Martin Mayers
Elder Member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2008
- Messages
- 4,571
- Reaction score
- 1,991
- Location
- The Gulag
- First name
- Gulagwanker
- Country
-
A copy of the circular I've just sent out. If there is anyone on here whom wishes adding to the contacts list, please message me your email address and I shall make it so...
Hi everyone. I hope you are all well and will forgive me for the delay in my follow up email. It's been a busy time involving the birth of a grand child, LOTS of testing for the tournament, the creation of a website, organising sponsorship/prizes, and so forth. Hopefully I cover everything by way of the following update. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to message back.
Website
The address is Bounding (First) Fire Blackpool
It's amazing. And I truly wish I could claim the kudos for creating it. But I am utterly useless with IT. Whereas my co-organiser Simon Staniforth has far too much time on his hands, and created this from scratch (thank you Simon !).
We'll gradually populate this with further details of the tournament, including prizes, rules, an outline of the tourney scenarios, 'the accounts' etc. In short it's an ongoing work in progress and I urge you to check in on occasion and see what's going on.
Registration
We currently have around 15 people now registered, most of whom have booked their rooms. Registration details on the website (Registration details).
The early bird discount remains in place until the end of September £10, as opposed to £15 at the tourney.
I urge as many as possible to take advantage of the five quid saving as there will be a brief draw prior to tourney commencement for all those whom did, and the prize will be meaningful. The winner WILL be happy that they took the effort to cough up early!
The reason I'm pushing this is that Simon and I have made some fairly significant financial outlays along the way (web design/hire costs, postage charges for tournament prizes, the MAIN tournament prize, etc.) It saves considerable earache from my better half if I'm funding such stuff from subs already paid. Simple as that. We are taking no money whatsoever from subs for ourselves. Every penny paid in, will fund this and future tournaments (hence the 'accounting' page referenced above).
It goes without saying we need good attendance. Charles literally opens his doors just for us guys and, as I'm sure those who attend Blackpool regularly know, goes above and beyond to accommodate our requirements and look after us. I cannot over-exaggerate how nice it is to have the 'run of the hotel' sans-any other guests. We need to reciprocate by filling his coffers as it's a very busy and popular hotel and I know he could easily fill it on a weekend with stags and hens, Blackpool being, ahem, Blackpool.
Rules
These will be put up on the website in the next couple of weeks. We don't intend to make these too onerous but we do want to follow the overseas lead of a more structured set of rules for the tournament including time limits for play. There are a significant number of prizes on offer for this one and we'd like the tourney to finish on time (mid day Sunday) to ensure that all attendees are there for presentations. The only way to guarantee this is to avoid slippage. That's our driver. Plus, it's ultimately fair(er) and avoids those testy situations Saturday evening when one player wants to go out for a meal, or have a few beers, and t'other wishes to finish the scenario which was started six hours earlier
.
Structure
Yet again, more detail is available on the website (you'll be beginning to feel a theme developing here !).
But the tournament will be many layered and will include :
I've tried to ensure everyone on the UK scene is included in this circular. If anyone knows of anyone I should add to the list, could they please confirm their email addresses? Thanks. I'll also be messaging these updates on Gamesquad, Facebook, Boardgamegeek, and the like. If anyone knows of any other websites, ASL related, which I can 'spam' with all this information, please confirm.
Any Other Business
Feel free, at absolutely any point, to provide your comments and structured feedback, suggestions, criticism etc. Always remembering that Simon and I are new at this
I'd also really appreciate it, even if you do not intend to formally register just yet if you could come back to me confirming your intention to attend. Again, along the themes of ensuring that we are going to have the numbers and enabling us to structure the tournament in advance, rather than on the fly (I could explain...but it's complicated).
I'm also interested in anyone who might fancy some Starter Kit play. I've had a number of enquiries specifically asking about this (and from people I've never come across before which is uplifting for the future of the hobby!) and of course, if feasible, I'm keen to try and welcome new blood to the tournament. Yet, I don't want to go back to people and say "yeah, course you'll be able to find opponents" if that's simply not the case.
I hope everything is in order. If I've missed anything important I'll fill in on future emails.
Kind regards and see you all in November.....
M
Hi everyone. I hope you are all well and will forgive me for the delay in my follow up email. It's been a busy time involving the birth of a grand child, LOTS of testing for the tournament, the creation of a website, organising sponsorship/prizes, and so forth. Hopefully I cover everything by way of the following update. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to message back.
Website
The address is Bounding (First) Fire Blackpool
It's amazing. And I truly wish I could claim the kudos for creating it. But I am utterly useless with IT. Whereas my co-organiser Simon Staniforth has far too much time on his hands, and created this from scratch (thank you Simon !).
We'll gradually populate this with further details of the tournament, including prizes, rules, an outline of the tourney scenarios, 'the accounts' etc. In short it's an ongoing work in progress and I urge you to check in on occasion and see what's going on.
Registration
We currently have around 15 people now registered, most of whom have booked their rooms. Registration details on the website (Registration details).
The early bird discount remains in place until the end of September £10, as opposed to £15 at the tourney.
I urge as many as possible to take advantage of the five quid saving as there will be a brief draw prior to tourney commencement for all those whom did, and the prize will be meaningful. The winner WILL be happy that they took the effort to cough up early!
The reason I'm pushing this is that Simon and I have made some fairly significant financial outlays along the way (web design/hire costs, postage charges for tournament prizes, the MAIN tournament prize, etc.) It saves considerable earache from my better half if I'm funding such stuff from subs already paid. Simple as that. We are taking no money whatsoever from subs for ourselves. Every penny paid in, will fund this and future tournaments (hence the 'accounting' page referenced above).
It goes without saying we need good attendance. Charles literally opens his doors just for us guys and, as I'm sure those who attend Blackpool regularly know, goes above and beyond to accommodate our requirements and look after us. I cannot over-exaggerate how nice it is to have the 'run of the hotel' sans-any other guests. We need to reciprocate by filling his coffers as it's a very busy and popular hotel and I know he could easily fill it on a weekend with stags and hens, Blackpool being, ahem, Blackpool.
Rules
These will be put up on the website in the next couple of weeks. We don't intend to make these too onerous but we do want to follow the overseas lead of a more structured set of rules for the tournament including time limits for play. There are a significant number of prizes on offer for this one and we'd like the tourney to finish on time (mid day Sunday) to ensure that all attendees are there for presentations. The only way to guarantee this is to avoid slippage. That's our driver. Plus, it's ultimately fair(er) and avoids those testy situations Saturday evening when one player wants to go out for a meal, or have a few beers, and t'other wishes to finish the scenario which was started six hours earlier
.Structure
Yet again, more detail is available on the website (you'll be beginning to feel a theme developing here !).
But the tournament will be many layered and will include :
- Friendly pay (of course)
- Battleschool Minis - Beginning on Thursday. Thematic. They will continue to run through the entire weekend, therefore allowing people who chose, or could not, enter the main tournament, to engage in more competitive play. Sponsored by Battleschool dice who have kindly provided prizes (photos and details on the website).
- Bounding Fire Tournament - The main event. Sponsored by our very generous friends at Bounding Fire Publications across the pond. 2 Rounds on Friday and Saturday. The final played Saturday morning. All five scenarios unpublished but fully play tested for inclusion in future BFP releases. You guys are the first people outside the play test teams to ever play these scenarios (which feature at least one completely new board). All for some truly amazing prizes. Please keep an eye on the website as Simon will be posting up pictures of the prizes on offer over the next few days. I'm tempted to post pictures here, but I want to drive traffic to the website
- Starter Kit tutoring/tournament - Unconfirmed as yet, but I have a tentative offer from someone to offer tutoring, or potentially even a formalised mini-tournament, based on SK rules if there is interest in this. More meat on the bones required on this and updates will be posted in due course.
- Surprises - There will be a number throughout the weekend. For example, a one-off scenario for general play "whenever", with prizes provided to us by the scenario designer. A little bit 'left field', but.... More on this in due course
- Second Chance Games will be setting their stall up at some point over the weekend.
I've tried to ensure everyone on the UK scene is included in this circular. If anyone knows of anyone I should add to the list, could they please confirm their email addresses? Thanks. I'll also be messaging these updates on Gamesquad, Facebook, Boardgamegeek, and the like. If anyone knows of any other websites, ASL related, which I can 'spam' with all this information, please confirm.
Any Other Business
Feel free, at absolutely any point, to provide your comments and structured feedback, suggestions, criticism etc. Always remembering that Simon and I are new at this
I'd also really appreciate it, even if you do not intend to formally register just yet if you could come back to me confirming your intention to attend. Again, along the themes of ensuring that we are going to have the numbers and enabling us to structure the tournament in advance, rather than on the fly (I could explain...but it's complicated).
I'm also interested in anyone who might fancy some Starter Kit play. I've had a number of enquiries specifically asking about this (and from people I've never come across before which is uplifting for the future of the hobby!) and of course, if feasible, I'm keen to try and welcome new blood to the tournament. Yet, I don't want to go back to people and say "yeah, course you'll be able to find opponents" if that's simply not the case.
I hope everything is in order. If I've missed anything important I'll fill in on future emails.
Kind regards and see you all in November.....
M