As we head to the end of 2024 I can look back and honestly say its been another great year in Dice and Bolters short history. As we hit year 3 of the club I feel we came into our own, cementing a superb player base and really finding the feet of what the club offers its gamers. I wanted to have a run through the year and reflect on what our members were successful at and what we as a committee did for the club to help build on the strong foundations.
February
February gave us a bigger storage room as we swapped with the nursery and also we opened on Sundays. This has been due to the club being so busy and people struggling to get games in. We are still monitoring the use of Sundays and will decide what we do later in 2025 but generally its been a success.
March
We launched the prepayment cards to the club. We had an issue with having to deal with cash and so came up with the idea of a pre-payment card so members could prepay for 11 sessions (for the prices of 10) and not have to worry each week when they visited having to pay. This has been a massive success and thank you to everyone for making it so.
April
We it 200 members on the Facebook page. I know many now don’t visit the club regularly but its great to have a community of likeminded gamers all from the similar area of Kendal (bar a few).
May
We held the annual general meeting in May (slightly late) which we held online and was well attended. The minutes can be found on the Facebook page. This is everyones opportunity to put forward where they want the club to go and how it should grow so we welcome everyone to attend the next one in 2025.
Ed also held his Warhammer 40k tournament Crucible 2 with a little support from the club which was a huge success. I’m sure he will have more events coming soon.
August
Although not directly to do with the club we were proud that our member James opened his gaming shop Beer and Pretzel on Kendal’s Highstreet. Its great that the scene is big enough to support James and his retail venture and I urge everyone to support him with your hobby money over say an online retailer.
September
We hit year 3 of Dice and Bolter and celebrated with our annual birthday bash with a painting competition run by Luke, special dice for the committee members, and a raffle for all the club attendees. Its an opportunity to give back to everyone that makes this club work and here’s to our 4th year.
November
November saw the final round of the Warhammer 40k League which has been run all year by Paul. There were two leagues with League 1 won by Ed Bennet and League 2 won by Ben Facey. A new league will begin in the new year.. are you up for the fight?
December
Every year I plan an event to give back to the members and provide a free evening of drink, food and group gaming. This year we had a wonderful night trying to solve 5 murder mystery’s whilst tackling tasks set out by myself, the Taskmaster. We had prizes given to us by Beer & Pretzel Gaming, team leaders all suited up as characters from games and books and a great turn out. What will next year bring?
Special Shout Outs
Just a few thanks to shout out to people. A thank you to Warren Mockett who has been putting up weekly Work In Progress Wednesday posts on the Facebook page which people have enjoyed showing off their progress on and Will & Rhys on their Underworlds tournament reports.
Beer & Pretzel and Games Workshop Kendal for supporting the club throughout the year deserve a shout out as do all our DM’s that keep multiple RPGs running throughout the year.
More importantly a big thank you to each and everyone of our members, who walks through that door and joins in friendly gaming all with smiles and laughs (or grumpy dice throwing in my case). Thank you for making the club what it is.
Finally a huge thanks to all the committee members for all their support opening/ closing and the running of the club.
Here’s to 2025 and beyond.
Ian Loxam
Dice and Bolter 