Hi folks,

I'm in the process of starting a league. I've got the venue and prize support discussions are ongoing; but I'm looking for some advice on the minutiae from those of you who have experience of running this type of event.

At the moment (and unashamedly pinched from Veldrin on Covenant) I've got the following -

1. League will last 10 weeks.

2. Players will play each other player once.

3. The same list cannot be played more than once during the play off games.

4. All games will be played using FFG Tournament rules.

5. Top 4 players after the weekly games will be entered in a best of 3 semi-final match up. The same list may be used for all semi final games.

6. The winners of each semi-final will be entered in a best of 3 final match.

7. League matches will normally take place in the evening of the second Thursday of each month. There is no limit to the number of league games you can play in one evening.

8. If a player is unable to make the league night due to other commitments, the league game can be arranged at the same venue for another day which is suitable for both players.

9. Any re-arranged league games must be played before the next league night.

10. If a re-arranged game is not played in time, the player who failed to turn up will be awarded a 200 - 0 loss.

Anything else?

Cheers

Baaa

Hey Baa,

Some friends and I started a league--The Prototype Toronto League--using some of Veldrin's ideas and adapting them to our needs and it's been going great guns. We are now in our third season with 30 or so participants and increasing.

First off the most important rule that Veldrin has up there is the rule that no named pilot can be played twice in a season, imo. This makes for a ton of list diversity. The matches end up being more interesting than standard tournament fare and we often find pilots who have been overlooked in the must-win tournament mentality holding their own against the big stars.

We let players set their own matches and choose times and places using a Facebook page, although we do have 2 local x-wing nights where most the league matches go down. We don't use Mov, just points-killed as a tie breaker; this makes the race much tighter. We have custom alt-art cards and custom templates for participation prizes and what prizes we can afford or scrounge for the top spots.

Here is our variation on things:

General
1. The league season is 7 weeks
2. Each player can only play another player once in the season for league pts
3. Each player can play max 7 league games
4. Each player can play max 3 league games per week (mon-sun)
5. League games, *exact* lists and results must be reported by monday afternoon to count for the week previous
6. A TO or other sufficiently impartial player must be there for adjudications. If there is an unresolved dispute concerning an issue and there was no TO or impartial witness to decide it, then the match does not count for league pts.
7. A player cannot use the same list twice in a season and may only use a unique pilot *once* per season.
8. League games must be played at a Toronto location.
9. Matches follow standard FFG dogfight tournament rules and 1.15 hour time frame.
10. If you don't turn up at the time and place pre-arranged with your opponent, without reasonable notice for postponement, you forfeit all pts. Your opponent gets full pts.
11. If you play an illegal list you forfeit.
12. A minimum of 4 matches is required to earn participation prizes.

Scoring

1. Playing a league match earns 2 pts.
2. a win earns 2 pts.
3. a modified win or a tie game earns 1 pt.
4. Points-killed is recorded and used to settle ties, with # matches won as a second tie-breaker.

Match etiquette
The league expects its players not to engage in 'list switching' to win games. It up to players to prevent this, but some recommended practices are:

1. Players should plan to match against an opponent's list that could contain anything.
2. Players should not reveal their lists until they are ready to play and reveal them more or less simultaneously.
3. There should be no alterations to prepared lists after they are revealed.

hope that helps

Whoops! I don't mean that we gave a full template set to each participant! (That'd break the bank!) The participation prize template that we gave each player was a '1' straight last season and this season it'll be a range 1 ruler, if everything goes according to plan.