"Comp" scoring for realism in Fantasy

[kithre]

I have been thinking long and hard about comp scoring in terms of a realistic army.
In my opinion, the subjective and tier systems are fatally flawed, the tier system assumes past performance is an indicator of future returns with a given army - handicaps if you like, which are a little insulting to both players and also are dependent on army selection criteria (even a Demons or VC "themed" list can be weak, relative to a competitive WoC or High Elves list).

Another factor is the relative "dice" advantage of armies in the various phases. Having lots of troops is considered a GOOD THING, but overloading on War Machine (multiple S5+) or magical (say 8+ PD in a typical 2250 pt battle) can be game breaking, as can spamming with say White Lions or Flamers of Tzeentch.

So I would score based on a type of Algorithm:
Army composition - slots (encourages focus on core troops, and avoidance on rare troops)
For each CORE choice +1
For each SPECIAL choice > 50% of the SPECIAL allowance -1
For each RARE choice -1

Army composition - selection (encourages versatility)
For each ARMY LIST ENTRY using >25% of available SPECIAL or RARE slots (e.g. 3 White Lions regiments, 4 Dwarf Cannon etc etc) -1
For each DIFFERENT SPECIAL or RARE ARMY LIST ENTRY choice beyond the first entry selected +1

Army composition - war machines
For each WAR MACHINE in the list > SPECIAL allowance -1

Character selection
For each Hero > 2 Heroes -1
For each Lord > 1 Lords -1 (a lord is also a hero - so subtract 2 from the comp score)

For each Special Character choice -1 (this is in addition to the slots they use - most special characters are rather "crutchy" - so Teclis scores -3)

Magic offense
Count character generated power dice and divide by number of characters - do not count dice generated by non characters-specific magic items (e.g. unit banners, army-wide special rules etc etc)

If average PD >3 subtract 2 from comp score
If average PD >2 subtract 1 from comp score
If average PD <1 add 1 to comp score


Magic defense
Count character generated dispel dice and divide by number of characters - do not count dice generated by non characters-specific magic items (e.g. unit banners, army-wide special rules etc etc)

If average DD >3 subtract 2 from comp score
If average DD >2 subtract 1 from comp score
If average DD <1 add 1 to comp score


Magic Items, Gifts and Powers
Total up the value of Demonic gifts, Magic items and Vampiric or other powers spent on characters and divide by the number of characters

If average PV > 100 subtract 2 from comp score
If average PV > 50 subtract 1 from comp score
If average PV < 25 add 1 to comp score


I have yet to consider how the comp score translates to VPs, maybe 10 pts each point score? Maybe teh comp score is added or subtracted from 100%, and this multiplies final VPs?

Calibration is going to be a nightmare!!!!


Kithre leaves the bomb in the middle of the room, and runs out quickly.....:sinister:

Please dsicuss, these are my thoughts, and I will score various High Elf and VC lists according to these schema - I'll link to the lists in the appropriate army-list sections of the forum if their authors don't mind....

[kithre]

http://www.librarium-online.com/forums/high-elf-army-lists/168650-1500pt-vs-vamp-counts.html

Army composition - slots
Attached list has 2 CORE choices = +2
3 SPECIAL choices - out of an allowance of 4 below 2000 pts = -1

Army composition - selection is a little difficult as I realised that some armies only get 2 Special or Rare slots in some sizes, so that's a bit of a bummer(!) - instead I'll reword the rule:

For each ARMY LIST ENTRY using more than 2 SPECIAL or RARE slots (e.g. 3 White Lions regiments, 4 Dwarf Cannon etc etc) -1
So this list has no negative comp score as no Special or Rare army list entries take up more than 2 slots

There are 3 SPECIAL choices so +2 to score
There is only 1 RARE choice, so no additional diversity scoring here

Character Selection
There are 3 characters so -1

Magical Offense/defense
Character Power Dice = 4, characters = 3 <2 per character so 0
Character dispel dice 2, characters 3, <1 per character so +1


Magic Items/Gifts/Powers
The average is 25<average PV<50 per character, so 0

So teh comp score of this army is +3, which if we apply as % to say a scale of 100%, would equate to a scopre of 103%, so multiply final VPs by 103%.

Alternatively if we calibrate a score of 1 = say 3%, I feel this calibrates slighlty better with a comp score of 109% - given mainly because teh High Elf army only needs to take 1 Core unit upto 2000 points, and this list contains 2 Cores, whilst also having a relatively diverse selection of characters and Special units for a small army.