Here is the Facebook post I just wrote for the Save11 Group in NZ. Thought it'd make good reading!

And that is it. The Save11 SWM 2019 Season is done. Many thanks to everyone who took part, especially to the St Bernard's boys for providing the backbone of the roughly-ran season. We had 121 official games in this last year and while it was with only 19 players, the average of 6.4 games per player was our fifth highest across the 10 seasons which, for a quiet season was actually pretty good.

It threatened to be a very quiet season until some excellent conversations with Richard and Bevan at HamilCon reignited some nice possibilities and, with the solid core of SBC boys growing steadily, the season began to climb. The hastily added Nationals, which we held two weekends ago, capped off an interesting season.

Some of the recent highlights:

At 13 contestants, this year's National Championships was the lowest attendance on record, but only just, and with big names like David, Mike, and Richard along with a swag of others who usually rock up to these events, the number could easily have been bigger. The tight time-frame from the date announcement and the actual tournament didn't help. Plus, we had - for the first time! - a 100pt Casual Tournament with four players running alongside the big event, meaning that we had 17 players on the day. This is a system we could easily repeat.

Graham won his third Nationals and his 7th Major title. He finishes the year on a perfect score of 300 for his National rankings. His win in the final was his 100th 3pt win, the first player to reach that milestone. Interestingly he is 79% (11-3) in finals showings, although that is still behind Bevan's 8-0 finals record...

Joseph capped off a stellar season, despite being beaten in a few close finals matches. After a Semi-final showing in last year's Nationals, he won the SBC100pt tourney then when unbeaten in the Hutt125, before narrowly being beaten in three finals: The World Vassal Regional, the SBC League, and the 2019 Nationals. Tough finals run, but an impressive 20-5 record for the year. His finals appearance at Nationals was also his 50th game.

Kezza - yes, me! - finally broke a 10-year drought and won a Minor Title! The last game of the 2019 season was the Final of the SBC 200pt League which featured 16 players from the school. I had to beat Will, Harry, Gus, Alex, Caleb (running Daala), and Joseph twice to win. Not a bad way to finish the season winning my first ever final after 214 games of trying. I went 7-0 to do it too. Very unlike me.

Bevan and Rich have got us thinking about HaweraCon again, so much so that we are staring at the possibility of SWM being back on the menu after a four-year absence. I ran the numbers and found some added fuel for the fire: Hawera and the Hutt have lined up 124 times and they are locked at 62-62! Also, Bev is sitting on 94 wins... time to invest in the 100th win, eh Bev?

The Save11 Shield got back into the game! David Daman was the holder at the end of last season and it started 2019 being won and defended by Aaron in the Hutt125 before missing a chunk of games and returning for Nationals, where Aaron defended it once, then lost it to Gus. Gus then held it into the Semis of the SWM League where he lost it to Joseph before he lost it in the final to little ol' me.

At 18-22 it was Imperials worst year every, and at 17-6 and it was Fringe's best year. Sith had their best season at 16-9 while Republic and the Vong had some good numbers. The news wasn't so good for the New Republic and the Separatists though.

So, 2019-2020 is upon us! There are some things I'd like to do and I think we can do it with the solid base of players we currently have. Plus, the 100pt Casual Tournament at Nationals and discussions of Tiles Wars Tournaments and bringing 30-minute games into Hawera and Hamil Cons has ignited the possibility of events aimed exclusively at the more casual player, possibly bring back in some people that didn't necessarily want to try and rumble the meta. Here's my thoughts:

Majors: LowerHuttaCon will be back in 2020, possibly Saturday April 18th, and Nationals will either be the 4th, 11th, or 18th of July. HaweraCon and HamilCon are likely heading in different directions as Majors, so time as big 200pt showdowns may be ending, with a possible new event rising up in its place, maybe in January-February, like a MeleeCon or SWAGcon.

Minors: I want to go back to our roots with a Lower Hutt Regional League and set up some groups for that. I'd also like to hassle the Northern Players (Rich, Oliver, Nick, Brody...) to do a Regional League. A coupl'a nights, a coupl'a beers... should be a go-er. The SBC League was very successful, but a large wealth of players are moving into University so I'll keep an eye on that one, but a Vassal Regional is definitely on the cards.

100's: Hutt100 will be back some time soon, and there will be a SBC100 too - maybe even two. I'd like to have a 100pt Tournament dedicated to new/casual players too.

Integrated Tournaments: HaweraCon will be on the 28th of October - that is confirmed as far as I know - but, the question is just how much Minis will their be. Both the Hawera and Hamil Cons could likely feature a mix of Magic Cards, Destiny, and 100pt minis. The idea had a lot of traction earlier in the year and we think there is a good chance for this to play out. Also David Rei Miller has been threatening a RiverCon based in Wanganui which could easily fit a format like this.

Oh - and the above 100pt options could be subbed out and have Tile Wars subbed in. We've not really played Tile Wars in NZ which pits two 200pt squads together on two 5x7 inch boards. No game ever goes over 30 minutes. Oh, the possibilities...!

I really want to try and look after casual players this season - the chance to run Vader because he's freakin' Vader, man! and not because its a solid meta choice. I'd even love to see some of our older players return for some fun because - y'know! - minis!

I'm about to go lie on a beach for two weeks, but when I come back I'll have a rough layout of the Season down. What are your thoughts/changes/additions? Keen to get back in? Down scale? Run a tournament or two? Hit me up and freakin' stay awesome - yeah?


End of the 2019 Season National Rankings:
1. Graham 300 pts (5-0) 100% wght
2. Paul 267 pts (5-1) 100% wght
3. Paul Matheson 210 pts (4-1) 96% wght
4. Aaron 200 pts (3-2) 100% wght
5. Kezza 188 pts (6-4) 99% wght
6. Alex 186 pts (7-1) 98% wght
7. Gus 184 pts (8-4) 97% wght
8. Joseph 182 pts (7-4) 100% wght
9. Ian 180 pts (3-2) 100% wght
10. Ash 160 pts (3-1) 100% wght
11. Caleb 155 pts (3-2) 98% wght
12. Harry 150 pts (4-4) 96% wght
13. Sam 132 pts (4-6) 98% wght
14. David Daman 120 pts (2-1) 100% wght
15. Charles 119 pts (4-6) 98% wght
16. Will 115 pts (4-7) 98% wght
17. Hone 100 pts (2-2) 100% wght
18. Hunter 98 pts (3-7) 98% wght
19. Tavis 64 pts (2-6) 97% wght
20. Jenn 60 pts (1-3) 80% wght
21. Joshua Cody 60 pts (1-0) 20% wght
22. Yan 52 pts (2-6) 100% wght
23. Joshua 51 pts (1-7) 100% wght
24. Luke 40 pts (1-1) 37% wght
25. LiamT 40 pts (1-0) 20% wght
26. Fynn 13 pts (0-8) 100% wght