MichCon AA Event

[questioneer]

I had a great time at the AA Events on Saturday. It was my first of this kind and my first time using the bidding system. The first game I played, I conceded to a puppy who never played Revised before. I felt bad for him. :(
The second game I played against a much better player who dogged it out with me. I tried an early Normany attack (which I have played on three other occasions when Germany THINKS they've left enough on Western Europe, and I have won them before). In this game, it was risky, but I tried it for kicks. It eventually turned out to be my undoing, but I came very close to taking it again.

After 2 games I was a little winded. I'll have to build an endurance for these kind of tournaments. I will definitley go to MichCon again next year for the following reasons:

--The coordinators "whats his name who had to leave in the afternoon" and Yoper were great to work with and reasonable with everyone. Yoper, we have yet to play a game. Look forward to it soon.

--It was CLOSE IN LOCATION. It don't have to drive more than an hour to get to it. This is what I do not like about GenCon or Origins (with only single elimination)- wasted time for me.
I strongly believe that we can gather enough Metro Detroit people to have a tournament of 16+ people in the future with the new rejuvanated interest in AA Revised and the other recently made games (Pacific, Europe, D-day).

--SWISS STYLE was played here. No wasted time for anyone. The tourney should start on Friday night, play a game, continue Saturday with 3-4 more games and the people with the best records play Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. If there are 3+ more people with 4-0 records, create criteria and let the players know how tie breakers should be made (net IPC's gained, Victory Cities, etc.). The top two play in the finals on Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

--SINGLE PLAYERS INSTEAD OF TEAMS I like this idea, give players more control, but I do love playing with teams also.

Other comments:

Of course we cannot do what GenCon is doing, that is a large scale event the requires a lot of promotion and preparation. However, WE CAN do what Origins is doing!!! They only had 16 teams there. I believe we could easily turn this into a great local event for the Detroit Metro and possilbly the Toledo area!!!

I would like to be involved in next year's MichCon and possibly facilatate (what teacher's do best, which I am). Judging games was enjoyable.

I may even create my own tournament. What do you guys think??? Yoper?? I could do it in the Fall. I would like to do a 4-game Swiss style AA Series event. All players would play ALL 4 AA created games-(Revised, Pacific, Europe and D-day). I would not be limited to this idea of course. Top 2 play in a final round of Revised. Top two winners get a trophy and a gift certificate to Dave and Buster or something. :p

A TROPHY, you guys need a trophy for MichCon!!! That's whats missing!!! Something unique like the Stanley cup to brag about!!! :D

For Yoper, Frog, Colored Cav and all the rest to the guys, it was great playing with you all and I look forward to more gaming. Please comment on this thread for any MichCon ideas or reflections.
Peace to the MiddleEast
Questioneer

"Wisdom comes from asking the right questions, not from knowing all the answers." :)

[Muddog]

What were the results? Did you see any good strategies?

[Frog]

MichCon was awesome. The rapid heart beat, the sweaty palms, energy was in the air. I felt as if I were on stage. It was great to see and play people from these boards who you never meet in person until an event like this. I can't remember everyones names from screen names, so I won't even try.

For a first time revised tournament it went pretty well. I agree there are enough people in the area we could make a large gathering next year. Yoper and I are working on a fall gathering somewhere in Toledo. Here are some changes I would consider for next year at MichCon.

1) Don’t have the D-Day and revised tournament at the same time. There were many people playing D-day that could have been in the revised. I don’t know who makes that decision, there were different GM’s , but some communication may increase attendance at both games.

2) I like the round-Robin, everyone plays 4 games. However I would try to pair up winners from each round to the next so a possible 3 people with 4-0 record won’t happen.

3) Better winners prize. Sorry, even though I have some bragging rights now, I wanted a trophy!!!! By the end of the day the “better” games Michcon was giving as prizes just wasn’t equal to a $7 entry fee. (the con was free admission though) Maybe WOTC would donate a game or 2??? (yeah right)

These are minor complaints in a great day. i encourage everyone who played to tell about their impressions so we can get 20 people next year!!!

[pwt1997]

Frog -

I agree with you - having the D-Day and Revised tournaments at the same time seemed a little odd to me. I played a pickup game of D-Day, and when the tournament was supposed to start, there was only three guys (including my buddy and I who already played), so we decided to skip out.

It looked like Yoper was doing a great job running the show. I imagine next year things will be very smooth....

In my opinion, I think you could go with D-Day/Europe/Pacific tournaments on Friday, the Revised tournament on Saturday, and then if necessary, have championship rounds for everything on Sunday.

Please keep us updated on the event you and Yoper are planning - it sounds interesting. There is no doubt in my mind we can have 20-25 people for next year's Michicon.

Paul

[Katzegott]

It was definately some fun games from all. I think next time I go that long I need to get a few more hours of sleep the night before :O

I think we might need a more concise system for determining winners than what was being used, but what is the question. In time based games though, I think a time limit should be placed on certain phases, purchasing and most definately unit placement.

Frog, I cant wait to play again when Ive got alot more energy and am not making the blundering moves I did (mainly russian far east and UK). Im not quite up to speed with my allies yet either and would like to try some new things against that open.

[questioneer]

This is the greatest thread ever!!! Go Michcon

[Frog]

Yope??? Are you there????

Where are the results???

What were the bids??? which sides won compared to what the bids were????

We want the truth!!! ( yes we can handle the truth)

[Yoper]

Frog-
I have been at a family cottage and then out of town. As much as I live and breath A&A, I am forced to participate in other activities that are family-oriented. Russ sent out an email that had all the info that you asked for but he must not be able to read my handwriting. He had your email all screwed up. I just sent him an email with the correct email address so that info should be coming to you shortly.

Katzegott-
Yes, I think that we would all like a better system for determining a winner. I think that eventually we will all get a better feel for the game and that, along with the rules clarifications, will help with better game adjudication. The time problems you are talking, I think, come more from players who were new to the game and not from slow players. Once the game has been around longer the players will have more experience and time for each turn will go down.

The tournament can be run better. There are things that are within the control of the GM and those things can be done better. There are also things that are beyond the control of the GM and those things can not be changed by the GM. Hopefully by the time the next convention comes around it will be in a better location. This will be a big step towards helping those who run the A&A tournament, run a better A&A tournament. With your continuing input and help we will continue to make improvements. Thanks guys.

Craig

[Yoper]

Come to the A&A Gathering on Saturday, 08/14/04, so that we can discuss what went on at Michicon and work towards making the next convention tournament better. Not to mention the fact that you get to play all the games you want against all the people who beat you at the tournament. That is unless you are Frog, who won all three games. He was lucky he did not have to play me! What's up with you, Muddog? We need you around to keep Frog in line. I hope that all participants in the Michicon tournament got the information email from the GM (Russ Price). If not, let me know so that I can get it to you.

Craig

[V-Disc]

I had great time at Michcon.

Due to those darned "family commitments"; I was only able to take in a few hours of gaming that afternoon. That was long enough to get in a side game with Yope; size up the tourney in progress; and take a good look around the event.

Hats off to the the organizers of Michcon.
Don't miss the next one folks!

[Muddog]

I am the Anti-Frog. Frog doesn't want me there because I am a bad luck charm.

I will be there on the 14th. I am finishing graduate school so I have been very busy, but I am done on August 3rd!

Looking forward to playing some Axis & Allies against some good competition.

[Yoper]

Here is the Michicon A&A Tournament Results.

Hope everyone had a great time this year at Michicon 2004.
This year's tournament was played using A&A Revised.

Congratulation to Brian Ferguson, winning this year's tournament by going undefeated!

We had 9 participants at the Michicon A&A Revised Tournament:

New Players at Michicon-
Brian Ferguson
Seumas Hoskins
Pat McKinnie
Samuel Aten
Shiloh Christie

Returning players-
Barry Shoults
Eric Christoff
Ed Sokol
Craig Yope

2004 Results

## Player W L

1 Brian Ferguson 3 0

2 Seumas Hoskins 2 1

3 Barry Shoults 2 1

4 Ed Sokol 1 2

5 Pat McKinnie 1 2

6 Samuel Aten 1 1

7 Eric Christoff 0 2

8 Shiloh Christie 0 2

Alt Craig Yope 1 0


Victories

Allies Axis

Tournament Total 4 7

1 Games with NO BID (*) 1 0


AVE BID for Axis- +4

= AVE BID 0 3

> AVE BID 0 3

< AVE BID 1 0

TOTAL 2 6

Highest BID- +6

Lowest BID- +3


AVE BID for Allies- +5

= AVE BID 0 0

> AVE BID 0 1

< AVE BID 1 0

TOTAL 1 1

Highest BID- +6

Lowest BID- +4

*(Editorial Note- While Russ considers this a no bid, I consider this to be a bid- it was a bid by Eric to play the Axis and give Samuel 0 IPC's. Samuel accepted. He could have continued the bidding. It was still a bid as per the bidding system in place and should be reflected in the averages for the Axis totals.)

Craig