Medium Victories

Membership has expanded to a mighty six! This divides evenly between grown men who should know better and Sixth Formers who will soon be distracted by more important things. Like women. And beer.

Still, if I can recruit some female players and get in a six-pack we might still retain their interest...

I've also started a Yahoo! Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garrison_wargaming. So called, because we're technically still just the York Garrison Wargaming Club, or YGWC. Personally, I'd like something a bit snappier, but on the other hand this does have a certain "Ronseal" quality about it.

Next week will be a bit of an experiment, as (a) we're going to play something other than Inquisitor and (b) I won't be there, except to drop in and say "hi" and check that no one's set the place on fire. Talk is strongly in favour of a 40K in 40 Minutes evening.

Soon, we're going to have to broach the tricky subject of money. The hall is free, but we're going to need some income if we're to develop our own resources in the form of gaming boards, terrain, hobby materials and suchlike. This is where our status as a Garrison club comes to the fore. Okay, only half of our membership comes from York Garrison personnel or dependents, but that's still no reason not to ask the Army for money. And although cash is often hard to prise from the MoD's fingers, we're approaching the time of year when organizations start to notice and unexpected underspend and get desperate to give money to anything worthwhile that takes the trouble to ask.

So ask, I shall.

We also need more than six people. Six is good, of course, but I hope to increase that by more than 200% in the next six months. And for that, we need publicity.

Small Victories

Meeting number 2 saw us achieve a 50% increase in our total turnout and we managed a whole 3 people!

So that's me, Moz and Steve.

But I brought minis and rules and Steve brought green felt and terrain and I introduced them both the illicit joy that is Inquisitor. We enjoyed it so much that when we looked at our watches, it was a quarter past eleven, we'd missed Last Orders and run over our official occupancy time of half past ten.

But it's a definite start! I am now wondering how best to coordinate the club's efforts so that people can see what's going on and what's going to be available to play at each meeting. I'm thinking of a Yahoo! Group, but whether that's necessarily the best way ahead, I'm not sure.

But now I have a club, I guess it's time to head back to the GCN and ask their advice...

Well, it's a good thing I didn't get too excited

The two of us had a cup of coffee, looked at the venue, chatted about some ideas and then went to the pub...

But as the venue's not costing me anything, it's really academic. I just need to keep plugging the existence of the club and it'll stand or fall on its own merits.

That said, "plugging its existence" is proving tricky when I'm not exactly overburdened with free time in which to get stuff done. Unusually, it was my boss who prompted me to widen my advertising base (he tries to pay attention to what his underlings do with what little time is left to them; I used to think it was sweet, but now I suspect he's just working out when is a good time to keep me in late).

I reckon a poster campaign is in order. My contacts at the local school can put a few up, I'm sure. Likewise, the local library and, of course, the venue itself should carry a poster or two to raise awareness. We're in a military Garrison here in York, so it's worth contacting the local Headquarters to see if they will publicize the club in their weekly Orders and, if Garrison personnel attend the club, we may even be elligible for funding!

I'm assured that cracking the venue is the hardest part. The venue isn't perfect. It's too far out of the centre for that. But it's got enough going for it (it's free!) that I think it's worth persevering into the New Year and seeing what happens.