This is a repost from xwingminiaturesgame.com.

This is part 2 of a multi-part series about software tools for FFG’s X-Wing miniatures game. Part 1 can be found here.

Tournament software

Running a tournament may sound like a simple thing to do, but computing standings and match-ups using the margin of victory (MOV) system FFG wants us to use isn’t trivial, especially with larger tournaments (and 30+ have become common here with Store Championships and other special events). I’ve seen Excel sheets being used from time to time, but getting these to do everything right isn’t easy. Thankfully, the community has come up with a solution.

X-Wing Cryodex

URL: http://www.afewmaneuvers.com/_/afm-articles/use-the-x-wing-cryodex-to-run-your-next-x-wing-r171

First things first: Cryodex isn’t web-based (luckily, since it’s not guaranteed you’ll have internet access at a tournament venue), but thankfully it is written in Java, so it should run on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

It’s simple and straightforward to use. Add all the players (it remembers players that have been entered previously), possibly including a link to their squad on Voidstate’s squad builder, and the name of the group they belong to (to prevent pairing players who came together or often play against each other in round 1). First-round byes are also taken into account. You then create a new tournament, choosing the game mode (standard, escalation, Epic, custom).

It comes with a handy timer for timed rounds. Results are recorded simply by entering the points killed by each player. All computations and the pairings for the next round are done automatically. How easy can it be?

That’s the basic functionality, but there’s more. Player lists, results etc. can be exported to HTML for sharing and printing. It’s possible to generate paper slips on which the players can record the results, which especially with larger tournaments is much handier than everyone shouting their results to the overworked TO. Finally, the results can be exported to the X-Wing List Juggler – more about that in the next paragraph.

Tournament & meta analysis

I sometimes get the impression that X-Wing players spend more time on designing squads, looking at tournament results, and discussing “the meta” than playing (I’m guilty too). Over on the FFG forum, Major Juggler has spent considerable effort on analyzing these results (which required the effort of the TOs to provide all results, including lists). Things have now become a lot easier.

X-Wing List Juggler

URL: http://lists.starwarsclubhouse.com/tourneys

This is a website for recording tournament results. These can be imported directly from Cryodex, and if the squad links where included as well, even the lists will be imported automatically. Manual entry is possible, too.

Statistics are compiled from all tournaments or a subset, and available in chart or tabular form.

X-Wing Squad Ranker

URL: http://xwing.miniranker.com/

You want to know which squads currently dominate the meta – hopefully to beat them, not copy them? 😉 This is the place to go. I’m not sure where the results come from  (I think they are copied from the FFG forum), but they seem to be fairly complete compared to the List Juggler. Unlike the List Juggler, the Squad Ranker actually ranks individual squad builds, and not just ships/pilots/upgrades. Keep in mind though that there are often various slightly different builds of a certain list, which will of course be recorded as different squads.