Charity Event Wrap Up

Hey Freshcoast fans, I've returned from the dead to give a rundown on how our charity events went down! Details after the break.


First up, my apologies to our readers for the delay in posting this wrap-up. In addition to the usual holiday madness, I found myself detouring to the hospital for nearly a week following an ER trip the night after Foodmachine. But enough about that, let's talk games.

As our readers know, Freshcoast gaming has hosted a Foodhammer charity event for three years running now. What started as a somewhat traditional tournament has turned into an open gaming day full of sweet events, themed tables, and of courses lots of way to cheat using tickets earned through donations! In addition, donations earn players entry into raffles for some sweet prizes.

This year, we added a Foodmachine event to our calendar. Foodmachine is an internationally recognized charity tournament structure for Warmachine and Hordes, also featuring the ability to donate and cheat. In addition, we also added our raffle prize structure.

First, I of course want to give a huge shout out to our sponsors. First of course is our awesome LGS, Gamers Sanctuary. Chad and the crew there have been supporting all of our events for years, offering up space and prizes and helping with organizational matters. We can't be more thankful for their support. Remember, support your friendly local game store and pay where you play!

I also want to give a huge thanks to KR Multicase, especially Kath from their U.S. office. Their support has been amazing, and we know for a fact that their donated prizes brought a lot more players and donations. If you're reading this, please consider checking their site out. I love their cases, and would say so whether they were sponsors or not! The soft foam and modular case system are super awesome. In fact, I'll soon be upgrading my Kaiser2 case to a Kaiser 3 to accommodate my ever growing Trollblood collection.

Next up, we have a huge list of sponsors who donated prizes. These are in no particular order, and again we hope you'll check out the sites and products of these companies who donated so generously to our charity event!

Privateer Press
Brush 4 Hire Studios
Jawaballs
Goatboy
Blue Table Painting
Eldar Corsair
Lone Wolf Development (Army Builder)
Secret Weapon Miniatures
Chain Attack Podcast
Tectonic Craft Studios
Chessex
Spikey Bits
Miniwargaming.com
Mantic Games
Greenman Designs
Hawk Wargames


In addition, several local players and club members donated prizes, including:

Michael Ovsenik
Joshua Brownfield
Larry LaFerriere
Adam Koziel

Thanks to all for your support!


This wouldn't be a report without some pictures and video, so first up check out video coverage of both events:

Foodhammer 2k13
Foodmachine 2k13

Because Foodhammer is about open narrative gaming, I have no winners to report on per se. Many sweet games were played and funsies were had. Hope to see you guys next year, hopefully to put those Warmachine players in their place! (More on that later.)


And next up, Foodmachine:

Custom trophies for the event. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd plus the Bringing Home the Bacon award for biggest donation.

The crowd in round one.

Adam ponders his options.

Sweet battles in progress.

Notice all the tickets being used to cheat during the game!

More sweet gamin'

Dude on the right is Max, who has placed 2nd in the last two tournaments he's played in (also the only tourneys he has played in EVER). Congrats Max!

After the dust settled, Jake Hickok took first. Max Botimer took second, and Mike Clark third. The biggest donation was provided by Ambur Sanborn, who gave an absolutely massive and generous amount! Many prizes were given out, food was eaten, and good times were had by all!

The bottom line

In the end, we received a total of $2,147 in cash donations, and over 200 pounds of food! That is amazing! Every dollar that the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan receives, they can turn into 6 meals. That means that about 45 miniatures gamers are responsible for 12,882 meals for those down on their luck in Eastern Michigan. That is so amazing, and we are all super proud to be part of this effort!

40k and Fantasy players- the Warmachine crowd was smaller (16 players), braved super awful winter storms, and still wound up donating almost $200 more. Time to step up your game and show them what's up next year.

Warmachine players- Don't let those 40k and Fantasy dudes punk out your champion donation status! Bring it even harder next year.

(I am not afraid to use competitiveness and rivalries to drive more donations.)

One more big round of thanks to all our donors and players, and we hope to see you all next year!