It's a pretty sucky rule, and something id expect from gw. Won't be buying one anyway. They don't even MAKE a 6x3...

The irony is that when GW made battlefleet gothic, in the states they made a felt 8x4 star map that retailed for about ten dollars.

I know because i bought two for myself and green flock and sand flock one (on felt base) when i was running regional tournys as we needed a couple of hundred for UK regionals and the UK company didnt sell them so we ordered a load in from the US.

(like many firms GW is actually a dozen or so seperate businesses and in UK Studio we had to 'buy' stuff from manufacturing or from 'GW retail US' etc... you couldnt just go, 'please post me 200 mats'.)

I"m wondering what the score will be if the FFG play mats don't make it to the UK by the 15th. I've not seen any indication of them moving from pre-order to coming soon.

Simple solution- nobody buy FFG mats, and I'm sure they can then take a hint that they have overstepped on this one.

Product boycots via forums dont work.

This forum is probably less than 1 per cent of x wing players.

I've about 25 people in my town i play against regularly.

Two of them other than me are on this forum.....

Would you be buying one anyway if you already have a mat?

This ruling *only* affects two people.

1. Store TOs who have to buy mats for their events

2. People who oddly insist on playing with their own mat at a sanctioned event (does this even happen?)

This ruling *only* affects two people.

1. Store TOs who have to buy mats for their events

And really not even that. I doubt FFG is going to police every single store tourney, and I doubt, judging by the reaction to this ruling, that any player is going to out a TO for not using the FFG mats.

As i said on the other thread the only issue i can see with a TO *not* using FFG mats is a 'sour loser' declaring the match invalid as it was on 3rd party 'terrain'.

Highly unlikely but you never know... i've seen grown men cry after losing a game at GW grand tournaments...

Batty: "I have seen things..."

The idea is just stupid! (your stupid minds! stupid! stupid!) It's just a playmat! Did GW ever insist you could use only GW terrain during tournament?

The way i read it is they don't even have to buy mats, it's just that IF you use a mat, THEN it has to be a GW errr...FFG one.

I know it hardly affects anyone, but thats no reason not to call FFG out on how mental that desicion is.

Actually GW did insist scenery had to be scratch build or theirs for scanctioned tournaments.

After i left UK events i was gutted to find out that all the beautiful warhammer world custom tables we'd built up over fve or so years were being scrapped so that *every* table bar a few showpiece ones would be a 'realm of battle' plastic board.

They later apparently found out that while these are brilliant for domestic use they didnt stand up to the rigours of being played on every day by dozens of people.

When we ran events we had 'Q lab' who built our tables to order... i'd say 'can you do me a necromunda arbites precinct please lads' or 'can you do me a deamon world with hills that are screaming faces' and low and behold i'd get it a week later.... brilliant guys Ray and Mick were..(and their team). Then all that talent wasted with mass produced skull ridden identical boards across the hall......

Stuff like that totally vaildated my decision to resign from GW HQ

This ruling *only* affects two people.

1. Store TOs who have to buy mats for their events

And really not even that. I doubt FFG is going to police every single store tourney, and I doubt, judging by the reaction to this ruling, that any player is going to out a TO for not using the FFG mats.

All it would take is one sore loser who lost his or her first two games of the tourney to screw it up for everyone if the TO were to ignore this and use other mats anyway.

As I wrote in the other thread:

When I host my regional I'll add "mood enhancing table top images that makes it easier to visualize the game taking place in space" on the tables and then have the players play on the tables.

They are not game mats, they are "mood enhancing table top images that makes it easier to visualize the game taking place in space"!

And the fact they are 3x3, just a coincidence.

Shouldn't be an issue. For competitive tournaments the TO is responsible for setting up the tables with a 3x3 play area. You can't use your own playmat anyway.

I would say that the TO or store owner is within their right to set up that 3x3 play area with a 3rd party playmat if they see fit.

Except that the official tournament rules explicitly state that the TO is NOT within their right to use a 3rd party mat. If they do so they are unequivocally breaking the rules. If someone were to complain, the complainer would be in the right.

So this is not a matter of players buying official mats, but requiring each store to buy enough mats to run a full tournament.

You are correct. Technically that is the rule. And in that same exact paragraph they also address the forbidden removal of ships from pegs during gameplay. Under the same logic shouldn't Paul Heaver have been disqualified from the Championship match last year? Dude didn't have his Falcon on high enough pegs and *gasp* removed his ship from the base during the match...right in front of the FFG judges...who did nothing.

I really don't feel like it's that big of a deal. I highly doubt there would be much abuse from knowing distances from point A to point B on a 3rd party mat and typically wouldn't be game breaking.

Now all of that being said I find it perfectly reasonable for FFG to put this rule out there. They are in business and this is simply a good business decision.

At the same time, I also look at the local small business owner running his business and providing a place for all of us to get together and play. From his vantage point it's an undue burden that he shouldn't have to shoulder in order to host a tournament.

So while it's technically the rule we have seen FFG themselves look the other way on a "rule". This is going to be a non-issue. All the people being angry with FFG about this are missing the bigger point that they aren't required to buy a mat at all.

Also, this is probably FFG's way of moving our focus and fury away from the Phantom change to this instead.

And then they'll change this back to the way it was before and the Phantom change just slips by, flying casual.

Misread this as "phantom rules need overturning."

Ok, here's the deal. If you are a TO Contact FFG Today!! Find out what the Real deal is and how FFG is handeling this ruling. FFG Really Really wants Tournaments to be run across LGS around the world. I doubt they will force TO's and LGS's to stop running events becuase theh don't have the funds for all new mats.

So until the TO's come back here after they have talked to FFG we should relax.

Now If FFG says their mats Have to be used to get a Tournament kit then we all can rightfully have out of control rants about this. But as of now we don't know FFG's true position yet.

Shock horror!... Sensible comment about 'mass panic' on xwing forum ^^^^^^^^

The only other tertiary reason i can see for an 'official mat' is that non official ones are essentially using disney/star wars IP and probably not paying a licence for it (death star/trench run images etc) and this *might* endanger FFGs licence....worth considering?

You can't copyright space.

This new rule sounds like a good way to kill the game in the public arena. Or to boost the sales of fabric stores. I can't imagine anyone will follow this rule at the Store Championship/Kessel Run level, but what about Regionals? The store in Monroeville last year used 20 or so third-party mats. So the owners need to spend $800 to replace them with official FFG mats? That's the definition of undue financial burden.

This wouldn't have been as much of an issue had FFG released its own mats within six months of launching X-Wing. But after two and a half years, everyone has bought his own mat or created a custom one with not even a hint of official ones coming down the pike until FFG surprise announced them last month. Now all of a sudden everyone is expected to use only official FFG mats starting two weeks from now? Get out of here. It's ludicrous. You're way too late to this party, Fantasy Flight. Reverse the ruling.

If familiarity with the map is an issue then why it the Deathstar mat allowed? The mat has high potential for 'pre-measurement based on the background.' Even if I own the official FFG starfield map, I am still at a disadvantage against someone that regularly plays on the Deathstar one.

This rule just seems like a short term money grab. I'm happy that they overturned the dial rule but were both of these rules the result of the recent acquisition of FFG and a sign of the future direction?

Look at all these cheaters who want to use there mats just so they can have an easier time judging distances.

Joking

However I bet you u this was ffg line of reasoning when they decided that only the star field map from them was going to be legal and then changed it to both maps since someone realized as long as everyone has a fair share of experience playing on the same mats then there shouldn't be an unfair advantage.

The only way I see this ruling going away is by making it so that players don't bring in their own mats and organizers are the only ones able to set up the play area. Even still certain maps like the gf9 trench run map are basically a square grid map that lets you know how every move and line of site will be projected.

If familiarity with the map is an issue then why it the Deathstar mat allowed? The mat has high potential for 'pre-measurement based on the background.' Even if I own the official FFG starfield map, I am still at a disadvantage against someone that regularly plays on the Deathstar one.

This rule just seems like a short term money grab. I'm happy that they overturned the dial rule but were both of these rules the result of the recent acquisition of FFG and a sign of the future direction?

FFG doesn't allow you to play xwing with 3rd party xwing ships, why would they allow you to play on another mat?

Additionally, limiting the number of different mats levels the playing field from memorizing the mat differences. If you don't like it, don't use a mat.

Pretty simple. I am not getting a mat, but I have no problem with a gaming company protecting its market.

If familiarity with the map is an issue then why it the Deathstar mat allowed? The mat has high potential for 'pre-measurement based on the background.' Even if I own the official FFG starfield map, I am still at a disadvantage against someone that regularly plays on the Deathstar one.

[edit] Wait did they change that? Is the Death Star mat really legal?

I'm not sure we need to panic about this decision just yet or ever at all. My local store just received the FFG play mats in and I planned on buying one of each anyway. I'm interested in seeing how they handle the Regionals events coming up. Will they have enough product to cover all these tables. Last year Mr.Nice Guy Games in Monroeville PA gave away play mats to the top 8. This was a wonderful addition to the prize support however the mats were not of legal size only measuring 35 1/2" both ways. This makes a huge difference in the playing but not noticeable to the naked eye. By enforcing the "must be our mats" we know we will all be playing on the same mats and no advantage will be gained.

The big issue here is

3. Independant TO's *not* linked to a store, or linked to a store who refuse to shell out £150 at trade for 10 or so mats. If for example i wanted to run a 24 hour xwing game at my local scout hut that was an 'official' event i'd have to beg , steal or borrow a set of mats whereas preciously I could have cut up a few yards of black cloth and flecked white paint on them.

That's us. Our local game shop won't provide a single map besides the (Gale Force 9) one they have in the game room. Whenever we have a tournament one of us volunteers to organize, and we ask people to bring their own mats. If they don't we simply can't play, and so far none, as far as I know, has picked up a FFG mat. I mean, why would they, when they've already got perfectly decent third party mats?

Sure, it won't be enforced, but a rule that isn't enforced is redundant anyway, and as a tournament organizer I'm not comfortable with houseruling, especially when it's a store championship.

For two years, the TOs (and the players) made and bought their playmats because FFG didn't sell it. Now, when FFG sell theirs playmats all the others are illegal at tournaments (I want to know how many playmats are sold). In store tournaments I don't think that the TO buy now lots of news playmats, but in the Regionals? In my country, the most important tournaments need between 40 and 60 playmats. And this is a lot of money (money that they spent in others playmats last year for example).