I find I am also in range of 3 if I want to drive 5 hours to the Minnesota game, I live in Northern Illinois, and am an hour or so from Chicago and the Wisconsin game is maybe 2 hours away.... were I a hard core tourney player I could easily go to all three, I would even have an easy place to stay with a friend in Minnesota... it's a matter of time off, and travel time, and if I can afford to get to all the games.. gas fluctuation can also kill a trip these days.

Depending on those few issues, I will decide what to do, I could use more games for experience and it would be fun to go with my mates I game with as well.. I don't know if any of them are that interested to play in the regional games.. so, it'll be something I look forward to and decide on as the time gets closer...

Ok so I played at one of the stores that has a regional this past weekend. I want to stress before I go any further that it was fun and had a fly casual theme to it. With that I worry about the regional. I contacted the store with some suggestions for how events can run better and I hope they contact me back. They need a good TO who knows the rules and more space for players. I'm claustrophobic and there was a game when I was playing in the middle tables and I could feel a panic attack coming on.

I feel like fantasy flight didn't vet the venues enough. I also think this comes back to FFG needing to have an application process for TOs. If TOs had to apply and qualify to run events (FFG sanctioned events) and fantasy flight made it worth their while we could get around some of these events being run incorrectly.

My two cents.

I want to stress again that the event I was at was run well and everyone had fun. For a store championship. At a regional players shouldn't be asking other players rule questions.

FFG made a huge blunder in their tournament rules across games.

Regional level events can not be TO'd by anyone playing in the event. In essences FFG has disqualified the most experienced/knowledgeable TOs, experienced tournament players, from TOing given how unlikely it is for a player to attend a Regional and opt not to play.

This would be fine, but FFG neglected to do what other games that hold to that higher TO standard do, vet/certify TOs as you suggested. Now there is no guarantee that the TO of a Regional event will have any experience playing or running in events for the various game.

This is most problematic for X-wing compared to the LCGs due to having miniature movement involved.

Unless FFG takes some extra steps in attempting to ensure TOs are even slightly qualified and have the needed information to run an event (completely updated FAQ and strict event formatting guide) you will see events across all the games run haphazardly if not downright incorrectly.

And that is with expecting players to travel up to 5-6 hours for the closest event in some cases.

I've been a judge or TO for other games through out the years. I'd do it for X-wing IF the inventive was there for me. I think the best TO program I was ever a part of had a point system and as you ran events you earned points and could spend the points on any promo material ever made for the game. This included championship prizes.

This would get me to stop playing and start running events.

I think the issue is if I have to drive 5 hours (which is the closest event for us in the Philly area), you'd really have to offer me a lot to just run an event at that point.

****, those are late enough that I'll probably be moving or moved

I have no issue with Region or Store jumping and found that (at least in Store jumping) it has been a positive experience. I've only done 2 so far and it's good to see how the meta and game is developing at different stores. I have a friend who is trying to do all the Store Championships in the state and I think that is pretty cool. It's not about winning all the local championships, its about traveling around and seeing the true local player base. Learning new things and making new friends.

Regional hopping is going to be harder for most people but I don't have an issue with that either. Region hopping and WINNING them is going to be even more difficult so I'm definitely not worried about that. Kudos to you if you can pull off multiple Regional wins. Ultimately, it's a Bye at Nationals and with GenCon being a pretty expensive venue, I wonder how many Regional winners will make it out to GenCon. I hope all of them but that is pretty unrealistic.

I think the bye system is a great improvement over the system used last year.

I might be mistaken but you don't have to pay for a full ticket to just play the Nationals at GenCon. Right?

It's still perfectly possible to play at Gencon and Worlds without making it to a regional, right? All it gets you is a bye if you win and there's no attendance eligibility?

It's still perfectly possible to play at Gencon and Worlds without making it to a regional, right? All it gets you is a bye if you win and there's no attendance eligibility?

You get a first round bye, so 5 points, with full SOS.

I might be mistaken but you don't have to pay for a full ticket to just play the Nationals at GenCon. Right?

You will not be let into to any of the gaming or dealer halls at Gencon without a Gencon Badge

I might be mistaken but you don't have to pay for a full ticket to just play the Nationals at GenCon. Right?

You can pay for a one-day badge to be there on the day the tournament is held. You can't attend without a badge.

Is this the full US list?! The fact that I live in one of the most populous areas in the country and will have to drive 4hrs seems peculiar. Wonder if no local stores wanted to host.

I kinda get that if you live in a low-population area, you might have to drive.. But folks in NJ and NY have to drive 6 hours to get to Cambridge, which is not a cheap place to stay. That store is a few blocks from MIT and Harvard. Lovely area though and a well-stocked store.

It will take more spouse-clout than I could hope for to be able to use my bye this year.

And to think that I was ticked the other day when it took me almost an hour to get to FFG because of traffic. All about perspective I guess....

After a store win, I think I'm gonna do my best to hit up the regional. Looking forward to going, since work likely won't interfere that weekend and it's only 2 and a half hrs away.

According to the schedule, the first 3 Regionals are this Saturday (5/3). I'd like to know whether or not the Transport X-Wing pilots will be legal for the Regionals.

FYI I will be making a 2014 Regionals thread shortly to track results. I PMed Rakky and he is fine with me taking over.

FYI I will be making a 2014 Regionals thread shortly to track results. I PMed Rakky and he is fine with me taking over.

You'll need someone who can write down the Top 16 (or Top 8) builds at each Regional.

FYI I will be making a 2014 Regionals thread shortly to track results. I PMed Rakky and he is fine with me taking over.

You'll need someone who can write down the Top 16 (or Top 8) builds at each Regional.

Yes I am going to make a googledoc that someone (organizer or attendee) can print out and write down the results, then report here. I want to get top 16 for all regionals worldwide. I will be emailing each venue the week leading up to their event. I.e. I need to make the post here and then email the first set of stores tonight or tomorrow night, since we are only a few days out.

This will be more ambitious in scope than the Store Championship, if we can get Top 16 from all stores.

Hmm there is one right by the store I play at. Still no interest in going though.

10 hour plus drive for me. To go or not to go...

10 hour plus drive for me. To go or not to go...

Do, or do not, there is no try.

10 hour plus drive for me. To go or not to go...

Would that be the Gatineau or Kingston regional?

Also, for those who are States side near the Canadian border, bear in mind that Kingston's Nexus hobbies and St. Catharines (just outside of Niagara falls) are both very near the border.

I don't understand the point of having so few of these.

Is there some kind of decent prize structure? The kits announced on FFG's website make it seem like there is almost no real incentive to travel for these tournaments and they are soooo spread out. There are many big cities that don't have a regionals within 5 hours. It seems crazy that people would go travel 5+ hours and have to stay over night for a tournament without any real compensation.

It seems like you would want more these kind of tournaments as a way to get people excited about playing.

Am I missing something?

Edit: Also it seems like a crazy shift in scale from Store Championships where there were a ton around my area to regionals where the closest one is 6 hours away.