An Oxfordshire-based wargaming club are set to play the popular tabletop game; Warhammer Fantasy, in an endurance marathon for 48 hours in a bid to raise donations for Sophia’s Stepping Stones – a young Witney resident with Spastic Diplegia, a form of Cerebral Palsy, in need of a crucial operation and months of post op physio. The event, dubbed ‘The Battle for Sophia’ will take place Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October, at the club’s headquarters in Carterton.

The tabletop game will play continuously for 48 hours with players taking shifts, and will be broadcast live over the web for supporters to see the action progressing. The game will be played on a massive 12’ by 4’ table, will use more than 50 terrain pieces and over 2000 miniatures, many of which have been beautifully hand-painted.

Club Chairman and organiser of the event, Steve Foote said: “We’re reaching-out to the wargaming community to help support Sophia’s Stepping Stones and hope this event will be entertaining and inspiring enough to encourage donations.

“There will be viewer interaction allowing donations to affect the course of the battle and trigger special in-game events. We are also hosting a prize draw which a number of businesses, including OG Games, Element Games, Hollow Tree Studios and Heelan Hammer have supported by donating prizes.”

The club invites supporters to follow the progress of the players as they prepare their models, gaming table and rules in the build-up to this unique event on this website.

You can find out more about Sophia’s Stepping Stones by visiting: http://www.sophiassteppingstones.co.uk/ and donate at: http://www.justgiving.com/Sophias-stepping-stones

Not to be confused with an armed altercation for control of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the Battle of Sophia is a fund-raising event taking place soon in Oxfordshire, UK to send a little girl with cerebral palsy for an operation in the US. As well as getting to make up cool stories, create cool worlds and meet cool people, one of the cool things about being a writer is contributing to efforts like this. (Occasionally working in your underpants or dressing gown is also cool.)

Usually it’s just publicity I can bring to the party but by a quirk of timing and family geography I was able to make a more worthy addition to the cause this time. I’ve raided the samples boxes in the garage and dug out armfuls of novels for the organisers to raffle and auction off. Everything is signed by me, you’ll find out the details in the coming days, and be assured that there’s one or two things in there that money (almost) can’t buy.

To learn about this great event, and to support either the forces of light or the forces of darkness with the Winds of Magic and in other ways, read more here:

http://innsmouthgamingclub.wordpress.com/battle-for-sophia/

And here:

http://innsmouthgamingclub.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/you-can-shift-the-balance-of-play/

You can also keep track with #battleforsophia on Twitter.

It’s happening this week, so get involved! The family have already raised a good amount, but another £5,000 will seal the deal. Let’s show folks just how great the wargames community can be.

You can share the news with the press release – 130830b_press_release_battle_for_sophia- even if you can’t afford any financial support. Get the word out there.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.