Vassal Organized Play 2021

​Greetings, fellow admirals and Armada fans!

The Clone Wars are upon us, and with them, the Armada 1.5 rules and a bunch of errataed cards. The Armada module has received a massive facelift with version 4.0.0 and the lobby is crawling with players. At the *** end of 2020, I threw together a relaxed tier CW-only tourney that drew 50+ players in no time. It's a more civilized age for Armada indeed.

The module is a labor of love for me, but I'm VERY pleased to see players use it. Anyway. To keep the momentum, I'm announcing Vassal Organized Play 2021!

We're talking quarterly tournaments, plus league play. Rather than run these as "plain" events, each event will have a "twist/flavor." Nothing too deviant - we don't want to change too much, just enough to keep things interesting.

Quarterly Tournaments

2021 Q1: Wave 10 is slightly delayed. The second CW-only tourney is therefore postponed until Q2 2021. In Q1 we're doing a 1-day event instead:

• Probably on a Sunday right after VWC21 Swiss is done.

• 3 rounds standard Swiss.

• Divided into two groups: EURO and NA.

• One overall winner based on TP/PoV.

• Time-limited: 2 hours 15 min per match, same as normal. 

  • One short break, one slightly longer break.

• Tourney Special: Hondo in Slave I is a cross-faction squadron!

2021 Q2: Another CW-only tournament but this time with the full might of wave 10 unleashed. Will Kraken prevail again? Or will he be cast down into mechanical oblivion?

2021 Q3: Limited selection of objectives. Based on data from previous tourneys, the 4 most-used objectives of each category will be banned.

It might be necessary to tweak a few of the remaining objectives if it looks like it would cause a 1st player bias.

2021 Q4: Hyperspace Event for Armada. This concept is taken from X-wing, where a variable array of ships and upgrades are available (changes a couple of times each year). So maybe Imps can't take Mithel. But the ISD-1 can take a Defensive Retro. I'll provide fleet builder support for this.

Vassal Leagues

1st Half 2021: 4-way team mini-league. Minimum 3 players per team (can be more but must be an equal number per team). Split between EURO and NA sectors to keep scheduling manageable. There will be 3 rounds, 1 for each opposing faction. The team with the most combined tourney points (across both sectors) after those 3 rounds is the winner.

Listbuilding restrictions: Uniques are unique  WITHIN THE FACTION. Objectives are also considered unique in this regard.

2nd Half 2021: Individual league, with rotating lists. Six (working number - depends on how many commanders the CW factions end up with) matches total.

Listbuilding restrictions: Uniques are unique TO EACH PLAYER OVER THE COURSE OF THE LEAGUE. Objectives are considered unique in this regard.

Vassal Would Cup

This is BiggsIRL's baby, but I mention it here anyway. Qualifications run late in the year, with the actual WC starting in January. This is Vassal's only Premier Tier event!

Event software

https://tabletop.to/ will be the platform used to track events, with fleet submissions using Google forms (very nice for statistics).

​The Vassal Grand Champion 2021:

At the end of the year, a Grand Champion will be declared based on performance across all competitive events.

The following points are awarded (subject to revision):

• Participation: 1 point

  • Join a tournament, play at least 1 game.

• Playing all your games: 1 point

  • Don't walk out on your fellow players mid-event.

• Advancing to the next round: 1 point

  • Can be awarded multiple times. The VWC, for example, can award this twice - one for Swiss and once for eliminations.

• Runner up: 1 point

  • You almost did it.

• Winner: 2 points

  • You did it. Congratulations!

The following tournaments award points (subject to revision):

• VASSAL Clone Wars Tournament (it ended in 2021 so it counts).

• VASSAL World Cup 2021

• Q1 2021 Tournament

• Q2 2021 Tournament

• Q3 2021 Tournament

• Q4 2021 Tournament

• 2021 Team 4-way Mini-League

• 2021 League

Prize Support: I've thought about this for a while now and I've decided to offer some real prizes for the Grand Champion and the runner up. To this end, I'm donating some money that can be converted into Armada gift vouchers. I do this because I can afford it and because I want to. I'm not rich so don't get delusional 😎 

I'll also set up a Patreon or PayPal or something so others can chip in (details to follow). This is ENTIRELY voluntary. It's OK if no one donates a single dollar. The prizes will be adjusted accordingly is all.