Thanks for the responses to Sunday's appeal post. Things got worse before they got better though! Firstly, I got to work on Monday and was speaking to Dave (who was bringing Blood Angels). Thanks to the unique and wonderful way our rota works he's now got to work Saturday and no-one is able to cover it for him. Sad as I am that he's not coming along (and making it full attendance from my little gaming group), it did kind of solve the problem, back to even numbers I thought.
So then I get home and find I've had a few emails with people offering to either show up themselves or post about in on their blog/facebook/twitter for me. Firstly, thanks very much for all your help in what was essentially a selfish endeavour since basically it's so I can play at my own tournament! Anyway, amongst these emails was one from Andy Lane of Claws and Fists saying that family commitments mean he also can't make it. Again, I'm gutted because Andy was one of the first people I met on the tournament scene and seems to be a constant presence at the events I attend but, of course, family comes first and I can't argue with that.
So that's me back to odd numbers again so I reply to Paul O'Boyle from Faulty Dice who's now at the bottom of the list of competitors. Please note the player numbers should've stayed the same. I've sent off an email to Tim King at Maelstrom (the guy who ran Summer Skirmish there last year is now Events Manager!). He's generously agreed to let me drop the food order to 26 despite having invoiced me. This means that at least I won't be charged for food we don't eat (although I suspect we'd still manage to eat enough for 28). However, it does mean that there won't be any additional prizes as I'd budgeted them based on 28 people coming and with the additional army theme prize I'm spent up. Mind you, I know temptation will get the better of me and I'll throw something else in.....
Anyway, thanks to all the people who offered help. Until you've tried it you have no idea how problematic it can be to organise a tournament, even a friendly one. I'm thinking that in future, I might set out not to play and only jump in if on the day itself we have an odd number to prevent people sitting out. That's if I ever do this again!!!
Fingers crossed that everyone else on the list shows up and I get to open up a few webways!
With the response you got, could you have not kept the numbers at 28 instead of dropping to 26.
ReplyDeleteAt the point when I'd got to make a decision about lunch numbers to tell the venue I'd got 25 people and a few offers. I didn't want to risk saying 28 and then finding I only had 26. You're right I probably could've managed 28 but I didn't want to risk paying for meals we weren't eating!
DeleteIt's tricky to balance the numbers. I think in future it'd be safer for me to assume I'm not playing and only participate if we get odd numbers on the day. This time round I'd painted an army up especially for it though!