I felt the need to come over here and vent. The playmats being forced to be FFG brand is insane and it also applied to Armada. So now I need to buy 2 of their playmats? No.

This is wrong and unprecedented. Really the kind of thing that should destroy the competitive player base or at least cause protest. It's not ok and is not a game balancing decision as stated by FFG.

You are going to allow us to play on pieces of felt or material but not other companies playmats?

I love Star Wars and FFG and the game, but this is the worst of bad decisions even if TOs don't enforce it, how does this impact Regionals, Nationals, Gencon, Worlds? Does FFG want their beautiful game played on felt or cardboard instead of nice playmats.

Yes I bought a Death Star playmat and NO i do not want to have to drag it around for tournaments.

I am posting this so in hopes that the forums are flooded by this topic to the point that FFG wakes up and realize this is an insane decision that threatens the amazing games and communities they have created.

This sort of ruling is what we expect from that... other company. We had expected better from you FFG.

I'm not furious about it, because the reason they give is a sensible one, but I can definitely see how people could get annoyed.

What irritates me is that they didn't have mats for all this time, so stores bought third party ones for tournaments. So that all becomes wasted money for the stores? Not cool, a lot of these places can't afford to rebuy a bunch of stuff.

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.

This isn't the same issue as the Z95 dials, which was strictly cosmetic. There is the potential for cheating/unfair advantage at high competitive levels and it makes sense that FFG would want to limit that. It also makes sense for promotional purposes, so they don't run into issues with their ad/promo photos taken at one of their events. This makes sense not just from a marketing perspective but from a legal perspective.

99% of the time though, you are playing at a local level even where I doubt very much FFG is going to care. This ruling irks me (I've got a pair of FAT mats for xwing), but realistically, this isn't going to affect me in any meaningful way.

FFG's wording about "advantage...familiarity with a particular map...." seems to imply that they think that players may be considering the graphics on some third party mats as actual Obstacles instead of just 'background' graphics.

Edit - wait no, I just figured it out. FFG is concerned that if a third party mat is used, only one player may know exactly how 'far' a particular star graphic is from another star graphic and therefore be able to 'pre-measure'. Using a standard map at least makes it even / fair for both players.

I do believe with this ruling all past tournaments have been played in grievous violation. Grandfathering is not acceptable All champions before 2015 must be stripped of their titles and honors.

FFG's wording about "advantage...familiarity with a particular map...." seems to imply that they think that players may be considering the graphics on some third party mats as actual Obstacles instead of just 'background' graphics.

Or say for example, Gale force Nine's star field map. Lot of people use it I'm sure. My whole store does. We're so familiar with it, that I can tell for sure if a ship is in target lock range or if it's range 1-3 based off of the background debris and super novas on the play mat. I can see the reasoning behind it. but I don't think it's enough justification to make these playmats no longer legal. I could tell if it's range 1 or 2 just from spacial reasoning. I don't need a printed image to tell me that.

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.

I think it's totally reasonable and fair to do this. The advantage is definitely there. You guys are way overreacting. Store tournaments will decide for themselves if they want to follow this rule, and many of them probably won't, I only see this really affecting some Regionals tourneys and at Nationals and Worlds, where things are competitive enough to merit this rule. But geez you guys, not at your local gaming store, come on.

You are going to allow us to play on pieces of felt or material but not other companies playmats?

I love Star Wars and FFG and the game, but this is the worst of bad decisions even if TOs don't enforce it, how does this impact Regionals, Nationals, Gencon, Worlds? Does FFG want their beautiful game played on felt or cardboard instead of nice playmats.

This is just a please buy our mats rule. I highly doubt this is going to be enforced.

You are going to allow us to play on pieces of felt or material but not other companies playmats?

I love Star Wars and FFG and the game, but this is the worst of bad decisions even if TOs don't enforce it, how does this impact Regionals, Nationals, Gencon, Worlds? Does FFG want their beautiful game played on felt or cardboard instead of nice playmats.

Won't affect gencon or regiona at all since they provide all those mats anyway...

This is just a please buy our mats rule. I highly doubt this is going to be enforced.

I don't think FFG provides the mats for all of the Regional tourneys, but I could be wrong.

You are going to allow us to play on pieces of felt or material but not other companies playmats?

I love Star Wars and FFG and the game, but this is the worst of bad decisions even if TOs don't enforce it, how does this impact Regionals, Nationals, Gencon, Worlds? Does FFG want their beautiful game played on felt or cardboard instead of nice playmats.

Won't affect gencon or regiona at all since they provide all those mats anyway...

This is just a please buy our mats rule. I highly doubt this is going to be enforced.

I don't think FFG provides the mats for all of the Regional tourneys, but I could be wrong.

I'm not furious about it, because the reason they give is a sensible one, but I can definitely see how people could get annoyed.

The previous rules provided an elegant solution to the reason they cited anyway.

So how does this rule get enforced?

It doesn't. Relax people, other than MAYBE regionals there's no way this will actually be enforced. And if someone complains that a tournament is using other mats, I'd wager the store will just let them not be in the tournament rather than call it off or force every player to buy a mat. And any store that does force players to buy an FFG mat will quickly lose it's player base. The sky is not falling.

FFG does use these NEW mats for their large tournaments (the "Starfield" mat, in this case -- Nationals and Worlds.

I think they thought that these mats will give a local tournament a small sense of prestige in the vein of the larger tournaments. That is all. So, I don't think they'll enforce anything regarding using these new mats, or third-party mats.
They were just thinking -- We already produce these mats (the "Starfield" mat, anyway) in-house for our larger tournaments, so why not sell them to our fans, and collect.

My 2 credits.

As I said on the Armada forums mats are up to the TO to provide at tournaments, not players.So unless you are a TO don't worry about it. Now if you get there and the TO doesn't have enough mats be will use what players brought.

It is a TO's job to provide tables and mats by the organization of the tournaments. Now if the TO doesn't have FFG mats for everyone is he going to cancel the event or make players play with no mats? I doubt it. It is up to the TO to enforce this rule, not FFG. Now if you go to nationals and there is a FFG rep there with FFG mats you will have to use their mats and not your own. Still no issue.

So where is the problem here? Is your TO or LGS going to make you provide mats for them? They can't make you buy them. Period.

Yep, pretty easy. FLGS and hometown leagues aren't going to give a fig over your mat. TO's will have to figure out their own events; to use or not. If, as usual, they ask players to bring mats to help out, they can either accept the non-official or not. It's their problem.

Now, FFG can issue an errata and say what they meant is your mat can only be the Official Size (3x3 or 3x6 for Epic/Armada).

I doubt FFG will send the Mat-Police across the nation to seize illicit mats, and they aren't likely to try a C&D or Court Proceedings over other companies generic "Space Themed Mats" suitable for any of several dozen spaceship games.

And if FFG really wants to go hardcore (like that British company) then we consumers still get the final say by making the "Official Mat" the biggest non-seller in FFG history.

It doesn't. Relax people, other than MAYBE regionals there's no way this will actually be enforced. And if someone complains that a tournament is using other mats, I'd wager the store will just let them not be in the tournament rather than call it off or force every player to buy a mat. And any store that does force players to buy an FFG mat will quickly lose it's player base. The sky is not falling.

Then why even put that rule in? Either you enforce it.... Which is a sh*tty thing to do to small stores, or you don't care about it... Which makes the rule only there to rile people up. Seems like a really dumb lose/lose scenario. Why bother?

You don't actually need a playmat, to have a tournament. Duct tape marking a 3x3 or 6x3 is good enough.

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...

I've been running X-Wing events since the Kessel Run (Leagues, multiple tournaments per year, Imdaar Alpha, two Store Championships, and two Regionals) and if this is an indication of the attitude of FFG toward TOs, customers and stores going forward, then I will no longer be organizing X-Wing events in the future and will honestly be rethinking my support of this game and FFG completely.

Jim

its not that unreasonable really.

For a start i'll state that i play on a GW 'felt' 'battlefleet gothic' 8x4 starmap that we tape or fold off to the size we want. I find it vastly superior to vinyl mats as there is no slip and nothing slides or moves if a table is nudged.. also and this only happened once if someone spills a drink it soaks into the mat and can be washed.... it doesnt wreck the cards and models my spilling onto them.

But i used to run UK organised play for GW. There is no way we'd let a player turn up with their own scenery let alone their own battleboard to a competetive event. All GW 40k tournaments were supposed to be on the same size board (at warhammer world these were physical boards, at some regional tournaments these were felt roll mats). each table had a basket with four to eight scenery pieces depending on system. The refs set these up to be 'roughly' symetrical on each table before the first round.

Xwing is different, the game allows the players to 'set the scenery'

What were talking about here is really a few issues.

1. Quite rightly FFG dont want someone turning up and being 'allowed' by a mate TO to 'use his own mat'. one that conveniently has 'bright star bursts' every three move units. Unikely scenario but possible.

2. Secondly FFG need to generate revenue from a game that essentially is pretty weak on the 'scenery' front. Its low cost and helps them make more money from a game at a point where a lot of us have bought all we are ever going to buy. Now note *as a player* you dont need to buy a mat to play, only need to use one in competetive events, this should be supplied by the TO/FLGS. So essentially unless you're confucious and 'wont play if the mat isnt straight' (i subvert the original chinese phrase there) and have to have an FFG mat there is no change.

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.

So I mean , yes its a corporate move with a 'rules' explanation but it doesnt actually effect most people.

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?