Are we all happy to book the site?
I must admit as I drove home last night I struggled to see how a game would work bit I feel rather more confident now.
Whether the game ends up as Russian Front or something else I'm happy to go ahead.
If everyone else is could you contact Jamie Stephen? Mid to late January seems ideal.
He charges £30 for non-members and £25 for members and this includes a meal.
I'm happy at £25 a head and charging £35 on the basis of a minimum of 40 paying punters. This would yield a minimum of £1000 for Jamie and £300 for us.
This game WILL be prop cost heavy - largely signs, posters, flags & banners and to be honest £300 might leave us short.
One thing might be to ask punters to Paypal as a gift - I have no idea how Paypal monitor this but I do know that as a gift the sender has no redress. Anyway, if its possible then that would give us an extra seventy or eighty quid.
Charging £37 isn't psychologically much more than £35 but it is £80 more for us.
Anyhoo, if we are all happy then could we see if we can book the site for £25 a head for 40 players minimum. Food-wise I'd say hot soup and bread would be cheap and easy for F&O and appropriate to the scenario.
Food wise, I'd say get them to bring their own!!
We could charge £40 for this I reckon.
We do have a bit in the kitty at the moment. £474.66 to be precise.
One advantage of providing simple food is it forces a break (for us as well as them), fills their bellies (when otherwise they might not bother) and it is half an hour less gaming to worry about!
Not fussed a great deal either way - just points to consider...
As long as we grip them over the length of the meal time, it would be ok. Any more than half an hour just eats into the game. I personally don't think stopping the game to eat is a good thing but can see Daves' point about having a break.
Given the nature of the site and the game, £35 is more than fair. Get people to pay it as a gift and then we're not posting up the psychological barrier of £40. It's way better value than the PBI game at the same cost.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
The break doesn't have to be site-wide - as players die or get recalled is OK, and thus staggered and the 'game' doesn't stop. The reality is that chaps make their own break anyway - a longer chat in regen usually!
I finally got my hands on a 2010 diary today and my free weekends in January are 9th/10th and 23rd/24th. (Assuming I'm not retasked to another wing and hence, another shift pattern! But, regardless, my weekend off should remain the same).
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
I'm good for 9/10, 16/17, 23/24.
9/10 seems like a decent date at the moment.
S
I'm fine on any date - I'll give myself time off!
However, my preference would be for later rather than earlier January and for that reason, give the above availability I'm plumping for 23rd/24th.
* In Robert Robinson's voice - Ah, tish tish Mr Warner, plumping once again, it will be the end of you I fear... *
You're only suggesting that to piss off Gadge even more! 
Nah, honest. Its the furthest date away from Christmas that you can attend and STILL a month away from the PBI game.
Hah! Steve D just PMd me to let me know about the great site that F&O had in Kidderminster.
I told him we'd noticed it already....
Any of those dates is OK for me.
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Can I suggest even if we don't want to make a firm date just this minute that we nonetheless contact Jamie thanking for his time, tell him what a great site he has and that we want to use it as soon as we can and we are currently sorting ourselves out. Just to be polite.
And just in case Gadge is a complete tit and decides to jump in with an early game there!
Will do, I'll call him later. Will discuss money at the same time.
Hmmm, potential problem.
He's not sure about being able to give us a decent fee for only 40-50 players.
He was surprised we'd opted for a Russian game and was expecting us to get 80 or so in.
The very high site hire and overheads for their travel need to be covered. He did mention that they might be able to do it for £5 less than their green fee for more players.
He's going to get back to me.
S
Hmmm, the age old problem of non-woodland sites. Oh well, lets see what happens.
Quick calculation: if he charges us £30 with no food then he will be making more money than usual. Forty players gives him £1200 less travel cost and the bung to one other member of staff. Our staff needs are just to open site and be responsible for F&O H&S and BB sales. No more than that, so cheap as far as variable costs go. As to the amount he pays for the site, well I dunno whether he pays per day or for site rent but he must be making money from £1200 earned for no effort.
Even if we have to charge £45 for the game I'm sure it's uniquness we carry us through. Hell, although it would be a tad more work for us we could allow two or three stage payments as a concession to the skint!
Still, even if we ran an Allied vs German here is no way in hell we would get 80 players, even if the cost was £20! (Not that we would want 80 players)
He was surprised we'd opted for a Russian game and was expecting us to get 80 or so in.
That just proves that he wasn't listening to us then, what with stories about Oswald and all that. I don't know him as well as the rest of you but he seems a bit puffed up and full of himself. They seemed to be managing to turn a profit with the 50 that he had on sunday, considering that he had marshalls to pay as well, so I really don't see what he means. Add pyro, bb and snack sales on top and it's hard to see his problem.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
Jamie is always like that - babbling away (inaudibly most of the time) and doesn't listen to a word you say!
OK.
Here's the rub.
Jamie needs the day to provide £1200. He needs to be on site for all the safety requirements (meaning he can't run a game at another site) and they need to have marshalls in attendance for H&S. He did say that those people could be us, so that's an option which could bring the cost down, but he'd prefer to have his guys there (so he can line their pockets I'm sure).
He offered us the site at £20 per player based on 60 players. I said it was more likely we'd get 40 players, 50 at most. He'd be happy with £30 per player with 40 players or £24 per player for 50. Whichever gets us to the £1200 figure. That would include food IIRC.
Hell, although it would be a tad more work for us we could allow two or three stage payments as a concession to the skint!
A tad more work for me you mean..... 
My preferred option in this case would be 50% non-refundable deposit to stake a place, balance due one week before the event. Anyone who's still got airsoft on their list of priorities can afford £20.
I don't know him as well as the rest of you but he seems a bit puffed up and full of himself.
It's the first time I'd met him and my first impression was, "What a dick". He actually said on the phone that he wants to get in on the CiA action. When I first arrived on Sunday he was asking what we were doing for the anniversary game at Matlock this year. I reminded him that CiA have never organised an anniversary game at Matlock....
On the phone he said, "If you organise a bigger game at one of our other sites we might reduce the cost for this one". I remembered Autumn Mist, and shuddered.
Thoughts?
My opinion is that I should go back with a compromise of £1000 site hire for 40 players with us as H&S marshalls.
