This includes the one summertime 2020 event which managed to sneak in (legally) inbetween lockdowns.
Rather astonishingly, the BHGS FoGR rankings have just been updated to cover the 12 month period prior to September 2020.
This includes the one summertime 2020 event which managed to sneak in (legally) inbetween lockdowns.
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Earlier this year we announced the rescheduling of both Roll Call (from April to October) and the BHGS Teams @ the London GT (to September).
Unfortunately the continued restrictions around mass gatherings in place across the UK now mean that it is not going to be possible to stage either of these events in 2020, and so both will return in 2021. In the case of the BHGS Teams, current prohibitions against staging meetings and events have recently been confirmed as remaining in place until at least October 1st across the UK, and so the organisers of the LGT have been forced to announced the cancellation of the 2020 edition. All players who have booked for this event will be offered a refund by the LGT organisers, or the opportunity to roll forward their monies to 2021 when the event will again take place (this time over the May Day bank holiday weekend). We're all keen to see the BHGS continue to support this event, which puts historical gaming in the same (large) room as many other non-histporical formats and systems and will be working with the LGT organisers to discussing options for events in 2021. For Roll Call, redrawing the venue table layout in a way which would allow us to comply with the newly-published social distancing guidelines for staging events would have meant a dramatic reduction in capacity. This would have put the financial viability of the event in question, and would mean that at-best perhaps only 6-8 places could be offered in each of the events we traditionally stage. The BHGS team would also be subject to legal requirements to implement a significant number of other restrictive measures, many of which would present serious challenges for players, the BHGS Roll Call team and not least for the school itself. As such, we have decided that the best approach is to skip 2020 entirely and start to plan for a return of Roll Call at some point in 2021, as part of a wider review of our existing calendar of events. Following the UK Government's announcement earlier this week of a provisional timeline for easing the UK-wide lockdown, it has now become apparent that any easing of social distancing rules in the UK will be a lengthy and gradual process.
The "best case" scenario laid out this week would still only see limited, socially distanced openings of non-essential leisure facilities by July at the very earliest - a scenario which makes it impossible to envisage how an event like Britcon, which relies upon large numbers of (relative) strangers travelling from across the country to spend many hours in an enclosed space interacting face-to-face with one another from a few feet apart across a gaming table, would be permitted (or indeed would be safe to stage) just a few weeks later in early August. Indeed, at this point in time it is also unclear even if the venue we currently use would even be allowed to open at all. As a result the BHGS Committee have taken the decision to cancel this year's Britcon. The event will not be rescheduled to later in the year, so our next edition will be held in Summer 2021 - most probably in a new venue, as the Barnes Wallis building is (currently) due to be demolished at the end of July 2021. The BHGS does fortunately have cash reserves sufficient to take the financial hit of cancelling the event and so we will be issuing full refunds to all of our registered players over the next few days. We had also delayed sending out any invoices to any of our traders for stand space this year's event, so none of those traders will end up out of pocket either as a result of the cancellation. Our next events are at the LGT in September and the rescheduled Roll Call in October, and so if there are any updates on either we will make sure to let you know as soon as possible. Regards The BHGS Britcon Team The BHGS Challenge @ UK Games Expo
The BHGS fully support the decision of the UKGE team at this time. UKGE had already been rescheduled to run after Britcon, however as of today we are still hoping to be able to stage Britcon this year should it be safe and we are permitted to do so. Because of the far smaller amount of pre-planning required to stage Britcon (compared to UKGE) we are able to delay making a final decision on Britcon until June. We sincerely hope to see you across the gaming table as soon as it is safe for all of us - and the NHS - to do so. The UK-wide adoption of "social distancing" in response to the Coronavirus outbreak has already led to many wargames events being postponed, including some of those hosted (or co-hosted) by the BHGS.
With all of the entries for Roll Call now refunded and with both the LGT and UKGE events resheduled we've been looking at how best to balance our desire to help you all get out and get gaming again as soon as possible against the challenges all of us currently face in terms of making any sort of forward committments while the current - and potentially lengthy - period of 'social distancing' is in effect across the UK. It's a complex problem, but where we've ended up is with the following (hopefully) clear and simple plan; The BHGS committment to you is to:
What does this mean for each individual event ? Roll Call
BHGS Teams @ LGT
Britcon
BHGS Challenge @ UKGE
In summary we're doing everything we can to offer you as many chances to get some gaming in under a BHGS banner before the end of this year, and we're also making sure we do so in a way which doesn't take any chances with anyone's health and wellbeing - nor with anyone's finances. We sincerely hope to see you across the gaming table as soon as it is safe for all of us - and the NHS - to do so. The BHGS Committee As you will no doubt be aware the UK Government has today considereably strengthened its advice in relation to the current Coronaviris outbreak, and is now recommending that everyone in the UK acts to reduce all forms of social contact as much as possible.
In line with these recommendations, and in order to prioritize the health and well-being of all our gamers this year's Roll Call event will not now take place this April. We will be speaking to the venue in the coming days to see if it might be possible to reschedule Roll Call for later this year however given the uncertainties involved in this, both for the venue and for individual players the BHGS team have taken the decision to issue full refunds (via the Eventbrite platform) to all currently signed up players within the next couple of days. BHGS @ London GT We have also been notified today by the main organiser of the London GT event scheduled for June that they too will be following UK Government advice and postponing the LGT event until September 26th-27th. Our current plan is that all BHGS events currently scheduled to run at the LGT this year will also be postponed to this date, depending on umpire and theme organiser availability. Anyone who has bought a ticket for events at the LGT will shortly be sent an email by the LGT organising team detailing how these changes impact them and what to do if they can't make the new date. The full announcement from the LGT has been posted on the LGT Facebook page. The BHGS Challenge @ UK Games Expo The UKGE organisers have this afternoon posted on Facebook that they are consulting with their venue partners and plan to make an announcement about this year's event on Tuesday 17th March at 6pm, which players signed up are advised to look out for. Britcon 2020 For the rest of the year, our current hope remains that we will be able to stage Britcon in Manchester at the beginning of August largely as planned however any decision to go ahead will only be taken if there are significant, positive changes to current UK Government advice regarding social distancing before June of this year. If it becomes necessary to cancel Britcon, all paid bookings for both traders and players will be refunded in full. Roll Call 2020 is going ahead as planned:
In common with all event organisers we are monitoring current UK government advice relating to Coronavirus closely. At the present time all our 2020 competitions, including Roll Call are going ahead as planned, but of course we have to be guided by official advice, by the policies of the venues where our events are hosted, and (for Challenge and the LGT) the plans of the main organisers of events within which some of our competitions take place.
The UK Government and NHS have published advice and FAQ's relating to individuals who may be in higher risk groups for Coronavirus, either as a result of having recently travelled to a number of at-risk areas, or where underlying health and age-related factors may increase the severity of any potential infection. If you are concerned that you, or your close friends, family or work colleagues may fall under any of these groups or be subject to these guidelines, and as a result you would prefer not to now take part in Roll Call please contact us and we will process a full refund of your entry fee. If you have booked local accommodation, please also let us know as we may be able to find other competitors prepared to take over your booking. Following Roll Call, our next event is The BHGS Challenge which this year takes place as part of UK Games Expo, and so we will be following the guidance and actions provided by the UKGE organiser and NEC venue. The UKGE position on Coronavirus is available on their website. Our other events in 2020, the BHGS Teams event in June at the LGT and Britcon in August are both currently more than 3 months away, so if there are any updates about those events we will of course keep you informed as they get closer. We continue to look forward to welcoming players who wish to participate at our competitions this year, and who are not personally impacted by travel restrictions or other factors. We will also continue to monitor UK Government advice and best practice from across the entire events sector, and should the current status change (for any of our events) we will update you as soon as possible. If you have any questions regarding our events please do not hesitate to contact us via our website The BHGS Committee The UK ADLG rankings have been updated to include the results of the 8 competitions held across the UK since the last rankings update back in December.
The rankings now include 217 players and results from all events up to and including Burton Doubles. 44 players have entered 6 or more events to record a "full" ranking score, and the rankings also include 21 overseas-based players who have taken part in UK events in the last 12 months. With the festive break now just a distant memory the BHGS are pleased to announce that our full roster of events for 2020 are now open for bookings, with tickets now released for both The BHGS Challenge (30-31st May @ The NEC Birmingham) and Britcon (7-9th August, Manchester), adding to those already onsale for The London GT BHGS Historical Teams at the end of June, and of course the almost-sold-out Roll Call coming up this April.
The BHGS Challenge this year will feature competitions for:
Britcon has a comprehensive roster of events this year, including:
Tickets are also selling strongly for The London GT BHGS Historical Teams, where we have events for the following systems on offer:
Finally, we have only a handful of places left for Roll Call this year across the TTS!, FoGR and Bataille Empire systems - so if you are thinking about entering any of these events, best be quick! As always, full details on our upcoming events are available on our website at www.bhgs.org.uk or via our Facebook page www.facebook.com/TheBHGS We look forward to seeing you at one of our events throughout this year The BHGS rankings are the gift that just keeps on giving, and in a special pre-Christmas double bonus we have updated versions of both the BHGS L'Art de la Guerre and BHGS FoGAM rankings now published for your delight and delectation.
As you gather round the tree to sing carols, wear ill-fitting and unappealing sweaters (actually.. that's probably no different to much of the rest of the year for most wargamers) and sip mulled wine you can now also see just how naughty or nice your performance in all of the ADLG and FoGAM events staged in the UK over the course of the past year has been. Will Santa be delivering good news as to whether you've ended 2019 higher up the rankings that your clubmates? Check out the BHGS L'Art de la Guerre and BHGS FoGAM rankings to find out! |
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