As a TO, the question speaks for itself. I am trying to organize tournaments around the "expected" avalability of new expansions but alas looking at the other card games it seems the release dates are little more than coincidence. Each month, sometimes month and a half, sometimes month and a week…

Since the players really need an advanced notice of when and where the tourney will be held, I was thinking of setting the date on the last weekend of each month since that seems like having the biggest probability of Force Pack having been released.

Any thoughts on that?

There will be a new pack each month. If you set it for end of each month that is good as the pack will have lots of time to arrive for the month.

When I was playing LotR, I noticed that the shipping now designation on the upcoming page was the most reliable method of judging time. Sure, this only gives you a couple weeks notice, but I would imagine you could something like 3 weeks from any Force Pack changing status to "shipping now" to allow for people to get their new cards and take a few days to play with them. YMMV.

Does YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary?

MasterJediAdam said:

Yep.

How far out are you planning tournaments?

In our play group, we have used a standard, some what unspoken rule, that if a new pack come out the week of a planned event then it is not legal. So a 7 day lag time between release and legality in events. This doesn't hold for casual play though

Well, we've discussed that and came to a consensus that as soon as the pack hits, it's legal - and it's up to anyone to get it. Since we're a small playgroup, that does not present a problem: those who will get will still lend cards to those didn't (as happened with Desolation of Hoth).

I am trying to set dates so that the pack will already be available, that's my problem.

So far I/we came to a conclusion that the best chance we have is setting the tourney dates on the last weekend of each month - since we're in middle Europe, it always takes at least week or more for the packs to get there following their NA availability.

scarletnite said:

I guess you can do this if all agree in your area, but be aware that FFG has stated that once a pack has come out they are legal for any tournament (local and the first regionals). I can see this changing later after they build a library of cards.

So if someone that does not play in your area or is new to the game, they would rightfully be allowed to play said new cards just released if they show up to a tournament.

That is so only for NA, for the rest of the world it is left up to TOs.