Charity begins...

Charity begins... ... in a wargaming group on Facebook?

I am happily a member of the Northern Ireland Wargaming Group on Facebook and a short while ago a post appeared which caught my attention. One of the members who works for YMCA YouthBase posted about a new initiative they were trying to run at their local centre. Two of the workers were going to introduce hobbying and gaming in two aspects, the first as tabletop games and the second as collectable card games and roleplay games.

The post was focused on hobbying and they were looking to use Warhammer 40k and BloodBowl as the games of choice to introduce to the kids. This would build up slowly from assembling and modelling of miniatures, including conversions, through to painting and then eventually actual gameplay. The benefits would be able to be seen in improving fine motor skills, learning patience, active problem solving, and learning strategic thinking.

Whilst the post tried not to read like a begging letter, they were just looking for any surplus to requirement miniatures or bits for Warhammer 40k or BloodBowl. It didn't matter if the miniatures or bits were older models, part painted, broken, or just random bits; anything would do.

So what could I do?

Last year I had purchased some second hand Warhammer 40k minis to expand my never ending Space Marine army (I bought a big box of Space Marines parts); but within the box were some random miniatures, specifically Orcs and Chaos Marines, and a load of other seemingly random bits (I was able to identify some Eldar and Imperial Guard parts within the mix).

I hadn't decided what I was going to do with the unwanted minis, but when I read the post, I just knew that donating these would clear out the minis from my house and help out a good cause. I wasn't the only one who decided to help out as other Group members were also keen to offer their support, so I made contact with the member who's post caught my attention, and sent the above photos to see if the minis and bits I had were of use. Of course they were!

After trying for a couple of weeks to make a day trip and hand deliver the minis, I decided it would be easier to just mail them out. I can report the minis arrived safe and sound and they are now part of a small but growing collection of parts helping the kids learn about tabletop gaming and the hobby that lies behind it all.

So you want a fuzzy feeling too?

This was a good cause to support, and it felt great sending off the minis knowing they would be put to better use than I would ever have for them. If you want to get a warm fuzzy feeling inside and help I would encourage you to get in contact and send your unwanted minis to a better home. You can make contact with the centre and send parts to the following address: YMCA YouthBase, 10B Donard Street, Newcastle, Co. Down, BT33 0AW

J