any and ideas of any other Primary or Secondary objectives you would like to see. The goal is to eventually have a Independent Tournament System that we all use for Spartan Game events.

Please note. The Primary and Secondary objectives are created from Ravager's wonderful work and all credit for those go to him.

Here it is:

This tournament will be run as a Swiss Tournament in a simple win/loss/draw format. That means that players play other players with the same record. Pairings will be randomly determined within those brackets.

The secondary objectives will be used to determine bracketing of players with otherwise equal scores and in the case of a tie in the end of the event to determine overall winner. The secondary objective points do not affect the game otherwise. For bracketing, secondary objectives will be used to determine who plays up or down in the case of an odd number of players in a given bracket.


Pick one primary objective below and mark it on your sheet. Keep the choice secret till end of game.

Primary Objectives

• Annihilation: Your orders are simple. Destroy the enemy fleet. Completely. You must destroy at least 90% of the enemy fleet, by points value, in order to achieve this objective. Ships that enter fold space or move off the table edge (for whatever reason) count as destroyed for this objective. 1 point

• Blitzkrieg: Like lightning you must strike hard and fast, before disappearing into the void. You have half of the total turns in which to destroy at least half the enemy fleet by points value. If you succeed in doing so, you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Blockade Run: Your forces are running critically low on supplies in other sectors, but first you must create a distraction to get vital cargo through a blockade. For every 500 points, or part thereof, in your fleet, you may nominate a single squadron as carrying the vital cargo. If at least half of the ships carrying the vital cargo, rounding up, can move off the table via a table edge your opponent's deployment zone, then you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Bombardment: The inhabitants of this planet or orbital facility have raised the ire of your fleet commander for the last time. A Planet or Abandoned Station must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which one is the target of the bombardment. A Planet has DR 10, CR 14, and HP 16. It is also assumed to have 1 PD per 2 AD attacking it. A planet is only affected by a 2, 5 or 12 on the critical table (although other results will still inflict additional damage as normal). This represents the destruction of major population centers and military assets rather than the planet itself. In order to achieve this objective, the target of the bombardment must be destroyed by the end of the game. 3 points

• Combat Patrol: Your fleet must make the area safe for their tenders and supply ships in order to re-stock. You must have more HP in both your own and your opponent's deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Destroy Key Ship: It has been a long time, but your analysts have finally found the flagship of the enemy commander, and it is time to exact revenge. To achieve this objective you must destroy the most expensive ship in the enemy fleet. If the fleet contains multiples of the most expensive ship, randomize which ship is the key ship. 1 point

• Hold the Line: The enemy fleet absolutely cannot be allowed past this point. At the end of the game, you must have more HP in your own deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 1 point

• Hot Pursuit: Your ships are chasing a fleeing enemy, and have to ensure they remain on the run rather than try to fight. At least half of your fleet, by points value, must be within 4" of an enemy ship at the end of the game in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Invasion: This planet or facility does not yet belong to your fleet, but it soon will. The enemy fleet cannot stand in your way. A Planet or Abandoned Station must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which is the target of the invasion. If you have more AP within 4" of the invasion target at the end of the game than your opponent does at the end of the game, then you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Seize Control: The enemy fleet currently sits at a crossroads of foldspace waypoints, and your fleet requires that this area be clear for future operations in the sector. At the end of the game, you must have more HP in your opponent's deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Vital Objective: The enemy fleet is currently unaware of the fact, but a vital piece of technology or intelligence lies within a nearby celestial phenomena. A Planet or Asteroid Field must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which one is the vital objective. If you have more HP within 4" of the vital objective at the end of the game than your opponent does at the end of the game, then you achieve this objective. 2 points


Choose one secondary objective. Keep the choice secret till end of game. All secondary objectives are worth one point.

• Advance Scouts: Your fleet is ranging ahead as the lead element of a much larger force, and must report all contacts. You must successfully Shunt a captured enemy capital ship in order to bring vital intelligence to your superiors in order to achieve this objective.

• High Commanders: Grand Admirals, Reachmasters, Brood-Kings, all of these commanders will make their presence known when it is vital the battle be won. The most expensive ship in your fleet has the High Commander aboard. If you have multiples of the most expensive ship, you may choose which ship they are stationed on. In order to achieve this objective, the High Commander's ship MUST survive the battle with at least 2 HP remaining.

• Rearguard: The enemy fleet is pressing forward with frightening speed, and your battlegroup has been tasked with covering the main fleet's retreat. Your fleet must survive half of the total turns +1 while holding off the enemy.

• Sneak Attack: You battlegroup lies in wait for the unsuspecting enemy. Half of you fleet or more must arrive to the battlefield via Fold Space Entry

• To the Last: Your fleet is cut off, fighting just to survive. If they must go down, they will take as many of the enemy with them as possible. Your fleet must not survive half of the total turns +1.

• Vendetta: Over time bitter enmities are created between certain ships, and other crews know well not to interfere when they meet. Nominate a ship of the large, capital class in your fleet and one of the large, capital class in the enemy fleet. Only your nominated ship can be used to destroy the enemy’s marked ship. Your nominated ship must use its starting wings to achieve this goal. You achieve this objective if you destroy your opponent's marked ship before yours is destroyed. Your ship can act as normal after this objective has been achieved.

Sounds pretty neat! I plan on attending this event myself .

Looking at some of these objectives, some might be pretty obvious even without telling the opponent (like the planetary bombardment one). Also, I'm wondering if it might be worthwhile to reduce the number of primary objectives down to 6...that way you could D6 it if you weren't sure which to pick! Also, I'm guessing that some of these, like the Vendetta, will require Players to write notes down, correct?

Ruckdog wrote:Sounds pretty neat! I plan on attending this event myself .

Looking at some of these objectives, some might be pretty obvious even without telling the opponent (like the planetary bombardment one). Also, I'm wondering if it might be worthwhile to reduce the number of primary objectives down to 6...that way you could D6 it if you weren't sure which to pick! Also, I'm guessing that some of these, like the Vendetta, will require Players to write notes down, correct?

Hi my pirate friend:

You are voicing some of the thoughts I had too.

While some of the objectives may be obvious that can happen in war. I think that we may be able to live with that. A cunning player may actually pretend he is going for one objective while actually doing another. Both things I like about this system.

The one thing I did not include was the score sheet. On that there is a place to check of your objective and write notes on objectives that require them. That should cover all of the writing. After some feedback I will post up a preliminary view of that document. And remember I am intending this system to be used on all Firestorm tournaments.

We will be glad to have you at the event!

No problem! I will ponder this a liitle more to see if I can give you a little more detailed feedback. I would Aldo b willing to help you run the event if you need it. BTW, how many points were you thinking of making the event?

Here are a couple more things to ponder Dakka:

To card or not to card.

Should we use the S.T.A.R. Cards in the tournament?

Should we allow user created ships and fleets?

Honsetly, I would say STAR cards are fine...they aren't nearly as powerful in Firestorm as they are in Dystopian Wars, from my experiance. As for user-created ships and fleets....I would say no. Honestly, there should be plenty of variety out there already between the 6 core fleets and all the available alliance ships. I would give serious consideration to allowing proxies, though (within reason - no paper cutout fleets, please! ).

Ruckdog wrote:Honsetly, I would say STAR cards are fine...they aren't nearly as powerful in Firestorm as they are in Dystopian Wars, from my experiance. As for user-created ships and fleets....I would say no. Honestly, there should be plenty of variety out there already between the 6 core fleets and all the available alliance ships. I would give serious consideration to allowing proxies, though (within reason - no paper cutout fleets, please! ).

Very good points.

I really like the cards although I have not used them with wings yet (that will be on the next podcast).

But as before this bring us to another thought. What fleets should be used? Core? Alligence fleets? Civillian fleets? Pirate fleets?

Well, I would say that the core fleets and alliance fleets would be shoe-ins to start with. I haven't really played around with the PDFs for the marauders and the like, although I can't think of any reason to exclude them off the top of my head.

One thought I had about the cards; since this is a tournament, I think it might be more fair to make it so that either everyone uses them, or no one does. This might make it tricky, though, as there is a good chance that not all players at the tournament will have a deck. So, that either leaves us with saying no cards, or else making sure that a few loaner decks are around for those that don't. That shouldn't be too hard, since you really only need one deck per game (not per player).

After receiving some feedback here are some additions to the tournament rules we have been working on:

Firestorm Armada Tournament

Points: 650

Fleets: Core Fleets (Aquan Prime, Dindrenzi Federation, Sorylian Collective, Terran Alliance, The Directorate, The Relthoza) Aliance Fleets (Alliance of Kurak and Zenian League) as detailed in the fleet construction documents located here: Alliance of Kurak and Zenian League

Model Assigned Rules (MARS): All MARS will be allowed as detailed in the Fleet Construction documents located here: Alliance of Kurak and Zenian League

Rounds: 4

Turns: 6

Table Setup
Each Table will have a one planet of varying size and an asteroid field of up to 10” x 10” or a single installation. Table dimensions are 4' x 4' for a quick and challenging Battle

Deployment
Players select one Squadron at a time and deploy it with the players alternating until ALL Squadrons are on the table (unless you use the Sneak Attack secondary objective below). The deployment area for both players is 8" from the base line.

Game Cards: 1 Standard deck drawn from by both players. I card per squadron up to 4 per fleet.

This tournament will be run as a Swiss Tournament in a simple win/loss/draw format. That means that players play other players with the same record. Pairings will be randomly determined within those brackets.

The secondary objectives will be used to determine bracketing of players with otherwise equal scores and in the case of a tie in the end of the event to determine overall winner. The secondary objective points do not affect the game otherwise. For bracketing, secondary objectives will be used to determine who plays up or down in the case of an odd number of players in a given bracket.
 
Pick one primary objective below and mark it on your sheet. Keep the choice secret till end of game.

Primary Objectives
• Annihilation: Your orders are simple. Destroy the enemy fleet. Completely. You must destroy at least 90% of the enemy fleet, by points value, in order to achieve this objective. Ships that enter fold space or move off the table edge (for whatever reason) count as destroyed for this objective. 1 point

• Blitzkrieg: Like lightning you must strike hard and fast, before disappearing into the void. You have half of the total turns in which to destroy at least half the enemy fleet by points value. If you succeed in doing so, you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Blockade Run: Your forces are running critically low on supplies in other sectors, but first you must create a distraction to get vital cargo through a blockade. For every 500 points, or part thereof, in your fleet, you may nominate a single squadron as carrying the vital cargo. If at least half of the ships carrying the vital cargo, rounding up, can move off the table via a table edge your opponent's deployment zone, then you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Bombardment: The inhabitants of this planet or orbital facility have raised the ire of your fleet commander for the last time. A Planet or Abandoned Station must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which one is the target of the bombardment. A Planet has DR 10, CR 14, and HP 16. It is also assumed to have 1 PD per 2 AD attacking it. A planet is only affected by a 2, 5 or 12 on the critical table (although other results will still inflict additional damage as normal). This represents the destruction of major population centers and military assets rather than the planet itself. In order to achieve this objective, the target of the bombardment must be destroyed by the end of the game. 3 points

• Combat Patrol: Your fleet must make the area safe for their tenders and supply ships in order to re-stock. You must have more HP in both your own and your opponent's deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Destroy Key Ship: It has been a long time, but your analysts have finally found the flagship of the enemy commander, and it is time to exact revenge. To achieve this objective you must destroy the most expensive ship in the enemy fleet. If the fleet contains multiples of the most expensive ship, randomize which ship is the key ship. 1 point

• Hold the Line: The enemy fleet absolutely cannot be allowed past this point. At the end of the game, you must have more HP in your own deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 1 point

• Hot Pursuit: Your ships are chasing a fleeing enemy, and have to ensure they remain on the run rather than try to fight. At least half of your fleet, by points value, must be within 4" of an enemy ship at the end of the game in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Invasion: This planet or facility does not yet belong to your fleet, but it soon will. The enemy fleet cannot stand in your way. A Planet or Abandoned Station must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which is the target of the invasion. If you have more AP within 4" of the invasion target at the end of the game than your opponent does at the end of the game, then you achieve this objective. 2 points

• Seize Control: The enemy fleet currently sits at a crossroads of foldspace waypoints, and your fleet requires that this area be clear for future operations in the sector. At the end of the game, you must have more HP in your opponent's deployment zone than your opponent does in order to achieve this objective. 2 points

• Vital Objective: The enemy fleet is currently unaware of the fact, but a vital piece of technology or intelligence lies within a nearby celestial phenomena. A Planet or Asteroid Field must be present. If more than one is present, randomize which one is the vital objective. If you have more HP within 4" of the vital objective at the end of the game than your opponent does at the end of the game, then you achieve this objective. 2 point
 
Choose one secondary objective. Keep the choice secret till end of game. All secondary objectives are worth one point.

• Advance Scouts: Your fleet is ranging ahead as the lead element of a much larger force, and must report all contacts. You must successfully Shunt a captured enemy capital ship in order to bring vital intelligence to your superiors in order to achieve this objective.

• High Commanders: Grand Admirals, Reachmasters, Brood-Kings, all of these commanders will make their presence known when it is vital the battle be won. The most expensive ship in your fleet has the High Commander aboard. If you have multiples of the most expensive ship, you may choose which ship they are stationed on. In order to achieve this objective, the High Commander's ship MUST survive the battle with at least 2 HP remaining.

• Rearguard: The enemy fleet is pressing forward with frightening speed, and your battlegroup has been tasked with covering the main fleet's retreat. Your fleet must survive half of the total turns +1 while holding off the enemy.

• Sneak Attack: You battlegroup lies in wait for the unsuspecting enemy. Half of you fleet or more must arrive to the battlefield via Fold Space Entry (page 64 Firestorm Armada Rulebook)

• To the Last: Your fleet is cut off, fighting just to survive. If they must go down, they will take as many of the enemy with them as possible. Your fleet must not survive half of the total turns +1.

• Vendetta: Over time bitter enmities are created between certain ships, and other crews know well not to interfere when they meet. Nominate a ship of the large, capital class in your fleet and one of the large, capital class in the enemy fleet. Only your nominated ship can be used to destroy the enemy’s marked ship. Your nominated ship must use its starting wings to achieve this goal. You achieve this objective if you destroy your opponent's marked ship before yours is destroyed. Your ship can act as normal after this objective has been achieved.


Once again all credit for the objectives and secondary objectives go to Ravager