It appears that the great server in the sky has swallowed up the previous High Tide Tournament posts so let’s catch you up to speed.
You can catch up with the results of the High Tide Tournament brackets in the Link Express at
http://garyned.tripod.com/High%20Tide%20Home.htm . High Tide was designed to be a single elimination tournament employing many of the different styles that members play. The Round Top Bracket is played in turns with all options on except MDF and Optional Melee Resolution; while the Cemetery Ridge Bracket is played in turns with all options on except MDF to include Optional Melee Resolution is turned on; and the Culp’s Hill Bracket is played in phases with all options on to include MDF and Optional Melee Resolution.
Using the tournament as a reflection of what members prefer as their main playing options, Round Top started with 29 participants, Cemetery Ridge with 30 participants, and Culp’s Hill started with 16 participants. The expectation would be that each bracket would see a different champion since the skills required for each bracket are so varied. Well, expectations do not always come to fruition.
The Champion of the Culp’s Hill Bracket has been decided as Brig Gen Doug Shaw of the Army of the Cumberland (USA) garnered the trophy by advancing past Gen Jeff Laub in the final round.
The Round Top Bracket is down to the finals with Brig Gen Doug Shaw having advanced past Gen Jeff Laub in one semi-final and Lt Gen Pat Thompson advancing past Maj Gen Mike Seger in the other semi-final. Their final match is about to begin.
The Cemetery Ridge Bracket is also down to the finals with Brig Gen Doug Shaw again having advanced past Gen Jeff Laub in one semi-final and Maj Gen Drex Ringbloom advancing past Lt Gen Pat Thompson in the other semi-final. So far, we have been talking about #1 and #2 seeds but Maj Gen Ringbloom is a #8 seed which would indicate that either a fella can learn from experience or that money talks and I’m not trying to determine which that it is. The final match in the Cemetery Ridge Bracket is also about to begin.
One of the biggest challenges that this tournament has shown has been the difficulty in identifying balanced short scenarios available in a HPS format. The only good method of identifying balanced scenarios in BG has been long term playability as captured by the club data base. Results from being played by only a few players can be skewed due to the different playing capabilities of each player. Without a lot of balanced short scenarios, tournaments would need to use mirror matches which are also not completely fair and doubles the game load. We have also learned from this tournament that a balanced scenario today can become an unbalanced scenario tomorrow due to changes made to the HPS engine or the options that are chosen to be played with.
But enough rambling as we have two more champions to decide in this tournament and they are waiting on their green flag to start their games. I would point out though that it has boiled down in the last two finals to be Army of the Shenandoah against Army of the Cumberland.