Conduct
Players at the ETC attend one of, if not the, largest event in the Flames of War gaming community and are supposed to represent their country at its best. It is thus expected that players maintain a fair and sporting attitude and conduct themselves appropriately during games. Cheating, slow play, and coaching are strictly prohibited.
Captains are liable for their players’ behaviour and should enforce this good spirit at all times, as well as resolve conflicts and make sure procedures (including Sudden Death) are effectively followed and applied.
All conversation at the table must be conducted in English.
Umpires
Umpires are neutral individuals appointed by the tournament organisers and chairs to adjudicate on rules and to seek to enforce the code of conduct. The umpire’s primary objective is to ensure fair play and resolve rules issues.
Umpires are not players.
The umpires are responsible for policing games and dealing with conflicts that cannot be resolved by the players and/or captains. Umpires will walk the event and monitor games, however players need to remember that an umpire cannot deal with a situation they are not aware of. If an umpire observes a pattern of poor behaviour from a player (e.g. repeated slow play) then the sanction of -1 Battlefront victory point (small point) may be applied. If this behaviour continues, then a further sanction of -1 win (big point) may be applied. Umpires may also award sanctions of Battlefront/small points or platoons-destroyed based on a single witnessed event.
This rule pack cannot predict all individual issues that may arrise, and an umpire must apply his/her best judgement to the situation.
A player should not be penalized for honest mistakes (however that mistake should not be repeated later in the event).
In the event of egregious cheating beyond reasonable doubt (e.g. weighted dice or playing with extra units not in your list) that player can immediately be told to leave the event whereby all their points will be removed from their team and a captain’s vote will be conducted to decide how long they are banned from returning to the ETC.
Appeals
An umpire’s ruling on rules questions/clarifications can not be appealed. A ruling by an umpire which applies a sanction shall be appealable to the chairs. Issues relating to the behaviour of an umpire must be raised with the chairs by a team captain.
Referees
Where it has not been possible to appoint neutral umpires, the chairs and captains may appoint three respected and knowledgeable players as referees.
Referees are not umpires and may only make make rulings on rule questions raised with them. They have no role in dealing with behaviours such as slow play, cheating etc. (see Issue Resolution below).
Issues relating to the behaviour of a referee must be raised with the chairs by a team captain.
Issue Resolution
If a rules issue comes up, players should first consult the rule book and unit cards, and the LFTF.
Go over the rules/issue step-by-step together to see if a solution can be found in the relevant documents.
If this doesn’t work, call over both team captains and have each player (if necessary) explain the situation and show the relevant section in the rules. Allow the two captains to discuss the rules/issue to see if they can reach consensus on how the rule should operate.
Alternatively, call an umpire to resolve the rules/issue. Explain the issue, the umpire will deliberate, and they will render a decision on how to proceed. This decision is binding.
In the absense of umpires at the event:
If the issue relates to a rules dispute, call a neutral referee who may adjudicate in the same was as above.
If the issues relates to behaviours, such as slow play, cheating, etc., call a chair to the table and discuss the issue with them as above.
In case highly unlikely events or situations come up during game play and are not clearly covered in the rules, the appointed umpires, and if needed, supported by the chairmen, will make a fair and logical ruling with explanation, which will be applied consistently in all subsequent games.
