There will be a Battlestar Galactica tournament at the GenCon gaming convention in Indianapolis, IN (USA) this year. The tournament is run by fans and is NOT affiliated with Fantasy Flight Games. If you're coming to GenCon, join us in finding out who is the "best of the best."
Search for event id number BGM1342392, Friday, "Battlestar Galactica Casual Tournament - Rounds 1 & 2." Your ticket to these rounds gets you free entry to the final event round on Saturday at 3pm. Feel free to let your GenCon-attending friends know about this event.
It required a lot of clever thinking among two of my playgroups, as well as scouring forum pages for the wise opinions of my fellow players, to come up with a "tournament" structure that we thought could work. The purpose of this post is to attach and discuss the structure rules so that other players might be similarly inspired to think about holding tournaments.
First off, why hold a tournament at all? A valid question, especially considering that some FFG employees felt that the tournament structure would not be well-suited to their boardgames. The thinking of our playgroup was that we wanted a space where we could enjoy a few rounds of Battlestar playing (aka, 3 rounds) among new players (aka, strangers--not us) who actually
know
how to play the game (aka, not people at cons who merely want first exposure to this game), and are even interested in the idea, at least theoretically, that this game can be "played well." If you believe that the game can be "played well," then you might appreciate our measurement of who is "playing it the best."
Linked is the semi-final draft of the scoring rules (Excel file) that will be used at GenCon. Go to http://joebisz.com/games/battlestargalactica.html to see these files at the top. In the excel file, note the 5 tabs of information.
The first document on the first tab of the excel file (Tie Breaker Table) is a quick way to decide a winning side (aka, Human or Cylon) in the event of a time-out.
The second tab (Leader Odds) is our probability expert's geeky notes on making sure that all character types have the same average amount of tournament points gained each turn (so the average amount of points gained each turn is .95, not including MVP points).
Third tab (Main Score Sheet) is the master score sheet that tracks all player points, which shows you that we are giving out a point even to a losing side if they suffer something called a "Minor Loss."
The fourth and fifth tab (Player Scoresheet; President's MVP Tally) are mostly ways that a player can vote for an "MVP" each turn. What are MVPs? Simply put, each round a player votes for someone (other than him/herself) he/she thought was the Best Roleplayer, Best Strategist, and Best Sportsman. The players with the most votes in these categories get a point--less than the winning side, of course--but these points add up! MVPs are a way of showing that a well-played game of Battlestar does not have to simply be about "winning", but is also about performance in these 3 categories, all of which add to an enjoyable game.
See other tournament rules in the document "BSG Tournament Rules" on that web site. Here is a quick look at the scoring structure for our three-round, 18 player tournament.
--prof. joe
**For a Full Win Game (i.e. did not time out)**
Winning Side: +2 victory points to each player
Losing Side: +1 (“Minor Loss”) or +0 victory point (“Major Loss”) each, as follows:
o Human Minor Loss:
If Cylons win, but humans have jumped 7 or 8 distance, and Fuel and Population is 2 or more, and activating FTL Control is possible (i.e. undamaged and Jump Track in blue)…
Then losing human players receive +1 victory point each for a “Minor Loss.” Else +0 victory points for “Major Loss.”
o Cylon Minor Loss:
If Humans win, but TWO of the following conditions exist: 1 on any given resource dial, or 5 damage on Galactica, or 1 activation away from losing the game by a Centurion Boarding Party…
Then losing Cylon players receive +1 victory point each for a “Minor Loss.” Else +0 victory points for a “Major Loss.”
For a Cylon Leader or Sympathizer
o Winning Side With Objective Achieved: +3 victory points (1 more than standard win)
o Winning Side Without Objective Achieved: +1.5 victory points (1/2 less than standard win)
o Losing Side: If they lost, they receive the same victory points as the losing side (i.e. +0 or +1 victory point for a Minor or Major Loss), regardless of their objective.