BPA SQL PBEM OVERVIEW

• Squad Leader 2004 BPA PBEM Championships.
• Round 1 of the Boardgamer Player Association (www.boardgamers.org) 2004 Squad Leader Play-By-Email tournament kicked off January 5, 2004. This event drew 26 players from 7 countries including 8 of the top 15 AREA seeds in the Squad Leader series game title. Effort was made to draw the top players from the SL list Ladder, WBC SQL tournament, and previous Squad Leader Academy email tournament player pools.
• The single elimination format adopted a 32 player five round format, in which the top six players were granted a first round bye. The seeding of the event utilized the Squad Leader AREA rating as of December 31, 2003. The games were matched by pairing the highest seed vs. the lowest, and so on. Each round's scenario is predetermined while the lower-seeded player in a pairing will get the choice of scenario side. Given the high attrition rate typical in PBEM tournaments, previous round losers will fill any open spots by order of highest AREA rating, but in the bottom spots in the subsequent round. Players invited back in suffer no other detriment other than a lower seed position.
• The JAVA Vassal Engine application (www.vassalengine.org) with the VSQL module to support SQL play was adopted as the standard PBEM vehicle. VASSAL supports both turn-based PBEM play and real time server play via inherent server. Due to its Sun Java nature, it is platform independent (Windows, Macintosh OSX, Linux, UNIX) with the added bonus of being available at no cost. For some of the players, this was the first time using the VASSAL program and unfamiliarity with it became an additional attrition cause beyond the typical losses due to real life priorities.
• Due to its championship nature, Squad Leader Academy Scenarios are utilized throughout the event. These offer a diversion from the limited number of Avalon Hill published scenarios. Additionally the SQLA scenarios offer both tactical and strategic player decisions in both the selection of forces, deployment, maneuver, and the full Squad Leader ruleset. For tournament purposes, the ruleset supplemented by the compiled SL list Q&A and the Squad Leader Academy rule conventions. The latter have been developed through 25+ SQLA tournaments conducted to date and have been proven successful to minimize player conflict.