NWS Survey Part 1 Waterloo 1815 - 2015

Responses

We had seventeen responses which is about half the membership I think.  There was  very little consistency in responses.  Given the small pool and variety of answers analysis is therefore somewhat abstract. 

Scales

Seven people preferred 28mm, five people 15mm and one person 6mm.  However one person preferred both 15mm and 28mm and one person preferred both 6mm and 15mm.  When second preference is considered nine people effectively indicated the scales they had not selected as their first preference or simply said all.  As part of second preference, 20mm, 25mm and 1/72nd were also mentioned.

This part of the survey did not ask what figure collections people had.  My conclusion is that while an individual might prefer 28mm or 15mm, they are happy to game in either scale and this includes 6mm, 20mm and 1/72nd.  There was only one response that implied 28mm and nothing else.

Rules

Preferred rules mentioned: General de Brigade, La Salle, Napoleon's Battles, Black Powder, Marshal's Baton (a local rule set) and Column of March.  Three people mentioned General Brigade, the others were mentioned by one person each.  Four people responded that they were happy to play any rules while the remaining five indicated they were not active Napoleonic players.

When it came to second preferences two people mentioned General de Brigade, one person Black Powder and one Marshal's Baton with six saying any and four saying none.  Other rules mentioned included Empire, Sharpe's Practice, March Attack, Shako, Grand Manner, Field of Glory and Songs of Drums and Shakos.  Players of Slaughterloo, what could be described as fantasy Napoleonics, have also been observed at the club, but this was not picked up by the survey.

There was no correlation between preferred scale and preferred rules.

Bicentenary Event

People were asked if they wanted a big game, display game or smaller game.  An overwhelming fifteen wanted a big game, with only one saying no and another saying maybe (the later due to availability on the date).  

There were seven positive responses for a static display and eight negative with two maybes.

There were seven negative responses to participation in a smaller game, mainly from people who were not active Napoleonic players.  There were four maybes and six positive responses.

Relevant comments suggested a static display of 54mm figures and using Sharpe's Practice for a skirmish game.  There is also the need to have someone to welcome visitors on the day, this could also cover the need to have crib sheets for any casual gamers.

Observations

My initial reaction to what to make of the survey results were FIIK.

There is no definitive result that would lead me to say that people want a big bicentennial game in a particular scale using a specific set of scale.

Clearly there is an interest in doing something, but diversification in the player base makes a single solution a challenge, particularly when the logistics of organising a big game are taken into account.

My conclusion is to work with the nine people (and the four maybes) who expressed a willingness to be involved in the sub-committee for the NWS Waterloo 2015 event.

My current thoughts are to identify people who would take a lead in organising games or displays and then determining the fit given the physical space available, time and potential number of players.  This has the potential to show the diversity of gaming Napoleonics through multiple figure scales, rules, game size.  The bicentenary would be honoured by having all the games linked back to the Waterloo battle and potentially the wider 100 Days campaign.  The coming battle day on 8 November would be a test case for this approach.