Hi guys, I've been playing X-Wing for about 6 - 8 months. And I'm starting up a league in my local area (Worthing, Sussex, UK.) And was wondering if anybody had any hints or tips, just to give me a hand with runnig it. Any help, hints or tips would be greatly appriciated. Thank you.

First, good luck. I assume you're working with a game shop? That's the first place to start. There are a number of people on these forums who currently run leagues. Hopefully they will be along shortly to help.

First, what Sable said. Having a store to help out with the cost/space is very helpful. It can be a huge burden if you do not have the support system, especially since FFG will not sell their kits to individuals.

Second, make sure you have enough stuff to give away and a system to support it . You will likely easily cover the winners/etc prizes but you cannot underestimate the need for prizes for participation, general good sportsmanship, etc. If you only give swag away to the winners, you will alienate new players, players who can't play as much, etc. I have found about 4-6 FFG kits will support our group at the moment (we have just shy of 20 people each week currently). Talk to your store about this, since an alternative to kits is a discount for people who play in the league/product prizes/etc. This can be kind of ad-hoc, but it helps to have a general idea in advance. The scoring system is pivotal though, since a bad one can cause people to despair and stop coming; a good one will reward the players that participate the most and give everyone incentive to keep coming

Third: In my opinion, the goal of the league should be to encourage people to play in it and have a fun place to do so, not to alienate people. Do whatever you can to make this happen. This can be challenging since each player will have different opinions of what this means, and know that just because John Smith came last week and didn't come this week doesn't mean you aren't doing a good job. It can be depressing to have "slow weeks" but trust that if you are trying to be positive and promote that, it will grow. Sometimes in big leaps.

Fourth: try to keep the cost to the players at a minimum. I prefer leagues being free, since then you can have people walk up and jump in at any point and it helps with my third point, bringing people in. The higher the cost is, the less people you will get easily and the more you will have to keep track of. You will likely have to work this out with the store, since hopefully they will want to support you to some degree.

Fifth: be prepared. Space to play can quickly run out, especially in smaller stores. Have a plan to deal with this. This means play mats as well, since many people don't invest in them/bring them (felt works great, since it is inexpensive). Our league had 9 people one week then boomed up to 17 the next. I was not prepared for that volume (and truth be told am still adjusting to it). Don't fall into that! Have a fallback plan.

If you want some help, I can try and answer more specific questions you may have via PM.

Good luck! Its very rewarding! Don't give up!

Fortunately I do have support from a local gaming store. Also from a localised gaming community. I'm not charging an entry fee as I'm not giving out prizes, although there will be certificates handed out. I'm using this as a trial league, just to see how it plays out. With the intention of hopefully doing another, potentially larger league later in the year. As it stands I've decide that each player can take a 100 point list with a 50 point sidebar. Each player plays one game a week and the league is lasting 12 weeks, so each player plays 12 games. The games themselves last an hour, with victory being decide by a series of points.

The victory points:

2 points for each unsaved critical hit against an opponants ship.

5 points for destroying an opponants ship.

5 points for destroying an opponants squadron leader.

And a bonus 5 points if you squadron commander has not been destroyed.

There is a 3 point draw margin too.

Thoughts, ideas would be appriciated.

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't this points system be unfair on the Imperial players, as they tend to bring more ships at a lower cost that have less Hull. Also, a Falcon or Y-wing could sustain several crits which would exceed 5 points for destruction pretty fast.

Have you seen the tournament rules? They have a system in place already and can be readily downloaded from this website.

In play testing it worked pretty well for both sides, thats why i chose this system of victory points. And as its a league not a tournament I wasn't sure that there'd be rules speciffically for a league.

The victory points:

2 points for each unsaved critical hit against an opponent's ship.

5 points for destroying an opponent's ship.

5 points for destroying an opponent's squadron leader.

And a bonus 5 points if your squadron commander has not been destroyed.

There is a 3 point draw margin too.

I assume that "unsaved critical hit" means a critical hit on an undestroyed ship?

I would agree with others that there is an inherent bias against lower cost ships with the VP for destroying an opponent's ship. I construe this as an attempt to make swarms less appealing, but really, squad builds and your skills playing the game should be the impetus to defeat swarms rather than VPs.

For example, in my last two matches, I faced swarms in both games. I had an unmodified win in the first case but would have had more VPs than I "deserve" for just a complete victory. In my 2nd match, I had an unmodified loss, but destroyed enough TIE fighters that, by your system, would have been a tie (pun intended).

Or are you trying to gauge the quality of wins by strength of schedule? If that is the case, I've seen several SoS variants discussed (@TeamCovenant?).

Like I said before the system I've chosen works, in play testing it worked outfine. And at the moment its a test league, just to see if it works and to see what works well. If this attempt bombs then I'll stick to playing tournaments. If it does well I may do another league later in the year. And yes unsaved crtical hits count whether you destroy the ship or not.

unsaved crtical hits

• 2 points for each face-up damage card on an opponent's ship

Here is an example of the scoring bias in your system.

Player 1 is flying a YT-1300 and 2 X-Wings

Player 2 is flying 6 Academy Pilots and Howlrunner

Round 1

Player 1 kills all, no losses

Player 1 scores 6*5+5+5 (bonus)=40

Player 2 scores 0

Round 2

Player 2 kills all, no losses

Player 1 scores 0

Player 2 score 3*5+5+5 (bonus)=25

Why is Player 2's complete victory worth so much less than Player 1's victory? Before you say that this sort of flip-flop isn't likely, remember that, assuming player skill being equal, dice will have a factor in the outcome.

FWIW, I have found it best not to score based on gameplay incidents for this very reason. It can be fun to keep track of certain stats like "Total Ships Killed/Total Ships Lost", and maybe even give minor prizes for them, but not have that be a major factor in the league. Its usually too difficult to balance things like that.

As an example, the Game of Thrones Kits included some "achievement sheets" which give bonus points to layers for winning/losing under certain conditions. Our local League scrapped that because as soon as i was introduced people were designing decks or playing a game here/there just to get the bonuses. As soon as your players start "gaming the system" instead of simply playing and having fun, the system has failed.

The player scores 2 points for a critical hit that is unsaved, whether it removes a shield token or deals a face up damage card. Games are one off one hour games. So yes the system can be biased to one player, but not necessaraly in the long run. And like I said before itsonly a trial league just to see what works and what dosn't. I'm sure that those who've started a league have had to iron out things before they start it.

So for example:

Player 1 has a YT1300.

Player 2 has a Firespray 31.

Player 1 shoots at the Firespray and rolls a focus, a hit and a critical hit. Player 2 rolls a blank and an evade. Player 1 scores 2 points for an unsaved critical hit. In return Player 2 shoots the YT1300 and rolls 2 blanks and a critical hit, Player 1 rolls an evade, therefore denying Player 2 of 2 points.

I think when he says an "unsaved" critical hit, he means a critical hit that wasn't blocked by an evade. A critical hit that actually reduced shields or caused damage.

I fear I must point out a wholy possible scenario based on this proposed scheme then.

Opponent 1's list:

Biggs, Luke, Wedge

Opponent 2's list:

3 Shuttles

All uncancelled damage done by List 1 are crits, all damage done by 2 is hits.

List 1 is totally destroyed. List 2 loses all shields but takes no hull damage and loses no craft.

Point totals:

Opponent 1

15x Uncancelled Crits (30)

Total points: 30

Opponent 2

3x Ships Destroyed (15)

Squad Leader Destroyed (5)

Total Points: 20

That means even though player 2 took no hull damage and destroyed all of the enemy craft, they have lost the game by a full 10 points.

This could potentially happen, but you're forgetting critical hits.

This could potentially happen, but you're forgetting critical hits.

No he's not. When he says "3 shuttles" he means "3 shuttles each with HLC," and as we all know, HLC changes crits to normal hits.

And of course he took crits into account in explaining why the Rebels got so many points in this system (all their crits hit the shuttles' shields).

So I started this disscusion asking for help, hints or tips on how to run a league. And it turns into a disscusion about my victory points system. Like I keep saying its a TEST league, I'm gonna make mistakes and there are things which will need to ironed out. And if this league is unsucessful I may not run another league, but if its successful I my run another league later in the year. And I may or may not use the same victory points system.

So I started this disscusion asking for help, hints or tips on how to run a league. And it turns into a disscusion about my victory points system. Like I keep saying its a TEST league, I'm gonna make mistakes and there are things which will need to ironed out. And if this league is unsucessful I may not run another league, but if its successful I my run another league later in the year. And I may or may not use the same victory points system.

Please, forgive us, that's what we believe we are doing. You asked for help, hints, or tips. You then proposed a scheme that seems flawed. We have been pointing out the flaws, and you have been taking this as an attack on your ideas. This was not intentional.

I don't want to insult you or to be mean. That's not my goal. I want to show you places where your intended scheme breaks down. That's not saying the idea is terrible or you are terrible, only that there are serious issues we are attempting to address.

Yes, this is a test league. We understand. We know it's not going to be perfect. But there's no reason ideas can't be altered before the league starts. You can easily change the point system, or scrap it, or improve it. The 'It's just a test' defense rings hollow when we point out conceptual flaws at the beginning.

We want you to run this league and we want everyone involved to be happy. Solving problems is part of that. Please, let us help you.

I feel that Hida77 hit the nail on the head: if it isn't fun the players will stop coming.

Personally, the VP system, although admirable in its attempt to provide something different for scoring, seems like a lot of record-keeping to me. Honestly, while I'm playing the game I can't imagine myself reliably keeping track of all uncanceled {crit} rolls. Much less making sure my opponent is keeping a good record.

I might suggest, instead of VP wins, provide simple objectives for each game and award Hida77's bonuses when those are met. That would keep the fun in the game and remove the tedious record-keeping (and let's face it, if you had any significant numbers show up, will you have time to compile all that data?)

Some possible bonus objectives:

• You did not land on an obstacle this match
• You used Elusiveness and it saved a {hit} or {crit}
• Meta-buster! You flew a list so out-there that you amazed the TO
• No one played a TIE swarm. Everyone wins!

It does seem flawed, but it worked well in play testing. Now I'm not sure whether to keep this system or to change it. And if I changed it what, system do I use? The leagues starting on Tuesday, so it could be to late to change it now. Or do I just keep the system I've chosen and see how it goes?

It does seem flawed, but it worked well in play testing. Now I'm not sure whether to keep this system or to change it. And if I changed it what, system do I use? The leagues starting on Tuesday, so it could be to late to change it now. Or do I just keep the system I've chosen and see how it goes?

Ah, the joys of play testing. We should praise FFG for such a balanced game as X-Wing. Play testing usually fails to uncover all issues.

Since this is a new league, why not just go with win, modified win, modified loss, loss? It sounds like you want to be strict on match times. If so, this is the system that many leagues use, why not go with the gold standard? After your league takes off (see, positive thinking!) you may find the players in your league might be willing to give something else a shot. If you weren't strict about time you might even go just win/loss like we are currently doing. It's a lot less stress.

But your focus at startup should be to keeps the players coming because they are having fun.

I have to be strict with the timing of the games, due tothe fact that we have to play the games between 6:00pm and 10pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays I could be flexiable with time limit, as the shop is open from 10:30am untill 6:30pm.