Hey guys, so in my area we don't have a large IA skirmish scene. From what I can figure out at my local FLGS there hasn't been a ton of interest in the skirmish. Weekly board game night sometimes sees a little campaign play, but overall X-Wing dominates.

Just curious if you guys have any suggestions on how to promote the skirmish scene and maybe grow it to the level where we could actually start hosting some tournaments or maybe even a league.

The store owner has told me is more than willing to host if there is enough interest, but generally right now the only interest for store championships floats around the LCG's from FFG. And when I talked to him he referred to IA as still being 'young' and it should pick up... but the game is over a year old. To me that seems like it should have some legs by now. How long did it take you guys to start getting tournaments or leagues in your areas?

we're kind of in the same boat in our area. We haven't been able to build interest yet but we're trying.

And Rogue what are you doing to try? Just promoting it at the local store with posters, word of mouth, social media? I am up for literally trying anything to grow this, even just to a small group. The friends I play campaign with aren't keen on the skirmish and they especially aren't keen on having to buy all of their own stuff to compete. So I am pretty much on my own for competitive play.

we had a star wars demo day at the FLGS one day where people could come and try out all the star wars games. We're having a Store Championship too which might hopefully draw people in. That's really about it other than just telling all the X-Wing players how fun it is.

I have the same problem. We have 3 or 4 guys who play it but, it's X-Wing. Not that i mind that at all. The thing i have noticed is there are a lot of people who play the campaign side of it and not skirmish. There are about 5 or 6 guys who play campaign which i am trying to convince to start playing IA league.

In my experience, Leagues are no good for growing a community. They're good if you *already have* an active community, but new players get turned off by the need to play week after week.

We've had luck bringing in new players by doing two things at my FLGS: 1.) We're selling the Core Set at JUST OVER cost. So far this has helped us move several along and start a steady flow of expansions out the door. 2.) Selling bi-weekly "Challenge sheets" for $5 with "achievements" on them that you can earn through gameplay.

On the challenge sheets, players can turn them in at any time for $5 in store credit, plus one dollar for every challenge point earned (up to ten per sheet).

People seem to like them, we've had a lot of positive feedback just from the idea itself. They're low commitment (They never expire) but still encourage a variety of playstyles and if you fill one out that's basically a free expansion.

Best thing you can do is just keep playing in the store. When I first started working at the LGS here there was little to no Xwing or IA. Since my day off was Tuesdays I said lets make that a Star Wars night. So I started playing IA campaign with my group in the store and then we'd play some Xwing after. After about 4 months of this we now have a consistent dozen or more that show up for Xwing. Ive had many show interest in IA skirmish but Xwing still dominates. I have not lost hope though. As long as my group continues to play, even if its the campaign, IA is getting exposed to players. It also helps that my figs are painted so it brings many onlookers over just to see the cool figs. I know of at least one person who went and purchased the game shortly after seeing us play. Granted he hasnt been in on Tuesday but we still know there are players out there. We can't seem to keep the core set in stock. So dont give up and just make sure players know theres a place to play.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, quality content here hopefully others can benefit from as well. I'm going to try and stay on this weekly and see if I can't make it happen.

Another option is for me to look at neighbouring cities I suppose.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, quality content here hopefully others can benefit from as well. I'm going to try and stay on this weekly and see if I can't make it happen.

Another option is for me to look at neighbouring cities I suppose.

That's kinda what I'm having to do. I'm driving 30 minutes to a store this afternoon because there's nothing going on near me.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, quality content here hopefully others can benefit from as well. I'm going to try and stay on this weekly and see if I can't make it happen.

Another option is for me to look at neighbouring cities I suppose.

That's kinda what I'm having to do. I'm driving 30 minutes to a store this afternoon because there's nothing going on near me.

You guys are lucky. The closest store to our Metro area is an hour away, and the closest store that takes FFG games seriously that isn't our main stores is FFG itself, so we have to get stuff going here.

We're hoping that having a Store Champ will up players, but we need follow through tourneys.

Anybody have good ideas for tournament structure to get more people out of their kitchen table campaigns (of which we know a bunch are happening around here) and into the store?

The best thing to promote the game is on FFG hands, if them release a new core / big box expansion related to TFA it will introduce a lot of new players like it happened with X-Wing.

The best thing to promote the game is on FFG hands, if them release a new core / big box expansion related to TFA it will introduce a lot of new players like it happened with X-Wing.

I think this might help - but, really I think with the 4x4 nerf (only at the end of last year), the arrival of the Bantha, Smugger and the not too old Hoth, it seems like the boards have really come to life and there's a lot more exciting meta to the game now than there even was a few months ago.

I think we're actually seeing momentum build and by mid-year it might be far busier a community and stores should follow suit.

Alternatively, FrogTrigger - you can also check out Vassal? Here in Europe BoardWars.Eu are starting online tournaments. It's not perfect, but a great way to play more and meet people / get ideas from the community.