The Gentleman's League

So for the last 5 weeks my local game club has been running a Warmachine/Hordes League that has been escalating.  While it took some ideas from the Privateer Press Journeyman League, it had very different and separate rules for it.  It was really simple: you received 3 points for a victory, 1 point for a loss, and -1 if you didn't get a game in for that one week, and each person could only submit 2 game results per week (max).  This week is the last week of the league and when I was in there on Friday I felt some real malaise about the end of the League since the player at the top had such a huge lead over everyone else (he had 10 points more than I did) and with only 2 games allowed, there's almost no incentive for anyone to play anymore.  This got me thinking about the goals behind these escalation leagues and the goals behind them.  With those goals in mind, might there be, perhaps, a better way of doing it?  And thus, I propose: The Gentleman's League!  But first, some background.

List Building: The Journeyman League!

While there was no power in Connecticut, I decided that I would trek up to Boston to spend time with my girlfriend.  I had a mini-vacation, sure, but she still had to work, go to class, and write papers and such.  What was a guy to do?  You guessed right: GAME ON!

I spent 3 of my 4 days off hanging out at The Whiz, my "L"GS (I say "L" because it's only local when I'm in the Boston area).  I had some fun crafting and playing a new style of Magic: The Gathering deck I like to call the "Mad Scientist" deck, but I wanted to take advantage of the time to play some Warmachine/Hordes.  That was when I heard from one of the Press Gangers that the store was starting a Journeyman League.  If you click that link you'll find out what the Journeyman League is, but I will summarize it by saying that it's a 6 week event that is designed to encourage new players to get into the game by starting small with the standard faction battle box of models.  The League tallies points for games played and the number and type of models you paint and you can earn prizes (and neat patches!) depending on how many points you earn.  Even though I'm not a new player, I decided that I would join up so that I could motivate myself to get some of my Circle painted in time for Templecon in February.