Next Abington Warmahordes thing: Ladder League!

[jfoodmaster]

Hey Guys,
 I was bouncing ideas around for something different and I think that a super awesome league is what we need!

 The idea of a ladder league is simple. Imagine a ladder. Then imagine names on the rungs. Wherever you are, you're going to be able to put challenges out to players above you on the ladder. There will be a limit to how far up the ladder you can challenge. I'm working out some details on other ladder leagues I've seen online. In addition to that, there will be other achievements that will get you BATTLE POINTS! The accumulation of BPs will get you a different prize at the end. Examples of achievements will be: Wreck a Colossal or Gargantuan, 1 Shot a Warcaster/Warlock, etc. You get the idea. I'm thinking of a mid to late October start.

 The idea of this league is for a few things: People will want to play competitive lists in order to keep their rankings on the ladder and defeat challenges and win their own. I'm thinking that when the top player is challenged that there will also be timed turns in a game that is also timed. I think these will help people get more comfortable with building lists towards tournaments because I'd like to get a tourney scene happening in Abington since we had decent interest in the event last weekend.

 What is everyone's take on this sort of ladder? Will you play? Do you hate it? I'd also like some feedback on additional achievements. Think of something that's easy to record and is also easy to figure out with a yes or no answer. Did it happen? Yes or No. Does that make sense?

 I'd also like to have a painting aspect of this, but I haven't really thought about it yet. Feedback would be cool for that too.

 Thanks!

[GossWeapon]

It would be cool to be steamroller rules and then the top challenge will be hardcores.

[Ian Mulligan]

I'd actually like to keep timed turns out of this. The ladder will make it pretty competitive. Leaving it out allows for more casual play.

[Demonster]

A competitive league does sound good. If we can also do scenarios so that every list we do isn't 'caster kill, that would increase the play value.

Random Challenge ideas:
Warbeast/Warjack single handedly (did all the damage itself) destroyed another Warbeast/Warjack (of their own size)
Warlock/Warcaster single handedly destroyed another Warlock/Warcaster
Win a scenario without losing a model
Defeat the top play player in a challenge

Random ideas while still waking up at 7 in the morning.

[jfoodmaster]

How bout this: when challenging the top player, you'll use a random steamroller scenario.

Also, when it comes to point totals, should the challenger pick or should we do a constant point value across the league? Or, randomly choose between 50 and 35 points?

[Rofel]

How would you approach list building before each match? By having the ladder in a competitive setting, I assume things might lead to lists changing every match and designed to specifically counter the other player. Could this be approached like Steamroller tournaments, where each player brings 2-3 lists with character restrictions?

[jfoodmaster]

I think that's a very cool idea. The multiple lists thing is neat. I'll take that under advisement.

How would you approach list building before each match? By having the ladder in a competitive setting, I assume things might lead to lists changing every match and designed to specifically counter the other player. Could this be approached like Steamroller tournaments, where each player brings 2-3 lists with character restrictions?

[Demonster]

Probably would be better to let both people agree to what point conditions for their games or just have every game 35 or 50 points to make it easier already.

I think having lists will be a bad thing, only because it will be over the course of a League instead of a Tournament, so if you already have 2 lists of what you plan on using, you're stuck using those for a while and it can burn you out if you don't have the freedom for choices over the course of time and you challenge the same people over and over again, we just have a meta where people know what is good against which person and it can get infuriating.

[jfoodmaster]

I was thinking that you might bring 2 lists to each challenge. It wouldn't be 2 lists for the whole league.

Maybe week to week we change points. Week 1 is 35, Week 2 is 50, etc.

[Rofel]

I agree that locking lists in for the whole league would make things boring but I'd at least advocate to lists changing from week to week or challenge to challenge.

What I don't want to see happen is a situation like the following:
I play Khador, which is predominantly an infantry based faction. I get challenged by a Menoth player. Neither player knows what list the other player is using, just the faction. So the Menoth player throws down pFeora with an anti-infantry list. Might as well call the game right there, and yes as a khador player I should be prepared for this, but in a tournament setting you're allowed to at least see what you're up against and choose a list.

To quote the Muse on Minis podcast, "Player skill has more influence on a match than list composition. However, hard-counters to certain types of lists do exist in the game, which is why steamrollers allow multiple lists."

[the_trooper]

Theme list challenges?  As in bonuses for using tier lists?

[Randl]

I really like the idea of bonus points for Theme lists. and/or a bonus for painted a painted list.
All and all I love the idea of a league.

[Chase]

I like some of the ideas kicking around in this thread.

I wish the word "competitive" and the concept of "competition" didn't prevent so many people from playing in something otherwise awesome.  It seems to me like there's a lot of potential here.

[Demonster]

If anything it'll be fun and powerful gaming. That's what part of the hobby is all about. A presentation between 2 lists before each challenge would be better to provide options and less stress IMO.

[jfoodmaster]

What do you mean by 'presentation', Kev?

The standard thing when bringing multiple lists is that your opponent gets to see your lists and you look over theirs. Then you both secretly decide which to use and present your choice at the same time.

I really like alot of these ideas. I'm goin to have to hammer this out and present a final rule list and start date.

The other thing that makes sense is to stick everyone to one faction. Bonus points for theme lists and fully painted will be in, for sure. Maybe a bonus for making a display board during the league.

I think this will be fun for tourney prep. Bringing your best lists against other people's best lists is the core of this game an I am looking forward to it!

Warmachine/Hordes night is Thursdays in Abington, so that is when this will be happening the majority of the time. I'm also thinking of a thread here or a Facebook group for the league members. I assume we're all on FB at this point, right?