What is Longshanks?

Longshanks allows organizers to easily publicize events and automatically manage player pairings.

It allows players to easily find and participate in local events and see what other events are happening around the world.

Since 2017, Longshanks has been the de facto online home of competitive Guild Ball, a tabletop miniatures game by Steamforged Games. In 2020, a sister site was created for another Steamforged game, Godtear.

The two systems were combined in 2021 and support was added for additional game systems. If your favorite game isn't supported yet, contact us to see if it can be added.

Longshanks is owned and operated by Windy City Game Lab, LLC. Names, images, logos, and other game-specific trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Acknowledgements

Ben Redmond

Ben created the first Guild Ball ranking system and was a significant inspiration for Longshanks.

Kevin Stewart

Kevin has been instrumental in providing feedback on the functionality of the Longshanks system. He has also provided a number of ideas and suggestions that have been crucial to the site's success.

Special contributors

Players marked with the red star badge contribute to Longshanks in a variety of ways, including testing and troubleshooting new features. Their help is greatly appreciated!

Before contacting us, please read through the Help pages. You may find the answer to your question here.

If you can't find what you need or require additional assistance, there are several ways to cantact us. Please choose one of the options here for any questions or requests.

User requests

Users may submit requests for changes, upgrades, or new features using the User Requests page. Other users can vote for and againsts each request, with overall score influencing when requests are implemented.

• User requests page

Social media

Send us a message through one of our social media platforms for a quick response to a question or for technical assistance.

• Discord
• Facebook (Longshanks)
• Facebook (Windy City Game Lab)
• Twitter (Windy City Game Lab)
• WhatsApp

Email

For more detailed and in-depth issues, send us an email.

• Longshanks administration
• Windy City Game Lab

Longshanks uses rated events (read about event types) from the past year when calculating and reporting data. You can use the "data filters" option that appears in the main menu on some pages to adjust which events and games are included on a page.

RPI

Player rating on Longshanks is based on the rating percentage index (RPI).

R	=	win/loss record
OR	=	average R of all opponents
OOR	=	average OR of all opponents

Game threshold

Each game system has a threshold set by that game's administrator. This threshold represents approximately half the number of games played by a typical competitive player per year.

Rating

To account for new and untested players, RPI is modified to favor more games being played. A Q-factor is calculated for each player based on the number of games played and the game system's threshold.

The Q-factor is very large when a player has played few games and disappears as a player approaches the game threshold.

e	=	Euler's number
T	=	game threshold
n	=	number of games played

The rating of a player who has played fewer games than the game threshold is calculated by dividing that player's RPI by their Q-factor. Once a player has reached the game threshold, their rating is equal to their RPI.

Access an existing profile

If you have ever attended an organized play event for one of the supported game systems, you may already have a player profile. If you find a profile in the player list that matches you, follow the instructions on that profile page to claim it.

An unclaimed player profile can be registered for events by an event organizer, but you must claim your profile to register for events yourself, host events, or change your player information.

Create a new profile

If you do not have a player profile and want to set one up, you can create a new player profile.

Direct messages

Players and event organizers may send direct messages (DMs) to one another. Direct messaging is disabled by default and must be enabled on your Dashboard. If you enable direct messaging, any player may send you a DM at any time by visiting your player profile.

• Your email address is never shown to a DM recipient. Recipients must follow a link in the message to reply.
• If you send a DM, the recipient will be able to reply even if you have DMs disabled.
• All DMs are visible to administrators for diagnostic and security purposes.

Event announcements

Event organizers may send announcements to event attendees to share information about the event or give updates. Players may send messages to event organizers to ask questions or request registration to a closed event.

• Event announcements are sent to all registered players, even players with DMs disabled.
• Any player may send a message to any event organizer, even if that organizer has DMs disabled.

Normal

Users without one of the elevated or restricted permission levels shown below are in good standing and have access to all normal Longshanks features.

Subscribers

Subscribers have access to additional features, including more detailed data analytics, the ability to add a nickname, and the ability to add custom logos and banner images to their events.

Elevated

Administrator

Administrators can modify player profiles, games, and events created by other users.

Special contributor

These users test out and offer feedback on new features of the site before they become public.

Restricted

Warning

Users may receive warnings for certain unacceptable behaviors. These users retain all standard permissions but are flagged so that administrators can monitor their activity.

Locked

The profiles of users that receive multiple warnings or exhibit extreme unacceptable behavior will be locked. These users can attend events as normal, but cannot host events, enter casual games, or modify their own profiles.

2022-06-24

• Massive changes to the Statistics page.
  • The faction analyzer has been moved to its own page (should improve loading speed when looking at the main stats page).
  • User request Addition of new graphs that show several stats over time, including play rates and win rates for factions and scenarios.
  • Added tracking of allied faction statistics for games that support using more than one faction per game.
• Added the ability for team captains and event organizers to delete/remove a team from a team event.
• In games that have subfactions (eg. Leaders, Captains, Theme Forces, etc.), a warning appears if the "no subfaction" option is selected to encourage players to select a subfaction when submitting game results.

2022-05-23

• User request Added the ability to hide faction selections before an event begins. Event hosts may force all player factions to be visible, hidden, or allow players to choose.
• User request Added a button to unfinished games to view your opponent's faction and list.

2022-05-16

• User request Added support for a secondary scoring method called Army Points. This must be turned on by the administrator of each game system that wants to use it.
• Added new tie breakers called "army points scored" and "army points allowed" which are equivalent to "victory points scored" and "victory points allowed" but for army points.
• Communities may now select up to three game systems that their members regularly play. This selection helps players find communities that match their interests.
• General restructuring of the Communities pages, including addition of a search function.
• Some errors on the Statistics page have been corrected which were causing inaccuracies in game and event counts for some filter settings.

2022-05-13

• Added a new tie breaker called "Opponent Wins" or "OPW". This tie breaker sorts players by the total number of games their opponents have won. Note: OPW is referred to as "Strength of Schedule" in the Warmachine & Hordes tournament rules.
• Game system administrators may now assign a set of preferred tie breakers. These will be selected by default for any new events in that game system.

2022-05-03

• User request Added support for Warmachine & Hordes.

2022-04-18

• User request Added a new tie breaker that always places the event winner's final opponent in second place. This tie breaker is called "Top table" or "TOP".

2022-04-11

• MOV, VPS, and VPA tie breakers are no longer averaged across all games. Instead, the total value for these figures are shown.

2022-04-09

• UI changes to event pages.
• Added a button to zoom to the game list on an event page.
• Added support for assigning a customizable score to a player and the phantom player in a bye. These values are adjustable per game system.

2022-03-29

• New subscriptions and subscription cancellations are now processed automatically using a PayPal API.
• Added a log of subscription payments and other PayPal transactions. This log is viewable from your Dashboard. (This log begins on 2022-03-23.)

2022-03-13

• User request Added an adjustable timer to events. Use this timer to inform players how much time they have remaining to submit their registration or complete a round.

2022-03-06

• User request Added the "your events" section to the main events page. When you are logged in, this tab shows current and upcoming events that you are registered for.

2022-02-25

• User request Added support for Bushido.
• Added support for dynamic tournament points (depending on game score, not just win/loss/draw) to support Bushido.
• Added a home page for each supported game system that includes a description of the game (if applicable) and lists details such as the game's publisher, award and rating thresholds, tournament point scheme, factions, and scenarios.
• Made the process for creating and managing a team (for team events) more obvious for players.

2022-02-09

• User request Added event names to the page title.
• Added a badge for game stores and event venues.

2022-02-06

• Added a page for users to submit requests to improve the site or add features.
• Users can also vote on requests. Requests with more votes are more likely to be implemented.

2022-02-01

• Added an "evil twin" list of player profiles with similar display names to the Dashboard. Each "evil twin" profile in the list has a button to request that it be merged with your own profile (if it is a duplicate or otherwise represents the same person).

2022-01-23

• Event hosts may choose to allow players to edit all of their games in an event ("league") instead of only their current game ("tournament").
• Patron and Champion subscribers may upload custom banner images and icons for their events.

2022-01-01

• The three possible pairing errors are more clearly displayed when setting pairings for a round, as well as the options for automatically avoiding those errors.
  • Rematches are always automatically avoided.
  • Pairings between mutual friends can be avoided automatically by using the avoid friends option.
  • Players being assigned to the same table for multiple games can be avoided automatically by using the fresh tables option.
• Added an option to pre-select the scenario and point value for all games when adding a new round. This option is only available for game systems that use scenarios and/or point values.
• Added a set of "fake" player accounts (ID numbers 800 through 815) for use when testing out the system.

2021-12-01

• Events may now be hosted for a specific community, restricting registration to community members.
• Updates to how events are displayed and organized on the event list pages.

2021-11-20

• Event types have been updated to more clearly identify which events count towards player ratings and which do not.
  • "Standard" events are now "Rated standard" events.
  • "Friendly" events are now "Unrated standard" events.
  • "Team" events are now "Rated team" events.
  • There is a new event type called "Unrated team" events.

2021-11-10

• Addition of player communities.
• The Statistics page now defaults to include all events and games, not just competitive ones.
• Non-rating-based awards now include results from all games and events, not just competitive ones.

2021-10-08

• The Control Panel has been renamed to the Dashboard. Your Dashboard shows all of your ongoing games and each event you've registered for or played in. It also has tools to manage and edit your player profile.
• When logged in, the homepage now redirects to your Dashboard so that you can easily and quickly find your current games and events.

2021-10-01

• Events may now apply up to three tie breakers in any order.
• Two new tie breakers have been added:
  • Victory points scored (average score in each game).
  • Victory points allowed (average opponent's score in each game).
• Player profiles now show how many games and events that player has participated in for each supported game system. This is so you can tell which games a player actively playes without having to reload the page for each game.
• Subscriber only The GhostDeer Index now includes sub-factions when they have a win rate that differs from their parent faction by more than 5%.
• The cookie that stores your selected game system now lasts much longer (until the year 2038) so you don't have to make this choice repeatedly. This cookie stores no other personal information.

2021-09-08

• The "hidden" event status has been renamed "under construction." The color and icon for this status have also been updated to reflect this change.
• A new "hidden" event status option has been added. An event with this status is equivalent to an Open event in every way except that it does not appear in any public event lists. Players must have the event link in order to view the event.

2021-09-01

• Added support for single- and double-elimination rounds.
• Reconfigured the pairing options display when adding a new round.
• Added support for minimum and maximum player score, score step size, and min/max point value. Score range can impact if score appears as a type-in field or a menu in game submission windows.
• Added faction names to the faction ranking section of the Statistics page.
• Added a filter that marks factions on the Statistics page with low play counts to warn users before conclusions are drawn. This also hides low-play-count factions from the GhostDeer Index entirely.

2021-08-23

• Event organizers may now add players to an event after it has begun. A player who joins an ongoing event cannot be added to an existing round but will be included in subsequent rounds.
• Ranking within events now ignores total game count (to support the addition of late players). Players are now ranked by:
  1. tournament points
  2. number of wins
  3. number of ties
  4. number of losses
  5. the chosen tie-breaker for the event (if any)
• The "newbie" badge now only marks player profiles created in the last 30 days (instead of 90).

2021-08-20

• Team events have been upgraded to match the rest of Longshanks 2.0.
• Improvements to the player profile claiming system.

2021-08-06

• General improvements and fixes to the Statistics page. Fixed a bug that was reporting erronious subfaction stats.
• Added reCAPTCHA checks to the pages that create and claim player profiles.
• Other minor bug fixes.

2021-07-27

• Added Monrad and Random pairing options.
• The pairing system can now avoid pairing friends in every round (still not recommended beyond round 1).
• Adjustments to the appearance of faction icons (smaller) for a more concise page layout.

2021-07-19

• Subscriber only Added a printable player check-in sheet for events.
• Added a button to copy the link for an event to the user's clipboard (for easier sharing).

2021-07-12

• UX improvements, especially for smaller mobile screens.
• Popup windows (game result entry, game system chooser, etc.) can now be closed by pressing ESC.
• Refinements to the roster list submission system based on early user feedback.
• Game systems may now use a tournament point scheme if desired. (This is recommended ONLY for games that require it.)

2021-07-06

• Minor bug fixes and performance improvements.
• Preparatory work for automating the subscription system through PayPal.
• Reactivated the leaderboard.

2021-07-04

• Discord and Twitter handles may be added to a player profile.
• Players may submit roster lists when registering for an event.
  • Players and event organizers may modify roster lists after they have been entered.
  • All players may view all roster lists once the first round of an event has begun.
• Players may choose to be unrated.
  • Unrated players don't appear on the ranking page and their player rating is not displayed anywhere.

Email & password security

Your password is never visible to any humans, not event the site administrators, and is never stored as plain text. However, it is still recommended that you use a different password here than you use for any other online accounts.

Your email address is never shared with other users or with any third party for any reason.

• System administrators may occasionally use email addresses to contact users about their accounts.
• While the direct messaging system uses email, the email address of one user is never visible to another user.

Hidden players

A player may hide their profile if they wish to be anonymous. Hidden players:

• Appear as an ID number rather than a name.
• May participate in games and events as normal.
• Cannot send or receive direct messages.
• Do not appear in the ranking.
• Cannot earn most awards.
• Cannot host events.

Data privacy

This system functions through the public sharing of information.

Some information is entered by users for their own account.

• This information includes home region, nickname, email address, and password.
• Users may hide their player profile at any time. This removes personal information such as that users name, home region, and event attendance from public view.

Some information is collected and submitted by users about other people. This typically happens when registering players for an event or submitting a casual game to the system.

• This information is limited to player name, events attended, and match results.
• Event hosts are required to obtain consent from a player to collect and display this information online before registering that player for an event.

If you wish to have your personal infortmation or player profile removed from the system entirely, contact us.

Data privacy

Every effort is made to be in complance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other worldwide data collection laws.

For more information on our data privacy policies, please see the help section on security & privacy. If you have any questions regarding these or any of our other policies, please contact us.

Data usage

Unauthorized duplication or reuse of the data presented on Longshanks, either in whole or in part, is prohibited.

This requirement allows us to comply with GDPR data removal policies. We are unable to anonymize or delete unauthorized copies of data at user request, therefore such copies are not allowed.

Ownership & copyright

Longshanks owns the aggregated statistical data and representations generated by the system in response to user queries. Player, event, and game data submitted by users are the property of those users. Most submitted data may be anonymized or removed at any time by the submitting user. Non-user-editable data can be anonymized or removed by administrators upon user request.

Longshanks is wholly owned by Windy City Game Lab, LLC. Neither Longshanks nor Windy City Game Lab are affiliated with or endorsed by any of the individuals, companies, or other entities that appear on or are referenced by this website unless indicated otherwise.

No challenge to copyright or claim of ownership is intended in relation to any intellectual property that appears on Longshanks. Names, images, logos, and other intellectual property relating to specific companies or game systems are the property of their respective owners and are used either with permission or under the assumption of fair use.

If you believe that any of your copyrighted work appears on Longshanks in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us. To help resolve the situation as quickly as possible, please include a description of the copyrighted work, where it appears on the site, your relationship to the copyright owner, and a statement describing how the use infriges upon copyright law.