Irresistible Force - Miniature Games & Hobbies

Welcome to the Irresistible Force Australasian Warhammer Fantasy Rankings. These rankings have been around in one form or another since 2000 and were re-released using an updated system after the  2006 season. Since then the rankings system has been tweaked at the end of each year to further improve its accuracy and relevance to the Warhammer Fantasy tournament scene. This page contains all the technical information and rules as to how a player's ranking is calculated.

 How are the rankings calculated?

Rankings points are awarded to each player after he/she attends a Warhammer Fantasy tournament in Australian or New Zealand. A player's rank is determined by their rankings score, which is calculated by the sum of their 4 best tournament scores they have accumulated in the 12 months prior to the current day. Only their 4 best tournament scores count.

 So how many points is each tournament worth?

Each tournament  awards different points to the players that attend dependant on two factors. The first and main aspect is the size of the tournament, that is the number of players that attend.  The second aspect is the number of rounds (or games) that the tournament goes for.

Players are awarded points for their overall position they gain in tournaments they attend. The upper threshold for a tournament size is 50 entrants. Therefore all tournaments greater than 50 players are considered the same for the purposes of determining rankings points on offer. Tournaments will not be included in the rankings if they have fewer than 14 players and/or less than 3 rounds.

First place for a tournament of 50 players or more is worth 100 points (called the tournament weighting). This is the maximum that a player can receive for a single tournament. Each position in the tournament below first place is then awarded points down to last place based on the position incremental value (for example last place in a 50 player tournament would receive 2 points).

The table below has the breakdown of the tournament size to points awarded (for first, 10th and 15th places). Note that tournaments with a number of players in between the numbers below receive a proportional amount. For example a tournament of 45 players would award 95 points to the player that wins 1st place.

As mentioned earlier there is a weighting adjustment for tournaments that are fewer than 5 rounds. Any event that is fewer than 5 rounds will award a proportional amount of points to its entrants based on the number of rounds it does have. For example a 50 player event will award 100 points to the winner assuming the tournament has 5 or more rounds. If the tournament had 4 rounds then it would award 80 points (4/5 * 100). Similarly a 3 round, 50 player event would award 60 points (3/5 * 100) and so on.

The actual formula for working out the tournament weighting is as follows:

Tournament Weighting =IF((#P>=50),100,IF((#P>=40),90+(#P-40),IF((#P>=30),85+((#P-30)/2),IF((#P>=20),80+((#P-20)/2),IF((#P>=14),60+((#P-14)/2))))))

 Note: #P = Number of players.

The value awarded for each place in a tournament below the 1st is calculated as follows:

 (tournament weighting)/(# of players)

 What does "Rolling Rankings" mean?

The term "Rolling Rankings" describes the fact that the rankings database always contains tournaments held within the last 12 months. It does not reset at the start of each calendar year. Therefore a player's rankings score is "rolling", in that it constantly reflects their success (or otherwise) in Warhammer Fantasy tournaments within the last 12 months.

On the anniversary of a tournament held in the previous year, the previous year's result will be removed from the rankings database and replaced with the results of the current year's version. For exampple if a tournament that was run in 2007 is not run in 2008 then the results from the tournament in question will be removed without replacement. So as each day passes throughout a given year, any tournaments that were held on that date the previous year will expire and be removed from the rankings.

Example

Player A attended Fortunes of War in 2007 and gained 50 points from their final placing in the event. The tournament was run on the 19th of May 2007. Therefore on the 19th of May 2008 the Fortunes of War tournament will be removed from the database. Any player that had their 2007 Fortunes of War score included in their rankings score (it was 1 of their top 4 events) will no longer be able to use those points in their ranking score. However if they attended the event again in 2008 they would then be able to use the score they achieved there (assuming the new score was one of their top 4 results).

This will be the process throughout the year, so that each day if an event was run on that day the previous year, it will no longer be included in the rankings database and will be replaced by the same tournament in the current year if it is run again.

The technique of rolling tournaments this way mean there is a smooth transition from year to year and at any given day, regardless of how early in the calendar year the day is, the rankings database provides a true indication of the top tournament players in Australia and New Zealand.

An interesting bi-product of this system is that players will have the concept of defending their tournament points they earned in the previous year at particular tournaments. So for example if a player has a great DogCon one year and comes 2nd, earning them 98 points for arguments sake. Then attend DogCon the next year and come 8th, their rankings score will actually be lowered as the 2007 result is removed and replaced with the 2008 (which theoretically will be worth less points to them).

How do I get into the rankings database?

You don’t have to apply to get into the rankings database. Simply enter an event where the tournament organiser intends to submit his/her results to Irresistible Force and you will have a rankings profile created for you automatically. If you have attend an event and it does not appear in the rankings, then contact your tournament organiser and ask them to send the results to editor@irresistibleforce.net.

 How do I submit my tournament's results to the rankings database?

If you are a tournament organiser  and want the results from your tournament included then please send the results (spreadsheet or something similar) to editor@irresistibleforce.net and include the details of the tournament (location, size of armies, tournament name etc).

How do I update my profile information?

Your rankings data will update automatically as you attend events. If you want to update your personal details and/or supply a photo please send the information to editor@irresistibleforce.net.