Players are randomly drawn against an opponent in round 1 then the Swiss chess system is used to pair off entrants in subsequent rounds. You cannot play the same person more than once during the event. If you are drawn against someone you have previously played, a tournament official will swap you. The tournament uses the Major Victory/Minor Victory system as defined in the General’s Handbook to determine the winner of each game. Each Battle Plan outlines the rules for determining the winner for each game. If a player wins a Major Victory, their opponent scores a Major Loss. If a player wins a Minor Victory,their opponent receives a Minor Loss. A draw can only happen if players are tied on the major objective, schemes, and kill points.
In addition to the Major/Minor Victory objective as determined each round by the Battle Plan, the tournament utilizes Schemes for each player to achieve every game. Schemes are asymmetrical, hidden secondary objectives each player will try and achieve each game. Upon checking in to the tournament, each player is asked to draw 7 Scheme cards out of a larger set of 19 Schemes (listed in the download).