Map and Counters

Back on 11 November of last year, I posted an invitation for those of my readers who were interested to sign-up for the 'STALINGRAD' PBeM Tournament which was then being organized by a small group of this "classic" East Front game's 'devotees' over at Consimworld. I am pleased to report that the response to this first tournament announcement was strong enough that a few of us die-hard 'grognards' have decided to follow up on this first effort with a second, similar PBeM Tournament for WATERLOO. However, this time around, because most of the 'STALINGRAD' PBeM Tournament participants ended up being Americans, I want to make a special point of calling on my many overseas visitors to consider participating in this newest PBeM event. Call me old-fashioned, but I think, given that this year marks the 50^th anniversary of Avalon Hill's WATERLOO, that it would be especially fitting if this special event — besides counting among its number the usual batch of American 'grognards' — also included at least a few participants (it is your history we're talking about, after all) from France, Germany, England, and the Low Countries.

After being ignored by the majority of traditional tournament organizers for decades, it looks like Avalon Hill's classic game, WATERLOO, is finally making a comeback of sorts among contemporary gamers. Avalon Hill's 1962 release,WATERLOO, has, of course, been a staple tournament offering at the WBC Convention for many years; however, as a sign of this game's reviving popularity among players, both young and old, it was also added to the competitive schedule of this year's PrezCon for the first time. So, to celebrate this modest resurgence in populararity, a 50^th Anniversary PBeM WATERLOO tournament will soon be getting under way thanks to the ad hoc efforts of a number of the game's many fans over at the Consimworld WATERLOO Forum . This tournament, as I noted above, is actually a spin-off of the still-running STALINGRAD PBeM Tournament that began in December of 2011; and among those who will be helping to get this project off the ground are long-time players such as Joe Angiolillo, Rob Beyma, Ed Menzel, and myself (just to name a few). The good news for prospective participants is that the tournament will be free. And while a few administrative details still need to be worked out, the general outlines of the tournament are already taking shape.

British Waterloo medal

For starters, to maximize the gaming opportunities of the participating players, this soon-to-get-underway WATERLOO competition — like the STALINGRAD PBeM Tournament currently in progress — will be organized along the lines of a "Swiss" style multi-round tournament so that players who suffer an early defeat will still have a chance to fight their way back and to gain a shot at making it into the "final four". In addition, because of the well-known pro-Prussian/Anglo-Allied (PAA) bias associated with the standard version of WATERLOO, several special tournament rules have been added to even the playing field for the French players. As might be expected, the 2^nd edition (1978) WATERLOO rules will be in effect. However, a 7pm turn will be added to each campaign day, and the standard game's five day Turn Record Track will be shortened to four days; that is: all of the matches in this tournament will end with the PAA portion of the 7pm June 19^th game turn (28 game turns), instead of at the conclusion of its standard final 20 June 5pm game turn (30 game turns). In addition to this modest adjustment to the tournament game's Turn Record Track, the French player — to further improve play-balance — will (on a one-time basis) be allowed, prior to the commencement of each new match, to stipulate whether both players will be required to use the traditional D6 Avalon Hill Combat Results Table, or whether the D10 "Postal" Combat Results Table (a "downloadable" file of this CRT will be made available for those players who do not already possess their own copy) will instead be used to resolve ALL combats for the duration of the game in question.

As things now stand, the actual PBeM game platform to be used in individual tournament matches will be left to the players to decide among themselves (please note that there are several gaming sites that currently support WATERLOO play, including VASSAL, Aide de Camp (ADC), Cyberboard, and Zun Tzu; in those situations where there are compatibility or download problems, however, rather than being locked-out of this competition, players will be able to fall back on a spreadsheet format such as the one already posted on this blog. TRICKS OF THE TRADE: ‘WATERLOO’ PBeM PLAY AID

As indicated previously, there are still a few tournament details left to be worked out (e.g., the actual number of "Swiss" rounds to be played, and the maximum time limit to be allowed to complete each round, among other things), but most of the more important elements of the tournament seem to be rapidly falling into place. For those readers who would like to visit the Consimworld WATERLOO Forum in order to peruse the tournament discussion which is currently still in progress, a link has been provided at the bottom of this page. Please note that new visitors can drop in on any of the Consimworld Forums at any time, without having to formally join the forum community; however, if a "guest" decides to participate directly in the ongoing discussions in one or more of these game-related groups, then he or she is encouraged to sign up with this popular Internet wargaming destination and, if possible, to make a modest contribution to the hosting site, Consimworld.

Last but not least, those visitors to "Map and Counters" who would either like more information about this once-in-a-lifetime gaming event, or who would actually like to sign up for the 50^th Anniversary PBeM WATERLOO Tournament, are invited to address their inquiries to the tournament's game master, Joe Angiolillo, at: angiolillo_joseph@hotmail.com.

Consimworld WATERLOO Forum: http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX/.ee6d37c/907