League advice for rookie commish

mike · Post by **mike** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 10:47 am

Hi all,
I'm starting a small BB league with a few of my mates (most of whom haven't played before) and was wondering if anyone had some advice for a rookie commissioner?

I plan to run some 'practice' games with the entire group and some 'friendly' matches to let people get to grips with their teams before starting the league proper. The current table is comprised of the following teams:

Dark Elf,High Elf,Human,Orc,Skaven,Undead (original), Wood Elf.

Any advice/tips/warnings would be greatly appreciated.

Mike.

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 10:55 am

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the board, I would suggest meeting regularly and having fun whilst you do it. any queries on rules your word as commish is law and if you ask here you will get a good response.

Are you planning on a fixed league with set dates for matches or a whoever turns up can play whoever they like league. either is cool as long as you enjoy it.

Your league looks a little finesse heavy and is sadly lacking in Dwarves who would clear up against all those elves. My guess would be the Orc player is in for a tough start.

Others will give you a good cross section of advice, but if you get hold of a copy of BBMag2 from somewhere that has some good tips.

Post by **DoubleSkulls** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 11:01 am

Some points

1) Never expect everyone to turn up. Real life often gets in the way. If you get 80% attendance records you are doing well - so plan for those sorts of figures.

2) Don't get too obessed with fixtures lists. In my league we randomly draw the first couple of games and then let people play who they want - although no one more than twice and you can't play back to back

3) Since you've got newbies playing expect some of them to dislike the game or get put off by a bad start. Are you having a playoff at the end of season? With 7 teams it still leaves the bottom players something to hope for when they've only got a couple of games left. My league allows the regular season winner to pick his semi-final opponent.

4) You'll also need contingency against someone dropping out.

5) Make it fun - and have fun yourself.

Hope this helps

Ian

mike · Post by **mike** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 11:29 am

Thanks for the comments.
Since most of the players are new to the game I don't plan on having a fixtures list with set dates for matches.We have a fairly regular gaming group but as always life does interfere with our schedule.

I think random draws for the first couple of matches would be a good start then let people arrange games between themselves with the restriction on not playing the same opponent twice in a row plus I'm a lazy bugger so it means less work for me!

I do plan on having a playoff at the end of the league as a climax but I've not yet decided on what form it will take.

I was surprised that few people went for the more blocking orientated teams. I'm actually the Orc player so if I have a tough start then at least it'll give the rookie coaches a head start!

Mike.

Khankill · Post by **Khankill** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 12:02 pm

At the end of the first league I ran, instead of a play-off, we ranked teams and held Bowl games. This way everybody got to play in the post season. The 4 games were the Dragon Bowl, The Giant Bowl, The Ogre Bowl and the Pudding Cup. One of our more imaginative members made the trophies out of Gatorade bottles, gold spray paint and glass beads. This seemed to help keep everyone interested and was a good time.

Khankill · Post by **Khankill** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 12:03 pm

At the end of the first league I ran, instead of a play-off, we ranked teams and held Bowl games. This way everybody got to play in the post season. The 4 games were the Dragon Bowl, The Giant Bowl, The Ogre Bowl and the Pudding Cup. One of our more imaginative members made the trophies out of Gatorade bottles, gold spray paint and glass beads. This seemed to help keep everyone interested and was a good time.

sean newboy · Post by **sean newboy** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 2:14 pm

One simple bit of advice to the first season and playoffs, K.I.S.S.
K eep
I t
S imple
S tupid.
Now i dint come up with that so im not calling u stupid. Make sure u have bloodbowl.net, Bloodbowl news, and tbb's locations handy. Between the 3 of those u should have all the reference materials handy. Another thing i just thot of , collect some change from all the other coaches and make a copy of the LRB for everyone to start.

gallowin · Post by **gallowin** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 3:19 pm

I'm in my first season as commisioner. It's been tough getting feedback from all the coaches as they seem to just want to play and not worry about the game mechanics that much.

For in-game rulings let the players look it up the rulebook and use you for a final decision if things aren't clear. I'd also tap one of the more experienced players to help you out in rulings. Consensus can be usefull.

For decision outside the game I'd recommend writing things down you decide, ask questions on the board, and don't expect everything you say to hold water. I've made numerous "rulings" that I've regretted, found out were wrong, or made sense at the time.

Make informed decisions but don't be afraid to go back and re-look at things.

Post by **voyagers_uk** » Fri Sep 20, 2002 3:24 pm

Don't be afraid to hold your hands-up if you are wrong. Try and ask questions that affect your team before you play with them to avoid arguements based upon bias.

we can be a good sounding board for a rookie commish as some of us have been there and have sound ideas