A Dwindling Cadre?

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Joe Meyer
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A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by Joe Meyer »

Gentlemen, I'd like to hear some discussion about where you think the ACWGC Union Army is headed in terms of its numbers. I think that we are somewhere in the neighborhood of a little over 120 officers or so, although certainly not all are holding active game cards. Our flow of new recruits seems to be low, and may not be keeping up with the attrition rates we experience. At least that seems to me to be the current case, although it varies among the current field armies. Do you think we are in an eventual downward spiral with our rosters? And if you do, why do you think so?
General Jos. C. Meyer,
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
(2011-2014 UA GinC)


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D.S. Walter
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by D.S. Walter »

Per my numbers we're close to 160. I believe it's a realistic figure, and the earlier total strength numbers, as well as the Reb claims, were/are inflated.
Gen. Walter, USA
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nsimms
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by nsimms »

IMHO, it's been headed down for years. Besides the dipping numbers, there has always been a substantial percentage of the number on the rolls that don't actually play ANY games in a given year anyway. However, all is not doom and gloom.

1 - 150 year celebrations of the ACW start next month (December) and will last till 2015. If that doesn't cause a resurgence in club numbers then we have a problem.

2 - The HPS ACW series will be releasing its last campaigns probably by next year and Mr Tiller is already considering a new ACW series based upon a completely different engine. A new series introduced during the 150 year anniversaries might also add new interest in the ACWGC.

3 - I don't know about you but I don't need 350 other members to keep my game card busy.
Gen Ned Simms
1/1/XIV Corps/AotC
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
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Joe Meyer
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by Joe Meyer »

General Walters, 160 is certainly better than my off-hand 120! And for clarification what do you see as the actual number of Rebel officers at this time?

And General Simms you are certainly correct on your third point! I certainly have not been hurting for opponents, nor have any of my AotT officers complained of not finding any. I guess it's all a relative thing, isn't it? Fewer members, lower demand...more members, higher demand. It is most heartening to hear in your second point that HPS will be energizing interest with new releases and that there may be an entirely new series introduced by John Tiller, as it is to be reminded of the upcoming 150th ACW anniversary!

Given that, I suppose the more pertinent question would be are we flexible enough to undergo a sizable expansion if one should occur? Or is that simply a silly, foolish question on my part? I still believe that the revised fundamentals that Generals Walter and Laub constructed within the UA General Orders would administratively serve the UA very well in any type of roster size adjustments.
General Jos. C. Meyer,
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
(2011-2014 UA GinC)


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ernie sands
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by ernie sands »

This decline is common throughout our sister club systems, also.

This decline is probably cyclical and can be attributed to many factors including, the economy, the age of the game system, and just normal RL attrition. RL also has a debilitating effect on the number of games played.

I do NOT think it is the club, per se. I think that outside factors have the more dramatic effect and there is not much that the club can do about that.
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General Ernie Sands, ACWGC
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by D.S. Walter »

Joe Meyer wrote:General Walters, 160 is certainly better than my off-hand 120! And for clarification what do you see as the actual number of Rebel officers at this time?
I don't have the foggiest. I know our administration in the armies is so hands-on that we have actual figures that include only reasonably active members. A Reb recently claimed they had over 200 members. I doubt it.
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by nsimms »

The Rebs have 219 listed on the CSA Roster in the DoR, which includes Hospital and LOA.
Gen Ned Simms
1/1/XIV Corps/AotC
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by R. Matthews »

I keep talking up the club, but it does require significant effort to be a truly active member. There are lots of Civil War forums up here in the Northeast and I just joined one. I hope the 150th anniversary will spark new interest. Can anyone think of other ways to get the word out that we exist?


Colonel Ray Matthews
Third (First) Cavalry Division, XV Corps,
Army of the Tennessee
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Joe Meyer
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by Joe Meyer »

Ray, I've lately taken to investigating Civil War Round Table groups in my area and CW re-enactor associations.
General Jos. C. Meyer,
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
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Re: A Dwindling Cadre?

Post by nelmsm »

I think it is also going to be a generational thing. Most of us grew up playing boardgames or even with army men on our floors or in our sandboxes and this led to our love of the history and then on to these games. The youngest generations are growing up on shooters on X-Box, Playstation, or Wii, and don't have introduction to a strategy type game that we play.
General Mark Nelms
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