INTRODUCTION


What is the Gisela? It's a tournament where you and your opponent have access to a large army up to 10,000 units strong. Both sides clash on the battlefield using military tactics and strategies to best one another. Amidst the footmen, each army is allowed three special heroes they can use to turn the tide of battle. At the end, only one victor stands either by total annihilation, surrender, or eliminating key leadership figures.


REGISTRATION COST

Since the implementation of Althanas Points (AP), it is now mandatory that applicants wager their AP as a means to enter official tournaments. This is to offset the cost of full judgments and staff work necessary to run the event. To enter this year's competition each member will agree to pay 5 AP to enter the tournament. By posting in the registration thread, you are agreeing to this deduction after your armies have been approved and the tournament has begun.


REGISTRATION

Upon registration, players will detail EACH of the troops in their armies. This includes the type of troop (infantry, etc.), its weapon and armor, and any special abilities. Troop should be about as strong as a level 1 to level 3 character. Troop equipment is to be no stronger than iron or steel.

In addition to the regular army, players are given 3 “hero” characters. These heroes are equivalent in power to a level 9 character and can be used in anyway a player wants. If the player wishes to use their own character, it will be used at the current level during the registration. Any hero beside your own character will be allowed up to three abilities to be detailed upon registration. Hero stats are assumed higher than traditional troops and can be detailed should you decide. Hero equipment will be no stronger than delyn unless your own character is used. The Registration Rules will be detailed further in the Registration thread.


NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS
Registration for the Gisela Open is limited to 24 players. Multiple characters will not be allowed. This is to maintain activity rather than to give everyone who wants to participate an opportunity to do so. Additionally, multiple characters can be “heroes” as described below. Meaning, you may borrow information from other player profiles to use as heroes in your army. Please ask permission prior to doing this. If a player does not wish to be used in an army and notifies Max Dirks or myself, you will be told to remove said hero or forfeit the tournament.


NUMBER OF TROOPS
The maximum number of troops allowed per army is 10,000 not including "Heroes" (though less will be acceptable).


FORMAT
Gisela is an area in Corone where the first tournament took place. Since then, the tournament has broadened its locations throughout Althanas. The first player to post in their respective matches will be able to dictate the general setting such as climate, major landmarks, regional location, etc. They are permitted to detail the locations of their own troops, but must leave enough creative freedom for their opponent to detail their own layout. Meaning, the first player cannot position themselves in a valley within a mountain and only one bottleneck passage which only leads to a sheer cliff. While the thread could eventually work itself into such a scenario, it cannot start in a way that gives an unfair advantage to one side or the other. This will be scrutinized in the judgments.

The objective is to conquer each army in the sub-region to advance to the next “round.” Battles will be conducted in a war style, where troops may travel to multiple locations to defeat opposing troops and can continue moving to other locations if desired. LIQUID TIME WILL NOT EXIST FOR THIS TOURNAMENT. Thus troops can only be in one location at a time. Additionally, preset ambushes or scouted knowledge is not permitted until after the first posts have been made by both parties. If scouts are deployed and awaiting return, it must be mentioned in the first posts so your opponents have an opportunity to challenge the "free" tactical advantage.

TROOP MOVEMENT
In order for troops (either an individual, or a group) to move to a new location, they MUST wait an entire “turn” before they can appear in the next location. A “turn” means that everyone else in the group has posted once or that player has waited 2 full days before posting again (in the case of absences). This is to allow another player chance to respond to the movement. If a player who already has troops in the area responds to the movement, the player with the moving troops is instantly allowed into the location in lieu of the aforementioned “turn” requirements. Meaning, if your troops are on the way to a village in your post and your opponents troops in that village begin to engage or prepare for arrival, it is assumed your army arrives during or at the end of your opponents post.

Players will indicate what location troops are moving to as OOC notes in each thread. For example Archers are going from Fortress A to Forest B, and Archers have arrived from Fortress A to Location B. This helps to eliminate any confusing or unclear troop movement in your IC posts.


TROOP DEATH
If a troop dies in combat, that troop is dead for the remainder of the tournament (special abilities withstanding) and cannot be revived. Only heroes will be revived between “rounds.”

TROOP ASSIMILATION/RETREAT
Players are allowed to create alliances and do other creative things necessary to win. In the event of an alliance existing at the end of a “round”, players have an opportunity to assimilate all alliance members into their army up to a total of 1,000 troops. Additionally, Players are allowed to recruit some living non-retreat status enemy troops up to a total of 1,000 troops. Players may opt for retreat status at the end of the round by indicating such. In retreat status, those troops are considered lost or un-recruitable/un-captureable. In the event that a player in retreat status wins the round, he will only be entitled to replenish with troops from any in-thread alliances. Units in retreat must be stated during final posts of the match or they are assumed to be engaged in combat or pursuit-able.

Assimilation exists as a means to replenish massive troop losses. Players are also NOT required to use assimilation.

“ROUND” LENGTH
Each round will last for 3 weeks.


JUDGMENT
Each player will be judged by their performance each “round.” As in previous Gisela tournaments, the rubric will be slightly skewed towards strategy. In the Story category, story will be worth 15 points. In the Character category, action will be worth 15 points. There will be no wildcard score. Typical wildcard elements will be determined within the individual categories.

Per usual, the player with the highest score advances to the next “round.”

EXP is based on the typical EXP formula (utilizing the highest leveled participant).
REWARDS
First Place- 5,000 EXP & 20 AP

Second Place- 2,500 EXP & 15 AP

Third Place- 1,500 EXP & 10 AP

Third place goes to highest score of the semi-final round.

OTHER FEATURES
Gambling will be opened in a separate pinned thread. Bets will be for one week after the start of each match. Tournament placement bets will be open for only one week after the official start of the tournament.

Those are the rules. Please read them slowly, as a quick glance will surely confuse most. Please post all questions as a reply to this thread. Registration will begin on January 9th, 2018 at 12 AM CST.