Northeast TITAN Championship

Lately there has been renewed interest in the Avalon Hill classic, TITAN. The buzz is mostly due to the recent reprint, with new artwork, by Valley Games. So we decided this would be a great time for The Schenectady Wargamers Association to hold its first ever TITAN tournament!

When
The tournament will take place over multiple days in March 2010. You may participate on just one day or all of the days. They will be March 12th, 13th, 14th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and the semi-finals and finals will take place on April 10th. We created the schedule to give as many people as possible the opportunity to participate. On each of the tournament days, except Fridays, there will be multiple start times for games.

Where
In the Albany New York area at The Studio of Bridge and Games / Price Chopper Community Room, 1639 Eastern Parkway, Schenectady, NY 12309. www.swa-gaming.org/studiodirections

All level players
Although it is a tournament, the most important thing is that we all get together to have fun and play Titan. So even if you don’t intend on competing and just want to come by to play one or two games, we encourage you to attend. The tournament will be designed so that all level TITAN players may participate. Beginners and novice players are encouraged to attend. The rules of the game will not be taught, but tournament GMs will be available to answer any rules questions and/or disputes. And we will run a demo or two at the February 13th Game-a-thon.

Are you planning to attend? Let us know.
Since this is our first time running this, we would like to get a rough idea how many people will be participating in the event. So even if you are only planning on playing in one game, please send an email to TitanTournament@swa-gaming.org and let us know you are playing. Or even if you can’t attend this year but would like to participate if we run the event again, let us know that too.

The Rules
In addition to any tournament rules explained below, we will be adhering to Bruno Wolff’s Titan Errata and Clarifications (including the Etiquette guide) found here  http://wolff.to/titan/errata.html . Printed copies of this will be available for reference during the tournament.

It should be noted that the format for this tournament is based on the World Boardgaming Championships’ Titan Tournament run by Bruno Wolff and some of these rules are directly quoted with permission. We have made some changes, the most significant being the time limit on preliminary and semi-final games.

Preliminary Rounds
There will be multiple stages to the tournament. The first stage will be the preliminary rounds. They will take place on:

Friday, March 12th,  6:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Saturday, March 13th, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 Midnight+ (S.W.A. Game-a-thon day)
Sunday, March 14th starting at 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 Midnight
Friday, March 26th, 6:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Saturday, March 27th, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 Midnight+
Sunday, March 28th, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 Midnight

Players will be able to play in as many or as few preliminary games as they like. Only a player’s first 6 games will count towards determining advancement into final rounds. Preliminary games will be 4-player when possible, 3-player or 5-players if the number of available players necessitates it.

Prelim games will be made up randomly from the available pool of players at the specified start times. Except that, where possible, we will attempt to separate people who have already played each other in the event. There are no guarantees, but we will try to give people a chance to play against a variety of opponents.

Semis and Final RoundsApril 10th (S.W.A. Game-a-thon day)

Semis 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. with time limit
Finals starting at 5:00 p.m. no time limit

Players with the most wins (see tie-breakers) in the preliminary games will advance into the semi-final round. The number of players in the semi-final round will depend on the number of participants. If there 20 or under players, there will be no semi-final games and the top six players will advance directly to a final 6-player game. With 21–30 players, there will be four 3-player semi-final games with the winners advancing to a 4-player final. With 31+ players there will be four 4-player semi-final games with the winners advancing to a 4-player final. 

Unless there is a 6-player final, only the four semifinal winners will be allowed to participate in the finals. If there is a no show, no fill-in will be used.

Start Times / Time Limits
Preliminary and semi-final games will have a 7 hour time limit. Start times for Preliminary games will be 6:00 PM Fridays, and 9:00AM, 1:00PM, and 5:00PM on weekends. That will guarantee that players will have a chance to play at least 2 games per day on the Saturday and Sundays, and players eliminated early won’t have to wait as long to start their next game. We may decide to start a game at a time other than the designated start times if we have enough available players and the next start time is still a ways off. 

Hopefully most 4-player games will be over before the time limit. But unless all remaining players agree to keep playing, prelim games will end roughly when the 7-hour time limit is reached. All players should receive the same number of turns. Players should be conscious of the time limit so a new turn should not be started if it is likely to cause the game to go over the time limit. In many games the likely winners will be clear and players can simply record the agreed upon winners. If it is unclear or there is any disagreement, winners of games that end due to time limit will be determined by adding the following:
+ a player’s points scored from battles;
+ double the number of points in a player’s Titan legion
+ the number of points in the player’s strongest legion besides its Titan legion
+ and an additional 100 points if the player has Titan teleport.

Tiebreakers 
The qualifying tiebreakers for advancement in order are firsts, seconds, thirds, fourths, titan kills, opponents’ firsts, opponents’ seconds, opponents’ thirds, opponents’ fourths, opponents’ titan kills, in the unlikely event of a further tie there will be a roll off. Finishing last in a three- or four-player game will NOT credit you with a third or fourth, respectively. These tiebreakers may change slightly before the tournament starts, but any changes will be announced.

Winning a preliminary game doesn’t automatically qualify you for the semifinals. Not winning a preliminary game doesn’t preclude you making the semifinals.

In a mutual situation both players get one titan kill and credit for the lower of the two positions available. For example, if  the last 2-players in the game mutual they both get 1 Titan kill and credit for a second place.

If a player withdraws from the game (this doesn’t include conceding a battle involving his titan), his titan kill will be credited to the winner of the game (both players in a mutual for second place). The winner of a game (not a mutual) also gets a titan kill for their own surviving titan.

If you play the same player more than once, you get credit for their results multiplied by the number of times you played them.

Entry Fees / Day Rates
There will be a 5$ fee to enter the Tournament. This fee will go towards prizes for the Tournament. In addition to the entry fee we will need to charge 2$ per session, or 3$ per day played. This money will go to the Studio of Bridge and Games to use the space.

Prizes and Bragging rights
There will be prizes given out to the top four tournament players, the winners of the tournament will be listed on the SWA website, and the tournament results will be sent to A.R.E.A. (Avalon Hill Reliability, Experience, and Ability Scoring System - http://wolff.to/area/G_TTN.html). There may also be a plaque or trophy for the winner, but no promises.  

Other
Physical memory aids (paper, computers, etc.) are NOT allowed except for recording information requested by the game master (such as points, who killed who, etc.). Players may only use their memories to keep track of stack contents or to make decisions in the game.

Players still in the game have an interest in the outcome of battles being fought by other players, and as such are allowed to give advice as long as they aren’t bothering the player who it is being given to. No advice may be given by anyone not playing in the game, except to point out a rules violation.

Players are NOT to agree to balanced starts. They should not be used when rolling for initial towers.

Players are expected to start each game playing to win. If it is found that a player was more interested in helping another player than how he did, adjustments to the results may be made.

For eliminators (players who have already played 6-games) to play in a game, all of the non-eliminators must be comfortable with having them play. Generally eliminators will be placed in games with people who are either already very likely to make the semifinals or have almost no chance to make the semifinals.

Judges/GMs
There will be several GMs, all of whom will be playing the tournament. Should any dispute involving a GM occur, that cannot be resolved using Bruno Wolff’s “Titan Errata and Clarifications”, a ruling will be made by the GM(s) not involved. We are looking for more GMs! If would like to help run the tournament, especially if you know Titan well, let us know. Email us at TitanTournament@swa-gaming.org. GMs may still compete in the tournament.

Suggestions
If you would like to send us your suggestions, feel free. After all, this is our first time running this.

 
Thanks, and hope to see you at the tournament.
 

There seems to be some confusion about  the number of games you
should plan on playing. You do NOT need to play in 6 games to qualify
for the semifinals! It is very possible that you could play in 2 or 3
preliminary games and make it in assuming you do well. 

Whether you're concerned about your chances to make the semis or not,
please come by and have fun playing some Titan. We'll be playing all
weekend, so stop by whenever it is convenient for you. If this weekend
doesn't work for you, we'll be playing more preliminary rounds the
weekend of the 26th.

If you are into trophies, I plan on giving one out to the winner of the
tournament along with a gift certificate. On top of the trophy will be
a golden Titan (a Valley Games Titan figure painted gold). It should be
pretty cool.

For full tournament details please check
out:

http://www.swa-gaming.org/TitanTournamentSWA2010