I stumbled upon an interesting discrepancy in the rules between the Force Awakens Rules Reference booklet and the tournament rules, and I wanted to see if anyone else had any thoughts on it:

Basically, there are two different times for selecting which side of the board you are playing on.

Rules Reference p. 17 says " after the sixth obstacle is placed, the player without initiative chooses and edge of play area to be his own; his opponent's edge is the opposite side of the play area."

So basically, the player without initiative could in theory stack the asteroids on his own side of the mat during setup, and then yell, "switch!" and have a relatively clear lane to play in. Actually, the way it's written, you could presumably select any of the four sides of the mat, if the table allowed for it.

The Tournament Rules take a different approach on p. 2: 1. Each player places their squad outside the play area next to their assigned player edge. (I added the emphasis).

So in a tournament, you get to your side of the table first, then place your asteroids, without the opportunity to switch sides.

This brought a number of questions to mind:

1) I am curious about the difference in the way it's handled, and when, if ever, the "switch" mechanic might be used.

2) Has anyone ever been "assigned" an edge of the table? I've never had the opportunity to compete at a level higher than a store championship, so I have no idea how things might be handled at Regional tournaments, National Tournaments, or at the World's Championships. So, is assigning a table edge a thing at larger tournaments?

3) As a follow up to #2, if you erase the side-switching mechanic, is there any reason to even have an assigned edge?

I've never been assigned a table side in any tournament I've played in, that goes up to Regionals at the FFG event center itself.

I just sit down at the table on whatever side is closest or is free.

For those games, which side you sit on doesn't matter, because you take turns placing obstacles so the person with init gets a slight advantage because they place the first one. The tournament rules trumps the standard rules when playing at a tournament so I'd say no you can't switch sides after the obstacles are placed.

But given the basic rules, yes you could in theory stack one side, and the other person would help because he thinks he's stacking your side, and then you switch... But do that to someone more than once and you might find it hard to find people to play with.

Unless something has changed in the 'standard' rules isn't initiative automatically determined and non-revocable? As in the Empire has initiative unless the other side has a lower point total. Allowing the opponent to pick a side then puts an option on table for starting the game.

I can also see where this rule could be useful if player skill levels are vastly different as it could allow some level of balancing to take place. It may also be done to get people to place asteroids in some of the most neutral positions possible so they don't risk screwing up their own game.

Overall, I think it is a pretty poor idea. If it is used make sure BOTH players know before they start setting up obstacles as you're very likely to placements that will minimize their effect on the game to a certain extent.

The tournament rules are superior in this case I believe. Asteroid placement is a unique strategic part of the game that can become quite integral when players know which side they are playing from.

Assigning a table edge is not a thing and players just pick a side before doing any setting up. The switching mechanic is never used in tournaments and isn't part of the rules thankfully.

Unless something has changed in the 'standard' rules isn't initiative automatically determined and non-revocable? As in the Empire has initiative unless the other side has a lower point total. Allowing the opponent to pick a side then puts an option on table for starting the game.

I can also see where this rule could be useful if player skill levels are vastly different as it could allow some level of balancing to take place. It may also be done to get people to place asteroids in some of the most neutral positions possible so they don't risk screwing up their own game.

Overall, I think it is a pretty poor idea. If it is used make sure BOTH players know before they start setting up obstacles as you're very likely to placements that will minimize their effect on the game to a certain extent.

Certainly for tournament rules this isn't the case, and I'm pretty sure that the main rules reference changed it in the f/a update anyway - because if Imps always get initiative, how do you determine who gets it between Rebs and Scum?

Tournament rules say lowest squad total gets the choice then, if squad totals are equal flip a coin (or some other randomisation) and the winner gets the choice.

This is one of those differences between the casual rules and the tournament rules.

You know, i didnt even know this was in the casual roles. Ive never had anyone I've ever played with bring it up, but note ill be pulling this bs at my next game judt for fun

I've never played a game of X-Wing where the Imp's get init... I've always rolled for it when the points are even, casual or regionals.

So basically, the player without initiative could in theory stack the asteroids on his own side of the mat during setup, and then yell, "switch!" and have a relatively clear lane to play in. Actually, the way it's written, you could presumably select any of the four sides of the mat, if the table allowed for it.

Correct. The original core rules worked that way too. I don't know anyone who's ever played it that way.

2) Has anyone ever been "assigned" an edge of the table? I've never had the opportunity to compete at a level higher than a store championship, so I have no idea how things might be handled at Regional tournaments, National Tournaments, or at the World's Championships. So, is assigning a table edge a thing at larger tournaments?

3) As a follow up to #2, if you erase the side-switching mechanic, is there any reason to even have an assigned edge?

Players aren't assigned edges in tournaments, but they don't switch sides after placing obstacles either.

Unless something has changed in the 'standard' rules isn't initiative automatically determined and non-revocable?

The new core set changed the basic initiative rules to match the tournament ones.

It's an unfortunate byproduct of having two sets of rules, namely the Core Rules and Tournament Rules.

Given that most people who I see playing X-Wing use the Tournament Rules, even in super-casual-friendly games, it begs the question why FFG bothered to have two slightly different rule systems?

lol. Now I need a lazy susan to set the mat on so we can spin it around to whatever side. Gesh!

lol. Now I need a lazy susan to set the mat on so we can spin it around to whatever side. Gesh!

Actually that's not such a silly idea. The number of times combat shifts to the other side of the table and either my opponent moves my ships for me, or I have to go to the other side of the table to do it, is actually quite often. A lazy susan would be the answer.

Poor Susan, she was probably just trying to be efficient, and came up with a cool idea. Now everyone just calls her lazy.

I can just imagine every ship on the board flying of as some one gives it a good spin...

To put it simply, in a tournament, the 'tournament rules' override any relevant 'standard rules'.

Casual games are supposed to be about general fun. Tournaments are a competitions requiring stricter rules.

It's an unfortunate byproduct of having two sets of rules, namely the Core Rules and Tournament Rules.

Given that most people who I see playing X-Wing use the Tournament Rules, even in super-casual-friendly games, it begs the question why FFG bothered to have two slightly different rule systems?

The original core set can, and should, be looked at as the previous edition of the rules. If you check out the rules on the X-wing product page, they are a link to a PDF download of the TFA core set.

It's an unfortunate byproduct of having two sets of rules, namely the Core Rules and Tournament Rules.

Given that most people who I see playing X-Wing use the Tournament Rules, even in super-casual-friendly games, it begs the question why FFG bothered to have two slightly different rule systems?

The original core set can, and should, be looked at as the previous edition of the rules. If you check out the rules on the X-wing product page, they are a link to a PDF download of the TFA core set.

That's not what Tezza was meaning at all. Since the first tournaments, there has always been two sets of rules: Core Rules (either original or TFA) and the Tournament rules. They are the two documents every player attending a tournament should have read thoroughly before entering.

The Core rules dictate the game. The Tournament rules lay out the format of tournaments and detail the type of tournament, the structure, and basically what you can and can't do.

Tournament Rules pdf: https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/d0/f9/d0f931fe-22a2-4bb3-9647-46945a86f1e8/x-wing_tournament_rules_v401.pdf

Sorry a bit off topic, saw lazy Susan mentioned twice today ...

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine?ref=comics

Not sure if the link will change everyday, but the comic is from 1.29.16