Australian Championships TO's Report
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Australian Championships TO's Report
The Field of Glory Napoleonic Australian Championship was run for the first time ever at the Cancon gaming convention in Canberra, 24th to 26th January. What official backing or authority do I have to name my tournament the Championship for the whole country? ...Well, who's going to stop me?
We got 12 players this year, which I'll cheekily point out is several players more than the most recent "World's" tournament that I read about. Thought it doesn't match up to the 20+ players that attended the Melbourne tournament run by Richard Gordon of the League of Ancients, it was a good turnout for our first year at Cancon. There was lots of interest from passersby, so I hope that the event will grow when I run it again next year. I feel that the FOGN rules are on the verge of really taking off all over Australia. We now have players in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and tournaments being run in Melbourne, Brisbane, and in Canberra during Cancon. What's more, the New Zealanders have made a great effort to travel to Australia for events in Melbourne and at Cancon already, and run a number of tournaments on both of their own islands which we Aussies will be starting to visit soon. This plus the high amount of interest from people walking past makes me feel that the game could really explode, especially if we keep up the visibility of our events. When I arrived to set up the night before the event, I made a point of snagging the tables in my area that would get the maximum amount of passing traffic, and I hung around so that passersby who wanted to ask about the game could talk to me (rather than interrupt my players). I hope I may have sparked some interest in future FOGN players.
I would like to thank Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures for sponsoring our event. As well as having an exclusive licence to produce AB miniatures, the best 15-18mm Napoleonic figures in the world, he's also a great guy and always entertaining to chat to. He provided gift vouchers to go along with each trophy I handed out; $30 for first place, and $20 each for second, third, and "Umpire's Choice for Gentlemanly Behaviour in the Face of Adversity". Eureka also produce a wide range of other figures in many scales. I highly recommend that anyone interested in Napoleonic gaming look to him, and anyone starting a new project in any other period should check his website for figures before you look to anyone else. http://www.eurekamin.com.au/
The event ran very smoothly, and was a pleasure to umpire. I used the official scoring cards from the FOGN website, which did a great job of differentiating scores and rewarding good play. I never had to use any countback while doing the draw or in the rankings at the end. Interestingly, there are no ties under this system. Because there are always 25 points to hand out, if a game doesn't end with one player broken before time runs out, the points are split based on relative losses, capturing LOCs, and having fresh cavalry (presumably for the break off/pursuit). So the closest possible score is 13-12, a very minor win for the player on 13. There were a few of those, but the large majority of games ended with one side broken, usually meaning a result of 21-4 or something similar. When the Inglis brothers ended up against one another in round four, David lost but managed to savage Alex's corps badly enough to result in a 18-7 win for Alex.
I played two games on the second day, due to one of my players suffering from an old shoulder injury and being forced to opt out. I simply played the people he would have played, using my Prussian force. I had two very enjoyable games, only interrupted a couple times by players with rules queries. In that vein, I would like to thank all my players for being gentleman. There weren't any arguments, disputes, or problems. Everyone made sure that their opponents had a good time, and that my part as the umpire was as easy as possible. It's easy to run a tournament when your players are good people.
Now, while I have flown home to Melbourne, I foolishly left my paperwork with the full scores and rankings in one of the boxes that Nigel Brand so kindly transported from Melbourne to Canberra and back again in his car, on the most boring seven hour drive ever conceived of by mankind. That also includes my army and much of the terrain for the tournament, as well as armies and terrain for many of the other events and tournaments at Cancon, so we couldn't have done this without him. Thanks to Nige. However, because the paperwork is in his car right now and not at home with me (where I write this report to you from the unutterable luxury of a bed that's not located in hotel room shared with 15+ wargamers, a bed that I never intend to leave so long as I shall live) I don't have the full scores and ranking with me. I'll reply to this post in a few days with all 12 players' full scores, armies, etc. In the meantime, let's look at the trophy winners:
1st Place, Undefeated, Australian Champion, Lord High King of the Mountain, Crusher of Hopes: Alex Inglis 1812 French Infantry Corps
2nd Place: Alistair Donald Anglo-Portuguese 1813 (one of our New Zealand visitors)
3rd Place: Martin Williams Austrian Infantry 1805
Special Mention, 4th Place, Almost made it onto the podium but I got beaten by my accursed brother again I hate him so much: David Inglis Allied Mixed Corps 1813
Special Mention 2, 5th Place, Only played one game in my life before I came to the tournament, had three wins and almost won first place before I got smashed by the accursed Alex in the last round I hate him so much: Andreas Kammel Russian Infantry 1812
Umpire's Choice for Gentlemanly Behaviour in the Face of Adversity: Brenton Searle French Infantry 1809 Brenton had also only played a few games before the event, and did manage to get one win over the weekend. He was also a pleasure to play with for everyone, win or lose, and never let his losses get him down. Well done Brenton.
And now, some pics of the event and the miniatures. Click for a larger version.
We got 12 players this year, which I'll cheekily point out is several players more than the most recent "World's" tournament that I read about. Thought it doesn't match up to the 20+ players that attended the Melbourne tournament run by Richard Gordon of the League of Ancients, it was a good turnout for our first year at Cancon. There was lots of interest from passersby, so I hope that the event will grow when I run it again next year. I feel that the FOGN rules are on the verge of really taking off all over Australia. We now have players in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and tournaments being run in Melbourne, Brisbane, and in Canberra during Cancon. What's more, the New Zealanders have made a great effort to travel to Australia for events in Melbourne and at Cancon already, and run a number of tournaments on both of their own islands which we Aussies will be starting to visit soon. This plus the high amount of interest from people walking past makes me feel that the game could really explode, especially if we keep up the visibility of our events. When I arrived to set up the night before the event, I made a point of snagging the tables in my area that would get the maximum amount of passing traffic, and I hung around so that passersby who wanted to ask about the game could talk to me (rather than interrupt my players). I hope I may have sparked some interest in future FOGN players.
I would like to thank Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures for sponsoring our event. As well as having an exclusive licence to produce AB miniatures, the best 15-18mm Napoleonic figures in the world, he's also a great guy and always entertaining to chat to. He provided gift vouchers to go along with each trophy I handed out; $30 for first place, and $20 each for second, third, and "Umpire's Choice for Gentlemanly Behaviour in the Face of Adversity". Eureka also produce a wide range of other figures in many scales. I highly recommend that anyone interested in Napoleonic gaming look to him, and anyone starting a new project in any other period should check his website for figures before you look to anyone else. http://www.eurekamin.com.au/
The event ran very smoothly, and was a pleasure to umpire. I used the official scoring cards from the FOGN website, which did a great job of differentiating scores and rewarding good play. I never had to use any countback while doing the draw or in the rankings at the end. Interestingly, there are no ties under this system. Because there are always 25 points to hand out, if a game doesn't end with one player broken before time runs out, the points are split based on relative losses, capturing LOCs, and having fresh cavalry (presumably for the break off/pursuit). So the closest possible score is 13-12, a very minor win for the player on 13. There were a few of those, but the large majority of games ended with one side broken, usually meaning a result of 21-4 or something similar. When the Inglis brothers ended up against one another in round four, David lost but managed to savage Alex's corps badly enough to result in a 18-7 win for Alex.
I played two games on the second day, due to one of my players suffering from an old shoulder injury and being forced to opt out. I simply played the people he would have played, using my Prussian force. I had two very enjoyable games, only interrupted a couple times by players with rules queries. In that vein, I would like to thank all my players for being gentleman. There weren't any arguments, disputes, or problems. Everyone made sure that their opponents had a good time, and that my part as the umpire was as easy as possible. It's easy to run a tournament when your players are good people.
Now, while I have flown home to Melbourne, I foolishly left my paperwork with the full scores and rankings in one of the boxes that Nigel Brand so kindly transported from Melbourne to Canberra and back again in his car, on the most boring seven hour drive ever conceived of by mankind. That also includes my army and much of the terrain for the tournament, as well as armies and terrain for many of the other events and tournaments at Cancon, so we couldn't have done this without him. Thanks to Nige. However, because the paperwork is in his car right now and not at home with me (where I write this report to you from the unutterable luxury of a bed that's not located in hotel room shared with 15+ wargamers, a bed that I never intend to leave so long as I shall live) I don't have the full scores and ranking with me. I'll reply to this post in a few days with all 12 players' full scores, armies, etc. In the meantime, let's look at the trophy winners:
1st Place, Undefeated, Australian Champion, Lord High King of the Mountain, Crusher of Hopes: Alex Inglis 1812 French Infantry Corps
2nd Place: Alistair Donald Anglo-Portuguese 1813 (one of our New Zealand visitors)
3rd Place: Martin Williams Austrian Infantry 1805
Special Mention, 4th Place, Almost made it onto the podium but I got beaten by my accursed brother again I hate him so much: David Inglis Allied Mixed Corps 1813
Special Mention 2, 5th Place, Only played one game in my life before I came to the tournament, had three wins and almost won first place before I got smashed by the accursed Alex in the last round I hate him so much: Andreas Kammel Russian Infantry 1812
Umpire's Choice for Gentlemanly Behaviour in the Face of Adversity: Brenton Searle French Infantry 1809 Brenton had also only played a few games before the event, and did manage to get one win over the weekend. He was also a pleasure to play with for everyone, win or lose, and never let his losses get him down. Well done Brenton.
And now, some pics of the event and the miniatures. Click for a larger version.
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- Sergeant - 7.5 cm FK 16 nA
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:42 am
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Many thanks to Tyler for getting FOGN on the cancon program, organising and running the tourney. Thanks to all my opponents for the mucho fun. Two FOGN tourneys, two fourth places, two last round crushings by the might of Austrian arms (though much more bloody and less one sided this time!) ruining my hopes of finishing in the major placings. I was happy in though I made a number of tactical errors and mismanagements at least all my opponents including he-who-needs-not-to-be-named at least suffered some significant losses for their trouble, felt the power of my wrath before I went down.
Note the array of different armies in the top places., showing that a variety of armies, approaches and tactics can work.
Note the array of different armies in the top places., showing that a variety of armies, approaches and tactics can work.
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- Sergeant Major - SdKfz 234/2 8Rad
- Posts: 635
- Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:26 am
- Location: Sydney
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
First ever FOG N tournament and had a great time. Five games against people I have never played before and learnt a few rules I hadn't picked up on. Thanks to Tyler and all my other opponents.
Martin
Martin
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Fantastic competition Tyler. What really stood out for me was the free exchange of rule interpretations and advice that was flowing between the players from all the different regions that people came from. I think everyone learned a lot.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Thanks guys. I really enjoyed running the event, and intend to be back again next year with pretty much the same format.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Hi Tyler. Is there a full detailed report of the event. As I posted in another forum, nice photos. Did you find time to take more? Love photos.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Once I have the scorecards back, I'll post a report with the forces everyone brought, full rankings, etc.
As for photos, I have a few more that I didn't post. I'm at work, so when I get a quiet moment I'll post some more.
As for photos, I have a few more that I didn't post. I'm at work, so when I get a quiet moment I'll post some more.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Finally updating this with the full rankings:
Alex Inglis, French Infantry 1812, 106 points
Alistair Donald, Anglo-Portuguese 1813, 85 points
Martin Williams, Austrian Army of the Danube, 81 points
David Inglis, Allied Mixed Corps 1813-1814, 70 points
Andreas Kammel, Russian Infantry 1812, 67 points
Geoff Crick, French Infantry 1812, 56 points
Steve Hill, Swedish Army of the North 1814, 55 points
Phil Abela, German Confederation 1814, 47 points
Dan Karakaltsas, Anglo-Portuguese 1810-1811, 46 points
Brenton Searle, French Infantry 1809, 33 points
Clint Richards, French Infantry 1805, 33 points (missed last round)
Michael Bornstein, Saxons 1809, 25 points (only played first two rounds)
Analyse away, if you're so inclined.
Alex Inglis, French Infantry 1812, 106 points
Alistair Donald, Anglo-Portuguese 1813, 85 points
Martin Williams, Austrian Army of the Danube, 81 points
David Inglis, Allied Mixed Corps 1813-1814, 70 points
Andreas Kammel, Russian Infantry 1812, 67 points
Geoff Crick, French Infantry 1812, 56 points
Steve Hill, Swedish Army of the North 1814, 55 points
Phil Abela, German Confederation 1814, 47 points
Dan Karakaltsas, Anglo-Portuguese 1810-1811, 46 points
Brenton Searle, French Infantry 1809, 33 points
Clint Richards, French Infantry 1805, 33 points (missed last round)
Michael Bornstein, Saxons 1809, 25 points (only played first two rounds)
Analyse away, if you're so inclined.
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- Sergeant Major - SdKfz 234/2 8Rad
- Posts: 635
- Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:26 am
- Location: Sydney
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Analysis? Mmmmm....
106 points over 5 rounds is pretty freakin good. Alex beat me like a rented mule, I'm a little re-assured he seems to have done it to all his other opponents as well!
I don't know if it was the inexperience of some of the players but we definitely seemed to need the full 3 1/2-4 hours to consistently get results.
Martin
106 points over 5 rounds is pretty freakin good. Alex beat me like a rented mule, I'm a little re-assured he seems to have done it to all his other opponents as well!
I don't know if it was the inexperience of some of the players but we definitely seemed to need the full 3 1/2-4 hours to consistently get results.
Martin
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
Some meaninless facts:
Three of the four top players had less than the average number of units per command (4.2 was the average).
Three of the four top players used Guard units. The top two used one each, the player coming fourth used two.
Two of the top players used Reformed troops, one used Refiomed /Non-Reformed (British) and one had Non-Reformed.
84% of all units were rated 'Average'*.
60% of units were rated 'Drilled'*.
26% of the units were rated 'Veteran'.
Only 12% of the units were rated 'Conscript'.
7% of the units were rated 'Poor'.
50% of the units were Average Drilled*.
23% of the units were Average Veteran.
11% of the units were Average Conscript.
4% of the units were Superior Veteran. Only one was Superior Veteran Guard.
84% of the units were small, 16% large.
Alastair Donald
*This should come as no surprise given the way the army lists are written.
Three of the four top players had less than the average number of units per command (4.2 was the average).
Three of the four top players used Guard units. The top two used one each, the player coming fourth used two.
Two of the top players used Reformed troops, one used Refiomed /Non-Reformed (British) and one had Non-Reformed.
84% of all units were rated 'Average'*.
60% of units were rated 'Drilled'*.
26% of the units were rated 'Veteran'.
Only 12% of the units were rated 'Conscript'.
7% of the units were rated 'Poor'.
50% of the units were Average Drilled*.
23% of the units were Average Veteran.
11% of the units were Average Conscript.
4% of the units were Superior Veteran. Only one was Superior Veteran Guard.
84% of the units were small, 16% large.
Alastair Donald
*This should come as no surprise given the way the army lists are written.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
More usless information:
Cavalry
48% of the cavalry units were Average Drilled, and 19% were Average Veteran.
Only 12% were Superior Drilled and 10% Superior Veteran, although Superior seems the more useful cavalry rating.
Infantry
43% of infantry units were Average Drilled.
28% were Average Veteran, a useful rating for shooting.
15% were Average Conscript, or 'filler'...
Artillery
81% was Average Drilled. Maximum number of guns (4) was used by the competition winner.
14% of guns were Average Veteran, a better rating for shooting.
Average number of gun units was 1.7, median was 1.5 and mode was 1 per army.
Cavalry
48% of the cavalry units were Average Drilled, and 19% were Average Veteran.
Only 12% were Superior Drilled and 10% Superior Veteran, although Superior seems the more useful cavalry rating.
Infantry
43% of infantry units were Average Drilled.
28% were Average Veteran, a useful rating for shooting.
15% were Average Conscript, or 'filler'...
Artillery
81% was Average Drilled. Maximum number of guns (4) was used by the competition winner.
14% of guns were Average Veteran, a better rating for shooting.
Average number of gun units was 1.7, median was 1.5 and mode was 1 per army.
Re: Australian Championships TO's Report
I actually find this stuff interesting. There probably weren't enough players for the data to yeild any sort of statistical conclusions about overall game balance.
I was very surprised to see how little superior drilled cavalry there was.
I was very surprised to see how little superior drilled cavalry there was.