Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

Well as a brand new member to the Colonial Club I have to admit that the discussion board is one of the most boring I have ever seen. Sorry guys...but nobody seems to be "discussing" anything. I realize that its primary function (if I am correct) was to be a meeting place for selecting opponents. One of the reasons I think it is NOT effective is because nothing else is going on there. I thought it was here we all could make comments on "battles, leadership, some trivia people may have found, discuss a new colonial book etc". Unfortunately I see none of this. So what I will do is start up some topic and see where it goes. However my worst fears I believe will be realized. Otherwise I think this is a great club. I'm only playing because a player that I had corresponded with agreed to play a game. Otherwise I might be in the same position of that disgrunted fellow that had to quit.

X is Cpl. Gilbert Collins of the British Army.

Gilbert, I think Al is right. There may not be a lot of traffic on this board every day, but occasionally we have an eruption where suddenly everyone starts talking at the same time ... we are just lazy and need an incentive. Nothing stirs us up more than an insult, or a new debate on old tactical problems. We are like the kind of drunkard we call a Quartalssäufer in German--someone who never touches liquour except once every third month, but when he does, he drinks so thoroughly that he ends up unconscious and finds himself waking up in the gutter next morning. [:p]

I'm not a current member of our Civil War or Napoleonic sister clubs but I do scan their boards on occasion. Those boards along with this one have their own flavor, their own cast of characters, their own "atmosphere". Though this club has the fewest active members of the three, it's often just as active as the others. Yes there are slumps here like there are in all clubs like this, that's the nature of the beast. I'd suggest just taking each club as is and enjoy the subtle differences.

What I did find a little disturbing though was the results of a recent poll I sent to all British members asking about message board usage. About two thirds of the members responded, and about 50% of those never or seldom visit here, and even less visit the private British message board. I can only conclude that some folks are into the games and PBEM but not into checking or posting on message boards, and some folks like to do both. Can't do much about that, but the ones who don't care to use the boards are IMO missing out on half the fun. Some don't choose to roleplay, others are nearly obsessed by it. [;)] So to my thinking it's not a fault of the CCC that some of it's members don't use the boards, it's a personal choice of each individual member.

I've tried to come up with something that will make usage of this board more attractive to more members but haven't hit on anything concrete yet...anyone have any suggestions?

BTW Mr. Collins, please use your CCC unit and army affiliation when you do choose to pop in and post, of which you are always welcomed to do Sir. [:)]

<center><font color="gold"> Brigadier General Sir Phil Natta, K.C.B.</font id="gold"></center><center><font color="red">British Army Commander-in-Chief</font id="red"></center>

That's pretty sad that they don't even stop by to read...I can understand not always having something to say...but they miss out on things if they don't even read. For example, my post on buying games. If they don't read it, and then want to go buy a game or two, they've actually lost money...oh well...

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Phil Natta</i>
What I did find a little disturbing though was the results of a recent poll I sent to all British members asking about message board usage. About two thirds of the members responded, and about 50% of those never or seldom visit here, and even less visit the private British message board. I can only conclude that some folks are into the games and PBEM but not into checking or posting on message boards, and some folks like to do both. Can't do much about that, but the ones who don't care to use the boards are IMO missing out on half the fun. Some don't choose to roleplay, others are nearly obsessed by it. [;)] So to my thinking it's not a fault of the CCC that some of it's members don't use the boards, it's a personal choice of each individual member.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Precisely.

Hello Gents
I visit the board everyday, and choose not to comment on everything. It doesn't necessarily mean that people are not here because they don't post all of the time. I have seen the comments from the guy who chose to leave, and I don't think they are very valid. I have had nothing but help and battles since I came to this club in August. I think the guys here have been great, and I think since I have been coming here, Morgan has inspired three brawls, could be wrong on that one. So I raise my tankard and toast the entire tavern.

I agree that not posting doesn't mean you don't visit the board. I almost never post at the Rhine Tavern. But it seems Sir Phil's poll indicated that half the members never go here even to <b>read</b> the posts. Can't change that though.

Of course, what is the lesson of this boys and girls? If you stick your neck in here, and things seem kinda slow for your tastes, you have two choices. 1) Wonder why it's dead or 2) stir things up.


Though, by popular request (as in everyone) I will be doing no more adapations of old TV themes to twist Natta's wig...

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Gary McClellan</i>
...stir things up.
Major Gary McClellan
12th <b>Virgina</b> Light Dragoons
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
One of the easiest ways to stir things up is to poke fun at the creative orthography of Major McClellan, proud (and presumably virtuous) commander of the 12th <b>Virgin</b> Light Dragoons (or was that <b>Virginal</b>?)! [:p]

Can I help it if I suffer from extreme FFS?

(Fat Finger Syndrome for the unenlightened)

First, my name is NOBODY. I will tell you why I visit the board often. As the thread title is aptly called WHY NOBODY USES THE BOARD I will give you several reasons why boards are important and why the members should at least read them. Bravo to "sweitzsp" who at least takes the time to plow through our antics and folly.
First, email bounces alot - if we go to a email version of sending out funnies, club info, and so on email bounces on an average of 2-4 people per mass mailing. Maybe higher too as folks are not always good about telling you that they have a new address. And even when we are good about it the addresses dont always crawl into our address books right away. I try to be good about it but every so often I get a "please use my new email address" message. So using email to send out info is not always the best way.

Second, I use the board because I find that game challenges are so much more sporting up here than just playing the same guy over and over again or sending off email (hah, there it is again) to a bunch of guys on a British army list. I used to do that in the ACW club and found it good to jump start with but also found it frustrating when folks email addresses were old. See item #1.

Third, this is a role playing game club. While history is of GREAT interest to us it doesnt enter into most of our discussion which are of informative (tournies and so on), jocular (pub brawls) or challenge oriented. You wont find much on the level of "Sir John Morton didnt have a right hand and thus carried his sword in his left hand" type stuff.

Lastly, I like to help people. By posting errors I find in the game or tips to help folks with their play I am guarenteed that I will play a better opponent in my next game. More than one person has helped me be a better player (yeah, my uncle and my aunt!) and from the guys that post here I have learned a lot about the period. I also like to keep up on the club announcements. This is where they are found.
However, I do like to read first before I solicit for information here. For instance if I want to find out information on Morgan's Rifles I am going to read a book first or find a good website on that unit before I send up a post.

There are alot of historical boards out there on this era. How muskets were fired, ranges, march rates, etc. There are FEW boards on the play of John Tiller's HPS games. This is where we are at.

So coming from NOBODY I use the board alot, cant help it if others dont and find that the majority of veteran gamers in the club frequent this place. I call an veteran club member one that has more than 100 points. One that has been playing games for some time and has figured out that by staying away from the boards is like living only 66 percent of your life. This board provides about 33 percent of my interest in being in this club. The other 66 percent is playing games (33 percent) and meeting new folks (the other 33 percent). I cant find one veteran club member that doesnt use this board. Check our membership lists (British and Continental army lists). None of the guys above 100 miss this board. They all either read it or post as well.

Hmm, that leaves 1 percent to account for ... I guess that that would be enjoying Al's jokes and Ernie's emots! I can honestly say that these two guys account for most of the fun around here. Ernie lends a "lets have fun" attitude while Al adds in so much of the humor and history that I might start calling him H2O - liquid humor!

Stick around for a bit. You will like it here. We are real people and provided an insult can be provided the place really gets going quickly!

For history discussion of the stuffed shirt variety try Rosie's Diner down at the corner. Dr. Smithers and his chum Prof. Pluckered routinely bring up the importances of the puff ball in gunnery practice!

(this was one of my more creative posts - you should be around when I REALLY post a good one!)

I see Cpl. Collins has a book out, but with some stumbling paleface on the cover. I certainly hope he has listings for the Creek War in his book. If he does I'll trade a heap of wampum for it.

[url="http://royal42nd.homestead.com/index.html"][/url]

Glad to see that there were some responses on the topic and the topic on "Fraser at Saratoga". Hey How does one post their rank on the board to the left? I am an only Corporal with 20 points to his credit.
Scott: Yes I did get down to Horshoebend National Military Park so there is at least one site covering the Creek War. The book has over 350 individual historic sites from the War of 1812. I was quite surprised when doing research for the book that about 1/2 of the sites were in the USA. I didn't think that that many sites having to do with 1812 would be commemorated.[:)]

The "rank" on the left is simply based on the number of posts you made on this board. It's misleading and confusing, and I would much prefer to hide it.
You can use the "signature" feature in your profile to indicate your rank, name, and unit. [:)]