The galaxy is an ever changing battle for power.
Spheres of Influence dictate who those battles must be fought with.
True dominance only comes to those
Who can master different aspects in many different arenas.
Who will be the one who commands the most
Spheres of Influence?

---

Spheres of Influence League

Starting on Saturday, Oct 2nd, we will be holding a new Vassal League for anyone who wants to play. This league will be open to any and all players, regardless of experience. The only requirements are that you have the latest version of the SWM vassal mod (version 22.0) installed on your computer, that you know the rules of the game, and that you have enough time to play one game per week.

This will be a long form tournament (aka league) where every player plays every other player 2 times each. Both games against each opponent will be in one round (back-to-back, or on separate days within the allotted timeframe), built from factions in that round's category.

There are going to be various categories of 3-4 factions each.

Round 1
Seat of Power - Old Republic, Republic, New Republic,

Round 2
Insurrectionists - Separatist, Rebel, Imperial

Round 3
Outworlders - Sith, Mandalorians, Yuuzhan Vong

Round 4
Coalition of Diversity - Fringe, Rebel, Old Republic, Republic

Round 5
Homogenous Forces - Imperial, Mandalorian, Sith, Separatists

Round 6
Era-Centric Powers - Rebel, Separatist, New Republic, Republic

Round 7
Timeless Loyalties - Mandalorian, Fringe, Imperial, Yuuzhan Vong


(yes yes, you can make arguments for many factions to be in other categories, but at least for vast periods of time they all fit the category they are in.)


League Structure
--Players will commit to scheduling and playing 1 game per week, both games vs each player within at most 2 weeks.
--On Saturday of each week, around noon, I will post the pairings for the following week. The deadlines for games being reported is midnight (PST) on Friday evenings.
--We will use a round-robin format, so that every player in the league will be paired once against every other player.
--League ranking will be according to the following criteria: Total Match Points scored (i.e., 3pts for a full win, 2pts for a partial win, etc), then by the number of Wins (whether full or partial), then by Head to Head results, next the number of factions played, and finally the lower number of the highest times any specific faction was played (ie - Imperials played the most by Player A at 3 times, but player B never played a faction more than twice - Player B wins). If players are still tied after that, then Total Score (the max score for any game will be 200pts, to prevent people from trying for something like a big 248pt overkill score).
--After the final week of play has concluded, we will cut to a Top 2 for a special (tbd) best of 3 playoff round.

Player Responsibilities
--Players will commit to scheduling and playing both games vs each player within 2 weeks. (Yes, I already said this, but I’m saying it again!)
--New pairings will be announced on Saturdays around noon. Please contact your opponent as soon as possible after pairings are announced, each week. If you have contacted your opponent but he/she has not responded by Tuesday evening, please let me know.
--In the event that a match is not played, it will be scored as a 0-0 double loss if neither player has tried to contact his/her opponent, or as a 3-0 win if one player has taken the initiative but his/her opponent has been non-responsive. The match will be scored as a 1-1 double-loss if both players have tried to make it work but the capriciousness of destiny has thwarted them.
--Please do your best to play both games within the 2-week timeframe. Under no circumstances will we postpone the next round of league play for any games that remain un-played after the Friday evening deadline. (We will have more leniency during the playoff rounds, because fewer players will be affected by any potential delay.)

Squad-Building Format
--Squads: Regular competitive 200pt squads will be used.
--Each player brings: TWO 200pt legal squads from 2 different factions (out of the 3 or 4 factions) for that round's theme.
--Regular faction and affinity rules apply (Fringe characters may appear in any squad, and you are free to use Fringe as your squad's faction, ONLY IF IT IS A LEGAL FACTION for that week's theme. (Yes, adding one piece of another faction to an "all fringe" squad changes the faction. And yes, that does make it the new faction. Example, Mando and the Child in a Talon Karrde squad is a MANDALORIAN squad, even though it plays like an all Fringe squad. Literally ALL FRINGE can only be used if FRINGE is listed as a faction that round.)
--*CHANGE*Players simultaneously reveal links to both squads that they've brought, CLEARLY LABELING which squad will be run first and which squad will be run second in the reveal.
--Then Player A and Player B both play their squad 1, and then immediately after (or sometime convenient for both players before the deadline) they will each play their squad 2. Players will have 2 weeks to finish both games in each round. The next round starts the day after the last game of the previous round is finished.

(The simultaneous reveal is required only to have a link for the 2nd squad. Players may keep their 2nd squad set to private until the start of the second match. The link is simply so that a player may not build their second squad based on what faction their opponent played with the first squad. We will use the honor system to not change the second squad after the first squad's reveal)

--Play the first game with each of the squads you listed first.
--Then play a second game with your other squad vs the same player. It may be the same day, back to back days, or even 14 days apart - as long as both are done within 2 weeks.

Maplist
NOTE - There has been a map list change!

We will be using the new restricted map list for 2021-2022. Not all of the maps are available on Vassal yet, so any of the maps that are on Vassal will be legal to start. Any additional maps that are on the restricted list that become available later, will be legal as soon as they are on Vassal.

Available on Vassal right now (legal from start to finish of the league)
Imperial Garrison
Asteroid Base
Cloud City
Gangster's Vault

Available on Vassal soon, (legal as soon as they are available through the end of the league)
Desert Marketplace
Imperial Checkpoint
Oceanic Facility
Royal Militia HQ

NOTE: When the Vassal update with more maps is ready, I will make sure everyone is aware. Let's all work together to make sure we all have the updated version before the first game you play after it is released, so things run smoothly.


Match Reporting
The winning player reports the match, in this thread. Please include the following information:
--The Week # that this match was part of.
--Winning player: Points, Score, Faction
--Losing player: Points, Score, Faction
--The map that you played on, along with a brief summary of the action. Be sure to list any MVPs or epic plays. (Don’t forget to blame the Vassal dice!)


ALSO NOTE: Players will be responsible for knowing all errata, floor rules, etc.
Changes can be found here: http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=20395
and here: http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=28568

This will be an official Star Wars™ Miniatures SWMGPA (Star Wars Miniatures Gamers Players Association) sacnctioned event. The SWM GPA Floor Rules will be in effect.
(The Star Wars Miniatures SWMGPA (Star Wars Miniatures Gamers Players Association) Floor Rules and the Star Wars Miniatures Game Rules should be read and understood by all players wishing to compete in sanctioned events. All SWMGPA members participating in SWMGPA-sanctioned Star Wars™ Miniatures events must abide by these rules.)



Participants
TimmerB123
thereisnotry
Udorian84
Mando
UrbanShmi
spryguy1981
Darth_Jim (with special considerations)
DarkDracul

Yes, both players reveal both of their squads at the same time.

You both have the same opportunity there, so nobody has a greater advantage.

Yet the potential for more abuse is greater in my opinion if you don’t reveal both squads at once.

Once I know you only have 2 factions left, in certain situations I could build a squad that specifically counters those 2 factions well but would not be good against the one your opponent has used.

I think changing squads with that knowledge is a greater advantage than practicing for a known squad when your squad is also locked in.

I mean I guess we could send our second squad to a third party and not reveal simultaneously with the first squad. It seems excessive, but it is an option. Or we could send the link and keep it private until game time. It shows when the squad was last edited.

I agree that there are advantages to be had, no matter what approach this league uses.

Personally, if someone wants to put a bunch of extra time into learning the matchup, then I have no problem with them gaining an advantage from that. In a sense, it's not too different from preparing for the GenCon Championship, where you play out your worst matchups a few different times to see if you can find a way for your squad to overcome the disadvantages you know you'll face.

In the end, if I had to choose one or the other, I think I'd rather have the advantage/disadvantage at the squad tactics level, rather than the squadbuilding level. That's because I'd really like to avoid the auto-loss scenarios, where squad choices alone have created a near-impossible situation. You can always overcome a tactics advantage if the squads are evenly-matched, but there's often not much that you can do at all, if there is a significant squad matchup advantage.


All of that being said, though, if there's a relatively straight-forward way to lock in both squads at the start and then delay the reveal of the 2nd squad until the day of the match, I'd be in favor of that. We'd have to find a third-party person who would be willing to send out 3-4 BMs per week.

For myself, I'm hoping that I can play both matches in one sitting whenever possible, so it would be a moot point in that case. But I realize that's also not realistic for everyone, so it's not a big deal.

Yep, I think the honor system will do fine. It's just a casual league, anyway, with nothing significant on the line.

I'm in! sounds like a fun format

I was hoping to get into this, but I just found out yesterday that my radiation treatments will start September 29 and continue through November 22, 5 days a week. I'll have a time commitment to that as well as the weekly doctor consults. They're saying that I may become fatigued. As much as I'd wanted to do this, I can't be very reliable. Maybe you could use me to monitor the second squads or something.

With the same trepidation as Laura albeit because I'm not sure when little man is going to make his appearance. I'm in.