Is the Games Workshop license too expensive or something?

FFG seem to be dumping Konquest Regionals in the UK and Ireland in seemingly deliberately out-of-the-way places, as though trying to actively shrink the player base.

Between the 6 venues, the average population of the town they are being held in is 95,829.

US venues also don't seem to have too many places featured on the Ticket To Ride USA - Big Cities.

So.... In the eternal words of the Four Non-Blondes "I say hey! What's going on?" Is it some championing of small towns from a company that lists itself as a Local Business on Facespace, callous ignorance as to where distributors are willing to gift Regionals to, or a willingness to have a game saddled with an expensive license fail without looking like they give up on it?

If it is just an accident, may be time to push, as a community, for a maximum zoom level on Google Maps that a venue hosting Regionals should still be visible at.

FFG don't decide where to host the UK regionals, Esdevium do. I've also got some issues with how they chose to distribute the Netrunner regionals.

While the U.S. cities might not have name recognition, most are within an hour drive of ones that would show up in Ticket to Ride. FFG also seems to be trying to spread out its various regionals, so the regional isn't in the same store every year and to prevent the same store from having to many.

When I go to bigger tournaments like Regionals, I want them to be smooth and painless for everyone, so if one store run tournaments better than the others, I don't mind at all if it's the same store every year.

But FFG has to show support for all retailers. Thy are the ones who pay for and run all the weekly tournament and offer play space and shelf space for FFG product. The more retailers that FFG can get involved with the OP (organized play) system the more product gets put in front of customers and the more players the game gets.

But FFG has to show support for all retailers. Thy are the ones who pay for and run all the weekly tournament and offer play space and shelf space for FFG product. The more retailers that FFG can get involved with the OP (organized play) system the more product gets put in front of customers and the more players the game gets.

There are Store Championships for exactly that purpose. Regionals and above and above must run flawlessly, because you may have people from outside that might come and giving them a bad impression because the store who has the tournament is running it poorly doesn't serve FFG really well.

The primary ressource for a game to stay alive is the player base. No players = dead game

I thought the objection was to the location of some of the events? Is there reason to believe that some of the announced venues will not run smooth events?

Is there not a regionals near you then?

There is one and it is at a store that has the reputation to run events, no matter the size. I'm not worried for my regional, but like some said before, they are worried about those no name places that obtained a Regional and I'd be worried too if I never heard of those places before.

If you look at the requirements for participating in FFG OP you will see that photos of the venue, what media contacts you have and more are required and you have to have run several local events before being considered for a regional.

The main determinants of where major tournaments get assigned is support for the game, and player base. Alongside the usual known ability to run a decent tournament etc. All of the stores that have been assigned Regionals have, as far as I know, good player bases and have supported the game from the start. Would you rather it went to a shop in a larger city that's never run a Conquest tournament, or has no local players?

It's good that those shops, like us, that have supported the game wholeheartedly since the start, get awarded Regionals. It certainly encourages stores to promote FFG's games.

Accessibility has to factor into the decision-making process. You could have one of the finest venues in terms of running competitions, but if it's in the back of nowhere, causing difficulties for players to gather, the potential wonders that await there are moot.

I play in Ireland, which is lumped with another country for its tournament season. We have 0 Konquest Regionals scheduled in our country, and 0 Regionals scheduled between ourselves and the country we are bundled with by FFG and associates with in a city with an airport. Easiest one to get to is in some tiny town close to 5hrs drive each way, that last year held a Netrunner Regionals with a lower attendance than some of the local store championships because of the remote location (even for people relatively close, requiring to take multiple buses, etc).

I have a great appreciation for a venue that is good at running tournaments - having enough space, an efficient team, considerate toilet facilities, etc. can make a wonderful difference, in focusing the event on the game playing, rather than just some endurance marathon. However if we look at the UK and Eire Netrunner and Konquest Regionals - there is 0 crossover in venues, which doesn't make it look like the venue itself is a factor in the decision. Looks to me like the tournaments are being given out as boons to favoured customers, with little consideration for the player base, or simply feeding an existing player base, no matter how remote, while reducing the ability of the broader populace to get into the Regional (not store-specific) events.

I can only really speak about the Conquest regionals in England, but they seem to be reasonably well spread out geographically.