Okay, so without further ado, here are my initial thoughts:
-Number Of Rounds: 3-5. I think that in a competitive event, 3 rounds are really the minimum needed to reach any kind of quantitative decision on placing. That being said, 3 rounds is not nearly enough to cancel out all the variation that can happen due to luck! 5 rounds really isn't enough either, but it does improve things a bit. However, at 5 rounds, I think you would be looking at 2 days for the event, which is probably not doable outside of a convention.
-Table Size: I favor a 4'x3' or 4'x4' size for this, for two main reasons. 1, it allows an organizer to have more players in a given space; using 4x3, you can get two games onto the standard 4x6 table. 2, it limits the distances that players can start from each other, which will speed the rounds since ships will be rapidly within shooting range.
-Mission Parameters: I'm a big fan of what I call the "20 Point" format, in which each mission has a Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary objective, worth 10, 6, and 4 points respectively. An example of a primary mission might be one of the 6 battle orders from the rulebook, like "sink 70% of the enemy's core force." Secondary missions might be one of those 6 as well, like "Sink or capture the model with the enemy's commodore." The tertiary mission is where things can really open up for creativity. For example, the photo recon objective that was used in the first DWVA tournament last year. A key point for this system is that, usually, if both players accomplish an objective, then neither player gets any points for it. That might sound a little harsh, but it does tend to produce clear breakouts among the players, limiting the chances that there will be ties.
-Point Sizes: I think that 800 points is about the best point level for a mixed naval and air game. At this level, it is possible to take the big airships, dreadnoughts, and the like, but it still forces the players to think hard about their list comp. Also, while this points level is a bit more than what comes in the starter box, it is not drastically more, which means that it is not too hard for a beginner to get into; generally, one additional blister will be enough to put them over the top, depending on the faction. 600 points is not a bad option either; it has the benefit of allowing beginners to jump right in with just the contents of the starter box. Interestingly, it seems to me like the amount of time to play a 600 vs. 800 point scenario is about the same. I think this is due to the fact that at 800 points, model counts might actually be less thanks to the tendency to bring more large models like dreadnoughts, carriers, and the like.
-Prize categories and criteria: I think that this one can be pretty flexible, and only a few suggestions need to be made. First place is obviously a good one, as would a painting prize (judged by the participants). I also really like the Garbage Scow award for the last place finisher
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-Additional fleet restrictions beyond the ones in the rule book: In general, I think it is best to keep to the base rules whenever possible, as part of the KISS principle. However, I think that it might be appropriate to put additional or different guidelines in place over the ones listed in the official rules. One that immediately springs to mind is to limit players to a maximum of one of each class of large or massive model in their lists. So, for example. I could run a BB, a DN, and a CV in my list, but not 2 DNs. This restriction is specifically designed to prevent spamming large ships like BBs and DNs; even at the 800 point level, it is easy to fit two dreadnoughts into a list! While undoubtedly effective, such lists aren't as fun to play against IMO.
-Special STAR card rules: So, from what I have seen, the STAR cards tend to be met with suspicion and/or dislike among many members of the larger DW community. The reasons why are not so important as recognizing this sentiment exists in certain quarters. So, for those that have local communities that prefer not to use them, I think the small set of limited-use cards is a good solution.
What do you guys think?
