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Ron Jacobsen
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This thread is for maintaining and tracking of a continuous Ladder tournament for Twilight Struggle.

Please do not post comments, game results or after action reports to this thread. This thread is purely for the moderator to post and update current ladder standings and official rulings. This is intended as a one-way communication channel, from the Moderator out to the players.

Any comments by competitors may be posted to the associated forum within the ACTS Guild entitled "Twilight Struggle Ladder Commentary". However, this may only be occasionally read by the Moderator. Please send questions or game results directly to the Moderator at ronljacobsen@yahoo.com.

A subsequent post to this thread will detail Ladder rules and procedures.

Thank you, and please enjoy.
Ron Jacobsen
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Twilight Struggle Ladder Rules and Procedures
SIGNIFICANCE OF LADDER STANDINGS
The TWS Ladder is a rank ordered listing of the Ladder's competitors. The person currently occupying the first position in the list (the top rung) is considered to be the current Ladder Champion.

CHANGE OF LADDER STANDINGS
Players move up/down the Ladder by winning/losing games against other competitors. These games are played in rounds in which each participant plays a game of TWS against an assigned opponent. Upon the conclusion of a round, all winners are moved to the toward of the Ladder while maintaining their relative order. Likewise, all losers are dropped toward the bottom of the Ladder while maintaining their relative order. Any player exercising his right to skip one round (see below) will retain his current rung on the Ladder, though not his relative position. (I.e., winners and losers will move past him, as he retains his same numerical position on the Ladder.) Any new member to the Ladder enters at the bottom of the Ladder, in order of entry.

PAIRINGS
Pairings for each round are made by the Ladder Moderator. An opponent is normally someone adjacent in the standings (i.e., Rung 1 plays Rung 2, Rung 3 plays Rung 4, etc.). However, there may be occasional exceptions made, at the discretion of the Moderator, to accomodate players skipping rounds, facilitate the playing schedules of players, or to initiate a round prior to the completion of a previous round. (In making these exceptions, the Moderator seeks to balance competitive fairness with the goal of timely progress of the Ladder from one round to the next.) Any player in an odd Rung at the end of the Ladder, or any player joining the Ladder in mid-round, may be paired against a volunteer "eliminator". If an eliminator is a Ladder member, his service as eliminator has no bearing on his Ladder position. His game counts as a normal Ladder game for his opponent, but only as a Quick Round game for himself.

ASSIGNMENT OF SIDES
The side each competitor plays in a regular Ladder game is assigned by the Moderator. Assignments will be made using the following guidelines.

1. The current Ladder Champion must always switch sides relative to his previous game, and his opponent must play the opposite side.
2. In all other normal ladder games, if both players can switch sides relative to their last game, they do so. If only one player can switch sides, the Moderator reviews the play history of both players to determine which has the most unbalanced history of side-play, and assigns that player the side that he has played least often, with his opponent taking the opposite side. If both players have equivalently unbalanced history, then the higher rung player is assigned the side he has played least often.

PLAY BALANCE
All games on the Ladder (including any Quick Rounds) will be played with an automatic bid of influence to ensure uniformity of play balance (both for competitive equity and statistical purposes) while avoiding the time spent on bid negotiation. The current automatic bid is 3 influence, given to the US player, to be played after initial influence placement but before the first headline phase. Influence can be placed only in countries where the US has influence, and cannot be placed to achieve "overcontrol" of a country. [Note: It is possible and legal to partially circumvent this restriction on overcontrol by placing your normal initial influence in Western Europe to achieve overcontrol, as those placements are not so restricted. Thus, placement of influence to overcontrol Italy is a common US tactic, while overcontrol of Iran is not possible under the placement rules.]

In addition, the US is considered to win all tied games for Ladder advancement purposes (though not for AREA rating purposes.)

These play balance choices have been made best on best currently available statistics of TwS game outcomes. These choices may be altered in the future at the discretion of the Moderator in order to adjust the play balance and maintain a fair Ladder. Any such adjustment must be announced prior to the commencement of a round in order to apply to that round.

CONDUCT OF GAMES
Notifications of assignments for each round will generally be made by e-mail, and posted on this thread.

Ladder games should be contested on ACTS. All normal Ladder games will be moderated, usually by the Ladder Moderator or the Assistant Ladder Moderator. No participant in a game may moderate his own game. Games should be named according to the following format:

Ladder Round N USSRPlayer v. USPlayer

where "N" is the ladder round number, "USSRPlayer" is the last name of the person playing the USSR and "USPlayer" is the last name of the person playing the US.

Ladder games will have a strict time limit of not more than 3 months from the date the Round is announced. The limit can be less at the discretion of the Ladder Moderator. However, players are strongly encouraged to play without delay. The next round will start as soon as the current round is completed, so if all games finish in early, then the next round can start right away. Most players prefer playing to waiting, so please keep your Ladder compatriots in mind, especially if you are in a game that looks like it is going to go the full 10 turns.

Players wishing to enter after the start of a round may do so, but must still adhere to the deadline for the current round's completion.

Any games that are not completed within the time limit will go through the following procedure:

- The players will be asked to agree on an outcome.
- If no agreement, then the players will be asked to submit a final game state (or the Moderator may deduce this from the ACTS log) and given an opportunity to make a statement regarding assessment of the position, and the timeliness of play by both sides. The game will then be adjudicated by the Moderator (generally seeking a third party opinion) taking all these factors into account. Decisions will be final. No one game is more important than the timely progress of the Ladder to the next round.

Players are strongly encouraged to use the Excel spreadsheet available among the BGG downloads to keep track and score of their games, as this will greatly facilitate adjudication.

SKIPPING ROUNDS
A member of the Ladder may skip any one round while maintaining his position on the ladder. The procedure for this is that the skipper is removed from the ladder, the round is contested, the competitors sorted based on wins/losses, and then the skipper is reinserted at his prior rung, dropping all equal and lower rungs down one. An exception occurs for the top rung. If the competitor at Rung 1 skips a round, he will be reinserted at Rung 2, and any streak of consecutive rounds at the top will be deemed to have been broken. (Thus, each round will always generate a Ladder Champion from the contestants active in that round.)

If a competitor skips 2 consecutive rounds, he will be considered to have earned a loss in the second round (and any subsequently skipped rounds), and repositioned in the ladder appropriately. Anyone who has missed at least 3 consecutive rounds and is occupying the bottom rung of the ladder will be removed from the ladder to a list of inactive players. Inactive players will be polled (at the discretion of the Moderator) for participation in future rounds, but must re-enter at the bottom of the ladder, as if joining for the first time.

QUICK ROUNDS
Quick Round games will normally be offered to players finishing a round early. Quick Round games play under the same automatic bid rules as regular ladder games. Quick Round games do not affect a player's standing on the ladder, but are recorded for statistical purposes. It is possible that some form of recognition will be given to successful Quick Round players. When a player serves as an eliminator, his performance counts as a Quick Round game for himself (and, of course, as a normal Ladder Game for his opponent.)

STATISTICS
The Ladder Moderator maintains statistics on Ladder and Quick Round outcomes and will, from time to time, make them available to those in the Twilight Stuggle community that are interested in questions of play balance, frequency of different game outcomes, etc.

RATING OF GAMES
All games will be submitted to the AREA rating system at the conclusion of each round.

JOINING THE LADDER
Those wishing to join the Ladder should contact the Moderator directly. Please put the words "TWS ladder" in the subject line.

The current Ladder Moderator is Ron Jacobsen:
ronljacobsen@yahoo.com

The Assistant Ladder Moderator is Philip Thomas: philipthomas693@hotmail.com
Last edited on 2008-07-10 09:25:04 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Scott Russell
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Avatar
0405060708
This post described the method for valuing games for the original seeding of the ladder.

Because it no longer will be used for the ladder, Ron requested that I remove it.

I put the information here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2707454#2707454

for future reference and/or as an aid to tournament organizers in the future.

Edit: typo
Last edited on 2008-10-07 09:59:10 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Ron Jacobsen
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Round 1 Pairings
The pairings in Round 1 were arbitrary, with results determining the seeding of players in Round 2.
Winners are listed in bold.
The notation "(E)" indicates the player was acting as an eliminator.

Nick Avtges SU vs Mark Ballinger US
Marvin Birnbaum SU vs Dave Blizzard US
Scott Burns SU vs Steve Caler US
Mark Casiglio SU vs Alberto Ciampidhetti US
John Coussis SU vs Bill Edwards US
Jean-Louis Dirion SU vs Dan Leader US
Mauro Faina SU vs Andy Finkel US
Matt Goshen SU vs Patrick Havert US
Scott Henshaw SU vs Charlie Hickok US
Patrick Hildreth SU vs Paul Hubbard US
Ron Jacobsen SU vs Bob Jamelli US
Rob Hassard SU vs Nick Jost US
Mickel Knight SU vs Joel Langenfeld US
Gary Libby SU vs Tom McCorry US
Sean McCulloch SU vs Michael Mitchell US
Bruce Monnin SU vs Bill Morgal US
Eric Neff SU vs Dennis Nicholson US
Greg Palmer SU vs Alan Poulter US
Bill Romaniecki SU vs Scott Russell US
Gordon Stewart SU vs Jeff Taylor US
James Terry SU vs Philip Thomas US
Matt Thrower SU vs Keith Wixson US
Kevin Worth SU vs George Young US
Stephen Pullan SU vs Philip Thomas(E) US
John Clark SU vs Ron Jacobsen (E) US
Ron Jacobsen(E) SU vs Luis Gonzalez de Lena US
Bill Morgal(E) SU vs Russ Hewson US


Quick Round Results

Mark Ballinger SU vs James Terry US
Phiip Thomas SU vs Bruce Monnin US
Phiip Thomas SU vs Bruce Monnin US
Phiip Thomas SU vs Steve Pullan US
Scott Russell SU vs Bill Morgal US
Scott Russell SU vs Paul Hubbard US
Keith Wixson SU vs Bill Romaniecki US
Jeff Taylor SU vs Nick Avtges US
Eric Neff SU vs Jean-Louis Dirion US


Play Balance
Round 1: SU 16 - US 11
Quick Rounds 1: SU 5 - US 4
Total Round 1: SU 21 - US 15

Last edited on 2008-10-07 08:46:48 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Ron Jacobsen
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Ladder Standings After Round 1
1 George Young
2 Gordon Stewart
3 Paul Hubbard
4 Gregory Palmer
5 Keith Wixson
6 Bruce Monnin
7 Alberto Ciampichetti
8 James Terry
9 Dan Leader
10 Nick Avtges
11 Russ Hewson
12 Scott Burns
13 Dennis Nicholson
14 Marvin Birnbaum
15 Charlie Hickok
16 Ron Jacobsen
17 Tom McCorry
18 Matt Goshen
19 Bill Edwards
20 Rob Hassard
21 Joel Langenfeld
22 Bill Romaniecki
23 Michael Mitchell
24 Mauro Faina
25 Andy Finkel
26 Sean McCulloch
27 Scott Russell
28 Mickel Knight
29 Patrick Havert
30 Gary Libby
31 Luis Gonzalez de Lena
32 Stephen Pullan
33 Nick Jost
34 John Coussis
35 Bob Jamelli
36 Scott Henshaw
37 Dave Blizzard
38 Eric Neff
39 Steven Caler
40 Jean-Louis Dirion
41 Mark Ballinger
42 Mark Casiglio
43 Philip Thomas
44 Matt Thrower
45 Bill Morgal
46 John Clark
47 Alan Poulter
48 Patrick Hildreth
49 Jeff Taylor
50 Kevin Worth
Ron Jacobsen
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Round 2 Pairings
Winners shown in Bold

1 George Young SU vs.
2 Gordon Stewart US

3 Paul Hubbard SU vs.
4 Gregory Palmer US

5 Keith Wixson SU vs.
6 Bruce Monnin US

7 Alberto Ciampichetti SU vs.
8 James Terry US

9 Dan Leader SU vs.
10 Nick Avtges US

11 Russ Hewson SU vs.
12 Scott Burns US

13 Dennis Nicholson SU vs.
14 Marvin Birnbaum US

15 Charlie Hickok SU vs.
16 Ron Jacobsen US

17 Tom McCorry SU vs.
18 Matt Goshen US

19 Bill Edwards SU vs.
20 Rob Hassard US

21 Joel Langenfeld SU vs.
22 Bill Romaniecki US

23 Michael Mitchell SU vs.
24 Mauro Faina US

25 Andy Finkel SU vs.
26 Sean McCulloch US

27 Scott Russell SU vs.
28 Mickel Knight US

29 Patrick Havert SU vs. (note: Havert credited with skipped round due to technical difficulties.)
30 Gary Libby US

31 Luis Gonzalez de Lena SU vs.
32 Stephen Pullan US

33 Nick Jost SU vs.
34 John Coussis US

35 Bob Jamelli SU vs.
36 Scott Henshaw US

37 Dave Blizzard SU vs.
38 Eric Neff US

39 Steven Caler SU vs.
40 Jean-Louis Dirion US

41 Mark Ballinger SU vs.
42 Mark Casiglio US

43 Philip Thomas SU vs.
44 Matt Thrower US

45 Bill Morgal SU vs.
46 John Clark US

47 Alan Poulter SU vs.
48 Patrick Hildreth US

49 Jeff Taylor SU vs.
50 Kevin Worth US

51 Greg Geyer SU vs.
52 Stefan Mecay US

53 John Chan SU vs.
54 Paul Jarosz US

55 Randall Mac Innis SU vs.
56 Jeff Finkeldey US

57 Alban Ulrich SU vs.
58 William Peeck US


Quick Round Results

Scott Russell SU vs John Chan US
Scott Henshaw SU vs Philip Thomas US
Bruce Monnin SU vs Sean McColloch US
Matt Goshen SU vs Ron Jacobsen US
Bill Morgal SU vs Greg Geyer US
Marvin Birnbaum SU vs Stefan Mecay US
Russ Hewson SU vs Philip Thomas US
Philip Thomas SU vs Scott Russell US
Ron Jacobsen SU vs Gordon Stewart US


Play Balance
Ladder Round 2: SU 13 - US 16
Quick Round 2: SU 4 - US 5
Total Round 2: SU 17 - US 21
Total Ladder: SU 29 - 27
Total Q. Round: SU 9 - US 9
Grand Total: SU 38 - US 36

Last edited on 2008-10-29 10:24:48 CST (Total Number of Edits: 7)
Ron Jacobsen
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Ladder Standings After Round 2
1 George Young
2 Paul Hubbard
3 Bruce Monnin
4 Alberto Ciampichetti
5 Dan Leader
6 Russ Hewson
7 Marvin Birnbaum
8 Ron Jacobsen
9 Tom McCorry
10 Rob Hassard
11 Bill Romaniecki
12 Michael Mitchell
13 Andy Finkel
14 Scott Russell
15 Gary Libby
16 Stephen Pullan
17 John Coussis
18 Scott Henshaw
19 Dave Blizzard
20 Jean-Louis Dirion
21 Mark Casiglio
22 Philip Thomas
23 John Clark
24 Alan Poulter
25 Kevin Worth
26 Stefan Mecay
27 John Chan
28 Jeff Finkeldey
29 Patrick Havert
30 William Peeck
31 Gordon Stewart
32 Greg Palmer
33 Keith Wixson
34 James Terry
35 Nick Avtges
36 Scott Burns
37 Dennis Nicholson
38 Charlie Hickok
39 Mat Goshen
40 Bill Edwards
41 Joel Langenfeld
42 Mauro Faina
43 Sean McCulloch
44 Mickel Knight
45 Luis Gonzalez de Lena
46 Nick Jost
47 Bob Jamelli
48 Eric Neff
49 Steven Caler
50 Mark Ballinger
51 Matt Thrower
52 Bill Morgal
53 Patrick Hildreth
54 Jeff Taylor
55 Greg Geyer
56 Paul Jarosz
57 Randall Mac Innis
58 Alban Ulrich
59 Andre Heller
Last edited on 2008-10-29 10:04:34 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Ron Jacobsen
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Round 3 Pairings
Winners shown in bold.

1 George Young US vs
2 Paul Hubbard SU

3 Bruce Monnin SU vs
4 Alberto Ciampichetti US

5 Dan Leader US vs
6 Russ Hewson SU

7 Marvin Birnbaum SU vs
8 Ron Jacobsen US

9 Tom McCorry US vs
10 Rob Hassard SU

12 Michael Mitchell US vs
44 Mickel Knight SU

13 Andy Finkel US vs
14 Scott Russell SU

15 Gary Libby SU vs
16 Stephen Pullan US

E Ron Jacobsen SU vs
18 Scott Henshaw US

19 Dave Blizzard US vs
20 Jean-Louis Dirion SU

21 Mark Casiglio SU vs
22 Philip Thomas US

23 John Clark SU vs
24 Alan Poulter US

26 Stefan Mecay SU vs
54 Jeff Taylor US

27 John Chan US vs
28 Jeff Finkeldey SU

29 Patrick Havert US vs
59 Andre Heller SU

30 William Peeck SU vs
31 Gordon Stewart US

32 Greg Palmer SU vs
33 Keith Wixson US

34 James Terry SU vs
35 Nick Avtges US

36 Scott Burns SU vs
37 Dennis Nicholson US

38 Charlie Hickok US vs
39 Mat Goshen SU

40 Bill Edwards US vs
41 Joel Langenfeld SU

42 Mauro Faina SU vs
43 Sean McCulloch US

45 Luis Gonzalez de Lena US vs
E Bruce Monnin SU

46 Nick Jost US vs
51 Matt Thrower SU

47 Bob Jamelli US vs
49 Steven Caler SU

50 Mark Ballinger US vs
55 Greg Geyer SU

52 Bill Morgal US vs
53 Patrick Hildreth SU

57 Randall Mac Innis US vs
58 Alban Ulrich SU

Players Skipping the Round
11 Bill Romaniecki
17 John Coussis
25 Kevin Worth
48 Eric Neff
56 Paul Jarosz

Quick Round Results
Bill Morgal SU v Mark Ballinger US
Mark Casiglio SU v Philip Thomas US
George Youg SU v John Clark US
Garry Libby SU v Michael Mitchell US
Keith Wixson SU v Scott Russell US
Sean McCulloch SU v Jean-Louis Dirion US
Steve Caler SU v Bruce Monnin US
John Chan SU v Gordon Stewart US
Bob Jamelli SU v Greg Geyer US

Play Balance
Ladder Round 3: SU 12 - US 11 (5 undecided)
Quick Round 3: SU 0 - US 1 (8 undecided)
Total Round 3: SU 12 - US 12
Total Ladder: SU 41 - 38
Total Q. Round: SU 9 - US 10
Grand Total: SU 50 - US 48
Last edited on 2008-11-20 16:30:47 CST (Total Number of Edits: 39)
Ron Jacobsen
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Ladder Standings after Round 3
(Bold = Winner in Round 3, Normal = Loser in Round 3, Italic = Skipped Round 3, Below dashed line = New Member.)

1 George Young
2 Bruce Monnin
3 Dan Leader
4 Ron Jacobsen
5 Rob Hassard
6 Michael Mitchell
7 Scott Russell
8 Stephen Pullan
9 Dave Blizzard
10 Philip Thomas
11 Bill Romaniecki
12 John Clark
13
14
15
16
17 John Coussis
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 Kevin Worth
26
27
28
29 Andre Heller
30 Paul Hubbard
31 Alberto Ciampichetti
32 Russ Hewson
33 Marvin Birnbaum
34 Tom McCorry
35 Andy Finkel
36 Gary Libby
37 Scott Henshaw
38 Jean-Louis Dirion
39 Mark Casiglio
40 Alan Poulter
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48 Eric Neff
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56 Paul Jarosz
57
58
59
--------------------------
60 Mike Kaye
61 Randy Pippus
62 Yannick Carriere
Last edited on 2008-11-20 16:29:17 CST (Total Number of Edits: 5)
 
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