Tournament Requirements and Expectations
Outline for Tournament Requirements
Purpose of this document: to outline the requirements to be met in order for a tournament to qualify as a TTYA (Tabletop Youth Association) official tournament.
1 - Essentials
1.1 Differentiation of terms
The term “tournament” refers to the overall competition, encompassing the entire day or days over which the various competitions will be held.
The term “event” refers to the individual competitions for each game and academic area. A tournament will have multiple games and arts and humanities competitions, and a game system may feature multiple events within the same tournament.
“Arts and Humanities” events refer to academic and/or artistic competitions held in addition to “Game” events, which are competitions associated with a particular game from the approved list.
“TCG” refers to “Trading Card Games,” whereas “Tabletop Games” refers to those games that utilise miniatures to represent units on the board.
“Counts-as” refers to models that are not officially produced models, but are close enough facsimiles to the official models so as to be easily identifiable. “Proxies” are using an unrelated or different model to represent something it is not (for example: using a can of soda to represent a drop pod, or a WW2-style tank to represent a Land Raider tank from 40K).
“Local” tournaments are an area specified by the hosting school within a 75-mile radius of the hosting chapter’s school.
“State” level tournaments are competitions open to all schools within the hosting chapter’s state. There must be at least one registered chapter participating in these tournaments that does not fall within the “local” category.
“National” level tournaments are open to all members of the country in which the registered chapter resides.
“Faculty advisor” refers to the district or school employee who is the adult advisor and sponsor of that school’s chapter. There is only one official faculty advisor per chapter, but they may have as many assistants as they deem necessary and sustainable.
1.2 Baseline Tournament Requirements:
The tournament must be hosted by a chapter of a high school that is a registered chapter with the TTYA
There must be at least two (2) of the events chosen from the approved list of games. (List to follow)
In addition to these game events, there must be at least one (1) arts and humanities event.
There must be game events for at least two (2) different games from the approved list, with sufficient participants to qualify, in order for the event to qualify as official.
The event must adhere to the organisational procedures outlined in this document for all aspects, including event scoring, availability, scheduling, advertising, and participation requirements.
1.3 Approved list of games
:
Warhammer 40k
Kings of War
Halo: Flashpoint
Warmachine
Magic: The Gathering TCG
1.4 Event requirements: In order for an event to qualify for the requirements of a tournament, it must meet all of the following criteria:
It must have at least 4 participants (in the case of team events, a participant refers to a full team, ie, an event must have 4 full teams to meet this requirement). Participants must have met all necessary registration requirements three weeks prior to the event in order for it to qualify.
If the disqualification of a participant would cause the numbers to drop below the required amount of 4, the event will still qualify if the disqualification occurs 3 weeks or fewer before the event, or at any time after the event has started. Teams that have a disqualification should make every effort to find a substitute when possible.
Students must have signed up for an event, paid the associated dues, and submitted the necessary items, such as army or deck lists, to the event organizer(s) at least 3 weeks in advance of the event in order to qualify as a participant for qualifying reasons.
It must be a game that utilises the rulesets from the approved list of games. If it is an arts and humanities event, then its subjects must be directly related to the lore and settings of those games. (eg. Creative writing must feature stories from those settings, painting competitions should be centered around official models from those games, etc.)
Participants in events do not need to come from officially recognized high school chapters, but they must be currently enrolled students in a high school within the hosting chapter’s region, depending on the level of the tournament (local, state, or national competition), and they must be between the ages of 12-18 years old.
For a chapter to be recognized as the overall champion of an event, it must be part of a registered chapter within a qualifying high school.
Participants in game events may join up to the day of the event, provided they are approved by at least half of the registered chapters in attendance, as decided by the faculty advisors. This addition of participants cannot move a previously disqualified event due to a lack of participants to a qualified one. Although it will alter the amount of points awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places within the event. Arts and humanities events must be submitted by the advanced deadline; no late entries will be allowed.
2 - Games:
2.1 Model requirements for tabletop miniature games:
Armies must be fully painted and based following Battle Ready Standards. 3D Printed Models are allowed, Third-Party Models are also allowed as counts-as of officially produced models, as long as they constitute a reasonable substitution for the original model. If they deviate considerably from the existing model, they must go through the model approval process before being played at the Event. Proxies are not allowed.
Models that do not meet this minimum standard will be removed from play by a Judge, even if it is in the middle of a game. If you are unsure if your models meet Battle Ready Minimum Standards, please reach out ahead of time. Judges will have final discretion on what constitutes Battle Ready Minimum.
2.2 Battle Ready Minimum Requirements: (Taken from Games Workshop Website found HERE)
Battle Ready is quick and easy, regardless of your level of experience in painting miniatures. It involves using Base, Shade and Technical paints (the Classic method), or Contrast and Technical paints (the Contrast method), to bring your squad, army, or Legion to a satisfying standard that you can be proud of.
Base paints are bursting with pigment and let you block out all the colours you require. Shading adds definition to your models, and now, because the entire Shade range has been reformulated to flow better into the recesses of your miniatures, Battle Ready armies are faster to paint and look better than ever before.
You can also use Contrast paints for a different, more streamlined approach. These paints are designed to apply a wide range of colours to your models straight from the pot, changing the painting game by giving you consistent and reliable results in a fraction of the time. Simply undercoat with Wraithbone, Grey Seer, or White Scar, and add one coat of Contrast per colour on your miniature.
And whether you’ve gone for Classic or Contrast, to finish off, all you need to do is apply a Technical paint like Stirland Mud or Astrogranite to the base to make it look like your miniature is standing on a battlefield, and you’re done.
2.3 Trading Card Games
The minimum requirements for TCG are the same regarding the number of participants required for events to qualify, as well as for potential drops and no-shows.
Magic: The Gathering will utilize officially recognized Wizards of the Coast play formats for their tournaments. Any exceptions to that format will be published in the individual game documents dedicated to each of the approved games.
2.4 Types of competitive events. These are approved formats with suggested player sizes; however, they do not indicate the required sizes for all formats. A Grand Tournament-style event could be run for only 10 players, and so on. Round-Robin is prohibitive in that it can only be used for 4-player events.
Round-Robin: For events with only 4 participants, this means that everyone will play everyone else in a series of three rounds. These events will typically require only one day.
Swiss Pairings: For events with 5-16 participants, the Swiss Pairings style will be used, where players will face off in a number of rounds needed to secure a single undefeated player. These events typically require only one day.
Grand Tournament: For events with 17-32 participants, a more detailed scoring system will be utilized, where players will score points for each round in which they are participating, which will typically run for 5-6 rounds, at the end of which the player who has scored the highest amount of points will be named the champion. These events will likely require two or more days to complete.
Teams: This will include teams of 5 participants competing against other teams of the same number over the course of several rounds. This event typically requires two or more days to complete.
2.5 Individual games scoring packets.
Each individual event will have specific directions, utilizing guidelines that will be published in a separate document for each game, to ensure uniformity and fairness in all events. These will be living documents that can be modified with the agreement of the registered chapters within the area where the tournament will be held.
3 - Arts and Humanities events: For all these events, scoring rubrics must be provided no less than 4 weeks before the tournament, and cannot be altered or changed with less than 3 weeks before the tournament. Any changes made to these scoring rubrics must be announced to all registered chapters attending and published in a public online space related to the host chapter, where all other communications about the tournament are posted.
Painting: Painting competitions are an essential part of the tabletop hobby. Members will need to assemble and paint their miniatures to a high tournament standard for regular play. Beyond that, there will be competitions where members will be able to create a display piece for judges to score and award championships to the entry deemed the most impressive, based on a variety of factors outlined in a competition rubric that participants will be able to view before the event. This rubric will vary depending on the tournament’s organizers, but must be published at least 4 weeks prior to the tournament.
Creative Writing: Each of these games has an extensive fictional history attached to it. With that in mind, each member should decide what faction they will be using (much like you pick a character for a video game, your faction is the representation of your forces and characters in these tabletop games) and then construct a fictional army or force around that faction. Beyond simply building and painting miniatures, each member should create a narrative explaining why their forces would be on the battlefield, which is represented on the tabletop. At tournaments, there will be creative writing competitions where participants will submit stories centered on individuals in their forces and their struggles, as well as how they overcome them (or fail to do so). Writing judges will assess the creativity, composition, and skill in crafting these stories, as well as how well these stories fit within the worlds of their inherent games and award winners for these narratives. Scoring rubrics for these competitions must be published at least 4 weeks in advance.
Other Miscellaneous: Additional competitions, such as cosplay or role-playing elements, may be made available for specific tournaments or events. These will be treated on a case-by-case basis and should be approved in consultation with the other officially registered chapters.
4 - Overall Champions Tournament Scoring - Each event within a tournament will give scores according to the following methods:
Each game event will be given an amount of points equal to the number of students who are participants. This means that a team event will have four participant teams and 20 participating students; thus, that event will be awarded 20 points to its champion. A round-robin style event will have 4 points that can be awarded.
1st place champion of a game event will receive the grand total of points for their event (ie, if there are 20 participants, then first place will receive 20 points). 2nd place will receive half of that (10 points for 20 participants), and 3rd place will receive a quarter of the total points (5 points) for their registered chapter’s score. In the case of fractions in division, always round down. For example, if there were 21 participants in an event, then 1st place would receive all 21 points, 2nd place would receive 10 points (21/2 = 10.5, rounded down to 10), and 3rd place would still receive 5 points.
Arts and humanities events will be awarded the following points: 12 for first place, 6 for second place, and 3 for third place, regardless of the number of participants.
At the end of the tournament, the chapter with the greatest total score will be crowned the overall champions of the event. If a team is not from a registered chapter, they can win individual and team events, but are ineligible to compete for the overall champions.
Any points awarded to participants not from registered chapters will be considered lost. They will not transfer to the next lower officially registered chapter player.
5 - Host Responsibilities: The hosting chapter is the chapter that is organizing the event and will be required to provide the following items and services.
All tables and terrain for each specific game. This includes standards set up for national tournaments in each game system.
A published player packet that will be available at a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the tournament, and will include a schedule for all events, scoring rubrics, and information regarding rules and setup for each event.
All scoring rubrics for each event, both game events and arts and humanities events. These should be detailed and easy to read. The rubric must be approved by at least two other chapters before it can be officially published. Rubrics that have been published for other events can be republished for other events without this verification process, provided no changes have been made to the rubric.
Impartial judges and referees for all events. Preferably, these judges should be official representatives of the game when possible (i.e., Magic and 40K have official judges that one can qualify to become).
All prizes and trophies to be awarded to participants who place at any event within their tournament. All prizes should be commiserate with the size and scope of the event being represented.
Any funds collected through registration dues and potential on-site concessions should be allocated to the hosting chapter to help cover expenses, such as hobby and model supplies, potential travel costs, and the purchase of additional terrain.
6 - Appeals and suggested changes:
6.1 In the event that an item within this or other official documents related to the TTYA has come under scrutiny and a desire to have that item or requirement changed and/or accommodated, then the person wishing to make such a change can follow these procedures to initiate the voting for such a change:
The person must first initiate a conversation about their desire for a change with the faculty advisor of their chapter. If the individual is the faculty advisor, then this step may be bypassed.
This dialogue must address the issues surrounding the current item within the rules and requirements for the TTYA as they are represented in their region. It must clearly state what the problem is that they see, as well as proposed solutions to that issue. The faculty advisor must approve of the discussion and the proposed solutions before advancing the case further.
Once the faculty advisor of the chapter determines that a healthy proposal has been created, they will forward it to the other registered chapters within their region. Presenting them with the identified issue as well as the proposal for a solution, the other chapters will be given a period of at least two weeks to review the proposal and provide their feedback. At the end of the agreed-upon time, the chapters will vote on whether they agree with the proposal or if further amendments are necessary. The majority of the chapters in the region must approve the proposal for it to proceed. If the majority of the regional chapters do not see the issue as a significant problem, they can vote to end the discussion, which will terminate this process for the remainder of that season.
If the issue concerns a regional tournament, the changes outlined in the proposal can be implemented immediately following an affirmative vote for tournaments within the region.
If the regional chapters agree with the issue and the proposal, it will advance to a vote among the state-registered chapters, following a similar process to the regional one.
State chapters, when presented with such a proposal, will be given an agreed-upon amount of time of at least 3 weeks to peruse the proposal and suggest amendments. At the end of that time, a vote will be taken to determine whether the proposal will be adopted at the state level. A majority of chapters voting in the affirmative will pass, and the proposal will be implemented at all state-level tournaments. If the state chapters vote against the proposal, they will then need to take an additional week to determine if the proposal should be stricken from the local level as well, in order to maintain uniformity among tournaments. If the proposal is deemed as acceptable for the local region, then they may keep their adjustment, but must allow hosting chapters to determine whether they will follow the local adjustment or the state-level standard. If it is determined that the proposal needs to be stricken, it must be removed from local-level tournaments immediately.
Once a proposal has been accepted at the state level, it will be forwarded to all chapters nationwide, and a vote will be conducted on its implementation. At least 50% of all active national chapters must respond to the vote on whether to implement the changes in order for a vote to be considered official. Chapters will be given a period of 2 weeks from the time of the proposal to when they vote. After that time, votes will be collected for a period of 1 week, or until the minimum 50% requirement is met, whichever comes second. A majority of the votes in favor of the proposal will end with its integration into the TTYA as a whole within that nation. A majority in opposition will lead to its termination. If a proposal is voted down, then an additional three business days will be given to gather the votes of any nationally registered chapters on whether the state and local groups that have already implemented the proposal should be allowed to keep it. If they vote that it is acceptable, then state and local tournaments can still implement the change; however, hosting chapters can decide whether to offer the proposed changes or adhere to the standard requirements of the national level for their individual tournaments. If it is voted that the change is unacceptable for the state and local tournaments, then it must be stricken immediately and the national standard restored.
Any tournament scheduled to take place within three (3) weeks of a decision regarding a proposal will not be required to change its requirements, and must continue with what it has previously published as the rules and standards of the tournament. Any tournament more than 3 weeks or 15 business days from its planned date must immediately announce the changes and publish the addendum in a public location. They must also contact the attending chapters and inform them of the changes.
All discussions regarding proposals should be conducted in a publicly accessible online forum, where interactions can be recorded for future consideration. This can be accomplished through various means, such as an email chain, a public chat group involving faculty advisors, or an online message board. It may not be done on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or X.
6.2 - Appeals: If a judge’s decision seems in error or overly biased in regards to a particular event, an appeal can be requested through the following means:
The faculty advisor must be the one to submit the appeal request. Chapter members must submit their requests through them.
A faculty advisor should always begin the process by speaking to the host chapter’s advisor for a tournament. If the appealing faculty advisor feels that their request has been inadequately addressed for the situation at hand, they may escalate it to the other chapters within their region.
In a publicly accessible internet format, at a time when at least 75% of all regional faculty advisors, or their appointed representatives, can meet, the faculty advisors for each regional chapter will meet and discuss the issue at hand. Both the appealing advisor and the hosting advisor will each have 10-15 minutes to present their case for why a decision should or should not be called into question. After both sides have presented their cases, the appealing advisor presents first, followed by the host advisor, and then the remaining regional advisors have an opportunity to ask questions. This period of questioning is not to exceed 15 minutes, at which point the regional advisors will cast their votes in favor of or in opposition to the appeal. A two-thirds majority vote is required to uphold an appeal. The entirety of this meeting should not exceed one hour in length.
If the appeal is upheld, the advisors will determine whether it will stand for future instances, or if the situation is grievous enough to warrant reversal of the previous decision issued by the tournament judge, and if it alters the final standings of the previous tournament. This should only be in significantly erroneous situations where the judge’s decision was clearly at fault and abuse of their position is evident. If the error was something understandable, it will need to be amended for future tournaments held within the region; otherwise, it should be left without further alterations to what has transpired.
If it is decided that the appeal does not stand, no further action is required, and the meeting will be adjourned.
A regional decision can be appealed to the state level only once, and the ruling of the state advisors’ group will stand as the final decision. The process will be the same as the regional-level appeals, but the difference is that the region in which the original appeal originated will not be included in the required attendance, nor will they be allowed to vote a second time. An additional section of the presentations will also be added, with an additional 10 minutes for the regional advisors to present their reasoning for their decision as part of the context. Whatever ruling the state advisors determine will be considered the final word in the matter. This should only be used in cases of extreme and blatant abuse of position and power. If a faculty advisor uses this resource to an extent that other state advisors feel constitutes abuse, their future appeals may be placed on suspension for a time determined by the rest of the state advisors.