Tactic North East, a tabletop gaming club in the North East of England, has received a $6,100 (£5,000) grant from a local NGO, for its role bringing people together via games of Warhammer 40,000, miniature painting days, and even traditional games like Scrabble.
The funds were provided by the Sunderland Business Improvement District, and are part of a wider project to invest in the city centre where the club is based. While jokes about the cost of Warhammer 40k models might come to mind, the grant will fund paint and play days – free events for people to hang out painting miniatures – and gaming socials.
The club is based on Back Norfolk Street in Sunniside, and you can find more details on its website. Its paint and play sessions are completely free, while gaming socials and tabletop gaming have a sliding price scale based on people’s ability to pay.
A statement by the Sunderland BID quotes venue organiser Chris Whyte explaining how important the club is for local young people. The venue was created for “young people who were lonely, isolated and had nowhere else to find like-minded friends”.
Sunderland is a historic port and ship-building town, industries which have both declined in the UK since the late 20th century, and the UK’s 2019 ‘indices of multiple deprivation‘ statistics report much of the town in the top 10% most deprived areas of the country. The funds for the club ultimately derive from a much larger grant that the BID secured from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
While the Warhammer 40k factions are profoundly antisocial folks, miniature wargaming is a fundamentally social hobby. North East Tactic is offering something a bit like a youth centre, but with the focus on Space Marines rather than sports – and a cross-generational offer. Whyte adds that the venue’s patrons “would have nowhere else to go to fulfil their hobby if we did not exist”.
He emphasises how the gaming community the venue serves includes people who might be having a tough time: “some trans, some neurodivergent, some experiencing mental health difficulties”.
Sunderland BID chief executive Sharon Appleby adds: “It’s a wonderful facility, not just for young gamers, but also for older members of the community who may be feeling a little lonely or isolated and might enjoy spending an evening playing board games in a friendly, welcoming environment”.
The wargaming community can be a wonderfully supportive place in many ways: whether that’s creating useful in-game aids like a complete player aid for the new Warhammer Age of Sigmar rules that fits on two sheets of paper, or raising funds for a mental health charity with a sponsored painting marathon.
Source: Wargamer
