Category Archives: charity

charity

United Against Dementia Charity Game Night

charity, Fenland Gamers, game night

It’s on very very rare occasions that we at Fenland Gamers charge to attend a gaming session. It’s in the clubs dna, we don’t believe in charging people to play games. As gamers our games are expensive enough, and it’s hard enough getting them to the table without having to pay to do that.

But for the second time only we ran a session that required those taking part to hand over some dosh. Like the previous time we had a really good reason. We were gaming for charity. So the money paid was really a donation to the charity we were raising money for.

The charity chosen this time was the Alzheimer’s Society who are running an Autumn Gaming event to raise money and awareness for Dementia.

There are a lot of great charities out there. And to be fair I could have gone with several that had a personal link of some kind. But this one had that personal link also. So when club member and manager of our hosting establishment asked if we would run something for this particular one, we jumped at the opportunity.

So last night was the night we chose to hold our charity gaming evening.

Our hosts for the evening were our most excellent regular hosts The Luxe Cinema.

We started off the evening with a couple of rounds of the ‘filler’ game No Thanks! while we waited for Nathan to turn up. It’s a classic, and rightly so. And the evening started off as I hope the rest of the evening would be going with me winning.

As my victory celebrations were coming to an end there was still no sign of Nathan. So we went ahead with playing Wingspan with the first expansion for the game (that had only just arrived through Jonathan’s letter box that morning).

Surprisingly Jonathan had gone a different route to the one I would have gone for a first play with an expansion like this. I would have just used the new expansion so we got to see what it had to offer. Jonathan had mixed it in with the base game. Which is fine, no problem with that at all. After all that’s how it’s designed to be used.

We did get to see some of the new birds and mechanics introduced by the new expansion. Sadly luck of the draw meant we didn’t get to see any of the new end of round scoring conditions.

It’s great to see European birds now in the game. With the new mechanics, new bonus cards and end conditions, it’s more variety for an already great game. And to be honest if you have both, something you shouldn’t be playing without, even with new players. The new overhead to learn and teach is so negligible it’s not worth even considering.


I did use the WingMate scoring app for the first time ever. Which looks beautiful and totally in keeping with the look and feel of the game. However I’m not totally sure about the flow of the app when doing the scoring. But it was a single use, and I need to play with the app more first. But as you can see from the screen grab above Jeff won. With Nathanial and Jonathan drawing for last place.

Next up saw us diving for treasure in Deep Sea Adventure. What can I say about this? I managed to walk that fine line between pushing my luck and getting the treasure back to the surface and running out of oxygen and dropping my loot to the sea bed. In other words I won.

After the underwater adventures it was time to be artisans and create some stain glass windows in Sagrada. Although I did feel like I was being punished and handicapped by my secret objective card. After all how else would you interrupt having to score the sum of the yellow dice you have in your stain glass window? That’s the card Jonathan should of had with his unnatural love of playing that colour.

But after creating our beautiful stain glass windows the scoring judged Jeff’s window to be the most awesome to behold.

Our evening of gaming for charity ended with a couple of games of Rhino Hero. That saw Jeff win the first game, and then share the victory with Jonathan for the second and final game.

We had a great evening of gaming for charity.

Thanks to Jonathan you get to see some wonderful photos below of me on my journey to becoming full unkept hobo dwarf.

Games played: No Thanks!, Wingspan (with new European expansion), Deep Sea Adventure, Rhino Hero, Sagrada

If you feel that you would like to donate to our Just Giving page to help the Alzheimer’s Society fight Dementia you can click HERE.

I’d like to end this post with a big big thank you to those that donated and played, to those that only donated, and our hosts and their staff at The Luxe Cinema. Your generosity and support was most appreciated.

A big thank you to Jamey Stegmaier,

charity, news

So the Stonemaier Games charity auction happened. Up for grabs by the winning bids (there were 10 lots) were the amazing looking, 4 sets of Scythe metal mechs signed by designer Jamey Stegmaier.


This blog was one of the content creators chosen to be promoted by Jamey and to nominate a charity to raise funds for.

The charity I chose was Sane.

I’d like to use this post to thank Jamey for doing this, and allowing me the opportunity to raise funds for something so personal.

If you read the blurb I wrote for the auction you will see how personal it is. This September just passed was the 30th Anniversary of my Dad committing suicide. To be able to raise money in his honour thanks to a very generous donor on bgg, Jamey and Fullfillrite is amazing. The fact I can also pay tribute to my brave friends and family who battle daily with depression and anxiety also is unbelievable.

Naturally one or two people that saw a post a few months back on a gaming Facebook forum, and close friends and family now will be crying bullshit, and my blurb also hints at it also. It’s true what I wrote above. That is the reason why I chose Sane. But and I find this part hard, because I’m not as open about this as my brave friends are. I find the really personal stuff hard to talk about. And there is still that stigma about mental health no matter what media campaigns are run. This is a “metoo”. I’m not going to go into specifics or my history, but suffice to say I am more than familiar with the struggles that my brave friends and family are going through that have depression/anxiety.

Words really can’t do justice to how I feel about Jamey having given me this opportunity to do something positive in Dad’s memory and for my friends and family. I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of the winning bid, the person who made it is incredible. A big thank you doesn’t seem adequate. But thank you.

Normal flippant, irrelevant, and boring MtG and gaming posts will resume tomorrow.

My Epic Long Friday!

charity, Fenland Gamers, fund raising, game night

My work day usually starts at approximately 5am, with me waking up to the days news on Radio 5 Live playing. This Friday it was 4:45am. So it was the tail end of Up All Night playing.

The dogs then get let out to answer the call of nature. I have a bath listening to my current audio book American Gods. Which I’m still listening to as I make my first coffee of the day using my Aeropress. I savour my coffee while watching the latest episode of Scandal, and eat a couple of chocolate chip brioche. 

After Mum collected the dogs I got dressed, packed my work stuff, and hit the road for work.

I’m listening to classic 8-bit chip tunes from the likes of Galway, Hubbard and Whittaker  for the Commodore 64 as I bounce around the Fenland back roads.

My second mug of coffee for the day is at work as I troll my friends with horror stories of my mums cooking. They aren’t biting today. I’m going to have to try harder.

My logic for the day is to stock up on calories for the nights endurance gaming! So I nip along to the college restaurant to buy a breakfast bap (sausage, bacon and egg). But I luck out, they are doing a full breakfast (add beans, mushrooms and fried bread to the mix) for £2.50. Fantastic value. 

The previous day the Rey starter for Star Wars Destiny had arrived. So I’d taken both starters and the playmat to work for myself and Dale to play lunchtime.

I’d been watching a lot of Destiny videos during the week to have a good idea of how to play the game.

Damn I hate you FFG. 
After our “learning” game I just want to get some boosters, crack them open, build some decks and play them.

So that may spoil how I feel about the game. But yes I liked it.

We were a bit slow playing, I think this was the first time Dale had played a game like this. But the game isn’t too complicated. There is a nice flow to the game. I take an action, you take an action, repeat.

I like the pass action, so you can wait and see. Well unless the other player also passes and that then ends the round and you are into upkeep. 

Having the base with an ability is cool. Plus all the mechanisms round it. From the roll off for who gets to select the base to use for the game (both players bring one to the table), the one selected chooses first player, and the player going second gets two shields. Then in the game claiming the base is an action, allowing you to use the bases ability, it then means you go first next round. However it also means you can not do any further actions that round. When to claim is a very tactical decision. Being first next round may be more important than still doing stuff in the current round.

What’s nice is you have that Magic/Netrunner construction element building your thirty card deck. Ok we didn’t get to do that because we were playing with starter sets. But you also have the dice element giving you that Dicemasters feel. For me this is a better Dicemasters. Which is a game I really enjoyed.

The two starters are great to play against each other. Why they only give you one Finn die I don’t know. His character can have two. Just having that bit more flexibility in the starters would have been good.

But still this game for me lives up to the hype. I’m hoping once supply issues have been solved this will be a regular thing between Dale and me.

Classes finish at 4pm. I packed my games I had at work that I thought I’d need over the Easter holidays. And then loaded my car up with my games and my gaming table that I use at work.

My drive home is a different route than in the morning. It’s still across the Fenland landscape but using the main artery. It’s not as busy in the evenings as it is in the mornings.

When I hit my home town, the Capital of the Fens, I pull into Lidls to stock up on supplies for the nights gaming. For £14 I got a lot of stuff. 

At home I quickly changed. Got a selection of games together to take with me. Loaded up the car, and headed off into the night to play games.


Earlier in the day I had promised that I would donate ten pounds of the realm if Jonathan didn’t play yellow all night. A true trial for him, because yellow is his favourite colour, and he always plays yellow if available. 

Chris had also made a commitment to pay a £1 for each game he lost. Would we be able to gang up and deny Chris wins for charity?

We knew Diego wasn’t going to arrive until between 7:30 and 8pm. So the nights gaming started off with a game of Mint Works.

It was the perfect game to start with. Quick to play, quick to teach. And the perfect duration, because Diego turned up whilst we were playing. But didn’t have long to wait because our game was near the end. 

I think this was the first time in the games I’ve played so far that’s ended with a draw. Which meant Chris and I had to go to the tie breakers to determine a winner. The first tie breaker was for the smallest neighbourhood gets the win. We drew that also. Then it went to who had the most mints left. Bugger Chris won the tie breaker, and the game.

Chris wins: 1 loses: 0

With the win stolen from me on a technicality, the only thing to console me was the amazing cake that Diego had bought with him that he’d made.

Our first big game of the night was Jonathan’s game of the year for 2016, The Voyages of Marco Polo. I totally screwed up my tactics for this game. Which was why I came last. Nearly lapped on the points front by Chris. Even now I’m disgusted at myself for how bad I did. I didn’t even have the excuse of being tired! But still another victory for Chris, another pound lost.

Chris wins: 2 loses: 0


Our second big game of the night was Great Western Trail. I got my tactics spot on in this game. I bought only two additional cows. Instead I went for station bonuses, using certificates to boost my money at the market, and maxed out on the engineer and the railroad guy, and building buildings. For me Great Western Trail played much better as a four player game than a two. Oh I won this one. Making up for my poor effort in Marco Polo. 

Chris wins: 2 loses: 1


Great Western had taken us from about half ten to gone one in the morning. We were going strong. Not a sleepy head insight! 

Saloon Tycoon was next to the table. Once again I under performed and came in a miserable last. I could possibly use the excuse I was tired to explain it away. Or I was still in shock I’d won Great Western Trail. But it was during our play of Saloon Tycoon that Diego gave us our comedic moment of the night when (and I paraphrase here) he said “feck off”. It appeared to be aimed at Chris who had just taken a card or character from him, but in reality it was Diego swearing at a poor card draw (iirc). But it was hilarious and the source of much merriment at his expense.

Chris wins: 3 loses: 1

We decided to switch it down a gear during the early hours of the night by playing Imhotep. Tactically I was awful once more. This game night seems to have a running theme of me screwing up my tactics. But at least this time Diego took the honours, denying Chris a victory.

Chris wins: 3 loses: 2

You know what’s a good idea at gone three in the morning? Having Chris teach everyone else a new game. That game being  Mission: Red Planet. I’d like to play this when I’m less tired before saying much about it. I have a thought or two on it. But I’d like to make an opinion not clouded by lack of sleep.  But the winning machine of the night Chris walked away with the win.

Chris wins: 4 loses: 2


Our final game of the night was The Castles of Mad King Ludwig. I did very well on this, surprisingly well considering. And only just lost to you guessed it Chris. 

Chris wins: 5 loses: 2

So our 7pm to 7am gaming session for the NSPCC Big Board Game Day ended. No one had any sleep. No bad tempers due to lack of sleep. Everyone had a great time playing some awesome games (none of that Hasbro stuff). We raised some money for a good cause. And I got some of Diego’s cake to take home.

There is only one way to wrap up such a trial of human endurance. Yep Jonathan and I headed off to the local Wetherspoons for their generic signature fried breakfast. Not shown the side order of black pudding I ordered.


After stuffing our faces we headed off to our respective homes.

Once home and reunited with the Wolfpack I ended my sleep deprivation trial of 28.5 hours by falling asleep (a three hour nap).

I know these posts are only worth reading so that you can get to the pictures of me at the end. So I’m not going to disappoint. Thanks Jonathan for taking them.

At time of writing we raised £130 plus the gift aid on top of that for the NSPCC Big Board Game Day. 

Big Board Game Night Tonite!

charity, Fenland Gamers, fund raising

Tonight’s the night.

Yep tonight a few members of The Fenland Gamers board gaming group will gather together to play games and raise money for the NSPCC, as our part of their Hasbro sponsored Big Board Game Day.

We will be rolling dice, moving tokens and drafting cards from between 7pm tonight and 7am Saturday morning. 

Yep that’s 12 whole hours of cardboard inspired fun. Which is something I haven’t done before.

If you’d like to donate money to the NSPCC to show support for our mad plan, we have a Just Giving page set up HERE.

There will be photos from throughout the night on my Instagram account, which you should be able to see HERE. I might even do the odd live stream as well! But no promises on that.

Woe is me!

charity, fund raising

We are fast approaching the Easter holidays. One more week and schools and colleges are closed for two weeks.

So inbetween preparing for the last term of the academic year there are opportunities to play some games in that break.

But there is a catch to this. Hardly anyone else is free to play anything. The majority of people are not working in education, so unless they book holiday, they are working for the man.

I know one or two of our gaming group are also in education. But sadly the universe has conspired to make life hard for them at the moment (that’s putting it mildly, and my thoughts are with them and their families).

But I suppose before I start worrying about what I’m playing over Easter, I should worry about surviving next weekend! It’s manic. 

My killer weekend starts next Friday with work! We then have our NSPCC Big Board Game Day All Nighter. Twelve hours of gaming running from 7pm that Friday to 7am Saturday morning. I then have to be in Cambridge by 10am for PiWars where some of my students are entering a Raspberry Pi controlled robot.

So potentially I’m home by 6pm on the Saturday. If I’m really lucky a bit earlier than that. 

I think it’s fair to say I may be a tad tired by that point, and ready to drop.

If you’d like to show your support for our charity effort for the NSPCC by throwing money at us (doesn’t matter how large or small the donation is, every little helps) we have a Just Giving page for our fund raising. Thank you in advance for any generosity you show. 

I know it’s hard, especially after just being hit also by Red Nose Day, and it’s the last week before payday (if you are paid monthly). So if it’s not possible to make a donation that’s cool. We totally understand. But if you could spread the word to your friends and family instead that would help us just as much, and we’d really appreciate it.

I’d also like to thank you for taking the time to read the above. Your support means a lot to me. Thank you. 

Then I’m going to close this post off with a picture from the past of the original wolf pack and me, that Facebook decided to remind me of.

The NSPCC Big Board Game Day All Nighter – What to play?

charity, Fenland Gamers, fund raising

I’ve spoken about the first world problem of what games to take for a game night before. 

But with two weeks left before The Fenland Gamers do their bit for the NSPCC Big Board Game Day event (it’s the 31/3/17). Thoughts have turned towards what to play during our twelve hour gaming session running from 7pm to 7am. Yep an all nighter.

Jonathan started the whole discussion off yesterday with his post on the Facebook event page we set up. 

But the choice of what to play is so hard. Obviously with such a long gaming session planned we can go for meatier games. But during the early hours of the night will we be lucid enough to play something complicated? 

The all nighter is also the ideal opportunity to get some of those games we love that haven’t been to the table for a while back to the table.

We have some hard decisions to make. Two weeks to chop and change our choices. 

Plus as Jonathan pointed out we only have twelve hours of play time! 

Oh the indecision ahead of us. Joy!

Naturally we are doing all this for charity, having fun playing games with friends is just a side benefit. If you’d like to make a donation/sponsor our horrible tedious game playing for the NSPCC Big Board Game Day you can visit our Just Giving page HERE. Thank you for your generosity. 

Fighting Ebola by playing a game!

charity, pandemic, tabletop

Last night was the Pandemic Party in Wisbech at The Entertainment Centre. Eight of us got together to play the game Pandemic by Matt Leacock to raise funds to help fight Ebola. One customer of The Entertainment Centre had kindly donated some cakes for the evening, which were rather nice. The crew at Bossa Studios creators of Surgeon Simulator the game (it's a great fun game available on multiple platforms click here for more details) kindly donated some “injection” pens to help raise funds for the evening.

Only one of us (not me) had played Pandemic before. So the game was setup for an “easy” setting.

For a first time playing I think we did pretty well. Three of the deadly diseases were cured, before we ran out of player cards (one of the three lose conditions). At the end of the game even though we failed to save the planet from being wiped out by deadly disease, we'd had a fun time.

We finished the evening off by playing a quick game of Zombie Dice. Which amazingly I won! Usually and this will surprise those I play Dice Masters with, I roll badly playing Zombie Dice. During my first two goes my rolls were true to form, and I was not scoring. Then I rolled eight brains before sticking. That's the best I've done in one round ever at this game. A couple of players had decided they liked playing Zombie Dice so much that they are planning to get their own copies. I also think they also took a shining to my dice tray and may also be looking at getting one of those too.

It's nice to see people like a game so much that they plan to get their own copy. Zombie Dice isn't a complicated game. It's a press your luck game. But in a group it's great fun to play. I just didn't warn them this is the start of a slippery slope.

The remaining pens from the evening are being sold off in the shop to add to the total of money raised. Which reminds me once I have a final total raised I'll put it up on here.

So a great evening, great company, all in the name of charity a win win situation if you ask me.

 

 

A Pandemic Party This Thursday

charity, pandemic, tabletop

This Thursday sees a Pandemic Party being held in Wisbech at The Entertainment Centre in aid to raise funds to help fight ebola. I wrote about Pandemic Parties previously here. Hopefully if you live locally you will be able to attend, have a great time playing Pandemic the game and help raise funds to fight ebola.

Click HERE to get full details of the event (it's a facebook event page)