Re: BHGS Challenge - 6/7 April 2013

[TimChild]

Hi all,

Challenge is moving for 2013 ONLY. The date is 5-7 April 2013 (not 2012 as per the heading to this thread!), and the venue is LVS Hassocks, West Sussex, which is just off the A23. This is a change in venue forced upon us by refurbishment at the Ascot school, and we expect to be back in Ascot in 2014. The need to find a new venue has also contributed to the delay in making the announcement, and I am grateful in the end to LVS for making their sister-school available as a 1-off substitute.

Thanks to Terry for volunteering to list check and umpire for this year's event! Other than the change of venue, the basic format will remain the same - Open choice of armies (from the published list-books, obviously), 15mm, 800 points on 6' x 4' tables. There will be 5 rounds (3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday) with the Friday funday. And the ever-popular beer fridge will be there again.

There will be on-site B&B accomodation as usual (although slightly fewer rooms available than last year), or for those seeking a little more mod cons there is a
Travelodge at Hickstead (one junction north on the A23, about 10 min.s drive from the school) or another at Horsham.

We will have the run of the school itself, which is an amazing place - a former nunnery converted now into a school for children with learning disabilities (no
comment about wargamers...). Very picturesque. Those into JK Rowling's ouevre may be amused to know that wheras the LVS Ascot has accomodation in blocks named after brewers, Hassocks' blocks are named Slitherine, Gryffindor etc. I haven't determined how to sort attendees into which house yet - I may draw names out of a Sorting Hat!

Entry will be £30 per entrant plus accomodation (the accomodation cost will be pretty much the same as last year, but unfortunately the base entry has had to
raise on last year to cover the additional expenses I am expecting, in particular the cost of PayPal). The BHGS website is currently in the process of being updated - Matt has returned as our webmaster (many thanks to Nobby for his work over the last however long!) and now has access to the site but needs time to get familiar with the site and get it up to speed. Once the details are up on the website and we have our PayPal buttons sorted out, we can start takng entries. Any queries in the meantime can come to me at my usual email address t_and_e.child@tiscali.co.uk, or of course via this forum.

[TimChild]

I am delighted to say that we have got the website up and active again, and details for the FOG competitions and entry arrangements are all available by Paypal. Final Flames of War details are still being sorted out, and I am hoping to run a Saga competition this year as well, details to follow once my Saga-heroes have had a chance to have a pow-wow.

http://www.bhgs.org.uk

Looking forward to it already!

Tim Child

[TimChild]

Hi all,

We are already receiving entries, which is great news! Entries prior to 21 Feb are £30, and it's £35 thereafter. For some reason, most people last year entered quite late and therefore £30 is the same as those people paid last year. Please do enter as soon as possible, as (a) it makes my life a lot easier in terms of working out table-numbers to order and room-layouts, and (b) I would rather not be taking the extra £5 off you!

When paying by Paypal please could you makej sure that you make use of the notes facility so that it is absolutely clear to us who you are and what theme you are entering. On the payment by Paypal section, you need to seperately order 1 set of entry (+ however-many nights' single or twin accommodation) for each entrant (you can't order multiple entries and accomodation for you and several mates, although of course there is nothing to stop one person paying for several different entries).

Before clicking on Pay Now in the Paypal section, you should see a “add specal instructions to the seller” button. Click on that, and type something like “[your name], FOGN, twin with [your mate]. [your normal e-mail address]”.

The correct e-mail address for each player in the notes field is critical as the email addresses people use for their Paypal is very often wildly different to their actual name - as well as players paying for other individuals!

Once you've done that, click Pay Now, and the job’s a good’un.

Cheers,

Tim

[TimChild]

I am delighted to be able to confirm some of the pre-action Friday fun for this year's Challenge.

We will be having a Saga competition this year (details to be published shortly, but pretty similar to the format at Warfare, but with the new factions added). For those that either haven't yet experienced Saga, or can't get enough of it (and there are a lot of those!), Ian Mackay will be hosting demonstration and participation games on Friday. Saga is a really entertaining Dark Ages skirmish wargame using 25mm figures and plenty of opportunity to play on pretty terrain. The battleboard system is innovative (for figure-gaming - keen boardgamers may have come across similar concepts) and really challenging, providing an ultimately simple and very quickly-learned game but with with huge scope for player-skill and real flavour for each different type of nation. WAR is rapidly becoming addicted and I hope to be able to bring my Welsh to the party for at least a game or two on the Friday morning.

And (drum roll please) ... scramble, scramble as Biggles will be once again be gracing the air on the Friday at Challenge. Chris Hanley has confirmed that he will be able to come, providing us with the thrills and spills of WW1 aerial dogfighting at its dramatic (and chaotic) best. I have been carrying the pilot record for Oberleutenant Karl Menckoff (currently with four confirmed kills to his record) in my wallet for nearly a year, waiting for the chance to leap into action again! For the as-yet-unitiated, Chris's "Biggles Flies Unzipped" is a thing of joy, one of the undoubted highlights of my wargaming year.

[TimChild]

Great to see so many people at Burton this weekend, even if a lot of the Hellos were restricted to a smile across a crowded room!

An urgent reminder to get your entries for Challenge in quick - the £30 entry fee rises to £35 after 20th February. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Tim

[TimChild]

We are beginning to be pressured about numbers for the on-site accomodation at LVS Hassocks. There are fewer berths at Hasocks that we normally have available at Ascot. Players who who need accomodation should please book quickly.

Tim

[terrys]

We could still do with an extra couple of players for FOGN at the challenge - anyone thinkging of entering but haven't as yet, can you register asap.

If anyone is missing units - or even an entire army for use at the Challenge contact me - I have a good selection of armies but obviously will only be taking one!

[davidandlynda]

Terry
I will be umpiring the FOGAM,but if it is anything like last year then I may be able to fill a space,you'd have to bring a whole spare army.Of course with it being V2 ,I will probably have loads of calls.so view me as a last resort
David

[terrys]

I will be umpiring the FOGAM,but if it is anything like last year then I may be able to fill a space,you'd have to bring a whole spare army.Of course with it being V2 ,I will probably have loads of calls.so view me as a last resort

If Burton was anything to go by there may not be that manu calls over and above the norm. The changes in version 2 aren't that radical.

[TimChild]

Final call for entries - closing date is 21 March, at which point we need to finalise the orders for tables, rooms etc.

Anyone dithering, swithering or generally still conducting negotiations with better halves - please buy her that box of chocolates now and get your entry in!

Cheers,

Tim Child
www.bhgs.org.uk

[TimChild]

Hi guys,

Just to remind you that the Challenge venue is open from Friday for you to gather your wits and your friends and take on all comers.

Ian Mackay et al will be running some Saga try-out games, so those of you yet to experience the joys of Saga (wargames, not cruises...) can have a taste of this particular new brand of wargaming addiction!

Chris Hanley will also be running his Biggles game, which is an annual highlight for those who have played it in the past.

The tables will be laid out, and you can play pick-ups, practices and anything else that takes your fancy.


On the Saturday, like last year we intend to offer a cold buffet spread for those not going out (just Saturday – Friday night is going out night! ). The halls will be open and available for gaming – last year people produced board games and card games and any other sort of games for a chance to pull some golden oldies and old favourites out and enjoy them in the company of your mates.

It would be very helpful to me if people could please let me know a.s.a.p. whether they will want the Saturday night buffet, in an effort to avoid too much over- or under-catering. Cost will be a few quid, somewhat dependent upon how much take-up I have!

And, of course, the BHGS fully-licensed beer fridge will be available throughout the weekend, while stocks last...

Cheers, and look forward to hearing from you,

Tim Child

[TimChild]

Hi All,

I've had a query about local eateries etc for the Challenge (for Friday night, obviously, as you'll all be staying in and playing board games on Saturday ).

There's only one that's very local - a pub just up the road in the village. The school has quite a long drive - it's a good 10 minute walk, or 15 minute amble, I would guess, from the main school buildings to the pub itself. Emma and I had lunch there when we were checking the place out and it was perfectly acceptable. Nothing special, not that cheap, not that dear. No idea what it's like on a Friday or Sunday night, though - we were there on a working-day lunchtime, the week before Warfare.

http://www.thedukesayerscommon.co.uk/

If you are driving/being chauffeured, at Hickstead (one stop up the A23) there's a pub that has a "Shanghai Brasserie", the Castle Inn - http://www.thecastleinnhickstead.eu/index.html.

Slightly further away (but by the time you're car-sharing not enough to make any difference), there is Burgess Hill to the east, which has all the usual amenities, or Brighton and Hove to the South - head down the A23 and follow it into Brighton and you will find somewhere. In the centre of Brighton the nightlife can be extremely cosmopolitan. and I used to work there, 15 years ago, and have very fond memories of some of the restuarants in the Lanes. There was an Indian on the Lewes Road (probably long gone now) where I had the nicest Lamb Rogan Josh I have ever had.

Tim

[TimChild]

Final arrangements being made...

Unfortunately, Ian Mackay has had to pull out of the event, which means that the SAGA demos that he had been going to put on are now rather more restricted. I will have my Welsh with me, and Tom Frankland will be arriving some time during Friday, at which point the boyos will be available to anyone who would like to borrow them to have a bash at SAGA.

This of course makes no difference to any other arrangements anyone was planning - the tables will be up, clothed and yours to enjoy yourselves upon in any fashion your fancy may (reasonably) take you. Last year, as well as pickup games there were various other one-offs happening, and of course it would be an opportunity to get the dust and rust off any board games that you may have brought with you for the Saturday night.

I have had a couple of queries about arrangements when you get to LVS Hassocks - where to park, how to get in, etc. It's a much smaller site that LVS Ascot so you won't have any problems. The driveway leads into the main school area and there are only two main doors. I hope that we will have the doors open at the top of the main flight of stairs that leads to the hall where the FOG AM and FOG N will be, but it's all off one initial courtyard.

In case you need directions, the postcode is BN6 9HT. If you aren’t Satnav.ed:-

• Heading South down the A23 you turn off the A23 where you see a sign saying “Hurstpierpoint, Albourne, Henfield B2118” (there is a tiny little sign underneath the main one, saying “Sayers Common”).
• Follow the slip road around, over the main road, until you reach a roundabout, where you turn left “Hurstpierpoint, Albourne, Henfield B2118, Sayers Common”
• You are now in Sayers Common. Follow the road along and the entrance to LVS is the first major driveway on the right (it is signposted LVS Hassocks quite clearly)
• Go up the school drive to the main school entrance, park in the car park and come in through what is likely to be the only obvious entry!

All the accomodation blocks are under one roof within the main school building, albeit that the FOG R and FOW competitions themselves will be in portacabin classrooms just out the back. I hope that you all enjoy it when you get there - it's a very interesting building (a former abbey!) and I am keeping my fingers crossed for fine weather to enjoy the countryside views around.

Cheers,

Tim

[donm]

Not seen any results for this or am I just blind?

Don

PS. Off to have my eyes tested this morning.

[TimChild]

Just looking in the wrong place Don - see http://www.bhgs.org.uk/news.html.

We put a note up on our Facebook page to let people know - please do "Like" that if you're on FB, as it will help us to keep everyone in touch. https://www.facebook.com/TheBHGS?ref=hl

Cheers,

Tim