Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Sorry, my friend, but I am very focused. I only kill Frenchmen. I do train Austrians and Prussians from time to time in better methods by which they may kill Frenchmen as well.

Now, as far as the gold is concerned, I take it from the wagons of France. Where you Brigands actually acquired it in the first place is not really my problem. If the Austrians and the Prussians had wished to keep their gold, they should have been very careful to never lose it to begin with.

All I can say to that is;

Oh I have to stop my chest hurts...from laughing so much!!!

Battle On....

I just want to confirm this. I am rarely active on this forum because I too am not interested in the smack talk between the different armies and it seems that it comprises a good 90% of what goes on here. I understand that there are a lot of people who have been in this club for years and who have created a great rapport, but it seems that if you are not one of those people then there is little to nothing to contribute to in the first place. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (after all those who are active should decide what the forum is for them), but I feel that it is a fair analysis of where the forum is at this point.

For me, as it stands, the forum is just a convenient place to find opponents. It performs that function admirably and as long as it does so it will survive. But if people want the forum to expand in its functions then there need to be discussions in the first place which can stay on track and encourage those who are not necessarily part of the clique which has naturally evolved to start posting. If you want some input, these are the things I would be most interested in commenting on:
1) Historical threads - this is a Napoleonic wargaming site and yet there is no dedicated place to discuss Napoleonic warfare? I personally would be greatly interested in contributing to threads on the topic and it would be a chance for an educated conversation amongst the (very) knowledgeable people here.
2) AARs - I mean proper AARs where people write up what occurred during their game, the tactics they used etc. Every other game forum that I have ever dedicated myself to (and there have been a huge number, I assure you) has an AAR forum. This encourages creative writing and activity for those who want to, and also provides a way for new members to feel that they are part of the club by commenting. I understand that the forum already sort-of has this in its own roleplaying way, but it isn't quite the same thing and roleplaying is not necessarily something that appeals to everyone.

So there are some thoughts, take them or leave them.

I actually don't have any problem with either of those two suggestions for a forum. Technically, all of that can be accomplished in the forums we already have, but I certainly understand the fact that threads are very often hijacked. I must admit that the concept of a forum solely dedicated to the "chance for an educated conversation amongst the (very) knowledgable people here" does make me wince just a bit as it seems segregational in nature and could be taken as a somewhat snobbish concept. I am not entirely certain that it could actually be very effectively policed either, and I will never favor a password protected forum for the intellectually superior, whomever they may be. Still, we could set it up and see how active it becomes. In fact, Anton has previously made a similar suggestion.

Regarding AAR's, it seems to me they can be posted in the forums we already have in place. If they are to be private army discussions, then they would be posted either in Pierre's Tavern or the Coalition Arms. If they are for the club membership as a whole, I don't really see why the Rhine Tavern would not suffice. The truth is, I have not generally seen both sides of this club willing to discuss tactics in a public forum. I actually see more of a trend of "Us" versus "Them". Again though, I don't see any reason why we cannot try it.

Why don't you start a new thread on the topic of forums, and let's see how the discussion goes. As I said, I know that Anton supports the concept of a more serious, historical venue.

I can see how it was easily misread, but I did mean the entire population of the forum is, generally speaking, more intelligent most. Games such as these ones generally attract more intelligent people as a rule and I wouldn't want to segregate that forum.

And I think that dichotomy is exactly one of the problems that currently exists and makes the entire forum hard for new people to integrate into. I'm not sure how it can be broken but it has to at least be acknowledged.

I'll write something up later.