It lives!

[John McLintock]

Dear all,
hello again. Yes, after a really rough couple of years I'm still alive
and well, and gaming on. Badger and I have been having a lot of fun with
CCR lately. It's the best CC expansion yet IMO, because it rings more
changes in the core CC system than any of the others. Anyway, on to
business.

The first order of business is CC@UK Expo'13. Having made a late effort
to run CC@UK Expo'12- and failing, I've decided to start the
organisation early for next year. To cut to the chase, I have grand
schemes. People who attended the previous 2 CC@UK Expo tournaments will
remember that we essentially squatted in the open gaming area to stage
our first event; and that we were stuck in a cramped wee corner for the
second. So my first goal for 2013 is to get us space sufficient to grow
the event. I'm thinking that a target of 20 players should be easily
achievable (I have plans on using BGG and other social media to generate
publicity: I already have a CC_UK Geekbuddies list at BGG so that I can
do mass Geekmails when the time is right).

So, here's my thinking:
1. Apply to the Expo for a good space which we can keep for the ENTIRE
event.
2. This will enable us to have time and space to play other WW2 games
for the fun of it while we're also running the tournament.
3. This is asking a lot of the Expo, so I think we'd have to offer them
something in return, ie. demo/participation for the punters: teaching CC
is one idea, but I think that Memoir'44 is an ideal solution.
4. If people like this idea, we have to recognise that we'll have to
organise proper rotas so that no is left manning the demo all the time.
5. Following through on all of this, I suggest that it's time that we
did something to activate the WW2 Tactical Guild as a credible 'interest
group'. My thinking here is that the Expo are more likely to consider
granting the requests I'll be making of them if they're seen to come
from a group instead of just an individual.

Now there is lot more to these ideas than this simple summary, but I'm
going to leave things there for now so that I can get this sent. I'll
prepare a more detailed consideration of these ideas just ASAP. In the
meantime I'd love to hear some feedback from 'the crew'. Here's looking
forward to seeing you all again next year. My best wishes to you and
yours one and all.
cheers,
John

[John McLintock]

Dear all,
hello again. I promised to enlarge upon my ideas in my last email, so here I am. I'm going to begin with the idea of 'activating' the WW2 Tactical Guild, because my ideas about growing our tournament hinge on that.

Those who were at the first CC@UK Expo tournament will remember that this list started as a simple way to keep in touch for the sake of future CC@UK Expo events. Once that was going, I took the initiative to rename the group and to expand its mission statement. I left matters there at the time; then later developing things further wasn't a real option while I was too unwell to organise further CC@UK Expo events. What I always had in mind with the 'rebranding' was the idea that we could organise an umbrella group which would provide a collective identity any of us could use if we were to try to organise activities at events other than the UK Expo.

So the first question I have to ask you all is: do you like the idea? This may have been a pet scheme of mine for a few years now, but it's a complete non-starter if the idea finds no favour among the rest of you. Anyway, there's not a lot more I can say about that just now, so I'll move on to what I think putting this into action will entail.

Here is my proposal:
1. We formally associate ourselves; ie. adopt a simple constitution and membership structure.
2. We consider dues or some other kind of subscription to raise and maintain some small funds.

Why do I think that this is a good idea?

1. It strikes me that a  properly constituted association is far more likely than a lone individual to be granted a decent space for a decent amount of time at UK Expo: we're making ourselves look better in other words. I think we'll need to do something like this if we want to build our tournament and really put it on the international CC tournament map (and where better to do that for the UK CC scene than at the UK's premiere games convention?). I also think that, should we see success in growing the event, and therefore this list, we'd inevitably reach the point where a bit of structure would be needed anyway. So I reckon that it would be better to put this in place BEFORE it's absolutely necessary.

2. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've long thought that it'd be cool if we could have proper trophies and/or prizes for our CC tournament. We did manage to get a prize from the Expo organisers for at least one of our tournaments, but I think it'd be good if we could provide our own. In an ideal world we'd have a proper trophy which would pass from winner to winner in the traditional fashion, but I suspect the logisitics of that would (eg. engraving) be just a bit too much. Still, we might be able to consider going for a small trophy that winners could keep. Note too that a properly associated group should be more likely to attract prize support from sponsors, eg. GMT. Also, if we're going to go for the big event I've already talked about, then we'll need flyers to hand out. These will cost money.

That's really about it for my thinking about how to develop the group for the sake of building it in the future. As I said: this can only go ahead if we have a consensus on the matter, so please, Please, PLEASE reply with your opinions on these ideas, ASAP! The sooner I know what shape we'll have for CC@UK Expo'13, the sooner I can contact the organisers to start finding out what they can offer us. And the sooner I open those communications, the sooner you can all be sure that we'll have a tournament in 2013.

My best wishes to you and yours, one and all.
cheers,
John