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War Maneuvers

 

 

 

 

Queen of Hearts XIII
War Manuvers

Please note some important changes this year noted in RED.

Castle Siege & Castle Defense

Each team will have the opportunity to attack and defend a castle. Teams will be paired up and will fight two consecutive battles - one from inside and one from outside the castle. The strategies and demands of defending and besieging a castle are different, so they will be judged as separate war maneuvers. There may be a moat or even more than one set of walls, you will have to wait and see.

Each Castle Battle will have a time limit of 30 minutes. If the attacking team is able to take the castle (aka kill off the entire defending team) in that 30 minute time limit then they are the winners. The defending team wins if they survive for the whole 30 minutes or if they kill the entire attacking team.

Castle towers will be 4' by 4' and 8' tall. There will be at least 4 and possibly as many as 6 towers, with black plastic walls between the towers. The floor of each tower will be about 4' up, and there may be no more than two players (living or dead) in each tower at a given time.

Bridge Battle

You fight on a mock bridge (rope on the ground or possibly blue tarps on either side of the bridge.)

The Vinehaeven Flag Challenge

Capture the Flag has been changed in several important ways in order to create a battle that is less like a single line attacking another.

The field will be divided into four equal parts, with each division being along the short length of the field. The end zones on either end of the field will be referred to as the teams’ home quarter. The areas in which players are allowed to go will depend on what weapons they are wielding.

  • A player must bring in one weapon combination and may not switch what they are wielding during a game.
  • If you are wielding any two-handed weapon, you must stay within your home quarter of the field (this does not include bows).
  • If you are wielding a single weapon up to 3’8”, you may go anywhere on the field, including into the opposing team’s home quarter.
  • If you are wielding any other weapon combination you may go anywhere on the field with the exception of the opposing team’s home quarter.
  • You may attack into any quarter no matter which ones you are allowed to stand in, as long as no part of your body touches the ground in those prohibited quarters. If any part of your body touches a prohibited part of the field you are dead.

This will be a regeneration battle.

  • When you die you have the option of regenerating in place or moving to a regeneration zone.
  • To regenerate in place, count OUT LOUD for 10 (ten) seconds. After this you must announce that you are alive again (“Alive!” or “In!”) and then you’re back in.
  • If you are hit while you are dead or you are impaled, your 10 (ten) second count resets.
  • You can be raised (or created as undead, etc) while you are regenerating. If you are undead, the ten second regeneration has no effect on you until you are dead again.
  • At any point while you are dead, you can choose to WALK to the regeneration points at the end of your quarter of the field. Once you touch the regeneration spot you are instantly alive and back in combat.
  • If you choose to start walking to the regeneration points you CANNOT be raised or interact with living players in any way.
  • You CANNOT drag players from the opposing team at any time. You can drag members of your own team if you wish.

The goal of the game is to capture the other team’s flag.

  • The flag will be placed in the exact center of each team’s home quarter. The goal of the game is to retrieve the opposing team’s flag and place it on top of your own, no matter where your own flag happens to be on the field at the time.
  • You may only move the flag if you are wielding a single weapon up to 3’8” in length. These runners are, of course, the only players that can enter the opposing team’s quarter, but even if the flag passes out of that quarter, they are still the only players allowed to move the flag.
  • The flag counts as a single handed item. You must have a free hand in order to carry it, and you may not carry it by tucking it under an arm (or in your shirt, etc…). You may fight when you are carrying the flag if your other arm is available to do so, but you cannot use the flag to block shots.
  • The game will be over when one team places the opposing team’s flag on top of their own flag. Depending on how many teams we have and how much time there is in the day, we may decide to run this tourney to 1, 2, or 3 points.

Field Battle

This one is pretty straightforward. You fight. In a field.

Fetch

Teams go out to "fetch" something. First team to bring it in is the winner. No holds barred.

Kill the Queen

The first team to kill their opponents' Queen wins. If an entrant for Queen of Hearts is unable to participate in this for any (reasonable) reason, they will be allowed to choose a proxy.

Rhiassan Live Chess

This is Rhiassa's take on the old Glenndale tradition of Prince's Chess. First off, there are NO Holds and Lay Ons (except for SAFETY reasons.) This year, there will be no magic, and therefore, no mage or healer pieces. The squares are about 6' square and the grid is 8 x 8, so that makes it about 50' by 50'.

Touching the ground in a square other than your square is considered a move. This means that you may not lean into a square supporting your weight by putting your hand or foot down in that square.

Kings duel to determine who goes first. The King whose turn it is calls a player's name. That player moves according to their piece's limitations until they have reached the end of their move, won a square from another piece (except for the Knight - see above) or have been killed. Then they yell "DONE!" and that signals the other King to call a piece. The King will only have 10 seconds to choose a piece - we want this as fast paced as possible. It is very important for the Kings to try to get every player involved to participate (that's why pawns move 2 squares and can move diagonally forward - so that they can get into the fray more easily.) Pieces do not have to move according to the King's decrees.

If your pawn reaches the final rank and need to be promoted, play will not stop for you. If you aren't ready to make it another piece, that's your problem. You must alert the marshal as to what piece you are turning your pawn into.

It is extremely important that players loudly yell that their move is complete by yelling "DONE!" We try to keep the game flowing quickly.

Pawn - Move 1 or 2 squares forward OR diagonally forward. Single Short, No Armor. Spellcasters may play pawns, and they will not be breaking their weapons restrictions for the purposes of this tournament. Pawns may become Queen by reaching final row (play won't stop, though.)

Rook - Move as Rook in Chess. Bow & Arrows (no more than 12 each), dagger, any armor.

Bishop - Move as Bishop in Chess. Hand & a half, any armor.

Knight - Move as Knight in Chess. Sword & Shield and any armor. The Knight must make it's full move or die trying. This makes it the only piece that can move through multiple squares by killing several opponents.

Queen - Move as Queen in Chess. 2 players with any weapons and armor.

King - Move as King in chess. Dagger, no armor.

Team Grand Melee

The usual bloodbath. All teams enter, only one comes out alive.

Hadrian’s Wall

The field of this tournament features a wall going across the center. This wall will have three “gaps” in it, each of which will contain a bale of hay. The two sides of the bale will be painted different colors. The goal of this war maneuver is to have the majority of the hay bales turned over to your team’s color by the time the time limit is called.

The wall will be low enough to fight over, which is certainly allowed, but players may not jump or otherwise traverse the sections of wall where there is not a gap. Fighting under the wall is not allowed.

Players will fight in the gaps of the wall, but may not stand on the bales of hay while doing so.

Players may pass through the gaps in the wall in order to attack opposing team members. A player may spend no more than 3 (three) seconds on the opposing side of the wall, and is dead after those 3 (three) seconds if he does not make it back to his own side by then.

In order to turn over a bale of hay, a player must use their hands. No kicking or pushing it with a weapon. There is no restriction on how many hands you must use or whether or not there is anything in those hands at the time.

This is a regeneration battle. When a player is dead he may choose to stay on the ground or walk to the regeneration point. While a player is on the ground he may be raised (made undead, etc). If a player chooses to go regenerate, he must WALK to the point. Once a player has started walking he cannot interact with living players in any way. Once he gets to the regeneration point he is instantly alive again. It should be noted that regeneration points DO NOT repair armor.

The time limit for these battles is fixed and will be announced the day of the event depending on how many teams there are and how much time we estimate having. The most likely amount of time is ten minutes. After that set amount of time has passed the battle will be stopped. The team that has the most bales of hay showing their color is the winner. In the event that there is a tie due to one or more bales not turned to a specific team’s side the battle will be re-fought.

Wizard War

All fighters use their normal weapons and armor. All mages are automatically bumped up one weapon restriction level (with light restriction spellcasters able to use any weapons/armor).

All mages are also granted one additional full path of spells (they must provide all props they will need). If they choose a path that is new to them, they get spells 1-6 from that path. If they choose a path that they already have, they get spells 2-7 from that path.

Choosing spells is done as if they were learning them - so they can buy down from other spell paths if you want to. Instead of getting more spells, mages can instead choose to bump their weapons restriction up a second time.

Remember that fighters are not penalized in Wizard War - so this isn't designed to be a complete cake-walk for spellcasters.

Rhiassa Challenge

Rhiassa Challenge is a new take on the tourney that Folkestone introduced to Queen of Hearts many years ago.

This event will feature a field with a maze of walls, much as you are accustomed to seeing. The difference is, throughout the maze there will be a number of “control points” which are the main focus of the battle.

Before the battle the generals will choose one member of their team to duel in order to pick which team starts on which side of the maze.

Teams will begin in their start zone and flood out into the maze when the battle starts. Players are allowed to go wherever they want in the maze but may not enter the opposing team’s start zone at any time. Each start zone will contain a regeneration point.

There will be several control points in the maze. Players will ideally want to stay close to these control points if they are able to, as they are the key to winning the battle.

This is a regeneration battle. When a player is dead he may choose to stay on the ground or walk to the regeneration point. While a player is on the ground he may be raised (made undead, etc). If a player chooses to go regenerate, he must WALK to the point. Once a player has started walking he cannot interact with living players in any way. Once he gets to the regeneration point he is instantly alive again. It should be noted that regeneration points DO NOT repair armor.

After a pre-announced amount of time the battle will be stopped. This will most likely be ten minutes but may be changed at the beginning of the event depending on the number of teams we have and how much time seems to be available. At this time all players must freeze in place.

When the battle is stopped the marshals will evaluate which players are within 5 (five) feet of one of the control points.

All players who are not within 5 feet of a control point must then leave the field.

After other players have cleared the field, the battle will resume between the players who are left. At this point, regeneration points will no longer work, but players can still remain dead on the ground to be raised.

The team that remains after this combat has ended is the winner of the battle.

The Western Flank

In order to run a nightquest with over 200 players, you have to have volunteers to play NPCs. Every team that donates NPCs to the night quest will get points added to their total for the event (1 point per NPC), up to a maximum of 10 points. Teams are not required to donate NPCs, and they are certainly welcome to donate more than 10. This is a good opportunity to pick up some easy points and have fun helping the night quest be able to happen!

Queens War

Each team forms two lines with the head of each line at the edge of the tournament ring used for Queens' War. One line is for people with cards obtained by winning tournaments (the active line) and the other line is for people without cards (the extras line.) People in the active line will be asked to stand in line, and the people in the extras line will be asked to sit down. During play, people in line may not switch places.

Each person at the head of an 'active line' enters the tournament ring and fights. The fighter that wins goes to the end of their active line, and the person at the head of their team's extras line joins them at the end of their active line. All the losers go to the end of their teams' extras lines.

This means that if you win in the tournament ring, your active line gets one extra person. If you lose, it means your active line loses one person. As soon as each bout is over, the people at the beginning of the active lines enter the ring and fight. The team with the last active line with people in it wins!

BEFORE we begin Queen's War, we will take a moment to choose the next Champion of The Free Kingdoms. Anyone from the Free Kingdoms who is interested in vying for the position of Champion will be invited to come into the middle of the Queen's War field. Each team that is competing in Queen's War will be invited to pick one of the competitor, and if the prospective Champion they choose is actually the winner - they may add one person to their "active line". Once each team has chosen someone, the field is cleared, and the past year's Champion takes his starting position in the middle of the field. All competitors fight - using Armor and Magic - and the winner is the Champion of The Free Kingdoms for the coming year.