Our 2013 40k league at the Primarchs club has come to a rather pathetic end. It was dragged out far too much and now too many people have dropped out, often for no real reason. All of which has annoyed me to no end. I do all the hard work and they just have to turn up and play. Even if you can't win, still play because its a game of 40K surely?
Theres a small Warhammer Fantasy league starting up next under someone else's charge, so I can just relax and hope that next time I'll have people stick to it. It will require a fixed dates for games, and if one or both players don't turn up without a good reason they get a lose. Players that drop out, again without good reason, they get a ban from the following league. That's what I am thinking right now.
That's the problem with long-running leagues, people get bored, or unexpected stuff cross up so they can't play. This is why I don't like to sign up for them any more, after pledging myself for a few, then having real life get in the way. It's hard to get a dozen or so people to turn up for every game, as unfortunately, other stuff can crop up and is more likely to when there's more players.
ReplyDeleteBanning people from leagues is bad for the club in general, as those people won't even turn up on the league nights, as they won't get a game. This means lost revenue for the club and i know how hard it is to keep the Primarchs going sometimes in terms of paying for the room.
I think mixing it up a little and not simply alternating between one league or another would be a good idea. It can get a bit stale if it's the same stuff over and over again. Maybe try a map campaign? Then if people don't turn up, they don't get to move/invade or defend territories. If people drop out, it's not a such a huge thing either, as their square/tiles/etc just get removed and the other players can just carry on
If they aren't going to turn up and play then they are hurting the club anyway. Unless a better option presents itself then I have to stop being the nice guy and put my foot down. I put a hell of a lot of effort and organisation into setting up and running the club and these leagues for people not to take it seriously. I'd rather not ban someone from a following league but it will put the point across.
DeleteAs for your last point, after seeing your post I was discussing it with with Simon and Joel this evening. We all agreed that map based campaigns don't solve the problem. They take too long, require a lot more book keeping and aren't as easy to organise as a league. If players don't turn up then they get left behind and they drop out, which is exactly what we want to avoid. For the confines of the club at the moment leagues are the best way forward. The club needs commitment from its players/members for it to work.
The problem is, as soon as it becomes fixed dates I am out, I cannot commit to any fix date games, as life is more important then a table top game
ReplyDeleteIt is the only way to do it and keep things going. If you know the dates in advance you can work life round it. You'd play probably once every three weeks, give or take numbers. The way this league was handled by the players proves that players cannot be left up to their own devises on when to play games because we have had more than a few weeks where only one league game was played a night. We really need 2-4 being played.
DeleteI have decided that the next one will most likely be 1000pts. Keeps it manageable and we can see if we can get that number of games in over an evening.