The Long Summer

It has been some time since my last past, things get quite busy here over the Summer so no chance to procrastinate about gaming. Since my last post we have held 2 Summer Reading Challenge children's board game session with 10 children and their associated parents attending across the sessions. We played a lot of Jenga and the Mythical Maze game as well as Chess, Downfall, The aMAZEing Labyrinth and Creationary. Unlike the gaming club these sessions were very staff intensive with 2-3 staff and a volunteer on hand to show the children how to play the games. Whilst they were well received it may not be possible to run these more frequently given the amount of staff time that needed to be dedicated to them.

We are in the early planning stages for International Games Day, so far we are looking to add Chess and Minecraft to the activities on offer. Watch this space...

The new look newsletter should be on its way shortly so keep an eye out for that. If you don't get a copy check whether you are a member with one of the staff or volunteers.

Hope to see you all soon, though I won't be at the club to play anything for some time (I have a very busy September and October)

Coming Soon...

Another week rolls by and yet another successful session. We have hit 70 individuals having attended the club and have reached 32 official members (if your not yet a member ask a volunteer or member of staff for a membership form). The average number of people attending is steadily increasing, the average for the 2nd quarter of last year was 6 and our average for April and May this year currently stands at 23. We are reaching the limit of the space available, especially when the large room is not available, and Lyndsey and I are going to have to chat to see how best to accommodate the increasing numbers.


By Mette Aumala

Used under a Creative Commons License

Scheduled for later in the week we have a new guest blogger, Piers, who has written a game report for last Saturdays Call of Cthulhu game and a I have written post detailing the progress with my Mordant army.

The session on the 17th May represents the anniversary of our first Saturday afternoon session of the gaming club. I won't be with you for this momentous event (I'm going to be in North Wales) but I'm sure you'll all manage to have fun without me.

Looking further ahead, the coordinator for our WW1 commemorations has suggested we think about games with a Great War theme that we could add to the clubs growing list of games. I think Wings of War would fit nicely but anyone have any other suggestions? The American Libraries Association in partnership with the Australian Libraries and Information Association and Nordic Games Day* have just launched International Games Day 2014. I hope we can run something even bigger and better than last years event.

This years Summer Reading Challenge is the Mythical Maze and I'm looking at ways to add some gaming content into the activities that we run here. For those of you who don't know the Challenge is aimed at maintaining literacy skills amongst school children by preventing their reading dipping during the summer holidays. I hope to attend a training course in writing games for increasing information literacy in the middle of June and to bring some of those ideas from that course into both our Summer Reading Challenge activities and to making some new games for the club.

That's it for now. I'll see you all when I get back off my gallivanting (I'll have visited North Wales, London, Buckinghamshire and Salisbury by the time I'm back at the club).

* anyone think its a bit rubbish there is no UK presence in this list

...and you will know us by the Trail of Free Stuff

Miniature © Games Workshop 2003. All rights reserved.

Used without permission

Model painted by Henry, photo by Darren Edwards

Saturdays extended session went well, even if most attending hadn't realised that the session was longer until they arrived. We had a couple of games of Warhammer 40K being played, in one Orks were fighting the powers of Chaos and the other had Necrons, Chaos and Space Marines fighting (not sure if it was a 3 way tussle or some kind of unholy alliance). I managed to grab a few photos of the miniatures and hopefully we can get some more over the next few weeks as there was some very well painted stuff I failed to capture.

As well as the 40K we had a Dr Who roleplaying game and then after that the forces of the Holy Inquistion quashed a terrible Tzeentchan plot in a one off game of Dark Heresy.

As mentioned previously next week we are once again going to be situated on the first floor in the Teen Zone due to some workshops that are part of the Arts Festival by the Sea that are occuring in the meeting rooms.

Free Stuff, Prize Draws and Giveaways

We know that free stuff is good so I'll draw your attention to a few things that may interest you.

As the Summer turns to Autumn the South West Reading Passport promotion is coming to an end but there is still chance to pick up a passport at Bournemouth Library, read some books connected to the SW region, write a review of the books and get yourself entered into a prize draw for a Kobo E-Reader. The promotion ends next Monday, the 30th September.

The second competition is run by AudioGo, who produce BBC audiobooks, who are offering the chance to win a Dr Who audio box set. You can pick up a entry form from the display near the Teen Zone.


We also are also going to be trying to get some free stuff for the club; Battlefront Games are offering a demo kit of Flames of War to GCN clubs and West Wind Productions are offering Empire of the Dead starter packs as well. It doesn't stop there... we can get one of Kings of War, Dreadball and Warpath from Mantic Games and either Hail Ceaser, Pike and Shotte, Black Powder or Bolt Action from Warlord Games. We'd like to know what you want to play or we'll end up getting whatever Lyndsey and I think looks cool.

The final free thing comes when you officially join Worlds Away (forms will be available at the next session), in addition to becoming a GCN member and allowing us to contact you about the club you will get a voucher entitling you to a free weeks DVD hire, CD hire or reservation at Bournemouth Library. If you've already given us your contact details because you are under 16 or are a volunteer there will be a voucher waiting for you the next time you attend.

Hello and welcome to the brand new Worlds Away Blog

You’ll find all the information you need about the club on here; from when and where the club meets, what games will be running to who the clubs coordinators and volunteers are. Over the course of time you’ll also find photos of the games the club has run, reviews of games and novels, battle reports and all sorts of other interesting titbits about books and gaming.



Photo by Graham Brown

So the important stuff...

Where – The Bournemouth Library in the Triangle, next to Flirt and just around the corner from Marks and Spencer. We are normally located in one of the meeting rooms on the 2^nd Floor.

When – Every Saturday Afternoon, currently from 12 until 4.

What – Roleplaying Games, Miniature Wargames, Boardgames and Card Games. Most weeks we have people playing a mixture of Warhammer 40,000, roleplaying games and boardgames. If you have specific games you want to play let us know, there will almost certainly be someone willing to play it with you.

Who – The club is run by Bournemouth Library staff with the help of a number of volunteers. Anyone 13 or over can join the club, though those under 16 will need a consent form signed by a parent or guardian.