NICon 2017

[geoff]

Just a call out to the Kiwi contingent. Will there be a Fogn tournament at NICon this year? If yes will it be on the 3rd/4th of June?
Not sure if I can make it at this stage but keen to confirm dates for planning purposes.

Geoff

[Philip]

Just a couple of days to go before the tournament! We have 12 players, 9 from Auckland and 3 visiting from Australia. Should be a good weekend.

[BrettPT]

Well Nicon 2017 done.

Big ups to those who made the effort to travel from Australia for the tournie. Great to see you guys here.
Well done to Lord Goldsbury, winner, NZ champion and holder of Sharpe's Eagle for the 2nd year running.

Results:

1st Kit (85 points) Anglo-Netherlands army in Belgium 1815
2nd Mike (71 points) Ottoman army in the Balkans 1805-08
3rd Andrew (70 points) Russian infantry corps 1813-14
4th Richard G (68 points) Russian army in Austria 1805
5th Brett (54 points) Austrian army in Italy 1805
6th Richard S (50 points) Swedish army of North 1813-14
7th Geoff (41 points) Russian army in Austrian 1805
7th Lawrence (41 points) Russian infantry corps 1812
9th Shaun (40 points) French Corps dArmee 1814
10th Al (38 points) Allied army in Spain 1812-14
11th Stu (30 points) Saxon Army 1809
Philip (12 points) French army of the Orient 1798-1801

Stats
From the 36 feedback forms handed back,:
Position Defence chosen 7 times. 4 Wins (blocked on 9 occasions)
Flexible Defence chosen 9 times. 2 Wins (blocked on 7 occasions)
Probe chosen 4 times. 3 Wins (blocked on 9 occasions)
Envelop chosen 6 times. 3 Wins (blocked on 12 occasions)
Prepared Assault chosen 6 times. 4 Wins (blocked on 7 occasions)
Frontal Assault chosen 4 times. 2 Wins (blocked on 11 occasions)

[geoff]

Terrific comp. Thought the rule changes all worked very well. Definitely more decisive games but still with that strong Napoleonic flavour that V1 gave.
Enjoyed all my games immensely

[KendallB]

How many games were timed out?

It's my opinion over the past few months that the games are too fast now. There is precious little chance of recovering a bad situation - reserves can't get to an area to influence a reversal, a turn of bad luck can't be salvaged before you lose.

[BrettPT]

The rounds were 3.5 hours.
Only 3 games (from 24) were timed out draws.
Most rounds saw 1 or 2 games finish in 2-3 hours, with the rest finishing 3-3.5 hours.

In my view this ideal n a tournament format. If a club game was desired to last 4-5 hours, I think playing 1,000 points would be the way to go.

[KendallB]

I'm not after a long game, merely a game that doesn't punish me for a single mistake or unfortunate run of CTs.

IMO counting wavering units towards army loss rewards the dice rather than the man.

[BrettPT]

I actually think that wavering being -1AVC makes the game last longer, not shortens it.

30:10 results are what makes for very fast games - and there were few of these in the tournament. Due, I think, not only to evenly matched opponents, but also because you have to do extraordinarily well to keep your own army under 10% ACV.

Yes, a run of bad dice or a single mistake can be pounced on by a good opponent and could cost you a game. No different to most other wargames IMO. A mistake or bad dice throw - which loses you a crucial unit - can turn a game in most systems.

Anyway, the Melbourne tournie in a month should give us a bunch more feedback. But my current view is we seem to have game length, at 800 points, about right.

[KitG]

Thanks Brett - it was a very good tournament.

Just some practical points:

Maybe make the rules a bit clearer regarding impetuous and pursuit, to take into account the fact that the geometry of the game will often mean that an impetuous unit will not be free to pursue the unit it has been in comabt with.

Also look at the pass through - only one unit can pass through a face of the square (that's fine) - but do they conform to the face of that square and then move to the other side to pass through? Or are they place on the opposite side of the square facing in the same direction? What if they have contacted a corner of the square?

And to include superiour troops re-rolling a 1 as a pursuit roll and poor troops re-rolling a 6 - this seems to have fallen out of the rule book.

[pugsville]

Thanks for the information.

Glad some of the Melbourne people put an appearance in.