GW Grognard: Tips for your League

Hey everyone! Adam, from TFG Radio, here to help you have a better 40K experience (only if you listen to me though).

I have played in, and continue to play, in tournaments of various sizes and in various locations. There are times though that I am unable to play in tournaments at all, whether it is “act of god” (pandemic) or just can’t make it to the tournaments. Luckily there are sometimes a league or two that is being run in your area can will allow you to play games of 40K and keep up with the game. It can be a league with a large pool of hard bitten veteran players, or a league that is about learning how to play while building up a new army to 2000 points. In either case, here area few helpful tips on how to make your league successful and hopefully keep people playing.

Keep the Sharks Away from the Kiddie Pool

This can sometimes kill the league before it even has a chance to grow. There are some players that get a big lift from stomping on new or inexperienced players. They play the newer players and as a result these new players quickly lose interest in the game so sometimes just stop playing altogether. When organizing your league, be sure to recognize who some of your strong players and, depending on how your league is formatted, and either monitor them closely or have them in a group where they play each other.

Don’t Be a Jerk

This sounds easy, right. How hard can it be to not be a jerk? Well, going by what I sometimes read and hear, it is apparently very difficult. I know there are times when you want to really say what you really think about a player, or you have a player you may not like but in both cases you have to suck it up and set your personal feelings aside about that person for the betterment of the league. In addition, try to avoid winning the league as that can sometimes look bad to people if you are always winning the league you are running. If you are going to win the league, at the very least give up the prize support so it doesn’t look like you are double dipping by getting the fees plus the prizes. In either case, players may start grumbling and not return to the league because of this.

Keep It Simple St***d (K.I.S.S.)

Try not to overthink your league. You can very easily take something you think will work and create an excel monstrosity that none can read or understand. There is no shame in borrowing an idea or format that you either played in or have read about and using it for your league. You can maybe make a small tweak here or there but if you make wholesale changes then the league may not function the way it is supposed to. If you make it too complicated then you will have people that will lose interest very quickly and the league will fall apart fairly quickly. Keeping it simple will make things easier for you in the long run, trust me.

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, and any tips you have for people running leagues, in the comments section below. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!

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