Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

I have known Todd since he was a young sous-lieutenant in l'Ecole Militaire. His spirit and dedication to the NWC cannot be matched. I give him my enthusiastic support for the post of PR Officer.

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Général de Brigade William Reaves
51ème Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne
2ème Brigade
1ère Division
5éme Corps d'Armée
La Grande Armée

I am hoping we will see Todd be as active and engaging in answering questions as Mark Hornsby has been....

Salute!

Jeff Bardon has asked some very interesting questions:

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them."

As a leader in the NWC the position of Public Relations Officer serves not only as an outward facing ambassador but also as a caretaker and leader within the club. Over the past few years there has been an influx of new voices that have taken up the mantle of leadership, tempered by the departure of experienced and long serving members that helped build the club from its humble beginnings.

Question: What are the principles that would guide you in this position?

Answer: First of all, the principle by which I strive to guide my life along its journey is that of the Golden Rule - To Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You...

And another credo I try to hold fast to is something Shakespeare says in Hamlet:
This above all. To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Question: How would you go about bringing in new members as well as continuing to keep current officers engaged?

Answer: A primary task of the PRO is to engage with other gaming communities and to see where there is room for mutual interests to coincide, and to represent what sets the NWC apart from them - and therefore why other people who currently enjoy the games our club sponsors (and those who might wish to try them) should check us out - and join us.

As for keeping our members engaged, this is truly a task for the whole club - and takes many roles: from club wide tournaments, to the specific challenges offered by various MP teams and the so-called Bataillons d'Honneur.

And also includes the efforts of the club army leaderships, Corps commanders, etc, to engage on a personal level with the members in their assigned formations.

I have always made it a mission of mine as a member of LGA to interact with new members, to make them feel welcome to our club/army, and to offer any assistance they may need as a new member (and this before I was ever in command of a Corps).

Indeed, I have not limited this to just LGA members, but have often reached out in such a manner to members of the Coalition - for I am motivated in this not by my assignment to LGA, but from my membership in the NWC.

Question: How would you balance the wide variety of interests, and cultural experiences within the club to ensure that the atmosphere is inclusive to a wide range of members, from causal gamers and students of history to avid role-players and ambitious leaders eager to make their mark?

Answer: It is the expression of our membership's wide variety of interests, and cultural experiences that is a central strength and hallmark of the NWC.

I have always enjoyed the variety of these offerings members bring to the table, and my record of public postings in our forums stands as a testament that I have done my best to show support and thank them for their efforts.

I remain dedicated to ensuring that this atmosphere of inclusiveness which I feel is thriving remains so.

Question: If elected, what would be the first action that you would take and why?

Answer: My first series of actions will be to familiarize myself with and update as necessary the current NWC links on other gaming community pages, and find new ones to link to, as well as to explore with the ownership of the NWC the possibility of establishing a Facebook page.

Why would I do these things first? Because these are what I see as primary responsibilities of the PRO.

But let us not forget, that as a leader in the NWC the position of Public Relations Officer serves not only as an outward facing ambassador but also as a caretaker and leader within the club.

The NWC is well on the path of evolution, becoming something more than it has been, but which is founded upon the storied past.

This club has undergone a transformation in the few years in which I have been a member, and I am eager to be involved in the journey forward, and to enable the membership to play an increasingly vital role in our collective passion for these games and our community.

Regards,

Todd,

One of the major aspects of the job is communication and you seem to be interested in such, both externally and internally. Can you tell me why there is such little internal communication going on to the members both at the Cabinet level and in the LGA as well as your Corps Commandership? I mean by email, not forum, the traditional way information is shared in the Club. Also can you shed light on why every other LGA Corps Commandant is posting their officer promotions et al, except for you?

Also what would you do to make the Club more open, both in terms of decisions & policies, but also information & systems?

Thanks for your time.

I have been unsuccessful getting members of none European groups to join because a lick of knowledge in Napoleonic age. Do you plan on reaching out and enlighten these groups esp in England where they have a more enlighten groups?

Please forgive my obtuseness, but I fail to understand the first question... concerning internal communication...

Your second question about posting of promotions, to be honest sir, there have not been much in the way of promotions to report... let me rack the memory bank - the last one that occurred was for Lt Col Karol Toth, yes, that is correct.

And it was my immense pleasure to have his Divisional Commander, Marechal Lelievre make the announcement in Pierre's.

Before that there was your own promotion, from Capitaine to Chef d'Escadron...

I recall having drinks with you and Marechal Corbin to celebrate in the I have a more interetsing question thread.
It was there that the Marechal made the announcement himself.

To the third question I will say this: I'm unaware that decisions and policies are not open.
As for systems and information - I have to ask what exactly do you mean?
I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about, but - for example, if you mean making games members have played and are playing available for viewing by anyone (members) I have always thought that was a good idea.

Knowing one's games played and opponents gives a much greater indication of skill level than simply rank (after all, we're not a points ladder club).

And I will be more than glad to hazard an answer to the first question if you can make it more clear for me.
Again, my apology for not understanding it the first time.

Regards,

Hi Cliff, I'm not convinced that it is the job of the PRO to enlighten the masses about the Napoleonic age.

What I do think is something that could be quite fun for all concerned is to promote tournaments between clubs that feature Napoleonic gaming.

This was an idea brought to my attention by a member of the Spanish Brigade, Fernando LopezGallo a short while ago...

Generating that kind of interaction between disparate gaming communities could pay big dividends, I feel.

Regards,

You are so right you are not a teacher. I should tell you that there are groups all over that reenact the civil war and the Buffalo soldiers are one if they were invited to learn about these games it would be better then me who is not a official of the club now I feel that's this is a better answer.

Salute!

Your original question Cliff, concerned getting members of none European groups to join because a lick of knowledge in Napoleonic age. With a focus on enlighten these groups esp in England where they have a more enlighten groups?

So, when I give you my opinion on spending time and resources trying to get people who don't know about the Napoleonic Age into the club (as compared to those that do have an inkling of this epoch) you respond by calling me not a teacher and use as examples Civil War re-enactors, and Buffalo soldiers.

Is this the English Civil War?
I ask because you specifically referenced England in your question of me.

As for Civil War re-enactors and Buffalo soldiers, to my knowledge the US provides a large percentage of members in the club, and therefore should not qualify under your question as being a source of those un-enlightened on the Napoleonic age.

Nonetheless, I stand by my original answer: that I would rather focus efforts on those groups that are already involved in Napoleonic War simulation games.

Regards,

Salute, Monsieur that is right you are not a teacher are you? And as enlighten group people of color in England are as far as European history goes are. And by inviting American civil war groups into playing these games it would be much better for a official of computer games clubs to send inventions then me e-mailing these groups. I know I have a large reading groups because 900+ reads on my stories could in no way be members of just this club so out side people in other clubs are reading my stories. By inviting people is leading from the front and no ways makes them feel unwelcome. A invite makes people wanted, that is how I became a member. Invite history Professors is a e-mail away !

Salute!



Regards,

I do recall now that post with John, for some reason I thought it was my Capitaine one. I assumed there hasn't been much in the way for our Corps.

For internal communications, I mean commanders emailing and checking in to see how folks are doing. Every once in a while. I cited in another topic, somewhere, that you build relationships & a better community when you reach out & chat with folks every now and then. I would harken a guess, that the lower voter turnout in the past rules election could be, in a small part due to the fact that some folks don't know who Mark is, as he is hardly heard from via email. A small percentage no doubt, but one of the most effective ways to build interaction with people is to get to know them a bit. It is the mark of any good commander and a practice I have employed in many places and others have too. It builds a community & it builds familiarity & relationships. I guess you can't directly answer the question for anyone else other than your Corps, but it seems to be a concept worth looking in to.

Decisions & policies, yes are generally in the open, but sometimes seem vague & obtuse, depends on what it is.

The idea of open systems, yes, to see what everyone is playing. There is a report in DoR that let's you see that and could be easily uploaded to the site each month or so. Our Club records used to be in the open and are no longer. This report also allows the ability to see who is eligible for promotions et al. There are a lot of other things that would be nice too. The ACWGC DoR had a prompt in which members click to accept their promotions and then their chain of command is informed that they have been promoted, which is kind of a nice function as well.

Also another question.....would you publish articles for the Newsletter related to your position & tasks??

Well, I know for a fact that does not apply to Mark I have know him many years an being from the peach state and a lover of that "Deep in the heart of Dixie" music is unusual. General Lee said we never ever count numbers. Now to the meat of things oh I forgot oh yea I seem to remember back in the old days before we had elite groups that you could see who was playing what and who to beat up on and who or what game to stay away from... I guess then I was into S&M because I lost 10 game maybe more to Andy we would play all day and night. Now I was recovering from cancer then (oh Andy I hope you employer doesn't see this) oh before I go I use to be a drunk French officer and then I found the Truth n the life now I'am a happy swamp rat In the best way I know is a open form and a open door to ideas no one knows it all and I sure know that I have not know any thing since 1946. I know scott even longer we both lived in Baltimore

Cliff - Indeed! Let's hope not As it happens there was one other member that is from the same university but fortunately he left a long time ago for the ACW club.

Maybe when I can get back to the battlefield we will team up again