Auckland Wargaming Club

After some discussion, the committee have decided to give evening meetings another go. Thursday has been chosen by default (the only other evening the hall was free was Friday - erm NO!). Fridays were tried - and failed. The meetings will be held on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month from February until the end of June. The first meeting will be Thursday 17 February and the meetings will be from 1900 - 2300 (7pm - 11pm).

As Treasurer I wish to extend my personal thanks to all of the club members who have paid their 2011 subs already. To date we have received no fewer than 12 full membership subs. This is an outstanding effort - and an extremely positive response to the challenges laid down at the Annual General Meeting in December.

To those of you who have stepped up already - hats off to you. To those who will be paying in the near future - my advanced thanks. This is exactly the way we needed to begin the year. We still need a few more people to send in their fees to ensure that we break even for the year - but I can see that this will happen earlier than ever before.

The AWC’s Lasalle Napoleonic Tournament in 15mm scale is due to start soon. It has yet to be confirmed if players will get 1 or 2 Support options – but looks most likely just one for this initial competition (as many players are still busy painting their figures and learning the rules). The Tournament will be played over the course of several weeks with games occuring either at AWC meetings or at mutually agreed alternate venues.

It’s hoped to have the entrants confirmed by Sunday 23 January 2011 if possible so the competition can begin in February – so any members interested should check out the AWC Yahoo Group for more details and advise the organiser of their Army & Theatre (i.e. sub-period) for the competition. Napoleonic Gamers in the Auckland and Waikato (& similar) regions who are not AWC Members and are interested in participating may be able to do so - they should also contact the organsier through the AWC Group.

A subsequent 28mm scale Tournament is planned for the middle of the year...

01 January (New Years Day - No Meeting)15 January (Auck Anv. Weekend is Monday 30 January)05 February - Waitangi Weekend Monday 06 Feb19 February04 March18 March01 April(Easter is 06-09 April)15 April (ANZAC Day is Thursday 25 April)06 May20 May03 June - Queen's Birthday Weekend 17 June01 July15 July05 August19 August02 September16 September07 October21 October - Labour Weekend Mon 22 Oct04 November18 November02 December - Club AGM16 December

02 January (No Meeting)16 January(Auck Anv. Weekend is Monday 31 January)06 February - Waitangi Day Weekend20 February06 March20 March03 April17 April(Easter is 22-25 April & ANZAC Day also)01 May15 May05 June - Queen's Birthday Weekend 19 June03 July17 July07 August21 August04 September18 September02 October16 October - RWC Semi-Final 2 at Eden Park (Labour Weekend is Mon 24 Oct & RWC Final Sun 23 Oct)06 November20 November04 December - Club AGM18 December

The AWC AGM (Annual General Meeting) was held on Sunday 05 December 2010, and as a result the incoming committee for the 2011 year will be:

President: Richard Hornell Secretary: Michael Hodgeson Treasurer: John McLennan Committee: Nick Buckby Committee: John Calnan

Will be held at the club rooms at 11am on Sunday 05 December 2010 (the first meeting in December). The Agenda will be:

Apologies Confirmation of 2009 Minutes Matters Arising President's Report Treasurer's Report Setting of 2011 Fees Election of 2011 Officers Ben Hill resolutions General Business Doom and Gloom

Be there or be square! Have your say on the clubs future course...

Mid-1884, The Mahdist Rebeliion is reaching it's peak - Gordon is isolated in Khartoum, and the rebellion steadily spreads north towards the Egyptian frontier. As the main relief expedition to go to Gordon's aid is finally being formed, news comes that a large number of European, Greek, and Egyptian Civilians, along with a small British Hospital Corps detachment, have been cut off in the town of Dongola; and the local Egyptian Commander has only a small number of Bashi-Bazouk Irregulars and whatever Civilians that can fight to try and defend the town (who's defences are in a poor state)...

I gave up DBMM at the start of the year. Had a few too many games where, as a result of army matchups, terrain, weather or time of day, one side had an edge before the first pips were thrown. Just did not suit my (emphasise my) preferences - so I played the other game this year instead. However, Benny pushed for DBM240 games, and having 2 games on a club day, or 3 games per day in a competition seemed to offer a way around my problem - one game might be a bit dull, but the next one good.

This is exactly what I found. At the comp, my middle game was not that enjoyable (I attacked an encamped enemy in pitch black with 3 hours till sun-up and my magic night-vision allowed me to avoid his KnS and attack the softer bits of his army to win), but the other two were good well-balanced games (admittedly both Free Company vs. Free Company which naturally balances play).

The tournament in Auckland used the latest draft of the DBMM v1.1 rules. There was a nominal theme (blatantly plagiarised from an event in the UK earlier this year) which asked players to base their armies around a film or TV series. This resulted in some interesting army choices, although a number of the more 'hard core' players paid only lip service to the theme and chose highly geared armies that ensured the rules were given a reasonably thorough workout.

The AWC held its AGM on Sunday 6 December 2009. The President, Secretary, and Treasurer all presented their reports generally outlining a reasonably successful year although the experimental Friday Night meetings earlier in 2009 had not proven cost-effective despite early indications of support. The club generally experienced a downturn in numbers attending & activity over most of the (southern hemisphere) winter, and total outgoings for hall rental slightly exceeded revenue from membership fees. However, 'the drinks trolley' and other fund raising initiatives, such as bulk magnetic sheet sales, more than made up for the shortfall.

With all lists now in and checked it is time for the first round draw to be revealed. The usual 'nearest historical date' pairing, but slightly modified to avoid the North Shore boys being paired against each other. Some good reference material, some perhaps not so good and then there's Cam's........................

1. Al Donald (AWC) - Early Hoplite Greeks 479BC (Reference: Movie "300" - what else?!)2. Andrew Fergus (AWC) - Thracians 200BC (Reference: French TV doco about "Seuthès l'Immortel, les Secrets d'un Roi Thrace" - The Immortal Seuthès; secrets of a Thracian King)

Our friends down at the North Shore Wargaming Club (NSWC) look like they have been sneaking in some DBMM240 practice for the tournament this weekend...

Three games were played at the NSWC's first November meeting and another 4 games at the following meeting (this weekend just passed) - sounds like some serious preparation down at the NSWC! Check out the NSWC Site for the results...

I've finally got my act together and written up the DBMM240 conditions for the 6 December 2009 tournament. Please have a read and get back to me with any (sensible) questions. It should all be straightforward as I've simply tried to tabulate the important variations into one document, trying to reconcile any inconsistencies in the process. The major exceptions are Baggage and Terrain.

These are a collection of German Seebatallion Marines (Copplestone & Pulp) from Kieran Mahony's collection facing off against the Sudanese Fuzzy-Wuzzies (Perrys) from the collection of Roundie (Wayne) Steward:

An assortment of Modern Era Soviet forces from the collection of Kieran Mahony:

sig-gal/modern01

The club is organising this to be run on 06 December. This is, of course, the AGM date so entering is a way to have something to do if you've nothing else planned. Doors will open at 8:30 for a 9am start with three 2.5 hour rounds through the day. The first round will finish in time for the AGM formalities.

One of the big challenges facing the club today is the debate in Ancients Gaming between DBMM and FOG. As in many other clubs and wargaming groups around the world at present there is a split between gamers who prefer FOG and those who prefer DBMM - luckily the AWC at least has no odd Ostriches still sticking to DBM (of course there is nothing really wrong with that if its your thing, but its a position causing a 3 way rules-set split of gamers in some areas so doesn't help unify the scene)!

For 2007 the AWC is running a club De Bellis Multitudinis competition in both 25mm and 15mm scales. This is the record and details of the 25mm scale competition.