Rolling dice, breaking rank

As a child, LAC Adam Fulmizi would walk past the game stores in Newcastle and peer through the glass at the little models on display.

“I always took an interest in them, but it wasn’t something I had the money for,” LAC Fulmizi said.

In high school, he began playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with friends. 

Now an armament technician at the Salt Ash Air Weapons Range, he’s president of the RAAF Williamtown Tabletop Gaming Club, which held its first fundraising event last month.

It was a three-year effort starting the club, building up from small get-togethers and culminating in drafting a constitution, forming a committee, developing a business case and working with base welfare to get funding. 

LAC Fulmizi said it was worth it.

“It was something I was very motivated to get into, purely to have somewhere on a Friday after work to get in and play some games with people from the base,” he said.

The club has about 30 members, mostly from Air Force, as well as civilians and contractors.

The membership ranges from AC/ ACW to SQNLDR.

“It’s a place where no rank really exists,” LAC Fulmizi said.

“Everyone gets to come in, be themselves and not have to worry about the rank structure.”

LAC Fulmizi is running the club’s D&D campaign.

“People get to choose different races, genders – different everything,” he said.

“They get to role-play, have fun, switch off and not be themselves for a while.

“With war games, it’s a bit of fun letting the dice decide everything and not having to rely on anything but chance.”

The club meets at the Williamtown EDGY Air Force Lab, which has yielded a fruitful crossover. About six club members have joined the EDGY lab and some were already part of it.

They’d like to purchase a resin 3D printer, to be shared with EDGY.

“It’d be used to make terrain for the tabletop games. And the EDGY lab would be able to use it for all sorts of stuff they do,” LAC Fulmizi said.

The club has been building connections with the local community, holding a fundraising event for Soldier On that ran over a weekend at Gallipoli House, near Newcastle.

“We played Mordheim, which is a narrative skirmish game. You make a warband of models and, through the progress of the games, get better items and better war gear,” LAC Fulmizi said.

The venue was offered for free and Frontline Hobbies gifted $100 worth of gift vouchers as prizes.

Funds raised from tickets were matched by club member SQNLDR Ben Jordan, resulting in about $700 being donated to Soldier On.

If you’re interested in joining the RAAF Williamtown Tabletop Gaming Club, email WLM.RWTGC@defence.gov.au, or find the club on Facebook.