Roll Call 2014 and Challenge 2014

[madaxeman]

Topic of conversation for the bar this weekend - what themes for these two events (as we now almost have dates ready to announce)?

[petedalby]

Well traditionally Challenge is an open event and a warm up for the worlds and personally I would prefer to see that format retained.

I'm looking forward to seeing how a smaller table works at Britcon this weekend and that could be something to replicate at Roll Call?

[madaxeman]

Well traditionally Challenge is an open event and a warm up for the worlds and personally I would prefer to see that format retained.

I'm looking forward to seeing how a smaller table works at Britcon this weekend and that could be something to replicate at Roll Call?

The Worlds will be the weekend after Britcon next year in Germany...

[babyshark]

The Worlds will be the weekend after Britcon next year in Germany...

Do we know those dates for sure? The sooner I can lock in dates with my wife the more likely it is that I can go.

Marc

[petedalby]

Do we know those dates for sure? The sooner I can lock in dates with my wife the more likely it is that I can go.

I'm glad it's not just me....I believe they are both confirmed Marc - they are certainly on my 2014 calendar.

Britcon will be the 8th to the 10th August and Germany will be the following weekend.

This is a link to Martin's post for Germany

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=42720

And if we haven't upset him too much I'm sure Tim will confirm the Britcon dates for 2014?

[petedalby]

The Worlds will be the weekend after Britcon next year in Germany...

I know...but the Challenge is the only other totally open competition - everything else is themed - hence it's a good practice for Germany which I believe will also be open?

[AlanCutner]

I'm with Pete on this. I probably won't get to do Britcon next year if I'm going to be in Germany the following weekend. So I will probably aim to do the Challenge instead.

[davidandlynda]

A further question could be , do you want Britcon next year to be open as well
David

[petedalby]

A further question could be , do you want Britcon next year to be open as well

Personally - no - I prefer the 2 periods as is.

[madaxeman]

I guess an open Challenge allows lists to be road tested in time to be changed!

[petedalby]

I guess an open Challenge allows lists to be road tested in time to be changed!

Spot on Tim.

This weekend is an ideal opportunity to canvass opinions though. Not everyone frequents this forum.

Hope Britcon is a blinding success by the way. And thanks again for stepping up.

[hazelbark]

A further question could be , do you want Britcon next year to be open as well

Personally - no - I prefer the 2 periods as is.

No change in year break between them?

[petedalby]

I thought the smaller tables worked well at Britcon and this is something I would like to see repeated at Roll Call please. It made for less poncing about and more fighting. So more points and less space would be even better. No strong preference on Roll Call theme as long as its nothing too obscure. For Challenge please keep it open and on 6 x 4 tables.

The Ancients period at Britcon appeared to be dominated by Knights. Maybe the cut-off date should be changed to move all Armoured Knights into the Medieval period? Dave Ruddock proved they can still live with HvA Knights and Swiss!

[philqw78]

Small tables reduce the effectiveness of cavalry armies. More points (900) on 6x4 would even that out.

As for the period split. Armoured Knights appeared to me the better chioce for a pre 1066. And Dave certainly showed they can work in the later period (he is a jammy bugger though). Their problem previously was a lack of manoeuver meaning they used to just wait to get picked on, whereas now they have more choice of place and time.

Choosing for the next Britcon and breaking periods of time down and very generally

Pre 700BC, armour is rare
700-400BC Pike, legions and lancers haven't appeared yet
400BC-400AD All of the above are available in abundance
400-1000AD armour becomes less likely, but armoured drilled Bow sw cav pop up all over
1000-1150 Armoured knights get on the scene
1150+ HA Knights and longbow

But to pick a time period for Britcon needs to get two where everyone owns an army in at least 1 of them.

So perhaps we should do away with time periods or campaign themes and just go on troop type/capabilities. Something like

Any army, any date with the following restrictions
No more than 8 bases of armoured troops
No Heavily armoured troops
No pikes
No more than 3 BG of mounted except chariots. (As many chariots as allowed in the list)

[titanu]

The sooner I can lock in dates with my wife...
Marc

Dates with your wife!?

[madaxeman]

Couple more thoughts for you all:

If we can get hold of some smaller tables to be "end caps" for where the tables in the main room are currently staggered due to the pillars, it would allow us to make a run of 26 or 27 feet on half the rows, rather than the current 24. If the table size was kept at 5' for one or more periods that's maybe another 12/14 players in the main room, or even more if it went down to 27/6= 4'6". Clearly 5' is do-able, but 4'6" sounds too small to me...is it?

Given the proximity of The Worlds, how about 1 open period at Britcon and one date-themed? Or would the handful of people who care about these things anticipate taking the same army to both anyway, and just play in date theme at Britcon
As otherwise it actually might get too boring to play a dozen open games in 2 weeks against possibly the same players!

[kevinj]

I think the Ancient/Medieval split is probably right for Britcon, it's essentially 2 open periods that both happen to use the same set of rules. Moving the split to exclude armoured knights (1000AD?) from the early period sounds right though.

As for the Worlds, Martin said that they would go to 2 periods for Fog AM if they get sufficient numbers, which would make running just 1 a bit pointless.

[babyshark]

The sooner I can lock in dates with my wife...
Marc

Dates with your wife!?

I would cheerfully go on dates with other women, but the wife gets fussy. As a result, I am limited to dates with her.

Marc

[babyshark]

Couple more thoughts for you all:

If we can get hold of some smaller tables to be "end caps" for where the tables in the main room are currently staggered due to the pillars, it would allow us to make a run of 26 or 27 feet on half the rows, rather than the current 24. If the table size was kept at 5' for one or more periods that's maybe another 12/14 players in the main room, or even more if it went down to 27/6= 4'6". Clearly 5' is do-able, but 4'6" sounds too small to me...is it?

Given the proximity of The Worlds, how about 1 open period at Britcon and one date-themed? Or would the handful of people who care about these things anticipate taking the same army to both anyway, and just play in date theme at Britcon
As otherwise it actually might get too boring to play a dozen open games in 2 weeks against possibly the same players!

There may be a significant number of players coming from far away places to take advantage of the confluence of Britcon and The Worlds. Carrying multiple armies across oceans is a real drag at the best of times, and often worse than that.

As a result, I vote for Britcon being one open and one themed period. That reduces the need for multiple armies.

Marc

[petedalby]

Carrying multiple armies across oceans is a real drag at the best of times, and often worse than that.

I'm sure we could lend you and other travellers the necessary figures if the decision is made to retain Britcon in its traditional format.

As otherwise it actually might get too boring to play a dozen open games in 2 weeks against possibly the same players!

And I think Tim makes an excellent point.