Star Fleet Battles Tournament at Council of Five Nations

Council of Five Nations XXXII is coming this October 9-11.  Once again, we are poised to host the biggest and best Star Fleet Battles tournament in the whole world!  We consistently get attendance in the high 20s to low 30s.  This year looks to be excellent as even more SFB players from outside our usual 4-hour driving radius decide that the competition and camaraderie at Council is worth booking an airline flight.

We pamper our loyal SFB crowd with a nice private SFB room all weekend, the best room in the facility.

New for 2009 - The Council Cup

Taking inspiration from the five-years-and-counting grudge match we have going with Battlefleet Ithaca, this year we will be starting a new tradition: The Council Cup.

The Council Cup is a nice big trophy that memorializes all the Star Fleet Battles tournament winners at Council of Five Nations.  We currently have winners listed from 2002 through 2008, and there is room on the trophy for at least two dozen more names.  Every year the winner's name will be engraved on a brass plate for the world to acknowledge and revere.

We also have some new prizes for the top eight players in the finals.

Tournament Attendance

As usual, we are compiling a list of the players we know will be coming, and the certainty of their attendance.  Below is the list we've compiled so far.  As you can see, attendance is looking really strong this year.   The Council SFB tournament record is 34, and we've already got more than that just committed.  We could very well blow away the record this year.  Please come on over and help be part of the biggest and best SFB tournament in the world.

If you're thinking about attending, please email us at sfb /at/ swa-gaming.org and tell us your (Committed / Probable / Maybe) status so we can add you to the list too.  If you're already on one of these lists, but your status is changing, please let us know that too.


Committed

1. Brian Evans [Syracuse]
2. Ken Kazinski [Syracuse]
3. Peter Bakija [Ithaca]
4. Courtenay Footman [Ithaca]
5. Ken Stuart [Ithaca]
6. Andrew Koch [Rochester]
7. Robert Bassett [Rochester]
8. Andrew Sackett [Rochester via Ithaca]
9. Alden Moore [Upstate NY] - Council First-Timer
10. Tos Crawford  [Downstate NY]
    
11. George Duffy [NYC]
12. Chris Dixon [New Jersey]
13. Marcus Giegerich [New Jersey]
14. Brook Villa [New Jersey]
15. Stephen McCann [New Jersey]
16. Tim Sheehy [New Jersey]
17. Jon Fry [Vermont] - Council First-Timer
18. Kevin Block-Schwenk [Massachusetts]
19. John Malis [Massachusetts]
20. Brett Johnson [New Hampshire]
21. Ron Pilotte [Maine]
22. Patrick Hill [Pennsylvania]
23. Barry Kirk [Pennsylvania] - Council First-Timer
24. Mike Johnson [Ohio] - Council First-Timer
25. Ken Burnside [Milwaukee, WI] - Council First-Timer
26. Ron Brimeyer [Maquoketa, IA] - Council First-Timer
27. Paul Scott [California]
28. Jude Hornborg [Toronto, Ontario, Canada] - Council First-Timer
29. Orbis Proszynski [Toronto, Ontario, Canada] - Council First-Timer
30. Tim Linden [Toronto, Ontario, Canada] - Council First-Timer
31. John Rigley [SWA]
32. Robin Toll [SWA]
    
33. Dage McNitt [SWA]
34. Nick Klercker [SWA]
    
35. Jason Murphy [SWA]
36. Ben Ossenfort [SWA]
37. Travis Cunero [SWA]
38. Eric Rocque [SWA]
    

Probable

1. Joe Stevenson  [Union, NJ] - Potential Council First-Timer
2. Anne Swartwout [SWA]

Maybe

1. Chris Proper [Ithaca]
2. Steve Wampler [Ithaca]
3. Howard Sanders [Ithaca]
4. Ben Kalb [Ithaca] - Potential Council First-Timer
5. John Pendt  [Oneonta NY] - Potential Council First-Timer
6. Tom Compter [Vermont] - Potential Council First-Timer
7. Ed Slusarek [New Jersey]
8. Ameer Sulaiman [Massachusetts]
9. Aadil Sulaiman [Massachusetts]
10. Mark Leonard [New Hampshire]
11. Jeff Osborne [Connecticut]
12. John Behnken  [Downstate NY]
    
13. Gary Brady [Downstate NY]
14. Charles Davis [Vermont]
15. Robert Rousse [Vermont]
16. Joe Kwiatkowski [New Hampshire]
17. Jeff Johnson [North Carolina] - Potential Council First-Timer
18. David Hill [SWA]
19. Devin Fortman [SWA]

Special Long-Distance Maybes

• Marcin Radziko [Canada]
• Lee Larsen [Canada]
• Jason Gray  [Australia]
• Dale McKee [California] - Not likely at this point, but not 0% chance either...
  
• Jeremy Gray [Germany]
• Some of the other SFB players from around the country/world?  It's worth the trip!
  

Tournament Judge



Tournament Schedule

The tournament officially starts at 10am on Friday, October 9th. In fact, we're starting the con early just so SFB players can get in as many games as possible.  The rest of the events don't start until 2pm.

A bunch of us locals will be there when the doors open.  However, you do not need to be there that early to participate. We expect another wave of guys on Friday night after dinner, and yet another bunch on Saturday morning when the doors open at 8am.

See below for the details of the open Patrol round and finals bracket.

Experience Level

Most people on the three lists above have at least a solid knowledge of the rules and has played several games. However, we know we'll have several players who are more at the novice level. We strongly encourage everyone to attend, whatever your experience level. We will try to pair you with players who can coach as you go along.

Sweeteners

• Students get roughly a 50% discount on their registration.
• Groups of 3+ who pre-register in the same envelope, or together online, get $5 off each one.
• October 9-11 is Columbus Day Weekend.  All our local State workers have Columbus Day Monday off from work. Maybe you do too, making it even easier to justify going to a con?
  

Questions?  Comments?

Please send an email to sfb /at/ swa-gaming.org and we'll get 'em answered. 
Or, you can call Dave Cheng at (518) 464-1977 before 11pm Eastern time, any given night, and get 'em answered even faster.

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Patrol Phase

• Starts at 10am on Friday
  
• Finals will start some time Saturday late afternoon or evening. 
  
• Play as many games as you want
• You must play at least two patrol games to qualify for the finals bracket.
  
• Tournament Judge will assign matches by availability and blind draw.

Judging

• The Judge’s knowledge of the rules is solid, but not legendary. Assistance from the field is welcome.
• Games will run no longer than 4 hours. If you end a turn with less than 20 minutes to go, end the game there. The Judge will adjudicate games as necessary.
  
• Excessive disagreement with the Judge is strongly discouraged.
• Non-Aggressive Play:  Please click here to see the guidelines on non-aggressive play that we will follow at this tournament.
  

Finals

Finals participants determined by a three-step process:

• Net wins
• Total number of games played
• Strength of record of opponents (if we have time to calculate this), OR a simple die roll (if we're short on time, like we were last year), as per the Tournament Judge's discretion.
  

 If we go with a 4-round finals bracket:

• Top 16 games begin at 5pm Saturday
• Quarterfinals at 9pm Saturday
• Semi-finals at 9am Sunday
• Finals at 2pm Sunday

Otherwise:

• Quarterfinals at 9pm Saturday
• Semi-finals at 9am Sunday
• Finals at 2pm Sunday

Special Prizes

• "Iron Man" = most Patrol round games played
  
• "Cosmic Hitchhiker" = the player who traveled the farthest to attend.
• "Nailbiter" = closest victory (fewest boxes left when opponent blows up).
  

Prizes

Hey, I thought you were a Rated Ace Tournament, sanctioned by ADB?



What's up with your relationship with ADB?

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Please click here to go to the main Council general info page.

Please click here for Directions to Council of Five Nations.

Please click here to go to the Council Hotels page.

Please click here to go to the Council Parking page.


If you have any questions, please email us at sfb /at/ swa-gaming.org