Hello Everyone...
Happy New Year!
10/1 You might recall that I informed you that we were about to change the
way that turns are funded. The software has now been written for that so
for those based in North America we'll be using US$ for those in
NZ/Australia AUS$ and for anywhere else in UK Pounds. (For now we want to
see how the Euro works before we work on which country uses Euros and which
does not).
Prices:
UK: S/Up �10 (R+M), Rules, Map or S/Up �5. Turn Cost �3.90
US: US$15, US$8, US$5.90
AUS$: AUS$30, AU$15, AU$11.70
I am going to start informing everyone at the start of next week but just
thought that I would get the ball rolling here. Then we'll change all funds
to the appropriate settings on the Monday 28th January. All payments made
to us will be converted to the appropriate currency. We're hoping this will
help bring in a more international player base.
On another point the auto-input and MEOW (Middle Earth Order Writer) are now
in the playtest stage - we'll keep you informed. We're hoping this will
mean big benefits for all.
The following new games are filling up (note please ask for variant games we
can try to get you opposition for them if you are interested - mostly Grudge
teams though - if I get 10 players for any single type of game then I will
put it up for general availability below and push it):
Bofa: [Game 9] 2wk turnaround game: 10 turn game: 2 nations taken.
1650 2wk [Game 101]: Available - 12, 17-18, 25
1650 1wk [Game 132] Send me a LIST of nations - when I get to 25 players I
will allocate the positions - 17 positions taken so far (Note 95% of players
get their 1st choice) This is a 2 nation game (ie you can choose 2 nations
to play of the same alignment [not for Neutrals]. You are still able to
play one nation if you want to.)
2950 2wk [Game 230]: Postal and email game. 5 nations taken. See Game 132
for how to join (1 nation game though).
1000 2wk [Game 143]: Normal game - only one nation per alignment allowed
+20% kid/ass SNA (subject to player approval). 2 nations taken.
Grudge Games we need opposition for:
2950: 1 FP team Chris Lewis, 1 FP Team Ray U
1000: 1 team of 9-12 player team (any alignment - most formats accepted)
David Ruzic, 1 team Brian
1650: 1 World Championship team, 1 team Brian, 1 team Ray U
WoTR: None Last Alliance: None
I have drop-outs available - don't forget you get a free turn for taking
these up...
E [Early] = 0-10 turn, M (Midgame]= 11-20, L [Late game] = 21+
1000: None
2950: Rhun Easterlings (e)
1650: Witch King (e), Ice King (m), Dun (e), Dun (m)
28/12 FTF game: Okay the panic is over, calmness has descended and the FTF
was an unqualified success. Excellent fun was had by all I think. Thanks
to all of you that made it a success. We finally managed to get a 12vs12
game going which was great fun. An honourable draw was agreed at the end on
turn 12. Watch out for a report of this game in Bree. 2wks to wait for
your turn will never seem the same again.
With that in mind I asked what I could do to improve the next one.
1) Set the date earlier? Okay it's Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th December
2002. I'll take names as and when you want to put your name down for it.
We'll organise positions for you all nearer the time.
2) Reduce the number of players running two nations. Will do - this is all
down to getting more players here.
3) Send out 0th turns earlier BUT I also had players asking for turns and
teams to be decided on the day. I have some thoughts on this but wonder
what you think?
4) Variant to the normal game? Quite possible.
5) Game in June/July? I'll think about this. We're running the Copenhagen
game mid January (some of the Christmas players are coming along to this
now) so I'll wait until that has been completed before we go any further on
planning that one.
My preferences: I would like to have a GM on each side. As I only played
one nation (QA and enjoyed it enormously - thanks Dave for being a sporting
Corsair and Tom - Harad in particular - here for a fast introduction to the
world of DS) on the day it meant that I had some spare time to chat to
players and keep things ticking along but felt that the FP had suffered.
The FPs suffered from a lack of spare experienced players I felt on the
day - and we had a surfeit of them... 
Thanks for the Bristol lot for the Cognac, Chris C for the introduction to
Indian meals, and the whole shebang who paid for us on Saturday.. very
tasty... (Thanks also to the lads for sorting my books out! The
library is now open....)
Okay enough of that - I enjoyed it - more fun than the one we run 2 years
ago and we leant a lot of lessons....
Thanks
Clint
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