Hut 9

Brill!

Is it worth putting Evo on the booking list since he has 'paid'?

I spoke to Keith at the weekend and he asked if he would get a discount for bringing the car. I was very evasive saying we didn't have enough to cover the game costs blah blah but I'm sure he will bring the car anyway as it is just down the A1 and he might as well use the bloody thing than have it sat in the garage! However, perhaps we can review things later to see if we have the funds to offer something since Evo has a free place (although Keith doesn't know obviously).

Yes, good idea. I'll add him.

FYI, five more bookings and we'll be in the black for this event outright.

Taking forward profit from Grafton we only need two more bookings.

Good news. We just need those Brit's! It's doable with less Germans but, the Brit's need the boots on the ground.

I think we will be OK - there is the rest of Craig's lot plus the swinger pair etc.

By the way, didn't Chris just say £35 per head or did he specify numbers or a site charge?

Nope, just £35 per head.

I see we're getting there slowly but surely with the Brit's. I can only think of ramsey and gadge who said they were booking but, haven't yet paid. That still leaves us 4 short of the 15 we need. Have I missed any, or, any ideas where we get the rest from?

I don't want to write up a full game plan until I know we have a game, to be honest.

I think we'll get there. We should see some bookings come in after Pavlov's House as people enjoy themselves and look to the next opportunities.

I'm also going to see if we can get a few of the guys from Flying Lead along. They're Gunman regulars who also really enjoy the role playing side of things. This event is great for them! Problem is the Gunman Forum is like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Well, pretty miserable bookings so far but I'm sure we will get there. As Steve says, games to get out of the way before booking for the next one. Ramsay's wife is ill so I can see why he can't commit far ahead. Rob and Keith are still planning on coming. Martin Sole has now dropped out of airsoft all together. I'm worried about new boy Nurglitch - he was asking as he is portraying Polish could he slaughter a German out of sight of everyone. I told him this is Britain and he would be facing a murder charge and capital punishment - no way to end a war.

I suggest we don't put any more effort into game planning/prep until the cut off date of 15th May and then have another site meeting and get the plan locked down. (Of course earlier if we get a flurry of 10 or 15 players booking).

I see Gunman's Cold War game was only lightly attended - 12 on one side 10 on the other, including refs/organisers/marshals. Hardly a commercial success. Flying Lead upcoming - 20 players including refs/organisers/marshals. NAM - none yet advertised for 2013. Fallout - possibly one game planned for 2013. Silent War - none yet advertised for 2013, looks abandoned. G2 Battlefieldsim - none yet advertised for 2013, looks abandoned.

Contrast:
Pavlov's House - 23 booked, excluding staff
Crete - 49 booked, excluding staff
Hut 9 - 14 booked, excluding staff
Behind the Lines - 2 booked, excluding staff
Luga River Line - none booked, excluding staff
Battle of Lenino - 5 booked, excluding staff

Conclusion?
Josh is piss-poor at concentrating on a project and motivating players (and can't be making much money, if I was doing it for a living I'd be quadrupling his turnover!).
There are very limited numbers of players attending any sort of game genre - twenty paying punters is achievable.
Players are booking VERY late.
Get a date 'wrong', restrict play style, lose a group - means almost certain cancellation as there is no slack any more.

Josh makes up for it by charging stupid prices though! He's let gadge get too involved with a lot of stuff too, something I think he realised when I last spoke to him. For Hut 9, I was very clear to gadge that his was not a command role!

For myself, I will not be booking onto any games where dadio and/or hanschen klein are booked, because they are a pair of prize tools (and there seem to be a lot of those about these days!). To be honest, I'm not really interested in anyone else's brand of WW2 airsoft these days, for a number of reasons. The fact that we hold true to putting on the events that WE would want to play, to me, is the only thing that keeps me interested in the genre now, because all of the stuff other people are doing has already been done by CiA in the past.

The reason that "crete" has a healthy amount of bookings is because of the site. If we ran Hut 9 at Drakelow, UCAP tunnels or, another gimmicky site, we'd fill it immediately. That's something I'll never be willing to do for the sake of bums on seats. Too many organisers sell themselves out just to get numbers.

Looking at the players for Crete, I suspect that it will be a c&c nightmare, as most of the "organisers" seem to want to run around in FJ kit! After Hut 9, there's not a single game on the calendar that piques my interest!

Don't forget that some of Josh's games cost him next to nothing to run too as he has contracts in place on the sites.

Flying Lead is a low numbers event, but he doesn't really spend anything on it beyond what he's originally organised. The players bring everything to that.

I think he's on a bit of a downer at the moment at home too, which isn't helping his business.