I'm trying to build up the X-wing community in my small college town. We have a pretty thriving game scene overall and there are a lot of X-curious players who watch us play at the FLGS and ask questions about the game, but they seem to be intimidated by the typical tournaments and the financial layout to get into the game. I am thinking about asking my FLGS about running a Slow Grow League, which they have done successfully in the past for Netrunner and Warmachine. I am reaching out to the X-Wing community to ask:

1) Do you have any advice on how to run a successful slow grow league? What have been your experiences? What works and what doesn't?

2) Do you have any thoughts or constructive criticism on the Slow Grow League Rules I cobbled together here:

Schedule:

Week 1 - 35pt – Core Set Only (allowed to borrow from store)

Week 2 – 50pt – Core Set and 1 expansion

Week 3 – 75pt – Core Set and 2 expansions

Week 4 – 100pt – Core Set and 3 expansions

Week 5 – 100pt – Core Set and 4 expansions

Points:

2 points – Loss

3 points – Tie

5 points – Win

1 point – Each game played in store

1 point – Small ship repaint

2 points – Large ship repaint

Rules:

· $5 entry.

· Players will receive free entry into league with purchase of new Core Set in Week 1.

· League members receive a 10% discount on X-Wing purchases during the course of the league.

· A game must be limited to 75 minutes if requested by at least one opponent.

· During Weeks 2-4 players are limited to only using cards and ships from the expansion chosen that week, along with the specific expansions chosen in previous weeks. Squads lists may change from game to game, but squads are limited to cards and ships only from the expansions selected during the league. This is to prevent an unfair advantage for veteran players with larger collections.

· Points will not be rewarded for back-to-back games with the same opponent.

· Each week ends at 5pm on Sunday.

· All games will follow current FFG tournament rules and errata.

· A "repaint" means that >25% of the surface of the ship has been repainted, and is subject to the ruling of the store employee. Repainted ships don't have to be limited to the expansion chosen for league play.

· Over the course of the league you must play at least four games in the store to be eligible for a prize.

· All players will be encouraged to share their email address for inclusion on a league listserv to help organize games.

· All players are expected to exhibit courteous, sportsmanslike behavior and to prioritize helping new players learn and enjoy the game. Fly casual!

Prizes:

Most Points: Custom Movement Templates

Most Points from Painting: Custom Range Ruler

Most Games in Store: FFG Play Mat

Schedule:

Week 1 - 35pt – Core Set Only (allowed to borrow from store)

Week 2 – 50pt – Core Set and 1 expansion

Week 3 – 75pt – Core Set and 2 expansions

Week 4 – 100pt – Core Set and 3 expansions

Week 5 – 100pt – Core Set and 4 expansions

Here's the only thing I'd say you may want to think about.

If the issue is mostly cost, this seems a bit fast for a slow grow league. By the end of weak 5 people have spent a bit over $90. That's can be a fairly large amount of cash to pay out over a month for some people.

Perhaps run it for 8-10 weeks and make add in expansion packs every other week, while increasing the point cost to 100. That means upgraded pilots or more upgrades per ship.

Then again maybe $90 in a month isn't an issue and your schedule will work out just fine.

My issue would be scum. By starting with the core set you are limiting players to rebels and imperials for the first week. Maybe you could say that players could be either limited to cards found in the core set or cards found in the Most Wanted expansion.

Schedule:
Week 1 - 35pt – Core Set Only (allowed to borrow from store)
Week 2 – 50pt – Core Set and 1 expansion
Week 3 – 75pt – Core Set and 2 expansions
Week 4 – 100pt – Core Set and 3 expansions
Week 5 – 100pt – Core Set and 4 expansions

Here's the only thing I'd say you may want to think about.

If the issue is mostly cost, this seems a bit fast for a slow grow league. By the end of weak 5 people have spent a bit over $90. That's can be a fairly large amount of cash to pay out over a month for some people.

I think you're forgetting that no one is REQUIRED to buy 4 expansions by week 5. A player who wanted to run Han and Luke (or one of the two in the early matches) would be satisfied with buying a core set and a falcon and could theoretically cap out at $63 for the whole event.

Maybe ask the game store to front the prize support instead of the $5 buy in. More likely than not, you'll get the interested players to purchase new ships from the store anyway, turning hem an overall profit. Additionally, if the winner prize is store credit, again more often than not people will overspend their limit and make the stores money. Lastly, they'll get loyal customers who will keep coming back.

Slow grow always seems a bit odd to me as a fit for X-Wing, just because it's not really cost-prohibitive (compared to other tabletop games) to just buy enough to get to 100 points. Nor does it require the time/effort investment of assembling and possibly painting miniatures.

Thanks for the helpful input everyone! So far I think my revisions will include:

1. Saying "Core Set OR Most Wanted Expansion", and that additional Core Sets or Most Wanted sets could serve as expansions.

2. Specifying "up to 4 expansions" so players aren't forced to buy more than 1 or 2 expansions if they really don't want to.

3. Remove the $5 buy in. (I was thinking of donating all the league prizes myself - I don't mind kicking in a few hundred bucks if the league helps build the local community).

For what it's worth, I got into X-wing early on, but the wife got on board circa wave 6. Instead of a point based restriction, we went back and started games with JUST core set and wave one cards. For her at least, it cut down on the amount of cards that were available, and forced me to play with some of the ships I haven't used in a while. 100 pt games aren't really that daunting. The problem I could foresee, that being a hoarder I didn't have... is having 100pts of each side of just wave 1 ships. YMMV, but this is how I was able to ease her into the game.

Slow grow always seems a bit odd to me as a fit for X-Wing, just because it's not really cost-prohibitive (compared to other tabletop games) to just buy enough to get to 100 points. Nor does it require the time/effort investment of assembling and possibly painting miniatures.

It kind of seems this way to me too, but would-be pilots at our FLGS repeatedly cite entry cost as a prohibition to getting into the game. I am targeting these folks.

Also - we should be honest with ourselves that there is some cost issue for assembling truly competitive 100 point squads. If you want to get your strong cards like HLC, Engine Upgrade, Predator, C-3PO, Advanced Targeting Computer, R3-A2, etc. you have to buy a lot of expansions. A bare-bones 100pt squad a newb would run would probably get shredded in open, unrestricted league or tournament play. That's exactly what I don't want to happen. PLUS I actually think it will be really fun for us veterans to play within some interesting boundaries.

Slow grow always seems a bit odd to me as a fit for X-Wing, just because it's not really cost-prohibitive (compared to other tabletop games) to just buy enough to get to 100 points. Nor does it require the time/effort investment of assembling and possibly painting miniatures.

No but it can still help get new people into the game.

My recommendation would follow VanorDM. Up the point limit every other week. I feel this will give people the chance to fly their list more than once or try new combos. I know that I learn a lot more flying something twice or after making changes than just one game or one evening. That will help people feel better about choosing new expansions to buy.

2. Specifying "up to 4 expansions" so players aren't forced to buy more than 1 or 2 expansions if they really don't want to.

That would take care of my only issue.

Slow grow always seems a bit odd to me as a fit for X-Wing, just because it's not really cost-prohibitive (compared to other tabletop games) to just buy enough to get to 100 points. Nor does it require the time/effort investment of assembling and possibly painting miniatures.

No but it can still help get new people into the game.

My recommendation would follow VanorDM. Up the point limit every other week. I feel this will give people the chance to fly their list more than once or try new combos. I know that I learn a lot more flying something twice or after making changes than just one game or one evening. That will help people feel better about choosing new expansions to buy.

10 weeks seems like a pretty long time for a league. Have you played in a league that long before?

For my schedule I'm pretty much following the Warmachine league example. They are 4 weeks and have a pretty fast (= expensive) point ramp up.

Have you played in a league that long before?

Yes actually. I run a league at my LGS and that's 3 months per season.