Sunday, 25th April 2004

6.00pm

Minutes

In attendance:
Committee Members - Phil, Peter and Gerald.
Members - Mark, Tim, John, Matt, Fiona, Wayne, Tiny, Ben, Pam, Richard, Andy and Steve.

1. Apologies:

• Gabe and Andrew both absent and sent apologies. Pam late J

2. Chairman's Report:

• The club has done quite well with four new members listed. All the clubs costs have been covered with some spare cash in the kitty. A recent newspaper article in the local paper gave us some good coverage, but alas, no feed back. The presence at Gencon & Dragonmeet created some good interest, but again, no new members have resulted from it.

3. Treasurer's Report:

• £963.90 taken, with costs out £828.94 leaving us with a surplus of £134.96 with which to spend on new playing aids.

4. Funds: Suggested items of what to spend our spare cash on were;

• i) A banner to used at any future conventions.
• ii) More non-permanent pens for use on battle mats.
• iii) Cleaning products for use on said mats, as suggested by Fiona (Finally, a woman's touch comes to Shadow Warrior's. Next we'll have new curtains and a 'Welcome' mat.)

5. 20th Birthday in 2005:

• A special convention in order to celebrated received a muted response. There was more interest in organising something for the members. An evening out or commemorative T-shirt.

6. Conventions:

• TimCon 01 was a great success. Well done to Tim for organising. It was decided that we should attempt more, but it was undecided as to whether or not we should concentrate on one system at a time.
• Open Day on 26th June. It was suggested that we do much the same as last year, with simple demonstration games and short duration board games on offer.
• Gencon 2004. To be held at Butlins Minehead, from 14th to 17th October. Nothing definite was planned, but there was some positive input from members who were willing to run some game on behalf of the club.
• Convention Sub-Committee. All agreed that it hadn't really worked. Some suggestion was made that one person per convention should take control in organising any involvement the club has.
• Future Convention. Salute 2005 was top of the list. A one day event that has recently opened it's doors to non-wargamers. Very well attended convention and as it's local, could have a good impact. Also mentioned was Conceptions, in Highcliffe, Dorset.

7. How to get new members:

• Our recent new members all learnt of Shadow Warrior's via the web site and our notices in Orcs Nest. A check on other games/hobby stores in the general area was suggested, to see if any new ones had opened and to see if any actually advertised our club.
• Harbringer magazine was also mentioned by Ben as a possible source.

8. General running of the club:

• Moving to Sunday has helped the clubs attendance, but any social activity has suffered for it. A suggestion was made that once a month or so, an outing to the cinema, restaurant could be made and central London was deemed favourite as a location.
• All members were reminded that the club actually has access to the room from 1pm. It was explained that we advertise from 2pm, in order to prevent any new members turning up at 1pm, only to find no-one around.
• Everyone was asked to let their GM know as soon as possible if they'll be absent from the game. Alternatively another player. The Community Centre requires at least 3 days notice of cancellation, otherwise we could be held liable for costs.
• Members were asked to comment if they felt that by running campaign length games, did this or could this deter new people from joining. Most felt that this wasn't a problem and all had fitted into several on going games.

9. Review on Current RPG's and future games:

• Matt and Peter had recently started new games of 3rd edition D&D and Unbound. The next slot containing SLA, also run by Peter & Phil's 3rd edition D&D have been running for some time. Phil is happy to continue, but with Peter now running Unbound, there is a potential slot for a new game. Andy offered to run a Vampire Dark Ages & Ben offered Delta Green.
• The last slot which was reserved for board games, has been a major disappointment. The only good that has come from it, is that it has allowed the other games to be re-scheduled in order to allow a greater attendance.
• It was suggested to keep this slot free, but label it as an 'Open Game' slot, in order to promote one off sessions, board games and games such as Crimson Skies.

10. Contributions & suggestions on the website.

• Gerald was given much praise in his efforts in putting the site together and for keeping it up to date. It has proved to be a valuable tool for recruitment and providing information.

11. Election of Officers:

• No new candidates and it was unanimous that the present committee should retain their posts.

12. SWWD:

• Andy is now home, but we still have our Miami office providing us with updates and there are of course the continued adventures of Rob & Hannah.

13. AOB:

• Steve advised us that the arrangement through Hobby Games was no longer as lucrative, but a reasonable discount was still available.
• Adjourn to the pub and to play HeroClix.