Evolution of a League - Constructing the Skeleton

Last time, I threw out a bunch of ideas that I was considering for my group's upcoming Journeyman League. I got some good feedback, and getting it all written down gave me a lot of time to reflect on what does and doesn't work. Now it's time to take the broad ideas I want to use, get some rules set up, and try to hone them towards making a league that's fun and easy to take part in.

Main League Idea
I've decided to go with my Ticket to Ride idea, giving players 3 random objectives to accomplish each week. Since that will be the league's schtick, it's important that I prioritize making the idea work. The important things to figure out (or that I've already figured out) will be:

• Fairly assigning point values 
• Making goals universal enough that any faction can accomplish it, or allow players to change goals if it literally can't be done by their army (i.e. a Warmachine player drawing a card designed for Hordes)
• Making a variety of goals that promote knowing the rules (charging, power attacks, etc) as well as fun objectives like finishing with half your remaining army on your opponent's side of the board.
• Points need to be worth something. Whether they serve as currency or just a threshold to unlock something, reaching a certain amount of points should be exciting. I really want them to buy something, but I don't to juggle a bunch of paperwork. Ideas here are quite welcome!
• Players shouldn't be able to run away with the league. Weekly participation should put most players neck-and-neck the entire time.
• To keep things honest, objectives should be kept secret until they're accomplished so that players don't play/build for, or against, their opponent's objective.
• How should card draws be handled? Assuming players get 3 cards per week should they be allowed to discard and redraw one per week, or be given 4 and have to discard 1? Can players opt to keep a card from the previous week, or must they always take 3 new cards?
• A few casters will probably need to be banned until we hit the 25 point range, just so some players aren't completely dominating lower-point games.
• Since Warmachine is designed around scenario play, the league will jump right in with simple scenarios rather than assassination-only.

Objective Ideas

This could be an enormous list. I'm shooting for 50 objectives so I can buy a pack of steampunk card sleeves for Magic cards, design the objectives so they can be cut to that size (with a cool picture on each one, I'm thinking), and then put them in the sleeves with Magic cards behind them (for rigidity). Plus 50 would add a lot of variety, and I could even say that players can only accomplish each objective once.

For the objectives designed to teach rules knowledge [ideas for making the boring ones a bit more interesting are quite welcome!]:

1. Power attacks (likely groups of power attacks spread out between 2 cards)
2. Destroy a model with a charge attack
3. Shake an effect
4. Use a model's printed *attack to destroy a model
5. Force an opponent's unit to take a command check after destroying 50% of the unit, or make a successful command check from it.
6. Force an opponent's model to make a command check due to Terrifying Entity or Abomination, or make a successful command check from it.
7. Destroy a model while receiving the Aiming Bonus
8. Destroy 2 models with a single blast damage attack
9. Perform a Ride-By Attack
10. Destroy 2 models with a single spray or blast attack
11. Throw/slam a model at another model, destroying one of them from the attack.
12. Win a game by assassination
13. Win a game by scenario points
14. Extinguish a warjacks in shallow water (I would need to make some provision so that there was always a piece of water on the table. See "League Game Requirements")
15. Destroy a model while they're gaining a cover or concealment bonus against your attack. [Destroying a model in concealment with a melee attack doesn't count]
16. Destroy a model while one of you is in a forest 
17. Destroy a model with a Jack Marshaled warjack [Warmachine only]
18. Kill a model with either a frenzied warbeast or one at maximum fury [Hordes only]
19. Use a weapon's Critical Effect after getting a critical hit with it.
20. Destroy a model when one of you has an elevation bonus against the other [melee + reach counts]
21. Repair a warjack or warbeast
22. Hit a single model with 3 ranged attacks in the same turn
23. Boost an attack and roll 3 of the same numbe
24. Make any number of models knocked down and/or stationary 3 times in a single game [aoe knockdown effects only count as 1]
25. Play 5 games in a single week, or win 3 in a single week.

And for the objectives that may not be part of typical gameplay, whether fun, difficult, or just requiring more setup:

1. Assassinate the warcaster/warlock without destroying any other models
2. Destroy 15 enemy models in a single round (models killed on an opponent's turn count)
3. Win the game with 50% of your remaining models on the opponent's half of the board
4. Win a game without using any character models
5. Win a game when all of your warjacks/warbeasts are destroyed.
6. Make 3 tough rolls in a row
7. Win by assassination when the enemy warcaster/warlock has no focus or fury
8. Win by assassination when the enemy warcaster/warlock had full focus or fury at the start of your turn
9. Assassinate the enemy warcaster/warlock by throwing or slamming a model at them
10. Win by scenario with over 50% of your army destroyed
11. Win by scenario when your opponent has 0 control points
12. Win by scenario when your opponent has 4+ points
13. Win by scenario by dominating an objective while the enemy warcaster/warlock dominates the same objective
14. Get a critical hit on the enemy warlock/warcaster
15. Deal 50 points of damage in a single turn (Should this be higher to be worth 2 points?)
16. Destroy an enemy model on the opponent's turn
17. Win by assassination using a Mercenary/Minion
18. Win by assassination when the enemy warlock/warcaster is dominating a zone
19. Win by assassination with your warcaster/warlock delivering the killing blow
20. Destroy 5 enemy models during a single friendly model's activation
21. Destroy a model with a warjack/warbeast when one of its systems/aspects is destroyed
22. Win a game without any of your models entering your opponent's half of the board, or vice versa.
23. Destroy models using a warcaster/warlock, warjack/warbeast, unit, and solo in a single game.
24. Win by assassination using a magic weapon or attack
25. Win a game using a theme force [1 + 1 point per tier, or 2-5 points possible]

I may tweak a few of these and add some optional objectives. I.e. on #14, getting an extra point for killing the warcaster with that critical. And despite being 50 long, I feel like I should add or change some to make them more exciting. 

[I'm also looking for a better name than "Objectives." Secret Mission? Special Operation? Hidden Agenda? I want it to sound intense, but I'm at a loss.]

Objective Score Formula

A number of factors will need to be considered for a card's value. How often it will occur in a game, whether it requires a focused list, etc.

• Win condition: 1 point
• Difficult to accomplish: 2 points
• Generic stuff (mostly found in the teaching category): 1 stuff
• Model destruction: 1 point

The totals would be cumulative. I.e. 18 would be worth 4 points (1 win, 1 model destruction, 2 difficult task)

Ways to Score

Now a problem with this is that it doesn't reward painting or actual winning. I know many leagues have 3 separate winners for painting, winning, and participation, so I may have to institute 3 different ways to score. Painting would be based on what was painted, of course, and winning would probably be scored 2 for win and 1 for tie/loss. Is that too much bookkeeping and minutiae though? I plan on having my master scoresheet in our gaming room, so I could probably just provide weekly scoresheets where players record wins/losses, weekly painting points, and what objectives they accomplished. 

With painting and winning, I'm not sure if there should be a weekly cap. Objectives give everyone a fair means of winning, whereas the other two can reward the more involved players. On the flip side, if one player paints or plays all the time, no one else will have much incentive to keep going.

Point Spending
Truth be told, I don't have much in mind for this one. My main idea is unlocking things to use in list-building (new casters, swapping factions if they want to the ability to bring UAs or characters...), the ability to choose where a piece of terrain is place, +1 to starting roll... I don't want a player to gain an overwhelming edge, but I also want things that people will want to work toward.

I might scrap point spending altogether since it would require me or them to track both total point gains, as well as what they've spent. It may be easier to have things unlock when they reach a certain point threshold, i.e. every 5 points between painting, playing, and objectives they can choose between a few options per level:

• Unlock a new caster
• Unlock a new character model/unit
• Unlock the ability to use unique units (heavy/light cavalry, light artillery...)
• Unlock a single huge-based model

On one hand this will be a great way for newer players to pace themselves, but at the same time it may screw someone over if they have a card that requires them to do something that they can't do (theme force and cavalry, specifically). I could cut those, but it almost seems silly for players to only be able to unlock a warcaster or character model once or twice a week.

Weekly Caps

I'm leaning toward adding restrictions on painting, but how do I find a balance? Do I restrict it to one warcaster/colossal/warjack/unit/solo per week? Or set a point value limit? 

Points based on playing should be easier - assuming players can get in 2 games on a Saturday, I'd probably limit it to 10 points per week (allowing 5 wins or 10 losses/ties). More games can be played in order to finish up Objectives, but won't count towards a player's win/loss points.

And of course, objectives sort of cap themselves at 3 per week.

Terrain Requirements
In order to teach players how each piece of terrain works, I'm considering requiring each game to use these pieces:

• forest
• water feature
• 2 linear obstacles
• hill (or anything that could grant elevation)
• obstruction (house, large rock, etc)
• difficult terrain or concealment

To keep it fair, I'd encourage (not require) terrain to be placed by a 3rd party or randomly rolled if no one is around. Breaking the field in to 9 quadrants would be the easiest way to do it. If a piece of terrain is large and features numerous terrain types (a field with a fence, a house with solid wall and windows to provide cover) it can count as both of those things.

The main point of this is to encourage them to place terrain more sparsely (many of them are from 40k and play with more dense terrain that's difficult to maneuver around), as well as giving experience and fair access for objectives. This is one I'm struggling with, because games outside the group might not have access to these, and most of us don't like using proxy terrain. Thoughts from my players are really encouraged here.


Pace
Our last league had point levels lasting quite awhile, so I need to figure out a pace that doesn't make the experienced players bored at low points or the new players overwhelmed by higher points. We are also competing with Magic for people's time, so that throws a wrench in my scheduling. Would two weeks per point level (15, 20, 25, 35, 50) be slow enough to get people used to the game? Otherwise I could stretch it out longer and do 15/25/35/50 after 3 weeks, but then the league actually lasts 2 weeks longer.

I decided not to have new point levels unlocked by participation since the more casual players would be stuck at the lower points.


Summary
So the questions to answer are:

• Basically everything under Main League Idea
• Should I do 3 separate categories - painting, winning, and objectives? And should I put a weekly cap on all 3?
• Should objective points serve as a threshold, or as currency to purchase new game options? 
• What warcasters/warlocks would be considered "power casters" at 15-25 point levels? Being good is one thing, but I don't want them to be nigh unbeatable with their opponent's limited options.
• What are some things people could purchase with points they've earned? If I go this route I think it should be like an arcade where tickets can buy a bunch of tiny prizes, or save up for something big. Or does this idea just not work?
• Does the terrain sound fair, or would it be too demanding? Should it only be required during game night? If players aren't sharing what their cards are, I think it's fair to give everyone constant access to water and forest features.
• Any other ideas for objectives? Anything else I should add to my objective score formula?
• How should I pace the league?
• Anything I didn't mention that you think should be fixed, added, or removed?

From here things are pretty easy. I'll write out the first draft of the rules, figure out how winners will be determined, etc.

Please give me any feedback that comes to mind! I'd love to hammer this out and have it be a repeatable league, either for myself or others, so I need to hit that perfect balance between simple and complex.

See you tomorrow!

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