BF&S Warsaw Grand Tournament summary with pictures

[Anatoli]

Compiled a summary of my Grand Tournament 2015 experience, with short rundown of all 5 battles played, a bit of thoughts about my army and the tournament in general.
Hope you guys enjoy, looking forward to the 2016 tournament!

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.se/2015/04/by-fire-sword-grand-tournament-2015-aar.html

[Julfdi]

Thanks for excellent report again.
I suppose I could put the link to my less illustrated and more general batreps to same thread.

http://piikkimies.blogspot.fi/2015/04/back-from-warsow-takaisin-varsovasta.html

I played with a Turkish horde, with most opponents using forces equal to my 12 Fp or only slightly weaker. Weekend was very much a learning experience - especially meeting the Polish cavalry as adversaries... They are terrifyingly good, but not invincible.

[seldon]

Guys, your reports are fantastic. Anatoli, yours as usual is very detailed and I read through it as careful as possible but one always misses things

We are hoping to start playing this at my club but it is taking us time to get moving.

Let me ask some questions..

I don't get the system for the tournament, why do you need to bring a 7 point list if you always play with the 13 point list ?

Was this tournament entirely and only with Deluge scenarios ?

Have there been dramatic changes in the rules or just clarifications and expansions ?

In the past you felt the rules were a bit confusing, have your reached the point were you feel comfortable with them and do you feel that for us far removed from the design team will it be possible to get a good grasp of the rules ?

Thanks guys.. very cool info, great pictures...

Francisco

[Julfdi]

The tourney was with Deluge scenarios only. Which means some old scenarios have been changed and some new ones added.
7 point or less list was required to be able to play against "Small list". If adversary brings a list labelled Small in deluge, or less than 4 points in strength the maximum size for You own list is 7. Rule is in Deluge for casual play and as written says tourney organizer can decide how this is handled in tournaments. Here everyone was required to bring a max 7 point to meet possible small lists.

I think Anatoli has better overall grasp of rules - having played more and being able to read both original and English wordings - and is thus more qualified to answer to the extent of changes. That said IMO there are no dramatic changes in mechanics - they have for the most part been merely clarified. And for the most part clarifications make sense. We Finns did have some surprises on way we had read the rules vs. how they were played but nothing truly major.

[Matakakea]

There seems to have been a wide selection of armies in attendance. It must have looked really good to gamers and spectators alike.

[archiduque]

Excellent report Anatoli!!!

[Anatoli]

Sorry for the late answer, but "seldon" has it right about the 7 points list.

In Deluge they introduced the skirmish force special rule of "Small skirmish force". This is a force that is very low on points or in some other way unsuitable to be played against overwhelming odds due to the poor quality of units. To balance this up, and to make it fun for both players, the opponent has to field a maximum of 7 points in his army.

In my opinion, this new rule also limits the "meta gaming" of tiny forces and has put an end to players playing the game with additional effects and scenario choice alone which was customary for forces like the Muscovite Border dragoon army list. This new addition forces players to actually play their army and not rely on meta gaming and effects to win their battles.