Ive been slowly trying to get other people (outside me an my kids) to play the best Star Wars game ever.

Our local game store owner asked me to run a tournament later this month to help generate some interest.

My question is, since I've never been to or participated in a IA skirmish tournament is, how do these look?

I've got the kit, Ive read the stuff on the website, but are there other things that would make this run smoother?

We know what maps we're using, but how do you randomize the maps as you are playing? Does everyone play the same map at the same time or does one pairing play Cantina while another is playing Training Ground? How do you split up the prizes? We'll probably have anywhere from 4-8 players show up. Like any gamestore, there are those that take things way too serious and most of us are just playing for fun or to get some more games in. Any tips or ideas would be useful.

You shuffle the missions and draw at random. Everyone plays the same mission each round.

Prizes are usually top 2, top 4, participation.

65 minutes is everything. Printed maps helps alot with that but are technically not legal.

You only score points when you defeat all of the deployment card, not per individual figure.

First of all, congrats! You've got a store owner who is interested in supporting the game! That is already miles ahead of where some of us have been. Think of this as a privilege, for starters.

1. How do these look?

I think you're asking about how the general structure of a tournament works. If so, then I'd encourage you to bring a laptop computer or perhaps have the store owner make one available, so that you can run the Cryodex pairing software, which is an extremely useful and user-friendly tool for tournament organizers (TOs), which is you. Here is a link to the thread in the X-Wing forums that has it: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/187580-cryodex-4-run-x-wing-armada-or-imperial-assault-also-open-source/. I would suggest that you download it for yourself at first and just play around with it for a bit so that you can get the hang of it.

In terms of what the software will do, it will basically make random and unbiased pairings for you. It uses the Swiss Tournament Pairing system, which you can research if you want to. Basically, it pairs the winning-est players with each other, and the losing-est players with each other, so that after a certain number of rounds you have a clear tournament champion. If you have 8 players or less, there will be 3 Rounds of Swiss. If you have 9-16 players, then you'll play 4 Rounds, and so on.

As people arrive, first of all welcome them! Make sure that they're comfortable, and that they have everything they need. If someone happens to have forgotten something at home, then see if they can borrow a replacement from you. I would definitely suggest bringing as much of your IA stuff with you as you can. Beyond that, you might even consider building 2 or 3 separate and complete squads, so that someone could use them if they are interested in playing but don't own the game yet. I've done this before, and it's a great way to help interested people get more interested.

When the players are settled in, then ask them to provide their information (Name, Faction, squad list, command card list, etc). Enter that information into your Cryodex software.

If you have the time, you might want to double-check people's lists to make sure that they're legal. That is, no more than 40pts of Deployment Cards, no more than 15pts in Command Cards, and exactly 15 Command Cards, no faction mistakes (ie, no Luke in Imperials, or no Skirmish Upgrade cards being brought into another faction via Temporary Alliance, etc...there are a number of common squad building mistakes that can happen). However, if there are some mistakes, you might want to just let it go anyway, since it's just the first event and people are still learning and/or getting into the game. Simply explain how it works for the next time. That's probably what I'd do, but that's because I'm more concerned with people having fun than I am with doing things by the book. [That's not to say that I don't like the big-level events too, but if it's a local event then I think it should be very relaxed and user-friendly and welcoming.]

Then, when everyone is present and you're ready to start with the tournament, have at it! Start the tournament, and before the first round explain how things are going to run. Mention things like the number of rounds, perhaps ask people to introduce themselves briefly (ie, maybe their name and their favorite SW character), that we're here to have a good time and hopefully make some friends, and that you've got prize support (see below) to give out at the end of the event. Follow the rules described in the Tournament Guide (65 minutes per round, etc). You keep a timer for each round, and occasionally let people know how much time they have left. Encourage people to play as quickly as they can, with the best moves that they can come up with at the time. (This is a game, not a Ph.D dissertation! lol)

When the time is up, tell people that they can finish their current round of the game, but not start a new one. Games that have not been completed by this point are won or lost according to how many VPs each player has scored...all of this is covered in the Tournament Regulations document. Enter the results of games in your software and then get the pairings for Round 2. Pick the map for this round, and then send the people to their tables and start the timer again. Rinse and repeat. Be available to answer rules questions or make rulings as the Judge of the event. The TO is always the Judge, in a small event like this.

2. How do you randomize the maps?

The best way is to gather the 6 current missions (from the 3 Legal Maps which are listed in the tournament document). Shuffle them, and at the start of each Round, draw one randomly. That round, EVERYONE plays on the same map with the same mission. Then put that card away, because you won't use it again this tournament. You might end up using the other mission for that map, though; in this regard, if people don't like building the maps then sometimes TOs decide to use the other mission of the same map for the next round, so that it eliminates the need to build a new map again for the next round. This works great for a casual starter event, even though it's not the way major events are supposed to run.

3. How do you split up the prizes?

People do it in different ways. There is enough prizes in the tournament kit that everyone gets at least a promo card. At the Store Championships this spring, every participant got a promo Bantha Rider deployment card (promos have the exact-same stats, just different artwork), and at the Regionals this year everyone received a C3P0 promo card. Then there are the other, bigger things: maybe 1 or 2 copies of another promo card (these have been Chewbacca or Dengar or others in the past), a Challenge Coin (works great as an initiative token!), perhaps a medal, etc. You can divide these however you see fit. You might give all of the unique stuff to the Champion, or maybe you'll distribute the stuff more broadly, and let the Champion pick one first, and then the 2nd place player picks something, and so on.

The most important thing is that everyone leaves with something cool. At a recent Tournament Kit event at my local store, I was first place but we ended up doing a draft pick of all of the kit contents and so more people got to take stuff home. For a casual local event, I honestly think that's the best way to do it. And if you're the TO and happen to win it, then you might even consider giving your prizes to the other players.

I think that you as the TO are the one who really sets the tone and the atmosphere for the event. The TO in my Regional 2 years ago was especially great; I had 2 of my younger sons with me (11 and 10 years old at the time) and he was very intentional about making sure they felt welcome and had a good time, playing against a bunch of adults. It was their first gaming tournament experience ever, and now they're hooked! Those 2 boys joined me for Store Championships this year, and then all 3 of my boys came to the Regional this year (one of them even placed 8th!!)...and the TO of that first Regional played a significant role in their desire to play in more tournaments.

Yes, I agree that this is absolutely the best Star Wars game ever! I've played several different Star Wars games and several different miniatures games over the years, and IA is by far the best of them all, in my mind. I wish you all the best in this project! I hope you'll let us know how it goes!

This looks cool, is there an app for running a tournament on a more casual level? I might want to do something at home sometime.

Thanks for the Replies.

I guess, the rules are pretty straight forward for running the tournament, the grey area for me is I want to play as well, the store owner has never played and doesn't know the rules of the game, like he does other games. Can I be the rules judge, marshal, or big kahuna even if I play? In my mind, I'm organizing this just to try and get some different people interested or playing, I win most of the games I play, even when I try to create unusual or handicapped lists, just because I have a bit more experience. While I would love to get some acrylic tokens, I wouldn't care if I won all the games and went home empty handed because I just like to play. For me its all about getting games in with different opponents, or getting in games that I wouldn't normally get to play do to time, etc. We can have 20+ players on a casual X-wing night, but nobody plays IA regularly or maybe just not publicly. I know there are lots of people that own the stuff though, they just don't play regularly.

I have a question for this topic to.

If I use the offical prizes for the store championship, do I have to use the offical maps or can I choose others?
I would like to play with only maps that use the core box since I know a lot of people have not bought all the expansion packs.

Do you guys know what are the tie breakers? first points, then SoS?

Do you guys know what are the tie breakers? first points, then SoS?

I just read it in the tournament guide, if I remember right, its points, then wounds, then there's one other thing and at last, random roll a die

I have a question for this topic to.

If I use the offical prizes for the store championship, do I have to use the offical maps or can I choose others?

I would like to play with only maps that use the core box since I know a lot of people have not bought all the expansion packs.

I believe you can do as you like as long as you let it be known ahead of time. FFG will let you run it how you want, and they even give you permission to override their faq if you want. as long as the Tourney Organizer wants to do different maps, you can do different maps in an informal or relaxed tournament. The Premier or more formal tournaments are more rigid.

Does anyone remember where the rules for "passing" are, just to run over them again.?

I have a question for this topic to.

If I use the offical prizes for the store championship, do I have to use the offical maps or can I choose others?

I would like to play with only maps that use the core box since I know a lot of people have not bought all the expansion packs.

I believe you can do as you like as long as you let it be known ahead of time. FFG will let you run it how you want, and they even give you permission to override their faq if you want. as long as the Tourney Organizer wants to do different maps, you can do different maps in an informal or relaxed tournament. The Premier or more formal tournaments are more rigid.

Yes, I would definitely second this opinion. At the local level, it's probably just best to use whatever works best for all of the players. I would have no qualms about choosing a different set of maps and missions if it would enable people to play more easily. It is important to clearly communicate this to all of your players, though. And be ready to step in with extra tiles or assistance for anyone who might happen to come for the first time, expecting to play on a different (ie, the official) set of maps.

But truly, if you have 10 players, you don't actually need all 10 players to have the tiles to build all the maps. Really, you just need 5 of the players to have that ability, assuming that people are willing to share and/or build their map and then let someone else play on it. Personally, I've always been more than happy to do this, and it's a good option for groups where at least some of the people have the components for the newer missions.

Thanks for the Replies.

I guess, the rules are pretty straight forward for running the tournament, the grey area for me is I want to play as well, the store owner has never played and doesn't know the rules of the game, like he does other games. Can I be the rules judge, marshal, or big kahuna even if I play? In my mind, I'm organizing this just to try and get some different people interested or playing, I win most of the games I play, even when I try to create unusual or handicapped lists, just because I have a bit more experience. While I would love to get some acrylic tokens, I wouldn't care if I won all the games and went home empty handed because I just like to play. For me its all about getting games in with different opponents, or getting in games that I wouldn't normally get to play do to time, etc. We can have 20+ players on a casual X-wing night, but nobody plays IA regularly or maybe just not publicly. I know there are lots of people that own the stuff though, they just don't play regularly.

You absolutely can at this level. I'd recommend you get a 2nd person for any disputes in your games, but otherwise its just fine. Most of the time Just have a rules reference handy (printed out) and pass it around. We had "small" tournaments of 4-6 for the longest time and it kind of became a group thing that if someone had a rules question they would just ask the table. Line of Sight is the most common question - have the example handy!

Also - at smaller tournament levels you can score by hand, especially if under 8 people. But I still would recommend a tournament program such as Cryodex!

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/187580-cryodex-4-run-x-wing-armada-or-imperial-assault-also-open-source/