The following are parameters for fleets in Star Blazers Tournaments for the period 6/99 to 6/00.

Gamelon A: The early Gamelon Fleet:

4 Heavy ships, one of which must be a command cruiser, only one Tri-deck Carrier or Battlecarrier, but 2 Vindictive class carriers may be selected and 32 escort ships, in 8 flotillas of 4 ships. Flotillas must be of the same type of ship.

Gamelon B: The Later Gamelon Fleet:

8 Heavy ships, 2 flotillas of 4 ships. Each flotilla must have a command cruiser, two command cruisers in the fleet. Up to two carriers may be selected and 16 escorts in 4 flotillas of 4 ships. The Vindictive class carrier is considered as a full Heavy Ship, but 2 of a carrier for the carrier limit, thus allowing up to 4 Vindictive class if no other carriers, or 2 Vindictive class and one other carrier (Tri-deck or Battlecarrier).

EDF: 4 Heavy ships, 2 divisions of 2 ships. Only one Yamato may be selected. One of either the Andromeda or the Andromeda II may be selected. One division of 2 Hood or Konigsberg class. 12 escorts in 6 divisions of 2 ships. Gearing or Arione may be selected, or mixed, but each division must be of the same type.

Comet: 6 Heavy ships in 2 divisions of 3. Only one Mederusa or Twin-Deck Carrier may be selected. Up to 3 Exterminator SCG[AM] may be selected. 12 Storm class SDDs.

The Judges decisions are final.

ONLY SHIPS WITH OFFICIAL WDFs FROM THE RULE BOOK ARE ALLOWED. Only Gamelon, EDF and Comet ships are allowed. No asteroids, space fortresses, etc.

An Escort is a ship of 6000 tons or less. A heavy ship is 30,000 tons or more. The Hood and Koinigsberg are the ships between, and they are covered.

Intermediate level rules will be used.

All carriers will have standard flight groups.

The Multiple Weapon hit table may be used and is recommended.

Games will last two hours, and the Judge may use a timer or stopwatch to keep things moving. It is reasonable to have players adjust speeds, assign weapons to DP or offensive mode, and accumulate power in 5 minutes or less. At the end of two hours, the current turn will be completed and the game is over. At the end of the game, if there is no clear victor, both players are considered losers.

Victory conditions are deliberately kept vague to frustrate rules lawyers.

Standard Geo-hex map sheets are recommended, however, if the judge must use alternatives, that is acceptable. Ships that leave the map are considered destroyed.

Players will start at diagonally opposite corners and attempt to close with and destroy the opponent. Ships will be set up within 10 hexes of the starting corner hex. Prior to the start of play, all speeds are considered to be 3, all power accumulators start at 0.

Before play begins, the Judge will determine the number of players, and put the name of each player in on a slip of paper. All slips of paper will go in a hat or similar object. If there is an odd number of players, ABye@ will be written on one slip of paper and put in the hat. Names will be drawn in pair to select opponents. After the first round, all winners= names will be placed in the hat and pairs selected, the same with losers. A Abye@ will be added if necessary to make for an even number. The player who draws a bye is considered a winner. Players who lose twice are eliminated. The last game will be the undefeated player against the survivor of the losers. The last player eliminated will win third place. The winner of the game between the undefeated player and the survivor of the losers will be the tournament winner. The loser of the last game will take second place.

Players are expected to provide figures for the ships in their fleets. Ships can be ordered from Narn@AOL.com if otherwise not available. Figures should be painted, and all heavy ships should have names, while escorts may be numbered. It is recommended that players ID their ships, so that all players leave with all the ships with which they came in. Players must have WDFs for all their ships, and enough copies so that fresh sheets are used for every round. It is also recommended that players bring a pencil or similar device, a calculator, and dice.

Prizes will be available for sanctioned tournaments. A list of winners will be kept and published as practical. All participants are requested to send after-action reports to the address below.

To sanction a tournament: The judge will contact Richard Leclercq, Hardlec@execpc.com, for prizes and authorization. Wrinkles may be added at any time, such as mission objectives other than blast the enemy. Judges should provide enough mapsheets for everyone to play on, as well as arranging table space. As the felt sheets are expensive, the judge may make arrangements with players to get enough sheets. While e-mail is fast, prizes must be mailed via snail mail, so allow enough time. At present, all prizes are being handmade by Mr. Leclercq. While this means they can't be simply purchased, it also means Mr. Leclercq may have to make prizes before he can send them out. If (and hopefully!) there is enough interest in sanctioned tournaments, Mr. Leclercq may need to charge a small fee to judges to defray the costs of materials for making prizes, and of sending piles of snail-mail. At the moment, the judges-to-be will be allowed to decide their own qualifications. The snail-mail address of Richard Leclercq: 7293 S King Arthur's Court, Oak Creek, WI 53154.

Mr. Leclercq is in charge of tournaments, and the inevitable disagreements that will arise. Direct all inquiries to him. It is planned to have a tournament at Origins and at Gen-Con, which will be supervised by Mr. Leclercq, so he will be reading after action reports and recruiting help. If you have had a good time at a well-run tournament, say so.

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