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Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The cheque for 2015.

So here it is! I just took that big wad of cash from the weekend to the credit union and watched them put it through the counting machine. Coast Capital kindly waived the fee for making the draft - every little helps!



The income was obviously more than this but there are the usual expenses like trophies and investing in the dice (profit is made on the dice which more than covers the trophies), and of course we paid Fraternal Order of Eagles for the use of the room. Sadly our Warmachine event was not as well attended as it has been in the past, and hopefully we can work on improving that next year.

I am very grateful to all of you who came out and donated your time and your hard earned cash to help make this annual event the success it is, and I hope that you have all had fun at the same time. Thank you all so much.

Our running total is now $20718.54, which is definitely something that we can all be proud of. I know that I am.

Big hugs to all of my colleages - friends - who have helped me put this together, this year and in the past four years. Jason Dyer. Nick Daniels. Les Sohier. Dan Miner. Mark Handford. Jind Singh. Justin Doyle. Melissa Daines. Jonas Malapas. Andrew Muirhead. I could not do it without the support of these good people.

Of course I could not have even started this without the support of my wife Laura. She's my rock.

And our sponsors! They support us each year in these events and I am so grateful to them.  Many of them I look on as friends, and that they go out of their way to help us make other peoples' lives a little better says a lot about the kind of people they are.  So please - support them. Buy their stuff.

So there will be a Foodhammer 2016, I promise! I usually grumble for about six months that I don't want to do it again. If you hear me say that, tell me I'm wrong!

40K Results are in

The Best Overall standings for Warhammer 40,000 are here. After making some corrections these are the correct results. ...

Posted by Foodhammer on Monday, 30 November 2015

Sunday, November 22, 2015

This is why we do


Food bank use in B.C. highest on record for province




I went to see Jind Singh today at the Hobbit event he held for Foodhammer. The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings group is radpidly growing, which is quite exciting given that the Specialist Games division will continue to support this game.


Many of the people there today I had not met before, and Jind asked me to tell them what brought me to start this event. I explained that in early 2011 I was originally looking to fill a gap in the gaming calendar, and came to the conclusion that the entry money could be used for so much more than buying tons of prizes for the entrants. I explained that I had noticed there were children in my son's grade 1 class that were from families that used the food bank on a regular basis. I got a lot of perspective there, and realised that we as wargamers and hobbyists are so very LUCKY to be able to afford this bloody expensive hobby. We should give back, and I am grateful to all of you who do. Those who donate prizes, be you industry or retail, or those of you who are donating from your private collections out of the good in your hearts (thank you Erica Lam for your kind donation today).

Langley food bank is one of the smaller food banks and doesn't actually actively solicit donations - I was amazed when I read that small, yet hugely important point. Yet they help people who live across a huge part of the BC lower mainland.

My good wife Laura showed me this news article this evening and I'm floored. Over 30,000 children in our province are food bank users. 30,000 children in a part of the world that is supposed to be so civilised and progressive. Don't forget that MANY of their parents and caregivers are NOT the kind of people who just ride the free ride on welfare and slack off. Most of them are people who despite working their fingers to the bone full time are paid below the living wage level and have to deal with ridiculous housing costs, often choosing between keeping the roof over their heads or putting food in the fridge.

Often as individuals we can think in an insular manner, only concerned with what is inches from the ends of our noses and five minutes in our immediate future but we are capable of so much more. Yes, we are all individuals. But we are so much more. You have all shown me this. I'm grateful for the recognition that my colleagues and I get for this fundraiser but it is YOU that make Foodhammer what it is. We might not be making massive changes, but what we do affects the lives of people who we may never meet, in a positive manner.

I'm proud of you all.

Chris.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Mats! Mats for sale!

As you may know, TableWar sent us mats for use in our events - it was very kind of them and I'm totally stoked at the level of the support they offered. Warboss Dugg and Todd, and Reece and Frankie over at Frontline Gaming are really passionate about gaming and these mats are from the heart - they really want all of us to have quality portable gaming surfaces!

So as a reminder, the mat prices at Foodhammer are as follows

6x4 mats are $120
4x4 mats are $85
3x3 are $70

It really is a substantial saving over the prices you would pay when ordering from www.frontlinegaming.org, especially when you factor in the shipping and exchange rate. Also, partial proceeds from the sale of each mat directly benefits Foodhammer.  So why not?! I already bought one!

Go check them out and let me know if you want one.  They will be available for pickup AFTER the event they're used for :)

Chris

3x3 x-wing mats
7 x Asteroid field http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-asteroid-belt-3x3-sale/dp/6359

4x4 Warmachine mats
4x4 - 2 Alpine http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-alpine-4x4/dp/853
4x4 - 1 Urban Combat http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-urban-combat-4x4/dp/863
4x4 - 1 Swamp http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-swamp-4x4/dp/11629
4x4 - 2 grassy plains http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-grassy-plains-4x4/dp/861
4x4 - 2 barren wasteland http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-barren-wasteland-4x4/dp/855

6x4 mats
6x4 - 1 Alien Invasion http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-alien-invasion-6x4/dp/13512
6x4 - 2 x Alpine http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-alpine-6x4/dp/2305
6x4 - 1 x Urban Combat http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-urban-combat-6x4/dp/2311
6x4 - 1 x Urban Combat II http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-urban-combat-2-6x4/dp/849
6x4 - 2 x Industrial http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-industrial-6x4/dp/13510
6x4 - 2 x Ship interior http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-ship-interior-6x4/dp/13511
6x4 - 1 x High-Tech City http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-high-tech-city-6x4/dp/11651
6x4 - 2 x Grassy Plain http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-grassy-plains-6x4/dp/2309
6x4 - 2 x Barren Wasteland http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-barren-wasteland-6x4/dp/847
6x4 - 2 swamp http://store.frontlinegaming.org/fat-mat%3A-swamp-6x4/dp/11625

Malifood 2015

Holy cow Malifood was a great time this year.  Seriously, guys it was awesome. I had such a great time personally learning to play (again) and learning how my Gremlins work together.  All I thought that I needed was something to give Rami Lacroix some focus for his shooting. Young Lacroix a powerful when they stay in range of Ophelia.  I REALLY enjoyed my games with Darren, Kellen and Rida.  Three very different crews, three great games.

The list of participants is here at this link here ;)

Our winners were

William Matthews - Best Storyteller



Troy McKnight - Best presentation. Troy took home an online coupon given to us by the amazing misterjustin at Secret Weapon Miniatures


Les Sohier won Best Gunslinger


Craig Fleming picked up the cheese trophy for Best Overall.
He's over there because THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE

There were some REALLY great prizes up for grabs from our sponsors and as well as the mat that we got FROM TableWar for use in the event, there were some in use that were loaned to us by Mark Handford, who ran the event and answered all of my rules questions.

Thanks also to Magic Stronghold for hosting us at their store and also for their wonderful donation of gift certificates which the winners could use to purchase even more Malifaux figs.  Very nice indeed!

We have all of the photos up at our Facebook page for you to look at.

On to next Sunday, the 15th, and the WarmaHordes event at The Connection! 

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Gaming mats for sale!

Frontline Gaming and TableWar, as you know, supplied us with thirty two mats for the tables at our events this year. Mats used at the events will be for sale, don't you know?! Prices are
$120 for a 6x4
$85 for a 4x4
$70 for a 3x3
That's a saving over buying them by mail order and you get to take them home with you that day - that definitely scratches the "instant gratification" itch that we all have.
Also you can be happy in the knowledge that part of the sale goes to Foodhammer. Huzzah!
Just... wait until we're FINISHED with the mat before you take it home? 

Sincere thanks once again to all of the good people at TableWar and FLG for their generosity.

Chris

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

MOAR SPONSERS!

Heh. I love the way the internet speaks.

I've had some good conversations with some fantastic people over the last few days and I'm pleased to announce more prize support for you all.

Justin McCoy of Secret Weapon Miniatures will be providing online voucher codes which will be awarded to the favourite army as voted by the players, or in the case of X-Wing the favourite repaint.

James Hakola of Mr Dandy and Wargamma will be sending some of his wares for our enjoyment. I always enjoy his sculpts and the quality of his resin product is really quite excellent.

Alex Landing of Ironheart Artisans will be sending a selection of his products for you to win. His templates and terrain kits are great and you may have seen Mathieu Fontaine and Jason Dyer showing off their racks. I mean their paint racks. Designed and made by Alex. Yes.

Go buy some tickets guys and join in the fun!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Updates

Hi guys,

I wanted to let you get up to date on some happenings with the events.

We have a NEW EVENT. Oh yes.  Andrew Muirhead stepped up to the plate and will be running a Bolt Action event on Saturday November 28th at Eagles in North Van.  Yes it's in the same location and on the same day as the Kings of War event.  We wan tto make the best use of the space that we possibly can.  I'm sorry if anyone is torn between the two events but I hope you'll enter one of them for sure!  You can sign up for the Bolt Action event by clicking the PayPal button andf as soon as Andrew has some details I will publish them.

We have sponsorship from a whole bunch of good people coming to us.  Yes we have some great cases from KR Multicase.  I love the way their blue foam looks after the paint that we spend so long applying. Yesss!

Imperial Hobbies are stepping to the plate once again, even with the hard work they're undertaking right now to move into their new store on Russ Baker Way in Richmond. You should go and check it out - nice and bright, lots of room and yes they're still putting stock away but it already looks great!

Kromlech have sent some of their fantastic resin bits for the 40K event.  Ork and Space Marine players will want to enter those draws!

Ninja Division are on the wagon again to help us out with product.  Wyrd are sending stuff for the Malifaux event and Mantic are sending stuff for Kings of War!

Yay!
Chris

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Foodhammer 2015 Announcement

Here we go again!

I'm excited to do this again! To be honest it's been bugging me that I haven't done anything and I'm getting all antsy so here we are.

Before I start on telling you about when and where this year's events are happening I would like to give thanks to Matthew Purdy and the staff of GameStars.  We had only run Foodhammer the one time when he took over the store and he was kind enough to let us continue taking over his store for a weekend to do this crazy thing.  I've always been grateful to everyone there. As you may know the store merged with Toy Traders into one huge location earlier this year.  Vader would say it is most impressive.  One change that affects us is the gaming area.  It's a little cosier, and as such there would not be enough room for us to run events there any more so we are moving.  Matthew, my sincere heartfelt thanks to you for letting me use GameStars for the last few years.  You helped us raise all that money by just standing back and letting it happen.  I will not forget it.

So our new location for 40K and the other game with the square bases.  Nick Daniels successfully ran Wargamers Without Borders out of there, and Chumphammer have had a great time running Victory Or Death. There is tasty beer and excellent food and it's a great atmosphere so we are holding two events this year at The Fraternal Order Of Eagles, 170 3rd St W, North Vancouver, BC V7M 1E8.

Worry not - all proceeds still go to the Langley Food Bank.  We've supported them in the last four years by donating just over $15,000 - why stop because we moved?

KR Multicase are already on board as a sponsor.  They have been SO FREAKING GENEROUS in the past!  I'm really grateful to Daryl, Alan and Kath for their support over the years. Really nice generous people with fantastic product. I love my squishy blue foam :)

In regard to The Other Game With The Square Bases.  Dan Miner has decided to hold a Kings Of War tournament, since you can easily use your Warhammer Fantasy models with their analogous army lists and great rule set, which by the way is available for FREE DOWNLOAD.  I really want to let the guys at Mantic know how great a job I think they did with the release Kings Of War 2nd edition.  It plays very quickly, the movement, charge, magic and assault rules are very simple to learn and there are amazing tricks and combos to unlock as you learn the way it plays.  I would very much encourage you to go and get the rules and take your time to learn how it plays with the army you have.

A small increase this year.  We do have to rent the space at Eagles, so I hope you guys don't mind digging a little deeper.  I have raised ticket entry to $35 for Warhammer and Kings of War and $25 for X-Wing, Malifaux and Warmachine. It's not much of a difference but it will help offset some of the costs.

The schedule will be as follows:

Malifaux Sunday November 8th at Magic Stronghold
Warmahordes Sunday November 15th at The Connection
X-Wing Sunday November 22nd at Magic Stronghold
Kings of War on Saturday November 28th at Eagles club
Warhammer 40,000 on Sunday November 29th at Eagles club

Please keep an eye on the website and on the Facebook page - http://facebook.com/foodhammer for updates and so forth.  Also follow us on twitter - @Foodhammer

See you there!
Chris Jones