Breakout Normandy Tournament
 
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Welcome to the Breakout Normandy Tournament Home Page.

Requirements to Play:

  • you must be a member of the BPA
  • you must allow the game to be submitted to AREA; this will be done by the GM; no chits need be exchanged
  • you must own a physical copy of the game and have an email address

TOURNAMENT RULES

Game: The standard one-week game of Breakout: Normandy. No optional rules will be used. Rules 12.53 and 22.4 are modified as listed immediately below. Variants that BOTH players have agreed upon to the one week game are allowed. However, if you look under Side Determination below, keep in mind that you will be bidding for a certain side without knowing who your opponent will be or which side you will get. Please make the GM aware if special rules are being used.

Reserves: Rule 12.53 is modified as follows. - The maximum daily impulse purchase limit of three per player is removed. There is no limit to the number of daily impulses either player may purchase, given sufficient Supply Reserve. However, the Impulse Marker may never be moved below Impulse C or above Impulse 12.

Victory Points: 9.6 VPs or higher are required for an Allied win. Rule 22.4 is modified to award a Victory Point to the Allies for contesting areas worth 6 VPs, not 7. Claiming that VP does not prevent the Allied player from also fulfilling the ".6" portion of the VC by contesting more areas worth an additional 6 VPs.

Format: This will be a single elimination tournament. There will be no byes. When one becomes necessary, an Eliminator - an ineligible player -  will be assigned as an opponent. The Eliminator cannot advance, but he can eliminate an opponent. All eliminated players and interested latecomers are urged to offer their services as an Eliminator. If more than one Eliminator is available, they will be selected in order of AREA ranking.  Positions three through six will be resolved in the following manner: 3rd place goes to player who lost to the eventual winner in the 2nd last round; 4th place to the player who lost to the runner-up in the 2nd last round; 5th place to the player who lost to the eventual winner in the 3rd last round; and 6th place to the player who lost to the runner-up in the 3rd last round. As there is now a ladder in existence for BKN (see Mike Kaye at mkaye8@gmail.com), I plan not to arrange any consolation matches at this time.

Time Limits: Each round will last for 5 months or until all matches have been completed, whichever comes first. There will be no adjudications of games at the end of the 5 months. Instead each player will indicate the amount of time they used to complete their side of the game and the side greater than 2.5 months in total time will be the automatic loser, no matter what the actual situation in the game is. I am hoping that in the spirit of good sportsmanship that players can agree on which player used the most time. If not, each player in a timely manner will submit evidence of how long he took to complete all of his moves.

 
 Playing Officials: Prior to the start of the tournament, two Assistant GMs will be named to assist the GM. Assistant GMs may participate in the tournament as active players and are eligible to play in all rounds and compete for awards and prizes just as any other player. The GM and Assistant GMs will not be allowed to issue rulings on questions or rule interpretations for matches in which they are personally involved.

GM: Mark Gutfreund gutfreund15@yahoo.com

Asst GM: Andrew Cummins andrewjjcummins@gmail.com

Asst GM: Scott Fenn saftaurean@aol.com
 
Side Determination: Prior to the start of a round, each player will submit his side preference and the amount of supply he is willing to bid for that side. This is not an auction type bid. It is a one time bid only.

Matching: Matching in every round will be completely at random. A random 4 digit number will be assigned to each player. These numbers will be sent to both assistant GM's for verification. Starting with the player with the lowest number, that player will be matched with the player with the next highest number, and so forth. If both players have chosen opposite sides, then they get those sides without any bidding being necessary. If the players have chosen the same side, the player with the higher bid will have that side and the other player will have the average between the higher and the lower bids as banked supply points on the board at the start of the game. If there is a tie in bids, the player with the higher random die roll will get his preferred side. These points can only be used for buying impulses and not for refitting units.

Computer Aides: All players are encouraged but not required to use computer aides. These aides facilitate speed of play, especially during refit and regroup phases, and can represent a permanent record of what has previously occurred in a game if a dispute should arise. Among those available are VASSAL ; one advantage of VASSAL is that it is operating system neutral and therefore workable not only with Windows but also with Macs and Linux. Cyberboard only works with Windows and you have to be able to find a module of each particular game, although this is usually not a problem. Lastly there is Aide de Camp.

Mistakes and Illegal Moves: In general, I will allow players to decide upon their own way of handling errors and illegal moves. However, I think it is important to make explicit as possible how mistakes and illegal moves will be handled BEFORE the start of play. In addition, if a dispute arises, the decision of the GM in consultation with the assistant GM's will be final and the GM reserves the right to disqualify a player for deliberate or repeated illegal moves. In short, players should try to work these things out for themselves and, if not, consult the GM.
 
  • If both players agree, they can back play up to the point of error and resume play. In the case of a move where there are multiple die rolls or movements to different areas, I would suggest that the entire impulse should be redone rather than just back up the point of error. (Example: The Allied player is attempting to breakout from Omaha Beach with all of his units fresh. He overruns the Beach and sends various units into other areas without realizing his Rangers have insufficient movement points to carry out the attack) In this case I would argue that the Allied player should be allowed to redo his entire move or even make a completely different move depending upon his circumstances, reasoning he might not have made the initial move in the first place if he had realized that the Rangers were not available.
  • Overstacked areas. If an area is discovered to be overstacked, the situation must be immediately corrected by the following method. The opposing player designates units to be retreated from the overstacked area until stacking limitations are satisfied. The owning player then retreats the designated units from the area according to the retreat priorities listed in 9.64. The implications should be clear: to prevent his most powerful units being retreated from an area, the owning player must make certain that he does not exceed stacking limits. (Example: The Allied player is discovered to have twelve units in St. Mere Eglise on June 9. The German player designates 4/8 infantry and VII corps artillery as the units to be retreated. The Allied player then retreats the two units to Utah Beach.)
  • All other mistakes and illegalties will be handled per 8.13.
End of Your Turn: You should make it clear to your opponent when your turn has ended. Again, according to 8.13, once your opponent has moved one of his units, or a die has been rolled, it is not possible to change any part of your move. In some cases, it will be obvious that an impulse has ended, such as a naval or air bombardment. However, in cases where there happen to be multiple fresh units in the activated area, it may not be obvious to your opponent that you have ended your move; so please try to do this in the interest of faster play. This may also come into play if you have experienced a very adverse die roll (of course, in actual play this hardly ever happens) and are contemplating using the Advantage. If you have a quick response opponent, you may wish to indicate to him that you are considering using the Advantage before he can fire off a move to you and that you need a little time.

Internet Dice Rollers: It is permissible to use the honor system to roll dice, use playing cards, or use chits to decide random events as long as your opponent agrees. Most will want to use one of the internet dice rollers. Among those available are ACTS. One advantage of using this site (which is free) is that it sends an email of every activity to both players and also keeps a log of all those activities. Even if you are using a computer aide, this can be handy if there is a question about a previous move or dice roll. Others include Irony and Shadowdice.

Suggested Internet Die Roll Error Handling Convention:

  • Too many drs: use the ones you need discarding the rest. Do not reroll.
  • Not enough drs: use the ones you got and send for the rest.
  • If not specified, Attacker dr(s) first, then Defenders 
  • No response from die roller: Best not to send for a second die roll. Wait about 24hrs, if the drs still haven't shown, the original sender will notify the original receiver to send for the drs. When the receiver is notified he is to roll because of missing drs, and the receiver has yet to receive those drs, the receiver will send, and at that instant the original senders drs will not be used, even if they come in.
  • Multiple die roll requests: Use the drs the receiver got first.
  • If one gamer gets die rolls and the other doesn't and the email addresses were fine : use those dr's. Whoever got the dr's should forward them to the other gamer so he may inspect the email addresses, and if all is OK, use those drs.
Subpages (1): BKN PBeM #6