This is the fourth tournament in my new series based on my original homeland -- Czechoslovakia -- and Oneyed's excellent map of it. Each of the 25 tournaments in this series celebrates some aspect of a different town or city on the map, and matches it to some game type or setting on CC. To avoid favouritism, I have randomized the order of the towns. For more information on this series visit the DKs CSFR Frag series Infocentre.
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- Click image to enlarge.
This tournament celebrates the town of Banská Bystrica and features Paratroop Reinforcements. Paratroopers were used by all sides during the Slovak National Uprising of 1944. The geographic focal point of the uprising was the town of Banská Bystrica.
- show: facts about the slovak national uprising
- Link to the wikipedia article about the uprising: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_National_Uprising
Another quick background article: http://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/research/projects/red-letter/rld-month/2009/august.html
Paratroopers were, as noted, used by all sides. The photo above is of German-trained paratroopers used by the Slovak puppet state run by Jozef Tiso and the Hlinka People's Party. Opposing them were paratroopers of the 2nd Czechoslovak Paradescent Brigade organised by the Soviets. Slovak paratroopers deserted Tiso's army and fought alongside partisans in both regular and irregular units. Meanwhile, some of their brethren fought with the enemy, serving the Germans in Abwehrgruppe 218 and in SS formations. The western Allies supported the rebels with a small number of OSS and SOE agents, including a small detachment of the Jewish paratroopers recruited by the British in Palestine.
Slovak partisans had been resisting both the Germans and Tiso's puppet government through small scale actions almost since the beginning of the war. In 1944, however, when it was becoming obvious that Germany would lose the war and Russian forces would soon arrive, many high-ranking officers in the Slovak army began planning an open coup. On August 23rd Romania changed sides in the war. On August 27th, Slovak partisans ambushed a group of high-ranking Germans fleeing Romania. This was the immediate precipitant of open revolt.
The Uprising seemed to begin well. The partisans and covert forces were at first joined by 2 regular Divisions of the Slovak army, the entire Slovak air force, and the Soviet-trained Czechoslovak brigades. As they had during the Warsaw Uprising, however, the Soviets soon reneged on their promises and at times seemed to be working against the insurgency as much as supporting it. The Slovak air force was ordered to join the Red Army in Poland, and the rebels were left entirely without air cover. The German response was swift and aggressive, and both the western and eastern ends of Slovakia were soon over-run. Only in the centre, around Banská Bystrica, were the insurgents firmly in control.
The central region was held for almost two months against a Nazi army of more than 80,000 troops. In the end though, surrounded, unsupplied and unreinforced, and horribly crippled by the failure of pro-western and pro-Soviet rebel groups to trust each other and co-operate, organised resistance failed. After an estimated loss of 10,000 insurgent lives and a similar number of Germans, the core of the uprising failed. Banská Bystrica fell on October 27th, exactly two months after the beginning of open hostilities. Some survivors fled northeast to join the Red Army in Poland; others retreated into the mountains with the partisans and continued guerrilla actions against the Germans. Despite the failure of the uprising, Slovakia was never again fully pacified. Partisans held out in many small strongholds in and among the mountain villages, and if nothing else they kept four German divisions tied down in Slovakia when they could have been used elsewhere.
By January the Red Army was pouring into Slovakia, and on April 4th the Russians entered Bratislava. Ultimately, therefore, the Russians did liberate Slovakia, but their treachery and failure to support the insurgency that they had helped create left a permanent sense of bitterness.
Participants: 36 players, premium-only
Settings: All games will be sequential, automatic deployment, with 24-hour rounds and a 50-round limit. Obviously, all reinforcements will be Parachute. Other settings will vary as described below.
Tournament Flow: This will be a fairly tough tournament. Please read all the spoilers to understand what you're getting into.
- show: GA medals
- Looking for GA medals? There are two available!
Subject: DKs CSFR series 04 -- Banská Bystrica (with 2 GA medals!)mcshanester29 wrote:2 GA medals have been approved for this tournament. 1. The player with the most wins in Phase 4B. & 2. Most Efficient Assassin
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Regardless of the outcome, muti comes away with a prize, having won the GA medal for the Most Efficient Assassin, killing his target in round 3 of Game 15256395.
Congratulations muti on your GA medal!
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... and the other GA medal, for the player with the most wins in Phase 4B, goes to thelord, who won 3.
Congratulations thelord on your GA medal!
- show: Phase 1 -- Familiarize yourself with the terrain
- Everyone will be randomly divided into 6 groups of 6 and play one Standard, Flat Rate, Sunny, Trench game. Because this game is to familiarize yourself with the terrain, it will be a non-elimination phase and will score only 1 point.
There is a little special bonus if you win this game, however, as it will be used as a tiebreaking criterion between Phase 4B and the Final.
- show: Phase 2 -- Rapid deployment
- I will not wait for Phase 1 to finish before starting Phase 2. You will simulate the rapid onset of the uprising by playing in seven 1v1 games against randomly-chosen opponents. For maximum speed, these games will be Escalating, Sunny, Non-Trench. This is also a non-elimination phase and scores 1 point per victory.
- show: Phase 3 -- The great betrayal
- I will not wait for Phase 2 to finish before starting Phase 3. In this phase, you will simulate the tragic destruction of the uprising due to the failure of the pro-Soviet forces to support the pro-Western forces in the uprising. You will play in two team games with random team-mates.
Game 1: 9-player Triples game (3 teams), No Spoils, Sunny, Trench.
Game 2: 6-player Doubles game (3 teams), Nuclear, Foggy, Non-Trench
Forget what you're read about "diplomacy is generally frowned upon in tournament games." In this phase of the tournament, diplomacy is explicitly allowed, even recommended. Your team faces two other teams, and the most dishonest manipulators will probably win. Be forewarned! Expect to come out of this with some bad feelings. I'm trying to simulate a very nasty time in history. It's a war game, and there are some unpleasant realities in war.
Winning these games scores 3 points for each player on the winning team.
Phase 3 is an elimination phase. You MUST win at least one of your two games to continue on. Lose both of these games, and you're dead.
- show: Phase 4a -- Almost relaxing, by comparison
- Once all Phase 1, 2, and 3 games are done, I will divide the surviving players into groups by their score in the first 3 phases. The number of players in these groups will depend on how many survived Phase 3. The smallest possibility is 12 and the largest possibility is 24, and I'm aiming for groups of 6 or as close to it as I can manage, so there may be two, three, or four groups.
If there are any ties to be broken (multiple players with the same score, on the border between the group below them and the group above them) we will settle these with 1v1 Nuclear Sunny Non-Trench games. If the number of players involved in ties is not an even number, I will jump in and make myself a supernumerary player to balance it out. Other than this, I will not play in this tournament.
If there are no ties to settle, we will play no Phase 4A games at all, and will go straight to Phase 4B
- show: Phase 4B -- Marksmanship
- Marksmanship was important in the many small guerrilla skirmishes in the mountains. Resupply was difficult, mobility was severely impaired, heavy artillery, armour and air cover were all rare, so the effective killing of the enemy by ordinary riflemen was essential. In this round you will simulate the need to kill.
Scores will reset going into Phase 4B. However, those in a higher group will have an easier time graduating into the Final, so there is a bonus for coming into this phase with a higher score.
Each group will play seven Terminator games within their group: Two Sunny Escalating, one Foggy Escalating, one Sunny Flat Rate, one Foggy Nuclear, one Sunny Zombie, and one Foggy No Spoils. These games will score 1 point per kill.
There is no score for game wins, but I have a GA medal for the player with the most wins in Phase 4B.
- show: phase 5 -- the final
- Admission into the Final will be by kills in Phase 4B.
If there were two groups, five players will make the cut: 3 from the top group and 2 from the bottom group.
If there were three groups, six players will make the cut: 3 from the top group, 2 from the middle group, and 1 from the bottom group.
If there were four groups, seven players will make the cut: 3 from the top group, 2 from the next, and 1 each from both of the two lowest groups.
Any ties at this point will be settled by- Winning the Phase 1 game.
- Score after the first three phases.
- Number of game wins in Phase 4B.
- Precedence (order of signing up for the tournament).
The players who make the final will play in seven Non-Trench Assassin games: Two Sunny Escalating, one Foggy Escalating, one Sunny Flat Rate, one Foggy Nuclear, one Sunny Zombie, and one Foggy No Spoils. The player with the most successful assassinations will win the tournament. Note: To count as a successful assassination, you MUST kill your target. Winning by round limit, or by someone else killing your target, will not count!
I have gotten approval for a GA medal for Most Efficient Assassin. The medal will go to the player who kills their target in the fewest number of turns. In case of a tie, it will go to the player who kills their target while owning the fewest terts. If that still leaves a tie, we will revert to the tiebreaking formula for entering the Finals (see above.)
If there is a two-way tie, the tied players will play a best-of-seven 1v1 series with the same settings.
If there is a three-way tie, the tied players will play a seven-game 3-player Assassin series with the same settings.
If there is again a tie, repeat as necessary...