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Timing Tournaments

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 10:40 pm
by Dave
In most tournaments games will have limited time to be finished in.

If a game extends over that time, what happens then??

I ask this as a friend of mine is a REALLY SLOW (no I'm not annoyed) player. Games with him may easily last over three hours, which is all right at home but little (little??) long during tournaments where there is usually two hours for games.

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:09 pm
by Deathwing
Usually the result stands if and when time is called. It's usually reasonable to go a few minutes over...and if you get a slow opponent and start falling behind then you may have to instigate the 4 minute rule.
Bottom line is that you have to be able to play at a reasonable pace in tournies. Before Res. last year we played a lot of games using a stopwatch as we knew we had to pick up our pace a little.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 8:48 am
by Indigo
Do you reckon it's likely that the 4 min rule will be used? Given we have 2 hours for each match then I doubted it would

Anyway, what's the longest game of BB you've ever played? I once played the manager of my local store on a veteran's night... started at 7pm... finished at 1:30am :zzz:

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:19 am
by DoubleSkulls
16 turns x 4 mins x 2 players = 128 mins i.e. just over 2 hours. So on average you'll have to play faster than 4 min turns.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:41 am
by Indigo
there I go showing I can't count :-)

at least we wont have to waste time recording which players have scored what, etc. like a league match

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:16 am
by Longshot
I havent seen any problem with that rule.
I believe that Trambi is a slow player but he didnt get any probs at T5 with the time.
And there is only 2 games that can be dangerous about the time rules: the 2nd and the 5th.
Because for the 1 and 4 th, you can get a little more time because of the lunch break
and for the 3rd and the 6th, this is the last of the day.

The 4 mins per turn is not good because most of players can play quickly few turns and take much more time for 2 difficult turns.
Check the right answer:
Or you could play slowly at the beginning and play fast at the end because:
-you only have 4 players on the pitch
-you' re leading 3/0
-you re blind
-you want to see the other games
-what the hell is this Bloodbowl stuff?

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:17 am
by DoubleSkulls
Also pre match & post match sequences are much shorter - all you have to do is roll weather & decide who starts and then pick your skill at the end.

Even so, even average play will ensure that you over run.

IMO GW should have said everyone has to bring a stopwatch and enforced the 4 minute rule (or similar) - I don't like it - but its better than missing the last few turns because you don't have time to finish the game.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:12 pm
by Redfang
So that silly 4minutes/turn rule is used occasionally...

Is there anybody who also uses that rule in normal
(league) games?

R

(Just curious)

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:38 pm
by Longshot
Not here.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 1:12 pm
by Dave
Not here either, but I don't think it's silly

In an Intelligence (duh??) test you need to complete a certain amount of questions withing a certain time.

Just finishing 1 question and doing it well won't give you a 175 IQ

Same with BB. The time forces you to think quick. Still if some turns take less than a minute. (I turn that, that, that, that, that, that, that that and that one around .. Your turn) it obviously won't be a problem if other turns take longer. (Shall I stand him up now or that one first ... let's see ...)

(My regular opponent can make a turn with two active players into a four minute think simetimes ..)

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 1:27 pm
by martynq
Redfang wrote:So that silly 4minutes/turn rule is used occasionally...

Is there anybody who also uses that rule in normal
(league) games?
Yep, we use it. Actually we used to use 2-minute turns, but I managed to switch this to 3-minute turns last season. For the new season, I'm going to say that coaches should agree on using 2-, 3- or 4-minute turns between them, but that we'll abandon 4-minute turns if matches don't get finished quickly enough.

Martyn

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 1:55 pm
by Deathwing
I've never had any problems with finishing a game on or around time at a tourney, a few have overrun by a few minures is all. The one exception is a game against McDeth at the Spiky Open where we were running behind (we got going a little late by time I'd finished up some NAF business and got settled) but a riot too care of that.
I've never had to say anything about 4 mins...there's usually plenty of 'short' turns (e.g. early turnovers or situations where you'll score rather than risk rolling dice or while you've got a RR in hand), which will compensate for the turns where you've got some more thinking than usual to do.
Other points: The tourney environment usually means less players on the field (particularly towards the end of the game) and those available have less skill rerolls available, plus a lot less Guard etc to worry about. Coupled with the comparative lack of TRR (on most teams), rookie teams just have a higher turnover ratio than higher TR league teams. All of which helps speed tourney play along.
Overall, you should just keep an eye on the clock. If you're not yet at H-T on or around the hour mark, then both you and your opponent will have to make a conscious effort to pick up the pace.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 5:57 pm
by Skummy
We use standard 4 minute turns in all of our league games. It helps a lot if you are looking ahead during your opponent's turn to figure out your priorities, probabilities and blitz action.

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2003 6:01 am
by The UniGoblin
Yup...we use the rule. But it still didn't seem to matter.

I played a game 2 weeks ago. I got to my friend's house at 2pm, told him I had to leave by 5 to get to school. No problem! We should have the game finished and done by 3 hours.

Even though we used the 4-minute timer, my opponent managed to use the entire 4 minutes for every single turn! Not to mention him taking forever to decide which freebooter he wanted.

So, as it was heading into OVERTIME, clock reading 5:25, on his 8th and final turn, his only chance at a one-turner to break the 2-2 tie was with a Quick Snap, and we rolled a Changing Weather result.

"Ok, dude...make your 3 blocks and a completion and lets do overtime."

:-?

Tick....tock....tick....tock....

"Well....if I move this guy over, I'll get an extra assist....hmmmmmm...."

:roll:

Tick....tock....tick....tock....

"And this guy has Guard...sooo......ummmm, what skills does that guy have?"

:x

Tick...tock....tick....tock....

:pissed: :pissed: :pissed:

"Fine! Here....TAKE 3 DICE!! JUST FREAKIN' BLOCK ME!!!!!!!!!"

So what happens as I'm ready to take the kickoff in overtime? :?:

Yup...pitch invasion. :o

And guess who won....he did. :(

Needless to say, the 6 remaining players standing walked off the field so their coach could show up half an hour late for Managerial Accounting... :cry:

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2003 4:17 pm
by Colin
I know what you mean, I hate playing with slow players (those who can't make up their minds). Had a game go over 4 hours once because the opponant was so slow. Kept telling him to hurry up and he kept getting pissed off saying. "I can take some time to think what moves I'm going to make!" Hey, this game ain't chess, it's suppossed to be fast paced. The time I have tried using a timer, I found that with most players the turns tend to finish within that time limit. So I say for most league game you probably don't need a timer, unless there is a really slow person who can't seem to pick up his pace.