PBEM Tournament Guidelines
BPA
Play-by-email Tournament Guidelines
1. Players
must be members of the BPA for 2006 or 2007 in order to enter the competition.
Once entered, an entrant may finish out the tournament regardless of whether
they keep up their BPA membership. (This is a BPA requirement.)
2. All games will be AREA rated. (This is a BPA requirement.)
3. The tournament will follow a single elimination format. Match
Assignments will be made by AREA Rating. In the first round, highest seed will
play lowest seed as in tennis. After the first assignments are determined, the
field will be split in two and brackets will be developed – highest seed in
one bracket, second highest in the other, etc. Thereafter, later round
assignments will be based upon success in each bracket, as in tennis.
4. In accordance with BPA recommendation, there will be no byes. When an
uneven number of participants advance into a round, a person who is not
advancing will be enlisted to fill out the round. The enlistee will be seeded by
AREA rating.
5. Die Rolling. Players should use a random number utility which usually
provides die roll results by e-mail in less than one minute. The irony web die
roll utility at http://www.irony.com/mailroll.html is recommended. Any other
method must be approved by the GM.
6. Time Limit. The
length of each round will be 13 weeks. The goal is completion of a full turn
each week. Each player should respond with his next e-mail (see the pbem
procedure outlined below) within three days of receiving the opponent's last
e-mail. Each player will be able to declare one week 'off' in which he will not
have to make a move. That said, players may make any arrangement between
themselves as long as the match is completed within the time limit.
7. Adjudication. If a game goes beyond the specified time limit, the game
will be adjudicated by the GM and the Assistant GM’s. Both the current
position on the board and the relative speed of play of the two players will be
considered. If a game is heading towards adjudication, you may wish to look at
your emails from the whole game to determine the amount of time each player
spent between moves. Let's not go here guys.
8. Advancement. The winner of each game advances to the next round.
9. The GM will be Bruno Sinigaglio. Any and all questions, disputes,
situations, etc. should be reported to him first at sinigaglio@alaska.com.
The Asst GM's will be: Bob Ryan - bobmryan@aol.com
and Roger Eastep - roger-e@verizon.net
10. Choosing Sides and Scenario. Each pair will determine
among themselves who will play each side. If unable to come to an agreement,
submit a die roll or request a die roll from the GM. There is NO requirement to
play each side an equal number of times. It is possible to go through the entire
tournament and only play one side (this is ok). Any scenario other than the
Campaign game may be agreed upon. The default scenario is the 8 turn tournament
scenario should an agreement not be possible.
11. Before the start of the game, the Allied Player must
receive the location of the hidden fuel dumps (if any) from the GM.
Deluxe
Bitter Woods PBEM procedure
Sequence of Play and PBEM Message System
1. German Player Turn. Each phase is described in detail as follows:
a) Mutual Supply Phase. The German player checks the supply status for all
units in play and denotes out-of-supply units with an OOS marker. The German
player checks the Allied player end of turn message from the last Allied turn to
determine, if the Allied player has scheduled supply air drops for this Mutual
Supply Phase. If necessary, the German player places Air Drop markers. The
German player sends for internet die roll(s) for German units subject to
Surrender.
b) Allied Interdiction Phase. The German player checks the Allied player
end of turn message from the last Allied turn to determine, if the Allied player
has scheduled air interdiction for this phase. If necessary, the German player
places Aircraft markers.
c) Random Events. If this is a Random Event turn, the German player sends
for an internet die roll to determine the random event. The Random Event rolled
will be immediately reported to the Game master.
d) German Special Movement Tactic E-Mail. When there will be a German
challenge of US Air Interdiction and/or a 150th Panzer Brigade Infiltration
attempt, the German player will first e-mail the involved unit's move to his
opponent, listing all units placed in reserve in the email. The Allied player
will then request the internet die roll(s) to resolve the movement attempts. If
there are no German special movement tactics, this message phase will be
skipped.
e) German Movement E-Mail. The German player sends his movement, listing
the final locations for all units at the end of the movement phase, plus
notation for units placed in Reserve, units repairing bridges, and units
building Improved Positions and Forts. Special Note: See Paragraph 3a through 3e
below for German movement adjacent to hidden fuel dumps. The Allied player
checks the move for errors. This German Movement E-Mail also includes a list of
Surprise Attack rolls, SS Panzer Scare rolls, bombardments, attacks, and
angriffs, which could be all attacks OR the first set of attacks to be resolved
with a note alerting the opponent that there may be more attacks after the first
set is resolved. Attacks must list the units involved, any air or artillery
support allocated by the attacker, and odds as calculated before Allied
artillery or air support is added. Do NOT send for combat rolls at this point.
f) Allied Defender Response E-Mail: The Allied player sends his air and
artillery support allocation to the German player listing the recalculated odds
and simultaneously sends for die rolls for all listed combats. All die rolls
must be resolved in the order listed by the German player - no exceptions.
g) Combat Results E-Mail: The Allied player lists the combat results
together with any retreats or losses applied to his units (taking into account,
as much as possible, the advances by the German in prior combats). Advances
after combat in earlier attacks will sometimes cause the elimination of
retreating Allied units.
h) German After Combat E-Mail. The German player lists any advances after
combat and any exploitation movement. Special Note: See Paragraph 3a through 3e
below for German advances or movement adjacent to hidden fuel dumps.
i) German End-of-Turn E-Mail. The German player lists any bridge
demolition attempts and any bridge construction with bridge construction move
across a river with any accompanying units. The German player simultaneously
sends for demolition rolls.
Note, that the German After Combat E-Mail and the German
End-of-Turn E-Mail may frequently be combined, when the situations are not
complicated.
2. Allied Player Turn. Much of the Allied player turn is similar to the
German player turn and much is not. Each phase is described in detail as
follows:
a) Mutual Supply Phase. The Allied player checks the supply status for all
units in play and denotes out-of-supply units with an OOS marker. The Allied
player sends for internet die roll(s) for Allied units subject to Surrender.
There is no Allied supply air drop during the Allied player turn.
b) Interdiction Phase. There is no Interdiction Phase during the Allied
player turn.
c) Random events are not rolled on the Allied player turn.
d) There are no Allied Special Movement Tactics.
e) Allied Movement E-Mail. The Allied player sends his movement, listing
the final locations for all units at the end of the movement phase, plus
notation for units placed in Reserve, units repairing bridges, and units
building Improved Positions and Forts. The German player checks the move for
errors. This Allied Movement E-Mail also includes a list of bombardments,
attacks, and angriffs, which could be all attacks OR the first set of attacks to
be resolved with a note alerting the opponent that there may be more attacks
after the first set is resolved. Attacks must list the units involved, any air
or artillery support allocated by the attacker, and odds as calculated before
German artillery or air support is added. Do NOT send for combat rolls at this
point.
f) German Defender Response E-Mail. The German player sends his air and
artillery support allocation to the Allied player listing the recalculated odds
and simultaneously sends for die rolls for all listed combats. All die rolls
must be resolved in the order listed by the Allied player - no exceptions.
g) Combat Results E-Mail. The German player lists the combat results
together with any retreats or losses applied to his units (taking into account,
as much as possible, the advances by the Allies in prior combats). Advances
after combat in earlier attacks will sometimes cause the elimination of
retreating German units.
h) Allied After Combat E-Mail. The Allied player lists any advances after
combat and any exploitation movement. Note, that the Allied After Combat E-Mail
and the Allied End-of-Turn E-Mail may frequently be combined, when the
situations are not complicated.
i) Allied End-of-Turn E-Mail. The Allied player lists any bridge
demolition attempts and any bridge construction with bridge construction move
across a river with accompanying units. The Allied player simultaneously sends
for demolition rolls. Note: For turns that precede an Aircraft available turn,
the Allied player must list supply air drops for the next turn Mutual Supply
Phase and he must list air interdiction for the next turn Allied Interdiction
Phase.
3. German Movement and Hidden Fuel Dumps.
a) When a hidden dump is revealed, the Allied or German player should
e-mail the location to the GM for verification.
b) If any German Movement E-Mail, After Combat E-mail or End Turn E-Mail
has units moving adjacent to a fuel dump that the Allied player wants to reveal
and demolish, the Allied Player informs the German player by e-mail, listing the
dump location and the unit that will attempt the demolition. The German player
then sends for a demolition die roll.
c) If the demolition is attempted by a leader alone in the hex (who
thereafter is eliminated by the German ZOC per Rule 24.3), the German player may
alter his move to enter the hex with the dump after it is revealed and an
unsuccessful demolition roll is resolved. In all other cases, since the German
player may not enter an Allied-occupied dump hex, no change is permitted in the
German move and the players should continue with the normal sequence described
in 1e though 1i above.
d) If any German Movement E-Mail, After Combat E-Mail or End of Turn
E-Mail reveals that a German unit entered an unoccupied hidden dump hex, the
Allied player must note that fact with an immediate E-Mail. The German player
will then be permitted to alter his movement, advance after combat or
exploitation. However, players should pay attention to the next paragraph.
e) When the German player is moving or advancing into hexes that could
contain an unoccupied hidden dump, the German player should list German unit
movement one unit at a time in a hex-by-hex fashion in one or more E-Mails, as
needed. If an unoccupied dump is entered, the German player may call a halt to
the movement of the discovering unit or he may decide to finish the move of the
discovering unit as already listed. After the unit that discovered the dump has
completed its movement, all remaining movement will be completed in one E-Mail.
DBW
Default PBeM Error Resolution
1. Players are free to use any PBeM procedure upon which they agree;
however the following stipulations and dispute resolution protocols are based on
the Deluxe Bitter Woods PBEM procedure listed in the preceding
section. You will note that this procedure assigns all possible die rolling to a
particular player – this method is used to minimize the negation of dice rolls
due to errors found after the fact.
2. Die roll certainty. In most cases, a legal die
roll resolution will seal everything that occurred prior to that roll.
Therefore, it behooves the die roll requestor to ascertain the legality of
things that occurred since the last legal die roll, before he rolls the dice
anew.
3. Movement and combat. If the non-erring player (the defender) receives a
message with routine errors and rolls the dice to resolve combat before alerting
his opponent of the errors, the errors will stand without correction. The
defender is not required to return moves with mistakes; however, if he rolls the
dice for combat resolution, the errors will not be corrected. It behooves the
defender to ascertain the legality of a move before he rolls the dice.
4. When a player is alerted by his opponent that an unacceptable movement
error has been made, the erring player has the option to redo his entire move.
See examples.
Example #1: The Allies move a unit further than allowed. If the German
player alerts the Allied player before rolling the dice for attacks, the Allied
player may correct his entire move.
Example #2: The Allies move a unit slightly in excess of its movement
allowance. If the German player rolls the dice for attacks before alerting the
Allied player of the illegal movement, the Allied player is not required to
correct the movement.
5. When a player is alerted by his opponent that there is an unacceptable
error in a listed combat, the erring player does not have the option to redo his
move. He has the option to cancel the attack or allow it to occur in accordance
with the rules. See examples.
Example #1: An attack is listed at 1-1 odds, but it is actually a 1-2. If
the defender rolls the dice without alerting the attacker, the attack will be
resolved as a 1-1.
Example #2: An attack is listed at 1-1 odds, but it is actually a 1-2. If
the defender alerts the attacker that the attack is only at 1-2, the attacker
may cancel the attack, accept it as a 1-2, or include other adjacent units or
artillery in the attack as long as they are not already listed in a different
attack. No unit swapping allowed.
6. When a player receives a move wherein the opponent failed to list an
obvious attack, the recipient is not required to inform the opponent; however,
it would encourage good sportsmanship, if the opponent was informed, so that the
attack could be included.
7. GM rulings involving Combat Errors mandate that any errors which result
in the rerolling of one battle will result in the rerolling of ALL battles for
that player turn.
8. Players may agree to handle errors in any mutually agreeable manner,
acting as gentlemen to resolve disputes in any acceptable manner without
involving the GM; however, disputes brought to the attention of the Game Master
will be addressed based upon the Deluxe Bitter Woods PBEM procedure,
the DBW
Default PBeM Error Resolution, common sense and above all - the DBW
Rules.
9. Resolution of some situations may dictate drastic
measures by the GM when common sense requires that only drastic measures will be
reasonable. The GM will not be constrained by the Default Error Resolution
Procedure, if it appears that a player is using the procedure in an attempt to
circumvent the rules of the game. For Example: A German unit turns up in
Liege
in gross contravention of movement and/or zone of control rules and the Allied
player resolves German combat without catching this error. The Default Error
Resolution Procedure would normally allow the German player to keep the unit in
Liege
; however, the GM would not permit it.
10. Summary of DBW Play by Email die roll assignments:
(1) Surrender die rolls are requested by the player who controls the units
that are out of supply during the Mutual Supply Phase.
(2) Random Events are requested by the German player after the Allied
player lists Supply Air Drops and Air Interdiction.
(3) German challenge of US Air Interdiction and/or a 150th Panzer Brigade
Infiltration attempts are requested by the Allied player.
(4) German combat die rolls are requested by the Allied player.
(5) Allied combat die rolls are requested by the German player.
(6) Fuel Dump demolition die rolls are requested by the German player.
(7) Bridge demolition die rolls requested by the player who controls the
units that are attempting to blow the bridges.
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