Roll Call 2016 Open for bookings

[madaxeman]

As well as the traditional 25mm Big Boys Toys Open event, Roll Call can now be booked and the theme is as follows:

15mm Pool Rules and Theme:

900 AP on 6 x 4 tables. Date Range 629 to 1291 AD

Armies & Allies must be from one of the following lists:

Legions Triumphant
Sassanid Persian

Decline & Fall
Maurikian Byzantine
Christian Nubian
Western Turkish
Arab Conquest
Thematic Byzantine
Umayyad Arab
Abbasid Arab
Early North African Dynasties
Khurasanian Dynasties
Bedouin Dynasties
Dailami Dynasties
Kurdish Allies
Bagratid Armenian Allies
Ghaznavid
Nikephorian Byzantine

Wolves From The Sea
Merovingian Frankish
Astur-Leonese
Andalusian
Early Navarrese

Swords & Scimitars Any List

Oath Of Fealty
Feudal Catalan & Early Crown of Aragon
Taifa Andalusian
Feudal Navaresse & Aragonese
Feudal Castilian, Leonese or Portugese
Fanatic Berber
Italo-Norman
Later Sicilian
Early Granadine

Lost Scrolls
Beja, Nile Valley Blemmye or Early Nobatae
Tuareg

Eternal Empire
Ghurid Afghan

Special Competition Rule - No Heavily Armoured Knights

Any Heavily Armoured Knights must be fielded and paid for as Armoured Knights.

EG- an Undrilled Superior Heavily Armoured Knight base with Lance and Sword which normally costs 23 points will be fielded as an Undrilled Superior Armoured Knight base with Lance and Sword costing 20 points. If such troops are dismounted they are deployed as Armoured Heavy Foot - Offensive Spearmen.

This is to increase the number of viable armies in the theme and reflects the heavier armour of Ghilman & Mamluks in the later part of this period.

See the BHGS Roll Call page for booking details

[LordNytram]

Can you confirm the list checking deadline? The BHGS site shows Andy Ellis as checker with a deadline of 31st March. However, I suspect that with the competition starting on 1st April this might be quite a tall task, even for Andy!

[madaxeman]

Its just an updated version of the web page from last year, so good spot! I will change it to pull it forwards a week or two.

The deadline is - as always - "as early as you can please so Andy doesn't get too grumpy".

[navigator]

well I have booked using the latest technology... and pleased to note the absence of a booking fee...(only joking....)
cheers
paul

[madaxeman]

well I have booked using the latest technology... and pleased to note the absence of a booking fee...(only joking....)
cheers
paul

presentation is everything ...

[navigator]

yup.. am well aware cost is £15 plus £4 booking fee...

[madaxeman]

yup.. am well aware cost is £15 plus £4 booking fee...

The total amount of transaction-related fees in the £19 entry is less than half of that, at £1.95 - this covers the combined costs of using Eventbrite as a booking and entry management system, and also the credit card transaction fees (which we'd of course still have to include whichever online payment system we adopted). We used to use Paypal, but moving to credit cards since this was trialed at the Doubles has meant that the fee component has actually gone down - using Paypal as a merchant would add another 37p to the overall transaction cost, and so this was a key reason for making the change.

In an ideal world we'd pay no fees, however all online transactions these days are incurring similar levels of fees - smaller events run by individuals can run a manual system, and can also probably get away with "cheating" and pretending to Paypal that attendees are sending cash to friends and therefore attracting no vendor fees, but with the thick end of 600 transactions across a year that was never really an option for us - and it would also not be possible to integrate a personal Paypal payment with an Eventbrite-style system.

[navigator]

apologies Tim I had my tongue in cheek... all costs are fine and I don't want to continue down this road etc etc.. I am very happy with event organisations and the value for money of each event.. and appreciate all the time and effort that is put into organising and planning and controlling everything

I spend hundreds/ maybe thousands of pounds a year on figures and associated costs.. I know event organisers try and keep the costs down...so subject closed...

keep up the good work and sincere apologies for any offence caused...

[madaxeman]

No worries, and I actually think its good to be as transparent as possible on this sort of stuff - after all, the BHGS really belongs to everyone who takes part in the events, so being clear about how the entry fee breaks down is simply the right thing to do.

Anyway, back to the actual event... over 50 places already booked, with 5 already in for the 15mm AM period (making it the joint-2nd-highest at the moment neck and neck with ADLG, but trailing (the now sold-out) BA).

25mm AM is the only period with no bookings so far - so come on all you 25mm AM'ers!

[spotteddog]

I know event organisers try and keep the costs down...so subject closed...

keep up the good work and sincere apologies for any offence caused...

Humph, what a waste of a good spat! It was shaping up nicely too - Axeman vs Gladiator, 3 falls or one submission, tune in and place your bets!
HH

[stancolleymore]

Come on chaps rally round the organisers need a bit of support. They and the list checkers do loads of work so we the great unwashed (us) can turn up on Saturday morning and have a weekends gaming. They have to put up with:

Gamers who cannot read an army list
Gamers you cannot fill in a result sheet
People you just want to complain
People who get so p****d they do not turn up on the Sunday morning

I have heard people say the BHGS are **** or *****

Who do they think that the BHGS are? A sinister organisation who hide away and are never seen!! No they are gamers like you and me who have enough gumption to put on the shows

I had a look at a cheap sales/order/invoicing system that might be used for people entering/paying for shows but it did not really fit what was wanted. Does anybody have any knowledge of any product that might do the job

[madaxeman]

Roll Call is now almost 50% sold out, with FoGAM 15mm currently the joint-third most popular period (after Bolt Action and our newest theme, Blucher), however FoGAM 25mm is still lagging a tad behind the other Big Boys Toys periods

The rate of bookings and the venue capacity means that the maximum number of players in any given period will probably end up being limited to somewhere between 12-18, with early-booking periods being larger than later booking ones, so please sign up soon to guarantee a decent pool of players in your chosen theme.

[Intothevalley]

Hmm, given that the 15mm competition theme is "The Armies & Enemies of Medieval Islam", would it be possible to have T'ang China as a permissible army, ala the battle of Talas river (751 AD)? Or is there too little historical interaction to include them?

[madaxeman]

Hmm, given that the 15mm competition theme is "The Armies & Enemies of Medieval Islam", would it be possible to have T'ang China as a permissible army, ala the battle of Talas river (751 AD)? Or is there too little historical interaction to include them?

The list of permitted armies is as per the one that's been published.

(I also suspect the T'ang army might be a bit unbalancing anyway if it were to be added to the existing pool)

[stancolleymore]

Hmm, given that the 15mm competition theme is "The Armies & Enemies of Medieval Islam"...

Might be a good idea to play that down at the moment

[petedalby]

I am responsible for the theme and have tried to make it reasonably open but I was unaware of this.

Or is there too little historical interaction to include them?

That and the Tang list includes the only MF Xbow with sword so on this occasion I think we'll stick with the list as published.

But thanks very much for pointing it out.

[petedalby]

Just 7 tickets left for FoG 15mm - and still 5 months to go.....

[quackstheking]

Roll Call has now sold it's 100th ticket today meaning only 44 spots left between the 12 periods on offer. Already one period (Bolt Action) is sold out! We have seen a surge of entries in November (71) and judging by the pace of entries, I wouldn't be surprised to see Roll Call sold out by the end of the year!!!

This means that if you want to enter Roll Call 2016, you may need to think about entering sooner rather than later. Currently both the 25mm and 15mm events FoGAM periods are on odd numbers at 3 and 15 respectively. Normally we would expect c. 34+ entrants across both these periods but that means taking up 16 of the remaining 44 spots, before the FoGR, FoW and DBMM boys grab the remaining spaces.

In particular we do need to see more entries in the 25mm competition where last year we had an impassioned plea from Martyn Brawn to encourage more entrants!. Certainly we need at least 6 entrants to make a viable period but realistically a minimum of 8 to make an interesting competition. So come on the" Big Boys" and get your entries in!

The message is simple (and to quote Fred Pontin) - Book Early

Don

[madaxeman]

Just to echo Dons comments on 25mm - we currently have a healthy 9 DBMM players in the 25mm section, and 8 for FoGR but still only 3 signed in for FoGAM.

[navigator]

But fog am was the leader with 5 bookings in November..?