Day of Days 2013- Final Countdown

 The weekend coming up I will be running my annual FoW event. I organised our first FoW event in February 2003, and we also formed the Timaru Armchair Generals (TAG) about the same time so this is our 10^th anniversary even though it is only our 9^th annuall gaming "event" as Day of Days 2011 was cancelled at the last minute due to the devastating CHCH earthquake- the second anniversary of which is this Friday.

It is a doubles event agai this year and we have 28 players (29 actually with one team of 3) coming from Invercargill (4) and Wellington (7) as well as those from Christchurch and Dunedin, making it the largest FoW event outside NATCON to be held in the South Island- not bad for a town of less than 30,000. Being half way between the South Island’s two main urban centres does make it a bit easier for players from both to get to and that tends to work in our favour. But I am especially pleased with the recent support from both Invercargill and Wellington as it is a major effort for players from both places to get here but also appreciate the travel involved from all our out of ton players.

I am very, very pleased with support we’ve received over the years. The weekends have been consistently well attended and  I hope that they continue to be so. The players have always bought into the (sometimes) crazy themes and ideas we've tried in our endevours to try and make DoD a unique experience and different from the other comps held here in the South Island, and more often than not the ideas have worked out in the end.  

I prefer to call the weekends "wargaming events" rather than competitions, the name is a small but subtle reminder of why we are gaming, not to win at all costs but to get together with like minded people, roll some dice, have fun and tell a few stories and hence the focus on it being an “event” first and foremost. My aim for the weekend is simple: to try to make it something different and fun and most importantly try to make it the best gaming experience that we can. Do we always succeed? Probably not but the key (IMO) is to listen to the participants, get their feedback as to what worked, what didn’t work, identify any issues that arose and try to fix them and make the following year better.

This year is by far the biggest turn out. A number of players (6 or 7) have been to all the events I’ve run over the years but we also have several for whom this will be their first Day of Days. As per normal it is strictly axis vs allies (Soviets in this case) and themed to a particular battle or campaign. The theme this year being the Battle of Stalingrad. As this month saw the 70^th anniversary of the surrender of the Sixth Army it seemed only fitting to commemorate this epic struggle and those that died in a battle that truly was a turning point in World War Two.   

So the countdown is on, I’ve a couple of army lists to receive final confirmation on, lots of organisational stuff to take care of before it all kicks off next Friday evening.   I’m looking forward to catching up with everybody, rolling a few dice and hopefully having more than a few laughs.

Looks like I may even get to play, but alas will not be using my Cossacks, a fillin is needed on the Axis side instead.

Craig