Vassal Con 2025
September 4-7

Unless otherwise stated, I’ll be running each of these events using my handy pairing spreadsheet. For each of these events, please send your registration information to me (thereisnotry), at least 30 minutes before the event begins. Before Vassal Con begins, please carefully read THIS thread for more information.

For each of the maps being used in the events listed here (for the maps that aren’t on the current Restricted Map List) I’ve included the map number so that it’s easier for you to find them on Vassal.

Thursday, September 4
10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central): 500pt Epic Tournament
In the past we often haven’t begun Vassal Con until the evening on Thursday. However, for those of us who’ve scheduled the day off from work and would like to play, we’ll be running an optional event earlier in the day. I’ve often heard people talk about how they’d like to play the Epic 500pt format again, so here’s your chance!

Rules for this tournament:
--Your squad must include exactly 1 Epic character (look in the Epic I and Epic II and Epic III sets, here on BM…there are a total of 24 characters to choose from). Gambit is 25 pts in this tournament, and only your Epic character can score Gambit.
--Your squad may contain a MAXIMUM of 3 active Commander Effects. This will help to keep the craziness a little bit less crazy. When you submit your squad, please indicate which 3 CEs you will be using for the tournament; the rest of the CEs in your squad will be permanently disrupted, even though those characters will still be considered Commanders (not Followers).
--Your squad may contain no more than 16 characters (including Reinforcements etc).
--Advanced Battle Meditation does not work for this tournament.
Map List: Restricted Map List

7:00 pm Eastern (6:00 pm Central): 200pt Team Tournament: Face Your Destiny
Players will form two-person teams. Their squads can be from any faction, following normal squad building rules. There can be no duplicate Unique characters between the two squads. (I.e., you cannot use Darth Vader in one squad and Anakin Skywalker in the other.)

Please note: The pairing process for this team tournament will be different than what we’ve used for team events in recent years. Long ago, before WotC dropped the best game they had ever made, before the dark times, the Team Tournaments involved a roll-off between the teams that had been paired, and the winner of that roll would decide the first matchup, while the other team would determine the other matchup(s). This added an extra layer of strategy and teamwork to the event! This event will return to a version of that structure; here is how it will work:

--Once the teams are paired together, the 4 players (2 from each team) will go into a Vassal room together, and one representative from each team will roll a die. The team with the higher roll will decide which of their squads will be paired against which of the other team’s squads.
--The team that lost the initial roll will then automatically win the map choice for both ensuing matches, and each player on that team will also have the option to set up first or second in their game.

Therefore, while the matchups may be very much in one team’s favor, the map and side choice will be entirely in the other team’s favor. Will that be enough to balance the squad imbalances? We’ll have to see! The most successful teams will likely be the ones that can produce two well-rounded squads, and that can also make good use of map advantage when they have it.
Map list: Nightclub (007), Cloud City (012), Jabba’s Palace (063), Cantina (086), Modular Base (087), Pirate’s Moon SW (126)

 
Friday, September 5 – Jedi Challenge
Note: Each of the Jedi Challenge events will be 3 rounds. At the end of the day, results for each event will be tallied to determine the overall winner for the overall Jedi Challenge.

10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central): 100pt Jedi Challenge: No Biggie
Build a 100pt squad, following normal squad building rules, with these restrictions:
--You cannot use characters that have a printed Cost greater than 50.
--Tulak Hord, Lord of Hate is banned for this event.
Map list: Hall of Judgment (019), Taris Undercity (026), Asteroid Base (065), Remote Listening Post (079), Tomb of the Acolytes (108), Mushroom Planet (131)

3:00 pm Eastern (2:00 pm Central): 150pt Jedi Challenge: Sub-26
Build a standard 150pt squad comprised only of pieces with a printed Cost of 25 or less on their card.
Map list: Muun Grand Plaza (005), Star Forge (054), Peaceful City (061), Offworld Shipping Center (069), Imperial Plaza (106), Outlaw City (154)

8:00 pm Eastern (7:00 pm Central): 200pt Jedi Challenge: Any 5x2
Choose any 5 factions. Using 2 characters each from each of those factions, build a 10 activation squad to rule the galaxy. So yes, you could have Thrawn working with Yoda or Leia commanding Darth Bane. Affinity doesn't work, only the faction printed on the card.
--Advanced Battle Meditation and Booming Voice are treated as not existing on their characters cards, and do not work in this format.
Map list: Freight Transit Station (029), Rhen Var Citadel (064), Bothan Spynet (067), Smuggler’s Base (078), Gangster’s Vault (127), Desert Marketplace (166)


Saturday, September 6
10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central): 200pt Tile Wars
It’s back, baby! Remember playing Tile Wars, many years ago? (If you don’t remember it, or you’ve started playing after it was popular, then we’ve just improved your quality of life!) TW was originally developed as a contrast to the way that tournament games tended to be played (at the time), which involved a lot of non-engagement, out-activation, and waiting. TW was basically the opposite: it’s like a SWM cage match, where nobody can hide. Here is a link to the rules, which should contain everything you need to know in order to play:
http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/Default.aspx?g=posts&m=26547&

--On the SWM Vassal mod, you can find the tiles by clicking on the Units/Markers button, and then on the Tiles tab. Please double-check with the list shown on the TW rules thread (linked above) to ensure that you choose a legal tile. (To get things started, simply start a new game using the Blank Map (002) and then drag your tiles onto that map and line them up.)
--Rigged Detonators has no effect in this format. You’re welcome.

4:00 pm Eastern (3:00 pm Central): 200pt Vassal Con Championship
The main event! Test your most competitive 200-point squad against players from down the street and around the world. We will play 4 rounds of Swiss pairings, with the top cut determined by attendance. For more information, please read the first post on this thread: http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=32450

Map list: Restricted Map List

 
Sunday, September 7
10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central): 200pt V-Set 28 Constructed
Using at least 1 piece from the newly released V-set 28, construct a 200-point competitive squad. 3 rounds of Swiss pairings.
Map list: Commander’s Office (016), Rancor Pen (018), Asteroid Base (065), Smuggler’s Base (078), Modular Base (087), Gangster’s Vault (127)


3:00 pm Eastern (2:00 pm Central): Royal Rumble
Bring three, 2-activation squads with no faction restrictions, each totaling up to 100 pts. Play one squad at a time against your competitors on the Rattatak Arena (034) map. Last piece standing wins!


Note: As was the case with Gen Con, the characters from V-Set 28 will not be legal until the Sunday events, even though those pieces are already available in the BM squad builder and will soon be available on Vassal.
Please post here if you have any questions about any of the events. I’m looking forward to playing with each of you!

What about EPIC III?

Oops! I forgot about that one. Thanks.
I've edited the original post...Epic III is also a good place to look for a piece.

That seems like it would work for the Han in Carbonite piece.

However, I think it's up to the rules experts to answer this question: If you have Han in Carbonite on the board at a Cost of 68pts (half of the Epic piece's Cost), do you count as having that Epic piece in your squad? If not, then you can't do this, since the squad building rules for this event is that every player must have 1 Epic character in their squad.

Change to the Epic format description:

It was too restrictive, to make you unable to use more than 3 Commanders in your squad. The purpose of the rule was to prevent crazy CE-stacking, not to cripple squad building.

Good question. I'm thinking that 90 minutes is probably too short for some matchups. But 2 hours is probably too long. Perhaps 1 hr and 45 minutes would be best.

We have plenty of time between the start of the Epic event and the start of the Team event that evening, so it's really just a matter of trying to avoid people waiting a LONG time for matches to finish every round.

This is for the 500pt Epic event.
If it's a negative CE (such as requiring certain pieces) then it doesn't count as one of your 3 CEs, but you must still follow its requirements. But if you were to use the reinforcement CE then it would obviously count as one of your 3.

How does this include Reinforcements? If (theoretically) I was running a Pong squad and had 16 clones, then rolled Reinforcements, do they just not come?

It doesn't (per the normal rules) apply to Reserves or other characters brought in e.g. Porgs and Rakghouls, though. The only requirement is that before the first initiative you don't have over 16 characters.