The 700 (AD) Club

First, welcome to Leutenant Brittan, the author of the Leviathan blog which I myself follow.  I hope you enjoy mine as much as I do yours.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I would really like out of my hobby experience.  Lately I have been just treading water, painting whatever odds and ends are in the "Lead (and Plastic) Pile" until I come up with something better.
I have starting a roleplaying game at my FLGS, but so far the attendance has been kind of weak, and I don't know if I relish the responsibility of having to come up with gaming scenarios that will suite the appetites of a gaming group.
What I really miss is my wargaming club from my old home.  Just a few guys who get together once a month or so for a long afternoon and evening of wargaming.  No playing in character, just thinking about strategy, moving soldiers around, and generally enjoying the company of fellow hobbyists.
In my old club we played Warhammer, Fifth through Seventh Editions.  Eight came out this past summer, and the group held off moving onto the latest edition mostly because if we are going to pay $100 for a book, the title better begin with the word "Gutenberg."  I have considered hooking up with the wargamers at the FLGS, but gaming store Warhammer is different from club Warhammer, in my experience.  There is less acceptance of proxies, less "oh, your charge is 1/4" short?  Go ahead and take it."  Perhaps I am spoiled, but sitting around the fire department break room gaming, eating, and generally having a bull session is what I like out of a gaming club.
        Here is what I would love to start: something I called the "700 (AD) Club."  Using a game system like Warhammer Ancient Battles, or Impetus or Ancient and Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas, each player builds an army that existed in 700 AD.  That would cover Romano-British, Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Byzantines, Danube barbarians, Arabs, or even early Franks.  Then once a month we'd get together in my basement and pair off and battle, retiring briefly to whatever I threw into the slow cooker that morning.
      Would you be interested in something like that?  Alternatively it could be a 300 AD or 1100 AD or 2020 AD Club.  Just some period where there might be a host of armies available that could be matched up in vaguely historical encounters.
      Well, a man can dream, can't he?

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