Tournaments vs. Leagues

[zawyvern]

So after reading about and posting my own little rant/discussions about tournaments I'm thinking there are some of us, myself included, that are disenchanted with the tournament scene. Tournaments are what they are tho. I guess we're looking for a different kind of tournament from the ones we're used to. But if the TOs aren't interested in offering something different, that's their prerogative.
My question is does anyone have any experience with leagues? Personally I've found in our little gaming group(s) that leagues just don't last. Mainly because no one wants to be bothered to run one for long. Not seriously anyhow. I have seen some leagues online and i think being involved in one could really break up the monotony we sometimes get into. Anyone take part in the the eye of terror campaign? That was crazy fun and really the tipping point that pushed GW into the mainstream I think. That and storm...
Anyhow, getting to the point... could there be a place for a parallel system of league play to one off tournaments? And I'm talking full on campaigns here, not glorified tournaments. Continually offering new scenarios depending on overall race(codex) standings, special 1 time events and other fun stuff I can't think of of the top if my head. An ongoing affair for a season. I mean GW has actually done as much as they can to try to encourage this if you think about it.
Would you prefer to play in a continuous league or stick with tournaments?
Most importantly, would you be willing to pay money to keep it going and how much would you be willing to pay?

[trigger]

Leagues can be fun , it all depends what you and your group are into.

The last league my club did (which I took part) was an escalation type.
Every one started with a 500pts list and different objectives and missions were worth different choices at a random ish points values. We later added betting one of choices to one of your opponents.
Player with the highest points at the end of x amount of games was the winner.

I think the lowest you could win was 180 points and the highest was 300

Only issue was I you got stuck at the bottom o the table it was hard to move up

[Bubble Ghost]

Our group uses a kind-of-league, kind-of-not system in the form of the Elo ranking points system from chess. It sounds a lot more serious and po-faced than it is. We use it because it doesn't need any fixed structure and can accomodate new players at any time, so it heads off the usual problems of gaming leagues - individuals can play as many or as few games as they like, against whoever they like, and as long as they've played the set minimum number, they qualify for the knockout playoff at the end of the year.

Another strength is that you can feed any result you like into it - any game at all can count for ranking points as long as both players agree beforehand, so you can potentially be playing a game in a completely seperate competition and it can still count towards your league performance.

[Chapters Unwritten]

Honesty is a factor.

Sad to say but the way people game the rules since 6th released, I would have a hard time considering any game result real without some form of signed paper from the opponent, which of course makes it tedious.

I believe tournaments need to change, and I believe even more that the archaic power-hungry sods who run all the big tournaments and dictate "how it's done" to the newer folks will not change. The same way the music industry didn't change, or the film industry.... Only one industry changes with the times: computers. I don't need to extoll the successful impact that industry's had on the human race.

To me, the same sort of thing needs to happen with 40k, and it just won't. The best we can do is shift the paradigm on a small scale.

[IcedCrow]

I have run leagues for over ten years. I mix campaigns with leagues now. If you want to see an example of my fantasy league, check out my sig. We're doing the same thing with 40k starting in november preseason.

Lasts six months. Top eight players by standing do a single elimination playoff tournament. Special scenarios, etc... it'll be a while but when the 40k rules packet is put up I will post it same as I have with my fantasy leagues.

I've never had a problem with people lying about results. Not one time. I set up a schedule, they play the schedule on their own time. Two matches per month. Nine game regular season. Three game preseason. Single elim playoff tournament for top eight.