The Arena is a competitive system for ARMATI. It was inaugurated at Historicon '96, and uses the ADVANCED ARMATI supplement. The Arena has proven to be both flexible and fun, and has become the standard ARMATI tournament style.
When a player signs up for the Arena he or she agrees to play at least four games, with no maximum limit. They must play against at least four different opponents, after which they may play rematches with opponents as desired.
Armies and Enemies
There are no scheduled "rounds", just hours when the dedicated table space and Arena Director(s) will be available. Games may also be played on any the "free-gaming" areas at any time. The Arena system leaves gamers free to do other convention activities when they want to do them.
A player may also bring a historical scenario complete with victory conditions. If both players wish to game his scenario, he must offer his opponent the choice of side. A scenario win counts as any other win. Similarly, a player may bring a pair of armies and seek opponents.
Players arrange their own matches and report the results to the Arena Director. As agreed by both players, they may fight against only historical opponents, ahistorical opponents, or any combination. Bring any armies you wish and fight in any or all of the following periods:
- Category 1: ARMATI periods 1-5 Biblical, Antiquity, Age of Empires, Triumph of Cavalry, Age of Chivalry (these may be further subdivided according to tournament directors).
- Category 2: Renaissance Early and Late periods combined.
- Category 3: ECW
- Category 4: 30 Years War
Scoring
The Arena Director keeps a record of all matches played and at the end of the weekend tabulates the scores. The scoring system rewards players for winning against strong opponents. The player who has won the most games against the best players will probably win the Arena but there is no formula for victory! Victories in any or all periods count in the Arena.
Game Scales
Most gamers play in 15mm, but any game using any figure scale counts.
Full Arena details will be provided at sites where the Arena will be run.
All players should play at least FOUR games against various opponents.
Their final score = 10 * WLA + 10 * (OPP/4)
WLA is a player's Win/Loss Average. OPP is the
sum of the four best WLA's of opponents defeated by a player.
Example:
- Say a player played 8 games, winning five, drawing one, and losing two. His WLA would be: 0.688 (because, 5.5 / 8 = 0.688) This gives the left side of the formula a value of 6.88 (because 10 * WLA = 6.88).
Let's say his games went:
- lost to A (0.75)
- beat B (0.5)
- beat C (0.25)
- lost to D (0.5)
- beat E (0.6)
- drew F (0.33)
- beat G (0.5)
- beat H (0.1)
The players "high four" wins are against E, B, G, and C. Note that the draw and losses are ignored.
So OPP would be 1.85 (because 0.6 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.25 = 1.85) So the other component of his score is: 4.63 (because 10 * OPP / 4 = 4.63)
This player's final score:
= 10 * 0.68
8 + 10 * 1.85 / 4
= 6.88 + 4.63
= 11.51
Note that if this player had beaten fewer than four opponents, OPP is STILL divided by 4. For example, a player going 3 and 1 in the Arena, defeating a 0.75, 0.25, and a 0.5, would have an OPP of 1.5 which would be plugged into: 10 * 0.75 + 10 * 1.5/ 4 = 11.25. Run through these numbers and see if you've got it. It's actually easy once you get the hang of it.
