Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Thank you Mark ;o)

I also think the play acting (role playing) here ,is the clubs back bone.
Understandably it has got a little lover do to fighting at Pierre Tavern recently
but few rounds at the bar make people forget all about that past.

I also feel valid points in Clifton words regarding MP teams.
The problem is we all want to start with gigantic battles for MP battles x3-4
persons per side control each few corps (a army or half a army per person)
and to have a huge map and gigantic amount of rounds.
I like that trap myself ,In a MP game I like to control 3+ Corps myself and
as MP games need to be played faster than other games then new players
should start with 2 per side at most 3 after people get experience.
It could be that we should after regular training offer new Cadets to participate
in a short 2x2 MP battle to get them used to the mechanics of MP games.
Just a thought

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Général de Division Einar Jon Masson

Fwiw, in my opinion recruitment is all going to be based upon how your market your 'product'. Your 'product' is the club, and the club 'experience'.

But the thing is -you have to define what that is, but define that in such a way that it is easily evident what the club experience would provide to the end user.

The other thing is, I think based upon this medium, it is probably not going to be detailed testimonials no matter how valid they could be. A testimonial is a pretty personal thing, but well.. yeah - it is a bit of a challenge.

I used to be a recruitment officer (I guess you could call it) way back when in a WWII mmpog that I would prefer to forget, and it was a pretty successful experience prior to the thing even being released -but I think that came from community involvement. I tried to make the experience a little more personal than maybe how other teams did theirs- I was big on I think it was ICQ at the time, and I think that it made a difference. Keep in mind, that in my example - the product didn't even exist so you could not sell people on a gaming experience -but rather a community experience was all you had to work with.

I am not interested in doing that again, in the sense that as a dedicated officer etc ... but I do recognize its overall value -or rather I think I am saying that imo that the approach is valid and works.

Define who we are as a community and do it like a good webpage might -so that a potential end user can see quickly what benefit the club can be.

Ok- anyway- I am not sure I saw that in here or not... obp points? or admin points? we get those? Who knew? I certainly couldn't find anything detailed in the rules as posted - but I guess my point in mentioning that is that it was not my motivation. At the moment I have 3 matches that are sort of suspended in another club (2 where my opponent is working on some other things that came up ... no problem there -I get that... but it still means those are two slots taken up, and another one where my opponent is claiming a technical issue which I don't know what to do about that one as neither I nor JTS/HPS can replicate the problem -no idea what might happen with that -and it is still another slot being taken up.). I can't really commit to too many more matches until something happens with those 3 matches at the other club.

I am playing around with mods, and I have only really been reworking stock graphics (with an exception thrown in here and there -but mostly it is JTS stock art) - I am strongly leaning towards going further -and that is going to involve a new hexgrid. It is a ways down the track -but first things first... reworking the counters, and unitbox, and leaderbox graphics, reworking the hexes, reworking the roads/paths/trails etc so that they show up on 2d zoom out mode, then possibly playing around with the buildings.

Why do this? Well frankly it fits in with another project, so it is something tangible that I can accomplish.

Do I want to play more here? Oh, definitely... although it might not happen until the start of the new year some time. I am really enjoying testing Wagram, as I never really had gotten around to playing it despite having it for years. I should temper this as I know JTS has additional updates in the pipeline that will require attention. Anyway, maybe that one will be something I would look to engage in -in about 4 weeks or so time.

There are 509 members of the forum already. Quantitity of the members not so important according to me some tens of active (both DoR and forum maybe?) players would be better. Just my option, i would never prefer a blitz type club but anyway hope admins will do the best for the club.

Hakan,
I think the idea is to provide an option for people that are totally turned off by the role play/army idea, but want more substance than the blitz provides. Do these people exist? Who knows? I guess we will find out. All of the clubs playing Tiller games have seen a gradual decline in membership over the years, but yet they keep making and selling games. So a broader appeal does not hurt, I think. Everyone wants something different. I like the historical discussion (although I have little to add) and discussion of specific scenarios.

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Hakan,
I should mention too that I think that 500+ number is anyone who has ever been a member, so yes, I think we have mayeb 80 to 150 actual active members. I am not sure on the number but, as you say, as long as people are able to find opponents and find the other things they are looking for, numbers do not matter so much.

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Sounds like a workable idea to me,give new players a chance to get there feet wet before diving into the deep end. However I would try to give a priority to working from within..reach out to the folks that have fallen bye the wayside over the years. Find out what it will take to get some of them back to the club,even 10% is likely to be a pretty substancle boost. There are more then a few missing names around this place.

Regards
Walt

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Generallieutenant Walt GroßHerzog Moehle von Neuhardenberg
Kommandeur der Korps Artillerie-Brigade
Kommandeur der Gardegrenadier
Königlich Preußische Korps

I do like the idea about talking about the history as well as some strategies and tactics, scenario discussions and the like -although I will point out the obvious, in that it sort of then becomes dependent upon what type of club that you are wanting to have.

What I mean by that is that by discussing the scenarios, you invariably wind up talking about some side specific strategies. I understand that if you are on a given side in the club that you are not limited to only playing that side in a game, but I wonder about how often that happens in actuality? I do know of one club where they actively discourage talking about strategies/tactics outside of their own specific side.

Mind you, to me that seems to limit a lot of things, and is actually counter-productive to good game playing.

On the other hand, I don't profess to know what the right balance is regarding this sort of thing. I sort of wing it on my site, and just testing some of the Wagram material -it has given me some ideas about writing up some material, specifically with regards to French bridge construction in 1st day of Wagram play.

I don't know about the roleplaying thing, as I am not really the type that is ever going to write a 3rd person narrative about myself - I would think just taking what I think is a period specific military science approach to battle conduct (ironically) is actually roleplaying just as much as creatively writing a personal narrative. I mean I guess I could give it a try, but I am not really sure how that would work in the context of what vibe I want to give off in the field: one of being all business.

Oh yeah I guess the other thing too is that I NEVER want to be, is the guy that comes over here, as someone without outside interests then never actually plays the games or participates in the club -that is not who I am. I do want to do some artwork, I do want to examine the scenarios (and by extension the titles -in some cases several that have direct links), and I do want to write about the experience -as it is a great and worthy topic.

I don't really know how the associate member device will work, but I am willing to support those that give it a go, and will be an ambassador for the club and the subject.

Einar,
I felt that same sort of intimidation when I joined. I had played a few games over at the Wargamer opponent finder and had been beaten very, very badly. So I was hesitant to join a club as such a newbie (I had played a ton vs the AI, so I knew how to play the game, mostly).

Stephen, I too agree that I like the idea of talking about a scenario from the perspective of trying to win from one side. I keep intending to start those threads and I rarely get to it. This is one of the reasons I like the army format and am glad that it will remain the core of our club.

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Yes. The last time I read a thread on how a battle pans out was years ago and was written from the opposing perspectives of Richard Barrett v Muddy at Battleground Waterloo. I'd like to read more of these accounts but admit to being less than proactive myself in that regard.

The club has to embrace all tastes. I personally don't like role playing and simply skip first person narratives. To me it's a war game club. Others like that side the best. We could have a Mission Statement as fondly known in the corporate world but the best way to understand is to become partially involved.

Associate members will be able to get a flavour of the club and can decide then if it's for them or not. At present we have a system where a newcomer arrives, has (non-mandatory) training and then gets stuck in.....some are happy with that, others simply drop out and thus waste not only time of admin staff but clutter up OOB's.

I like this idea. Personally, I have no interest in the Armies. I could really care less about ranks and fake medals. I understand why those things appeal to some people, and I don't begrudge them their views and feelings on it. It's just of no interest to me. In fact, those things were what kept me away from the club for a long time.

What I am interested in is more discussions about the games themselves, battles, scenarios, tactics, as well as historical discussions of the period and campaigns. All of those things are sorely lacking in this club, in my opinion (unless there is some super secret stuff hidden in Pierre's Tavern).

If there had been an Associate Member option, I probably would have considered joining long before I did.

Just my $.02

Like in the movie... if you build it they will come.

Nothing should stop you from starting those conversations you have interest in. I am sure people will participate.

As for the library it's content created by the members so we need members to write stuff. It's all voluntary work

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Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
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"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

Like in the movie... if you build it they will come.

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