Under the Mountain

Have you ever used Tabletop Gaming News?  Like many of you, I visit the site several times throughout the day.  There’s no other site on the Internet quite like it.  Many of us rely on Tabletop Gaming News for the latest information in the industry, and likewise the industry needs Tabletop Gaming News to ensure that news of their latest releases and updates reach as broad an audience as possible.

Now it’s time to give back.  TGN is currently running a fundraiser to expand operations and make the site and the information they make available more useful to their readers.

This month was a highpoint for TGN in terms of traffic (over half a million page views), unique visitors (69,000) and even in terms of news items post (140 a week on average). Tabletop Gaming News is primarily a two-person operation with Grant Hill handling our reviews and myself handling the news posting and other duties. Both Grant and myself are, in our real lives, quite busy. Grant has a PhD in Chemistry and is working at establishing himself in the academic world (and also has a young child and wife) and I spend most of my time herding my posse of twin three year old girls. A job that never seems to run out of new challenges 🙂

While this is a somewhat workable solution in terms of keeping TGN running in the manner that it currently does it means that there is not a lot of time to expand TGN, update it based on reader feedback and also to expand the news sources on the site. To that end I am starting a fundraiser to raise funds to help expand TGN, expand the content on the site and also to allow us to pay for people to help bring content to the site. But we’re not just asking our readership to help us build funds to expand the site we also have, thanks to the generosity of some of the companies in the industry, a rather rich cache of goodies to give out to contributors as prizes.

You read that last line correctly, prizes!  Tre Manor of Red Box Games, for example, is offering $50 store vouchers to two lucky donors for anything in the RBG store, and Mannikin Studios has pledged a complete collection of all four releases currently available from their website (Grimm’s Cat, Father Christmas, Rip Van Winkle, and Bylot).  Still not tempted?  Here’s the complete list:

• Grindhouse Games will give one lucky donor a full Incursion set including the Incursion core game, the SNAFU expansion and an Allied and German miniature starter set
• Corvus Belli have donated three Infinity starter sets including a rulebook and the winner’s choice of two Infinity starter sets
• Secret Weapon Miniatures have provided two $50 gift vouchers and is also giving every donor a 20% off code for use in their online store
• Warlord Games will give one random donor a copy of their Hail Caesar! rules and two plastic boxes of the donor’s choice
• Mantic Games are offering a $30 US and $50US voucher to their online store as well as a goodie bag of tools
• Spartan Games is offering the grand-prize – one of every boxed fleet they offer. That is 22 Spartan boxed fleets for one lucky donor
• Dark Age Game are offering four prizes including three copies of their Dark Age Apocalypse rules and one prize set with the Dark Age Apocalypse rules and Forcelist book.
• Brigade Models will be giving one donor an Aeronef starter set of their choice
• Tor Gaming are offering each donor a 15% off coupon for use in their online store and one donor will win their choice of two Relics starter sets
• Wargaming Trader is offering two £15 vouchers for use on their online store
• Collins Epic Wargames is offering a signed copy of their Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 game
• Mannikin Studios is offering one donor all four present releases from Mannikin Studios: Rip Van Winkle, Bylot, Father Christmas, and Grimm’s Cat.
• Ambush Alley Games is offering a prize package to be determined
• Hydra Miniatures is offering a War Rocket rulebook and Squadron Box of the donor’s choice
• Darkson Designs has offered a package consisting of their three AE-WWII books and their AE Bounty sci-fi rules
• Outrider Hobbies have offered three gift certificates to their online store – two $25 gift certificates and one $50 certificate

This is a great opportunity to give back to the community and support those who endeavor to provide the latest and best information about the miniatures industry, and, by extension, make your hobby more enjoyable.  Please show your support by donating today!  Even a little can go a long way.