The Willy Wargaming group meets at the Williamstown Community and Education Centre. 88893 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
MYTHICAL races from a dystopian science-fantasy universe wage war in Williamstown every fortnight.
Welcome to the Willy Wargaming group, which was established five years ago to provide a supervised venue for youngsters to play the tabletop miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000 (40k).
Group convener and father Peter von Alpen said any interested Hobsons Bay residents aged between eight and 16 – and their parents – were welcome to attend wargame sessions at the Williamstown Community and Education Centre.
“The club uses a Games Workshop gaming system involving the use of intricately detailed models a few centimetres tall,” Mr von Alpen said.
“Enthusiasts build and paint each model to create armies dozens, and even hundreds, of models strong.
“The game itself is played similar to chess – but much, much more complicated.
“There are hundreds of pages of detailed rules and arcane knowledge, all of which must be understood and called into play by each side to win any battle.”
Mr von Alpen said wargaming also helped the young participants talk to each other and make friends as opposed to locking themselves away with computer games.
“The club engages players through numerous competitions and campaigns. Tournament and painting competitions have been hard fought over already this year,” he said.
Mr von Alpen said Willy Wargaming was run by volunteer parents as a not-for-profit venture.
He said the Williamstown Community and Education Centre has been “very good” to the group which meets there every Friday fortnight during school terms from 4.30pm-7.30pm.
Meeting details are available from the centre on 9397 6168 or 9397 7349.
