ECZ Tournament Director's Pack
Published by: Advancing Fire. November 2022
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Introduction:
The Tournament Director created his pack! Enrico Catanzaro known in ASL world as "ecz" uses his almost 30 years of experience as a player and Tournament Director to create a pack of scenarios where emphasis is on replayability and balance. Not all the scenarios in the pack are tournament size, but all require careful planning on both the defense and the attack. The original interaction between VCs and tactical options often leads to very peculiar situations.
The real innovation and novelty is that all sixteen scenarios feature an original bidding system designed to establish the victory conditions (within a predetermined range) and to assign sides at the same time. During the pre-game bid, players decide via this bid system the side and the Victory Conditions required. Depending on the scenario, it could be a number of EVPs, a number of buildings to control, a number of CVP to amass, etc... Invariably both players must bid a number representing the achievement they believe they can reach playing the bid side, usually the attacker side. The higher bidder wins and gets that side. Ties are resolved by a die roll.
The net result of this mechanism leads each player to play the side they prefer while the VCs are invariably set at a level that the attacker believes is still acceptable (in fact the winner of the bid believes he can reach that objective, otherwise, why bid that high?). In the end, if the VC bid was too high or too low unbalancing the scenario, then the losing player has only himself to blame for not bidding appropriately.
Note that although this system is perfect for highly competitive play, any scenario in the pack is fully usable for non-competitive use by players of any level. In fact, the use of the bidding system establishes a middle ground for any of the scenarios, resulting in a challenging game for all players. Thus anyone can still start to play any scenario immediately with no preliminary study. In any case, after a pair of games, most players will be able to find their "ideal" bid level in tune with their skills and preferences and could decide to offer a bid pushing the VCs toward the top or the bottom of the range allowed.
The real innovation and novelty is that all sixteen scenarios feature an original bidding system designed to establish the victory conditions (within a predetermined range) and to assign sides at the same time. During the pre-game bid, players decide via this bid system the side and the Victory Conditions required. Depending on the scenario, it could be a number of EVPs, a number of buildings to control, a number of CVP to amass, etc... Invariably both players must bid a number representing the achievement they believe they can reach playing the bid side, usually the attacker side. The higher bidder wins and gets that side. Ties are resolved by a die roll.
The net result of this mechanism leads each player to play the side they prefer while the VCs are invariably set at a level that the attacker believes is still acceptable (in fact the winner of the bid believes he can reach that objective, otherwise, why bid that high?). In the end, if the VC bid was too high or too low unbalancing the scenario, then the losing player has only himself to blame for not bidding appropriately.
Note that although this system is perfect for highly competitive play, any scenario in the pack is fully usable for non-competitive use by players of any level. In fact, the use of the bidding system establishes a middle ground for any of the scenarios, resulting in a challenging game for all players. Thus anyone can still start to play any scenario immediately with no preliminary study. In any case, after a pair of games, most players will be able to find their "ideal" bid level in tune with their skills and preferences and could decide to offer a bid pushing the VCs toward the top or the bottom of the range allowed.
Map board(s):
None
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Scenarios:
Scenario | Played | Total | Rating | Location | Theatre | Attacker | Defender | Length | Balance | Popularity* |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BR11: Fields of Golden Wheat | 0 | 10 | Northwest of BISCARI, SICILY | MTO | American | Italian | 2.6 hrs | Unknown | 15% | |
ecz1: The Bet | 0 | 86 | 8.33 | North of TRØGSTAD, NORWAY | ETO | German | Norwegian | 3.6 hrs | Balanced | 128% |
ecz2: Liberating Bukovina | 0 | 2 | 7.50 | West of Dnister River, Bukovina | ETO | Romanian | Russian | 5.6 hrs | 100% Romanian | 3% |
ecz3: Turf Wars in Mongolia | 0 | 105 | 7.80 | Near NOMONHAN, MONGOLIA Border | CBI | Japanese | Mongolian | 3.3 hrs | 100% Mongolian | 157% |
ecz4: Flash and Thunder | 0 | 0 | Near the NEUVILLE-AU-PLAIN River. FRANCE | WTO | American | German | 2.7 hrs | 100% American | 0% | |
ecz5: The Good and the Bad | 0 | 0 | MONTEFIORINO, ITALY | MTO | German (SS) / Italian | Partisan | 9.1 hrs | Unknown | 0% | |
ecz6: Diurnal Assault | 0 | 10 | STALINGRAD | ETO | Russian | German | 13.6 hrs | Unknown | 15% | |
ecz7: Clash of Cans | 0 | 1 | 8.00 | GUADALAJARA, SPAIN | SCW | Republican | Nationalist | 2.4 hrs | 100% Republican | 1% |
ecz8: A Hot Week in Sicily | 0 | 10 | MT. BASILIO, north of TROINA, SICILY | MTO | German | American | 5.3 hrs | Unknown | 15% | |
ecz9: Culquaber | 0 | 0 | CULQUALBER, ETHIOPIA | E AFR | British | Italian | 9 hrs | 100% Italian | 0% | |
ecz10: The Capture of Malta | 0 | 10 | KRENDI AIRFIELD, MALTA | MTO | German / Italian | British | 6.8 hrs | Unknown | 15% | |
ecz11: Blood and Brine | 0 | 124 | 5.60 | CALAIS, FRANCE | ETO | German | British | 5.8 hrs | 100% German | 185% |
ecz12: A Tragic Victory | 0 | 29 | 8.00 | VILNIUS’ suburbs, POLAND | ETO | German | Russian / Partisan | 4.2 hrs | 100% German | 43% |
ecz13: Leaving Changsha | 0 | 48 | 6.50 | Outskirts of CHANGSHA, SOUTH-CENTRAL CHINA | CBI | Japanese | Chinese | 4.7 hrs | Balanced | 72% |
ecz14: The Streets of Shanghai | 0 | 29 | 2.00 | SHANGHAI, CHINA | CBI | Chinese | Japanese | 11.6 hrs | 100% Japanese | 43% |
ecz15: The Best Defence | 0 | 48 | 5.50 | South of AACHEN, GERMANY | WTO | German | American | 6.3 hrs | 100% American | 72% |
* Popularity is the sum of Roar and Archive reported playings based as a percentage of the parent publication's total games.
(Dark) grey rows indicate Night scenarios.
Median length of scenarios: 5.45hrs
Average rating of scenarios: 6.58
Total playing time: 96.6hrs