Helvetica Maximus QRS

List checker and cut off date for lists

Dave Lauerman has kindly agreed to check lists, his email is dlauerman@aol.com.

1. All three team lists should be sent together by the King, as they need checking against the Kings list

2. The Kings list should be highlighted

3. Please remember to list which unit is the bodyguard

4. Lists by the midnight 23rd June

Clarification on Bodyguards and Command cards

1. The King must be attached to a Tug at all times
2. Initially that must be a designated Bodyguard, which they can only leave if it dies
3. The King must command their own bodyguard
4. If the King only commands his bodyguard he can still be considered floating as long as the army list allows it
5. The bodyguard must be specified in the submitted army list

Theme

The kill a king theme is designed to make the team effort more real, the King and his allies have a vested interest in the Kings wellbeing 😊 so he has been elevated from being a useful addition in a fight or a mobile hospital, to a more realistic "we need to keep him alive, how do we keep him out of trouble"

•    This year we are looking to make it a Team event, with a King and two allies forming a team, using preset terrain with a twist
•    Three to a team, with a nominated King, if you can't form a team contact me and I will put you on a list to form a Mercenary Team.
•    Each team must have a core 10,000 army and two flank armies of 10,000 points.
•    We will have a reserve team, so we won't have odd numbers
•    2026 competition lists and rule changes but 2025 Terrain QRS
•    Terrain will be Preset so no requirement for mats or terrain

Special rules

•    The King is the team CinC for whole Comp, he has a core 10,000 pts army
•    The King can be no more than Talented. (i.e. no Legendary Kings)
•    The King must nominate a Tug as their bodyguard and attach themselves to the unit for duration, they do not have to be in command of the TUG and can still be floating if not in command, if bodyguard is routed, they must then nominate another unit as bodyguard and join them.
•    Minimum criteria for initial Bodyguards, they cannot have/be any of the following: -
Poor, Unprotected, Unskilled, Combat shy, Unarmed (i.e. no charge or melee combat preferred claim) if your list choice makes this impossible then a superior unit can replace one of the criteria.
•    Points scored are total of team.
•    The Team can have no more than one army from any single list.
•    If the Kings core army uses an external Ally, then 1 of the flank armies must also be from that Ally list.
•    Teams play on three adjacent tables, with the King on middle table every game
•    King's Dice to determine defender or attacker, which then applies to all tables
•    King vs King PBS (max 6 cards) to determine who chooses the side, (preset Terrain) draws go to defender unless the attacker has skull in which case they get the choice on a draw. Score PBS as for scouting Red 4, Yellow 2, Green 1 highest total wins, once chosen, the whole team plays on the chosen side.
•    Scouting cards are played as normal for deployment by commanders on each table
•    Flank armies are posted in secret after sides chosen, so potentially only CinC will know who they face on the middle table.
•    Death of the King causes an immediate KAB on all flank army's generals in the team, with a Skull not killing a general but causing them to become hesitant as per the rules.  The death of a king will therefore stall allies to some degree.
•    If we have enough international variety in players and teams on Saturday we will run two parallel Swiss seeding, on Sunday it will be true Swiss.

Terrain

•    We will use 2025 Terrain QRS with some additional terrain features.
•    Terrain will be prelaid, the aim is to make the terrain interesting not unplayable! and allow more interesting terrain i.e. Plateau's, Valleys, Escarpments, Roads, Rivers, Bridges, Fords etc.,
•    It will be themed Table one Mountains / Forest / Jungle, Table two (middle) will be themed Standard/Woods and table 3 Coastal / Plains / Desert.
•    Although we will have a general theme of going from mountains to the sea, it doesn't mean that mountains won't have a high plateau or coastal won't be full of orchards or fields so although it's an open competition, it will probably be a good idea for somebody to be good in Mountains or Forest and somebody good in plains!,
•    Attached is example of Terrain layout for middle table i.e. Standard / Woody

Additional Terrain

•    Bridges will be two base widths wide good going, the Parapet will classify as Barricades.
•    Roads / Tracks are 2 base width wide, so not much of an advantage to TUGs greater than 8
•    Roads/Tracks are good going and increase your "underlying terrain" movement by 1 Bw.
i.e. In Difficult Terrain, Loose cavalry moves at underlying terrain movement of 2bw plus 1 for the road.
•    Loose Chariots move as loose cavalry on all roads/tracks
•    Close chariots or chariots with Arm'd horse move as close cavalry on all roads/tracks
•    All troops ignore wheeling restrictions whilst on a road or track. So, any move (or part thereof) that is done on a road is considered as going straight ahead, even if the road or track has a curve.
•    Rivers are Difficult
•    Streams are Rough
•    Wheeled vehicles can only cross Rivers by/at ford or bridge
•    Fords will be variable widths but not less than 2 BW, slowed by 1 Bw but are good going
•    Steep riverbanks are treated as no cover obstacles
•    Other terrain as per 2025 QRS
•    An example of a suggested standard / wooded Terrain map for a centre table is attached
•    Finally, if anyone has a particular terrain layout they would like to suggest or play that fits the terrain themes please PM me.

Venue

YOTEL Geneva Lake
Chemin Ballessert 1
1297 Founex
Switzerland

Transport

Transport to and from airport to hotel is organised both for arrivals and departures, for train arrivals, you will need to make a quick 5 min hop from Geneva Gare to airport to get the transport.

Accommodation

As per last year, accommodation is at the Hotel venue, as part of the deal we will get discounted single / double rooms as well as twin rooms for those that don't mind sharing.
The booking link is https://tinyurl.com/HelveticaMaximus
Meals

Breakfast will be included in the room package.
Saturday, Sunday lunch and Saturday night Thai barbeque are included in the competition fee and will be at the lake.

Costs

Hotel. 

Competition Venue also provides accommodation, Discount code and link will be published as we get it, there will be a choice of Single at £135 or twin and double rooms at £145 per night, the deal we have agreed includes Breakfast. The competition Players will be taking a large chunk of their rooms so please book early, they do have a reasonable cancelation provision, but you run the risk if you book late of no rooms. The booking link will follow shortly. The booking link is https://tinyurl.com/HelveticaMaximusII

Comp fee.

Comp fee. £125 per competitor, which includes Thai barbeque Saturday evening, lunch on Saturday and Sunday and all transport to/ from Hotel to Airports and Dining venue on the lake.


Payment details.

PayPal :- rogerpitfield@horizoneurope.com (friends and family 🙏) PM me for bank details if you want to bank transfer.

Summary.

If you share a room, the cost of the competition, accommodation, transfers, food and most of your soft drinks, beer, wine and scotch will only be C£270 plus travel costs for the weekend 😊

Example Terrain & QRS

Camels are perfectally at home in scrub or massive dunes,Nellies are forest and/or open plain/savannah animals and certainly aren't "better" than camels in sand based scrub,there are Namibian elephants that have evolved to manage sand dunes, but at the cost of smaller bodies and larger feet, so not particularly suitable for war elephants, the point to be made here is Camels don't need adaption to be effective in any desert/sandy terrain coastal or otherwise, moving at their normal speed over most variations of desert terrain, whereas a very small subset of elephants had to evolve to manage desert/dune terrain, the Tuaregs managed wonderfully well to maneuver and fight in all the variations of terrain with their camels,

Ineffective is probably realistic in a forest, getting the arrows into the air clear of trees is a feat alone, doing it with any range is adding the improbable to the impossible!! but apparently massed shooters have less chance than a bunch of village kids who apparently have satelit guided arrows to avoid obstacles and hit a target they cant see!!!

Quote from: badhabum on September 15, 2025, 10:09:46 AM

Quote from: Roger on September 15, 2025, 10:07:53 AM

Quote from: badhabum on September 13, 2025, 07:43:22 PM

Quote from: steads on September 13, 2025, 02:27:36 PM

Quote from: Count_bohemond on September 13, 2025, 08:17:07 AMDon't agree with this change either. Nothing wrong with the cheap units at the back.

Plus 1

Well I do agree . You may still downgrade the TUG but not "twice" You may have bad quality units but downgrading twice is a bit too much gamy

not sure double downgrades was un historical, as stalin was reputed to say "numbers have a quality of there own"  and the rational of veterans being upgraded to superior or/and mellee in the list also applies to decimated, or levee recruits in a long campaign, or even the leavening out of competent bowmen into one unit and their incompetent followers being given a stick and some string to be stuck out on the flank to look important and threatening whilst not having the with to hurt a fly

The the mobs should be available trough the lists

I think it would be a legitimate command decision to strengthen one unit at the expense of an other whilst deciding where and how your army is deployed, which in effect what has and indeed does happen, the decision is made to reduce points on a unit to enhance another, that in my opinin would be a command decision not a recruitment or system requirement

Quote from: lionheartrjc on September 15, 2025, 11:58:29 AM

Quote from: Roger on September 15, 2025, 10:47:03 AMDont understand the problem you are trying to fix with disallowing Dummy flank marches, battles often have as many pyschological components as Tactical

Currently there is no penalty for selecting a dummy flank march (or three). All players might as well choose dummy flank marches on every game.

An alternative would be that any general selected for a dummy flank march (after checking for hesitancy if allied) cannot play or discard any of their cards on the first turn. 

That works for me, dont want to get rid of it as it can be usefull in shaping an opponents deployment

Quote from: lionheartrjc on September 15, 2025, 12:14:57 PM

Quote from: Roger on September 15, 2025, 11:01:40 AMSeriously these guys are slowed by Orchards or Vineyards???
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t52xufcLTAw
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XOy6eoSlOfQ

A single elephant probably not.  A formation of elephants accompanied by escorts.
That said, I guess they probably should move the same speed as loose or skirmishing infantry.  Perhaps change their maximum movement distance to 3 BW in difficult going?
EDITED: (My mistake, thanks to Bahdabum for pointing it out).

There is probably an argument for Elephants accompanied by archers to be slowed to loose speeds, and to cut off the argument about Mounted archers, would it be realistic to assume the extra weight slows them to loose?

Simplification is not a useful target in isolation, simplifying technically complexity may be ie mixed flank and frontal attacks, but simplification for its own sake just brings mediocracy, eventually you can reduce the game to 1x 6 sided dice per tug, the winner is who rolls the biggest total!!!

Currently these changes lose 8 distinct terrain and tactical choices with two catchalls, that arn't even remotely linked? why would a orchard have the same characteristics as a village, and we gain coastal dunes, an oversight I have been pointing out for years, hardly qualifying "to provide some interesting choices with terrain selection"

Overall its seems you are undervaluing the terrain battle, for example, as an attacker, you give the opponent a Town or Village, it could be guaranteed to attract troops to defend it or maybe your plan is to split a battle field to your advantage, or even provide a salient for breaking though enemy lines. endless uses for using terrain to win your battle, there are myriad examples of battles won because of clever or unusual use of terrain.

Settlements.  Replaces village, orchard and vineyards. In Standard and Coastal territory types then may be selected by both players. In other territory types, limited to a single piece selected by the defender.  Counts as cover when within or shooting through. Restricts visibility of infantry to 4BW.

Again see my previous comment reference Elephants but equally doesnt seem like "The aim is to provide some interesting choices with terrain selection."

Fort. Replaces town.  Provides both cover and with the boundary treated as barricades. Limited to a single piece that may be chosen only by the defender but must be touching the defender's rear table edge and may not be placed in the central terrain zone.

This is completly counter intuitive, if you have a "Fort" you dont automatically stick it out on your flank??? touching the rear edge has some merit if you are a defender, and if your a commader you would stick your camp in there!!

Rough going has been simplified into one terrain type, replacing rocky ground, brush, ploughed fields, tall crops and boundaried fields.
This removes some interesting terrain choices, each of which has advantages and disadvantages, that army generals take into consideration, for deploying their troops
Hardly " providing some interesting choices with terrain selection."

Seriously these guys are slowed by Orchards or Vineyards???
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t52xufcLTAw
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XOy6eoSlOfQ

This removes choices i.e. Hoplites mounted on chariots etc