Historical Opponents Mirror League - Rules/Questions/Updates.

[tyronec]

Season 2.

OVERVIEW.
Participants will be split up into divisions of 5 players each.
Players will play a mirror match against each opponent in their division, so a total of 8 games.
Players select a Home army when they enter.
Players will play 2 Home mirror matches (4 games) with their home army on their chosen map type.
Players will play 2 Away mirror matches (4 games) against their opponents home army on their chosen map type, the player sets up the match and can choose ANY historical army opponent for the match.
Hopefully the system will encourage more players to select armies that are less commonly used.
Scoring will be on the Percentage difference at the end of the battle, there is no bonus for winning.
This is the thread from Season 1: viewtopic.php?f=494&t=108021

TIMELINE.
9th May - 4th July (8 weeks).
You can enter now, entries will be closed sometime before 7th May so that all the divisions are full.
The TDC completes on 7th May. TDC season 2 is due to start on 6th July so there is no overlap.

SIGN UP
Sign up here for Ancients: viewtopic.php?f=494&t=108947
Sign up here for Medieval: viewtopic.php?f=494&t=108946
Players may enter one or both.

To sign up you have to submit your Home Army list and optionally a map set.
Ancient armies are restricted to the period from 600 BC to 0 BC.
Medieval armies are restricted to the period 1300 AD to 1500 AD, so include the recent DLC.
If an army overlaps any of the time period it is valid.
There are NO Allies.

You may not select an Army list that has already been chosen nor the one that you used last season, however there are no restrictions on multiple armies of the same nationality as long as they are for different dates.
You must have all appropriate Ancient/Medieval DLCs to enter.

Players are committing to completing 8 games within the 8 week time period.
You must post one challenge in week one and your second challenge by week 5.

I am not sure how many entries I will accept, will see how the process goes and aim to terminate it with full divisions and some players in reserve.

DIVISIONS.
I will rank players into divisions accordingly to:
1.Their HOML ranking from season 1.
2.Otherwise their DL/TDC ranking/score.
3.Otherwise will rank them as best I can.

There will be a table specifying which matches you play as a Home army and which as an Away army.

MATCHES.
All matches are Mirror match;
Ancients - 1600 points, Large/Wide map, Open Battle.
Medieval - 1200 points, Medium map, Open battle.
The Away player sets up the match. They can choose any historical opponent to the Home army EXCEPT that same army or their own Home army. This will allow for some Away armies to be outside of the given period - that is OK. If you leave ‘DATE’ and ‘GEOGRAPHICAL’ checked that will give you the list of valid armies that you can use. The Home player should check that their opponent has used a valid army, invalid matches will have to be replayed.
There are no Allies for either side.
Use the map that the Home army has selected, or ‘Pot Luck’ if they have not selected one.
So for example, the Home army is Irish (Bruce). The away army could be: Anglo-Irish, Irish, Breton, English, French or Scots of the appropriate dates.

Either of the two players can require a map reroll during deployment or on the first turn, so that is a maximum of two rerolls per match if both players separately request one. You can require your one map reroll even if your opponent is happy with the map that has come up. The Away player cannot change their mind about which army to use between rerolls. If you want a reroll just do it and reset up the match, you do not need to consult your opponent.

SCORING.
Loser: takes his points. Never more than 60.
Winner: takes 120 minus the loser's points. Never less than 60.
If a player resigns then they get their score at that point.
If a player defaults then it is scored 120:0
Note: this scoring is slightly different from the TDC, it benefits players who win battles while taking low losses.

Examples:
result: 40-15. points: 105-15
result: 60-35. points: 85-35
result: 60:50. points: 70:50

Draws. Each player gets their points scored, with a maximum of 60.
Examples:
result: 25-15. points: 25-15
result: 63:61. points: 60:60

The scoring is not ideal if a player resigns or worse defaults. The best resolution of this is for everyone to complete all of their games in good time.

CHALLENGES.
The Away player makes the challenges, you do not make a challenge as the home player because you don’t know what army your opponent will use.
When you make a challenge then post it in the thread and send a PM. I need a record of the challenges in the thread to keep track of progress in the competition, so please post them !

When setting up the matches password protect them. Use the comment field to indicate the opponent.
All challenges must be responded to within one week, either accept it or agree to accept it at a later date. Once a challenge has been accepted then the games should be played.
If your challenge is ignored then PM me.

MAPS.
When players enter the competition they may optionally select a map for their Home army. To select a map you need the Region (Med., N. Europe, Middle East, Tropical, Desert or Steppe) and the Type (Agricultural, Rough, Wooded or Marshy - Mountain is excluded as it leads to maps being too restricted). For Tropical it is either with or without Marshy. Desert and Steppe have no type. The Regions for each army are listed below (this comes from the ARMYLIST.TXT file in the game)
If you do not select a map then ‘Pot Luck’ will be used.


So for example if you have a Carthaginian army the region is Mediterranean and you can select Agricultural, Rough, Wooded or Marshy OR you could go with Pot Luck which I think gives 70% Agricultural and 10% Rough/Wooded/Mountain.
If you have a Scythian army your choice is either Steppe or Pot Luck.
The map types for each nationality included in the sign up thread.

TIMLINESS
1.All players must post one Away match during week one and their second one by week five.
2. All challenges must be responded to within a week. The response can be to accept it OR that you will accept it within a given time frame.
3. Once a game has been started you should aim to complete it within a month, that means playing a move most days. All turns must be returned within three days, unless by prior notice.
Players would generally be expected to average a turn a day or if it suits faster.
If a player defaults on then their opponent can claim a game by default.
If a player defaults on clause 1, or repeatedly on clauses 2 or 3 then they may be removed from the competition.
I will conduct checks to determine if the competition is progressing well enough. For that to function properly I need to have challenges posted in the thread and to know if any challenges have been ignored so please PM me if that is happening.

At the end of the competition if there are games outstanding then:
Players may agree that the game is complete on the present score OR one player may resign.
Any games still outstanding will be adjudicated, in which case one or both players may be adjudged to be in default.

There is no good resolution to players not completing matches, I would appeal to all participants to play in a timely manner and if they see that they are not going to be able to complete a game then it is preferable to resign that to just disappear.

[kronenblatt]

Season 2.

TIMELINE.
9th May - 4th July (8 weeks).
You can enter now, entries will be closed sometime before 7th May so that all the divisions are full.
The TDC completes on 7th May. TDC season 2 is due to start on 6th July so there is no overlap.

I love this tournament concept!

However, this is the summer period (in the northern hemisphere), which will make it difficult for me to commit to 8 games over 8 weeks.

Have you considered extending the period say 4 weeks into August in order to allow for more slow holiday playing?

[tyronec]

Am sorry the dates are not the best for you.
However I think it works well for TDC players that the two competitions don't overlap so I don't want to extend the end date.

[kronenblatt]

Am sorry the dates are not the best for you.
However I think it works well for TDC players that the two competitions don't overlap so I don't want to extend the end date.

No problems: I can understand that. I’ll try to join again season 3.

[tyronec]

This link
https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=108023
now has all the HOML 2 threads for quick access.

Thank Andreas.


And just a reminder, if you have not already done so then you should be setting up at least one challenge by the weekend.

[angusosborne]

Can you please clarify, when home terrain is listed as "rough" that means hilly. The game doesn't have rough as an option

[tyronec]

Can you please clarify, when home terrain is listed as "rough" that means hilly. The game doesn't have rough as an option

Yes, that was a mistake I made when listing the terrain types.
Just treat rough as hilly.

[angusosborne]

Thanks

[tyronec]

I am just completing the week one time check.
As far as I can tell there is just one player who have not issued a challenge or started a game:
Ancients - trh
I will PM him again today.

Please do post your challenges on the Forum, that is how I can keep track of progress.
There is still the occasional challenge being made for a Home game opponent, remember you only make challenges against your Away opponent and if you are picking up a challenge make sure it is correct before starting.

[tyronec]

Week 1 time check complete - all going well.
I will do another check at the end of week 5 by when everyone should have posted all their challenges.

[tyronec]

The 'Rise of the Swiss' DLC is out now so these armies may be available to be used in your Away matches.
There are significant new units available with the new DLC, in particular keils and war wagons.
See the patch notes here: viewtopic.php?t=109207
A couple of excellent videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np5atgYmT3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uToyQWeSJ8E

[tyronec]

From the rules, which everyone has signed up to:

Once a game has been started you should aim to complete it within a month, that means playing a move most days. All turns must be returned within three days, unless by prior notice.

So playing 2-3 turns a week is not within the spirit of the competition.
If you are not going to make a move within 3 days then you must PM your opponent to let them know.

[angusosborne]

I've let my opponents know that I'm away for a couple of days, but neither of the challenges for my home matches have been sent yet so I doubt those games will be completed

[angusosborne]

Sorry for being the annoying one. I still haven't received a challenge for either home battle, which on the one hand doesn't really matter, because it's just for fun, but on the other hand is there any system for getting points when your opponent defaults?

[tyronec]

Sorry for being the annoying one. I still haven't received a challenge for either home battle, which on the one hand doesn't really matter, because it's just for fun, but on the other hand is there any system for getting points when your opponent defaults?

All challenges have to be made by week 5, which is this week - so by Sunday 12th.
I will be chasing them up this week.

If a challenge is not posted on time AND there is no result posted at the end of the competition then the challenger defaults and the Home player will be awarded maximum points.

[tyronec]

There are three weeks left, the competition ends on Monday 4th July. There will be no extensions.
If your opponent has not made their Away challenge by Sunday then you are entitled to claim the match by default.
The following challenges are outstanding, or have not been posted on the forum. The players have all received a PM reminder from me.

Ancients
Dragmio vs tmac
Dragmio vs fluidwill
Ulysisgrunt vs iversonjm
Wellsonian vs frederic02
fudwuppel vs andersarcos11
rth vs anderarcos11

Medieval
Ulysisgrunt vs iversonjm
Ulysisgrunt vs Vadim84
fudwuppel vs angusosbourne

[anderarcos11]

Hello. I think my challenges are arrival. I have not received invitations.

[tyronec]

Hello. I think my challenges are arrival. I have not received invitations.

Not sure I understand this, is something not right ?

[anderarcos11]

I have not received the invites for the missing challenges. I already did mine.

[tyronec]

fudwuppel is not responding to PMs and has defaulted on multiple games so looks like he is out of the competition and his opponents will be awarded wins.