SFR, Inc.

[dburkley]

DEXCON XIII is scheduled for July 7-11, 2010, and the Hyatt in Morristown, New Jersey. I will be orchestrating the Dragon Dice events at DEXCON XIII, including the US National Championship. I will be at DEXCON for all four days.

At-the-door prices for DEXCON XIII are as follows:
Complete Membership: $65.00
One Day Complete, Friday: $35.00
One Day Complete, Saturday: $50.00
One Day Complete, Thursday or Sunday: $30.00

One Day Memberships are valid until the end of the last event of the day (4:00AM)

Rooms can be reserved at the Morristown Hyatt for $115.00/night (flat rate) by calling their main number (973-647-1234) 9-5 weekdays. Be sure to mention DEXCON 13 and/or Double Exposure to get the event rates!

Event Schedule proposed for DEXCON XIII:
Text in dark red is not listed in the DEXCON XIII event description, but will apply.

C0393: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. Just learning Dragon Dice? Then get your tournament feet wet at our Novice event. Borrow a preconstructed 18-health army from us, or bring your own. Only spells from the Basic lists are permitted. No more than 50 percent of your starting units may be magicians. No magic doubling will be used. This event will follow a Swiss format. Thursday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM; One Session; All Materials Offered. Beginners Welcome; Fun, All Ages. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0430: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Thursday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0458: 1st Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship. The fourth U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship comes to DEXCON 13! Run by SFR, Inc., this championship will use the current rules found on the website. This round will be a Dragon Dice “Constructed Starter” Event using Intermediate Rules: Bring your own 2-Player Starter, constructed as you see fit within the following limitations: Two 18-health armies, each of a different single race. Each 18-health army must consist of 1 monster, 1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 5 commons and all must be different (ie: no more than one of any single die). One Coastland, one Flatland, one Highland, and one Swampland terrain die must be included, and two different colored Dragons (choose from black, blue, green, gold, ivory, or red). Players may play in any or all of the four preliminary sessions, but may only qualify once. The winners at each table will advance to the final round to play for the U.S. National Championship title and a trophy! Thursday, 7:00PM - 11:00PM; Session 1A of 2; Bring Your Own Materials. Beginners Welcome; Fun, All Ages. See Also: C0534, C0640, C0733. Next Session: C0794.

C0534: 2nd Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship. See C0458. Friday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM; Session 1B of 2. See Also: C0640, C0733. Next Session: C0794.

C0548: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Friday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0599: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Friday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0600: Dragon Dice Sealed Box Tournament. Can your tactics and your luck combine for victory? Entrants in this event will pay $13.00 for a 2-player starter set. You will build a 24 36-health army from the dice you get to compete for the title. This event will use Dragon Dice Intermediate Rules. Friday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; One Session; All Materials Offered. Knowledge Necessary; Fun, All Ages.

C0640: 3rd Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship. This round will be a Dragon Dice "Single Race" Event: bring a 36-health army of a single race, no more than 50 percent magic dice, and prepare for war! All legal dice may be used in this event. All spells are in play. The most current Advanced Rules as found on the SFR web site will be used. Friday, 7:00PM - 11:00PM; Session 1C of 2. See Also: C0534, C0733. Next Session: C0794.

C0641: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Friday, 7:00PM - 11:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0733: 4th Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship. This final qualifier event will be a Dragon Dice Constructed Army Event: bring a 36-health army, no more than 50 percent magic dice, and prepare for war! All legal dice may be used in this event. All spells are in play. The most current Advanced Rules as found on the SFR web site will be used. Saturday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM; Session 1D of 2. See Also: C0534, C0640. Next Session: C0794.

C0746: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Saturday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0809, C0849, C0953.

C0794: The 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice Championship. See C0458. Saturday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; Session 2 of 2. Previous Session(s): C0458, C0534, C0640, C0733.

C0809: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Saturday, 2:00PM - 6:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0849, C0953.

C0848: Dragon Dice Battlefest!. Have an urge to roll even more dice? This is your event! Bring an army of 60 health, with no magic restrictions! All promo and Magestorm dice are permitted. The most current advanced rules on the SFR website will be in play. Saturday, 7:00PM - 11:00PM; One Session; Bring Your Own Materials. Experts ONLY; Fun, All Ages.

C0849: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Saturday, 7:00PM - 11:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0953.

C0952: Dragon Dice Constructed Playtest Event. Bring your own 2-Player Starter, constructed as you see fit within the following limitations: Two 18-health armies, each of a different single race. Each 18-health army must consist of 1 monster, 1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 5 commons and all must be different (ie: no more than one of any single die). One Coastland, one Flatland, one Highland, and one Swampland terrain die must be included, and two different colored Dragons (choose from black, blue, green, gold, ivory, or red). Intermediate Rules as found on the SFR website will be used, but a new terrain die will be provided by the gamemaster for use as the Frontier for each game for playtesting. Sunday, 10:00AM - 2:00PM; One Session; All Materials Offered. Knowledge Necessary; Fun, All Ages. NOTE: This event is a PLAYTEST

C0953: Dragon Dice Novice Tournament. See C0393. Sunday, 10:00AM - 2:00PM; One Session. See Also: C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849.
_________________
Daniel Burkley
US National Champion (DEXCON 2007, 2009, 2010)
World Champion (GENCON 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014)
Battlefest Champion: DEXCON 2008, 2011, GENCON 2009, 2010 (co-champion), 2011, 2017)
"No Magicians": GENCON 2008
"Single Race": DEXCON 2008, GENCON 2010, 2011, 2014 (co-champion), 2017

[ddicerc]

I have to double-check this against another summer obligation, but I expect to be there if finances allow. Unfortunately, I may be losing my job at the end of June.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[MikeD]

Since our finances won't allow me to go to GENCON this year (have to do repair from the damage caused by the wintet snows), I'll see if I can make it to DEXCON.
_________________
Michael DeZearn
BUY MORE DICE!

[cliffwiggs]

[marwyn_blackstar]

I really like the idea of the sealed box tournaments. I really want to see if I can gather up enough people to sign up for one to convince one of the stores here to do one.

[MikeD]

Thanks to BP dumping a bunch of oil in the Gulf and suspending their dividends, I cannot afford to go to any conventions this year. Will be lucky to be able to afford to buy a case of the new terrain dice. Sorry all
_________________
Michael DeZearn
BUY MORE DICE!

[cliffwiggs]

Sorry to hear that Mike, maybe next year.
_________________
Multiplayer Champion Gencon11/Battlefest Champion(tied) GenCon10/World Champion GenCon07/National Champion Origins05/Intermediate Champion GenCon02/Novice Champion Origins99

[dburkley]

The initial announcement has been edited and now includes information on the convention itself. The proposed event schedule has been accepted, but the full event list for the convention has not been posted yet. When that has been issued, I'll update the announcement again.
_________________
Daniel Burkley
US National Champion (DEXCON 2007, 2009, 2010)
World Champion (GENCON 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014)
Battlefest Champion: DEXCON 2008, 2011, GENCON 2009, 2010 (co-champion), 2011, 2017)
"No Magicians": GENCON 2008
"Single Race": DEXCON 2008, GENCON 2010, 2011, 2014 (co-champion), 2017

[dburkley]

The event list as described at the Double Exposure website for DEXCON XIII has been posted, and I have edited the event descriptions, using the connventions event numbers. Sections in dark red are not listed in the DEXCON event description, but will apply, nonetheless.
_________________
Daniel Burkley
US National Champion (DEXCON 2007, 2009, 2010)
World Champion (GENCON 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014)
Battlefest Champion: DEXCON 2008, 2011, GENCON 2009, 2010 (co-champion), 2011, 2017)
"No Magicians": GENCON 2008
"Single Race": DEXCON 2008, GENCON 2010, 2011, 2014 (co-champion), 2017

[dburkley]

Summery of Dragon Dice events run at DEXCON XIII from July 8-11, 2010.

Russ Lockwood, Michael Schuller, and his son, Jared, assisted me with the various Dragon Dice events held at DEXCON XIII. This permitted opportunities for each of us to participate in some of these events.

C0393, C0430, C0548, C0599, C0641, C0746, C0809, C0849, C0953: Dragon Dice™ Novice Tournament. Most of the Novice Events were attended by 2-4 players, using pre-made pairs of 18-point armies, and lasting one to three rounds. All participants received a die as a memento. Some players attended more than one of these events. Novice event participants: Chad Justis, Pat Thrush, Karen Blisnuk, Jeff Scott, Jim Reed, Edward Sorensen, David Waldorf, Bohan Li, Joseph Smith, George Carlson.

C0458: 1st Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice™ Championship. This round used a “Constructed Starter” format and Intermediate Rules: Two 18-health armies, each of a different single race. Each 18-health army must consist of 1 monster, 1 rare, 3 uncommons, and 5 commons and all must be different (ie: no more than one of any single die). One Coastland, one Flatland, one Highland, and one Swampland terrain die must be included, and two different colored Dragons (choose from black, blue, green, gold, ivory, or red). A number of novice players from last years "Sealed Starters" event signed up for the "constructed starter" events. Karen Blisnuk and Micheal Schuller advanced from this round to qualify for the championship round.

C0534: 2nd Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice™ Championship (same format as the 1st Qualifier round). Jared Schuller and Russ Lockwood advanced from this round to qualify for the championship round.

C0600: Dragon Dice™ Sealed Box Tournament. This was the most attended event last year at DEXCON XII, but I had no attendees this year. I suspect that a primary reason was that it was scheduled on Friday (versus Saturday at last year’s convention). Like your Financial Advisor always says: “Past performance is no guarantee of future returns…”

C0640: 3rd Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice™ Championship. I intended this round to be a “Single Race” event, but it was mis-printed as a “Constructed Starter” format, so I gave the participants a choice and we continued with the “Constructed Starter” format using Intermediate Rules. Dan Burkley and Jeff Scott advanced from this round to qualify for the championship round.

C0733: 4th Qualifier Round for the 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice™ Championship. I intended this round to be a 36-health “Constructed” format using Advanced Rules, but it was mis-printed as a “Constructed Starter” format (and all the players brought two 18-health armies under the “Constructed Starter” rules, so we continued with the “Constructed Starter” format using Intermediate Rules. Dusty Youngs and Frank Warren advanced from this round to qualify for the championship round.

C0794: The 2010 U.S. National Dragon Dice™ Championship (36-health “Constructed” format). This year’s list of participants were quite different from the championship rounds of 2006-2009, with veteran players like Mike DeZearn, Johnathan Braun, Robert Braun, and Steve Braun unable to attend this year. Karen Blisnuk, Jared Schuller, Daniel Burkley, Jeff Scott, Dusty Youngs, and Frank Warren played in this year’s final championship round, which used Swiss Pairing. (Two other qualifiers did not play: Russ Lockwood could not attend, due to other commitments, and Mike Schuller elected to drop out.) Three participants were novice players last year, and two participants had played back in 1995-1999 and had started playing again last year. The "3-judge" system was used for umpiring, and after four rounds of play, the final standings were:
Daniel Burkley (Goblins/Fireshadow/Necomancer/Unicorn) – 12 points
Jared Schuller (all Scalders) – 6 points
Dusty Youngs (Coral Elves/Firewalkers) – 6 points
Karen Plisnuk (Frostwings/Scalders/Unicorn) – 6 points (dropped out on 4th round)
Frank Warren (Feral/Undead) – 3 points
Jeff Scott (Dwarves/Dragonlord) – 0 points (dropped out on 4th round)

The 3-way tie for second resulted, as Jared defeated Dusty, Dusty defeated Karen, and Karen defeated Jared.

After two rounds, the two 6-point winners (Dusty Youngs and Daniel Burkley) met in the third round for what would ultimately determine the championship, and it was a very closely contested game with both players having the chance to win it. It is this game that I will describe in detail, as it brought out several important aspects of decision-making and strategy.

Starting Set-up:

1-health (Firewalker) 17-health (Firewalker) 18-health (Coral Elves)
(Magicians/Missiles) (Magicians/Missiles/Cavalry)

Dan’s Home (Flatlands Tower) Dusty’s Home
(Swampland City) (Swampland Stones) (Coastland City)

17-health (Goblin/LE) 1-health (Goblin) (18-health)
Magicians/Trolls (Fireshadow/Gold Medallion/
Unicorn/2 x Leopard Riders)

Daniel wins the initiative, and after some thought, chooses the Swampland Standing Stones as the Frontier terrain. This first decision was made for several reasons:
1) It denies the Firewalkers the use of their Terrain Flight racial ability.
2) It denies the Firewalkers any opportunity of doubling magic at the Frontier.
3) If the Goblins find the need to contest it, they will enjoy their racial ability of doubling maneuvers at the Swampland.
4) Two armies are “mis-matched”, opposing only a 1-health army, so the advantage of going first is not as great as if both sides’ largest armies were opposing each other.

Starting terrain rolls are: Swampland City-5, Swampland Stones-4, Coastland City-7, down to 6

Dusty activates the Firewalkers, shooting the enemy army opposite the Coastlands with 3 damage getting through (Leopard Rider to DUA). The Coral Elves are the 2nd March, successfully maneuvering the Coastland to 7 and initiating a melee, which Dan’s army saves against. During the counter-attack, the Unicorn rolls a Teleport SAI, and after some thought, Dan moves the Unicorn with a Leopard Rider and the Gold Medallion to the Home Army (reasoning that the current 15-health may not be able to dislodge the 18-health of Coral Elves at the Coastland, and realizing that this 15-health army is, in some aspects, actually an 11-health army – since the Gold Medallion is not a unit, and cannot be used to satisfy any combat losses, so a counter-attack could be costly). The Coral Elves suffer no losses in the counter-attack.

Dusty retreats the lone Firewalker to Reserve.

Dan chooses to activate the lone Fireshadow remaining at the Coastland City. It rolls 4 maneuvers. To both players’ surprise, the Coral Elves only roll 3 maneuvers! Now Dan starts to think that teleporting away was a mistake, but such an event could not be anticipated, let alone counted on. The Coastland is dropped to 6 and the Fireshadow declines melee.

Dan activates the Home Army and advances the terrain to 6. The Fireshadow goes to Reserve.

Dusty advances the Coastland to 7 and the Swampland to 5. The Firewalker in Reserve joins the other Firewalkers.

Dan rolls for magic in Reserve and casts a Burning Hands on what he thought was a Leopard Rider, but it turns out to be the Death Mage (Hey, we all make mistakes – but this one turned out to be inconsequential). Dan advances the Swampland City to 7. Fireshadow stays in Reserve.

Dusty advances the Coastland City to 8 and rolls for magic, getting 8 blue to send a Dragon to the Swampland City. (Dan forgets to roll the Unicorn for a chance at Dispel Magic.) Dusty moves the Swampland Standing Stones to 6.

Dragon Attack: Tail, Treasure. Dan can’t promote. Dragon is eliminated (and Dan still can’t promote). Swampland City advanced to 8 and rolls for magic, getting no magic. A Troll, 2 Leopard Riders, and the Wardog Rider join the Fireshadow in Reserve.

Dusty rolls the Coral Elves for magic and gets only 4 blue. He cast a 2-point Hailstorm at the Reserve Army (trying to kill off the Wardog Rider). The army saves, but this is an example of a savvy player trying to get the most out of a little magic, even if the odds were really low.
Dusty moves the Swampland Standing Stones to 7, forcing the defining moves that would decide the game.

Dan activates the Reserve, getting no magic, but the Troll rolls a Regenerate SAI, which brings the Leopard Rider out of the DUA to the Reserve. Dan rolls for magic at the Swampland City, getting three magic from the Death Mage and two magic from the Necromancer, casting an Ash Storm and Palsy on the Coral Elves at the Coastland. The Reserve moves to the Swampland Standing Stones.

Dusty rolls for magic, and after subtracting 2 (Ash Storm & Palsy), he generates 9 blue magic and casts 2 Windwalks on the Firewalkers. Now the Firewalkers are activated to maneuver the terrain to win the game. They roll 5 maneuvers, plus the 8 from Windwalk, to get 13 maneuvers. Dan rolls his army, but do the 3 Leopard Riders rise to the occasion? No – but the Troll and Wardog Rider come up with 6 maneuvers (doubled to 12 for the Swampland) and the Fireshadow contributes 4 maneuvers to raise the total to 16. Now it’s Dusty’s turn to think about whether he should attack or sit it out, and he elects not to melee. (Now that decision to choose the Frontier terrain instead of going first pays off.)

Dan rolls for magic at the Swampland City, getting a Cantrip from both the Death Mage and the Necromancer, and a Teleport SAI from the Unicorn. The Unicorn teleports to the Frontier, taking the Gold Medallion with it. The 4 gold magic is used to cast Path on the Troll, sending it to the Frontier, and 3 of the Necromancer’s black magic is used to cast a Palsy on the Firewalkers.

Now Dan rolls the Frontier army to try to maneuver the terrain to the 8th face and win the game, and generates 26 maneuvers. The Firewalkers can only muster 11, even with the two Windwalks. This game turned out to a game of maneuver, rather than combat, with key decisions made by both players that lead to this result:
1) The decision by the player with the Initiative to choose the Frontier terrain.
2) The 1st player’s strategy to missile the opponent’s Horde army and damaging it to assist the 1st player’s Home army to advance the terrain and melee on favorable terms.
3) The 2nd player’s decision to not contest the Coastlands and not pursue a melee strategy there.
4) The 2nd player’s unexpected success at winning the maneuver at the Coastland and turning it down (and what a different game would have resulted had the 2nd Player not gotten the Teleport and decided to stay?) This delayed the 1st Player the opportunity to use magic with Coral Elves by one turn.
5) The 2nd Player’s control of the Swampland City right after the 1st Player’s control of the Coastland City meant both sides had opportunities to support their armies with magic. The 2nd Player had just enough time to send a challenging army to contest the last step of the Frontier terrain. The 1st Player would have the first chance to win, so all the preceding events now led to the luck of the dice for magic support, as well as the maneuvering armies, to determine who would win this event-deciding game. Either player could easily have won it.

Battlefest: Four players were given the choice of paired opponents or a multi-player game. All decided on the multi-player game, as most had not tried out a multi-player game before. Jared's teenager comments drew a "let's kill the kid" mentality from the rest at the beginning, and then as fortunes evolved, other political strategies were tried. This gave Jared an opportunity to re-coup his early losses, and the game was decided on Scalder magic continually generating Green/Red Hybrid Dragons, who proceeded to consume most of the other players' now-attritted armies (with breaths doing most of the damage).

Playtest Session: Four players joined me on Sunday to playtest some of the new terrain proposals for an upcoming expansion. All players used a "constructed 2-player starter" format, choosing their home terrain normally, but then both players were presented with a choice of 4 different new terrains for use at the Frontier. After each player selected a terrain to propose as the Frontier terrain, the Horde armies were rolled for initiative. To one player's chagrin, he selected a new terrain (a Dragon's Lair), eventually captured it, and then found out he could not use it's special ability because the terrain had colors that did not match any of the Dragons in either player's Summoning Pool. The response to the proposed new terrains was very positive.

I was pleased to see several novice players from last year's DEXCON XII and this past winter's DREAMATION conventions sign up for the new "constructed starters" events. Some of those players expanded their armies, so I expect to see some of them competing in next year's "Single Race" or "36-health constructed" events, as well as the "constructed starter" event.
_________________
Daniel Burkley
US National Champion (DEXCON 2007, 2009, 2010)
World Champion (GENCON 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014)
Battlefest Champion: DEXCON 2008, 2011, GENCON 2009, 2010 (co-champion), 2011, 2017)
"No Magicians": GENCON 2008
"Single Race": DEXCON 2008, GENCON 2010, 2011, 2014 (co-champion), 2017