smashthedean

I appreciate that this has been a learning experience for all involved and am glad the money is being returned. If people want to talk about what to do with the money going forward, I'm open to that discussion. My stance has always been that it's better to have money for when we need it than to spend it and have it gone. In the past whenever a large chunk of the money has been spent, it's been on a shirt drive or large event that has returned more money back to the club than was taken out and I'd like if that were the tradition carried forward. We haven't had a lot of things to spend the money on lately because the club has been in something of a holding pattern with no large group of folks playing the same games and everyone just showing up to Tuesday nights more casually. I don't necessarily see this as an problem, just a natural evolutionary state of the club and the community. I don't think that we need to spend money just because we have money. I don't think that we should spend the money in a way that will zero out the fund with no returns. I also don't think that I have the authority to unilaterally decide these things just because I have a title of Treasurer, President, Temperor, Dicktator, or whatever I'm actually called right now. I serve the club by taking on responsibility; it isn't a power thing or a status symbol, it's work and it's drama and I do it because I care about the club and the community that we all share. I acknowledge and appreciate the work that Jim, Corey, Kevin, Shea, Joey, Loren, and anyone else who I'm forgetting (sorry) has put into the club by serving in leadership positions. My role within the club is not to make decisions about what we should do, it's to uphold decisions we've already made and to enact decisions that we make going forward by the club as a whole. If the whole club wants to clear out the account and buy a giant hamster shaped cake, I'll do it - but we need consensus and communication all the way down the line from the initial decision to the flavor of the cake, the filling, toppings, where to buy the cake, and everything included with the deal right down to making sure that everyone gets a piece in the end.

@Munkie Re: Events in 2016 I appreciate your perspective on how it went down and will admit that I was pretty oblivious to anyone having a problem with the situation at the time (the Irish Death could have helped that part), but it's been 3 years and no one has cared enough to say anything since. Given the loose structure of our club in modern times, a loose structure of leadership has worked out pretty well until now. Unfortunately, changes of leadership 3 years ago and dissatisfaction with the club as a structure don't really justify the current situation and are an entirely separate issue. We can start a separate thread to discuss those issues, but we really need to talk about the $371.84 in question. I'm not going to use the word theft because I do believe that you guys thought that you were doing what was best for the club as you understood it to exist. The problem is that the club is more than 4 people, even if those 4 people are the only ones currently going to events.

This is a difficult topic with a lot of emotions flying around and I'd appreciate it if people could keep things civil. I think this is a discussion that is important for us to have and I really appreciate Kevin putting a post together to explain his side of the issue, but we aren't going to get anywhere with name-calling or disparaging remarks about people. That all said, here is my side of the issue: Background I was elected club Treasurer at one of our first official meetings nearly a decade ago. The role of the Treasurer was laid out as the person responsible for managing and spending the funds raised by the club through things like events and shirt sales. At the time I was elected, we decided to open a Warhamsters Club account at WECU to house the funds. At the time, the signatories on the account were decided to be the Treasurer and President, which I believe at the time were myself and Jim. The President was on the account for oversight purposes and to have access to the account if the Treasurer was unable to withdraw needed funds. After Jim abdicated his throne, Corey became the club President for a period of time and replaced Jim on the account. After Corey resigned as President, it was decided at club meetings that the new President (I forget if this was Kevin or Shea at this point), didn't especially want to sign onto the bank account and that it was fine for the Treasurer to manage the funds. Corey didn't sign off the account, but didn't have online banking access. In addition, I trusted Corey and we had a good working relationship at that point in time so I didn't consider it a priority to remove him from the account. Flash forward to 2016, the last President of the Warhamsters was no longer active and it was decided by a vote of club members present at a Tuesday night session that we needed to make a leadership change. Here is the post I made back then in this thread to explain what happened: Discussion was held in the above linked thread for anyone needing more info on what happened or to voice dissenting opinions. My take on the situation was that the club needed someone willing to step up to the plate and I was willing to help out. Since this time, I have taken a fairly passive role as President and the primary duties I have executed have been to organize our yearly gift exchange and to facilitate some communication when some social issues arose between club members (details of which I won't be going into here). There have been no "big decisions" going on behind closed doors during my time accepting Presidential duties and honestly due to the decline of the Games Workshop games that formerly united us, there hasn't been a lot going on at all. That leads us to the current events. Current Events Earlier this year WECU changed their online banking system around to a model where signatories on Business/Club accounts no longer need login credentials to access the funds and instead the account is simply listed with an idividual's personal accounts after logging in with their personal login info. At the time this change occurred, I had completely forgotten that Corey was still a signer on the Warhamsters account as I had been managing the funds alone for some time and there had been very little activity over that time period. On May 20th, I noticed $250 had been withdrawn from the account with the narration "Nik Gipe Commission". After confirming that the activity wasn't conducted through the Warhamsters Paypal, to which Jim and I had shared login info, I remembered that Corey was still a signatory to the account. I called WECU to confirm and texted Corey that evening, to which I never received a reply. I gave it a few days, but noticed on May 23rd that the remaining funds had been transferred out with the narration "New banner down payment". At this point, I called Corey and left him a voice mail. On the 24th, I sent a message through the forums and received a reply in which Corey explained essentially what Kevin had said. I told Corey that the funds needed to be returned immediately, to which I received no reply. I was later contacted by Kevin and I suggested that he make this thread to get the issue out in the open, which brings us to today. My Stance The funds need to be returned. If people felt that the money needed to be used, there was nothing stopping the concerned parties from posting a thread in these forums and opening discussion to the club, but instead it was decided to take the money without asking and spend it as they saw fit. Leaving Corey on the account after his term as President ended was my failure and I take responsibility for that, but I chose to trust in his integrity and never imagined that something like this would happen. Sorry for the giant wall of text, but I am aiming for transparency and clarity here. Thanks all.

I got a game in against Josh from Seattle area recently and the new ruleset seems pretty solid. Not much changed from the last time I played, but with the assurance that it isn't going to change again in a month. I'd be up for a game sometime.

Speaking of last minute drops... Our childcare for the weekend fell through so I won't be able to make it down. Hope all goes well and lots of good games are had by all!

Would one of you guys be up for a game on Tuesday?

9th Age has finally released their official gold 2.0 rules that they promise not to change constantly so it's time we can start playing again! There doesn't seem to really be anything changed dramatically from the last set of rules, but take a peek at their website and hopefully we can get some armies on the table soon. Anyone up for a game this coming Tuesday?

I have no idea what my schedule will look like that far out, but go ahead and save me a spot. We haven't played 9th in Bellingham for a while, but mainly just because everyone is tired of rules changes so once the gold rules hit, I'm hoping we'll start up again.

I'll be down around 5:30 or so and will have my Undead and a Beastmen band for anyone needing catch-up games.

I'm going to be down for my second game around 6:40 or so. I suggest Kevin and Nathan don't match up since Christian and I played last week and then one of you can play Christian and one can play me!

An excerpt from "Count Draklea's Revenge" as recorded by Govelius the Necromancer Kaldezeit 16 After centuries in exile, the Count has returned to his homeland of Sylvania to reclaim his ancestral estate and feast upon the blood of the fools who have taken up residence within his domain. Shortly after dusk, our warband approached the crossing of the River Stir along the northern borderlands and were met with a coven of foul-smelling Skaven seeking to plunder the nearby settlement for treasure... --- I got my first game of the campaign in against Christian's Clan Pestilens Skaven and it ended in a solid victory in my favor. My MVP was definitely my Vampire, Count Draklea, for killing a Zombie and ending two Skaven while remaining unscathed. My Ogre Bodyguard, The Beast, did great as well, killing off two Zombies and taking out the Skaven leader. Post-game I got lots of levels across by warband, including a juicy Strength boost for one of my Ghouls. I also found a dead Priest of Mor that I was able to make into a free Zombie and a Lucky Charm in an abandoned building so very nice overall! I'm enjoying the Undead quite a bit so far. I was worried about everyone other than my Vampire being scrubs, but picking up the Ogre has helped give me another good threat on the board. Looking forward to hopefully getting in another game next week!

I'll be down around 7 to hopefully get a game in this week.

I'd also be down for some 9th Age. I could do most Tuesdays and potentially other days of the week if we plan ahead for it.

Yup! I'm also using skeleton models in place of Dregs in case there is any confusion.

After centuries in exile, Count Draklea has returned to Sylvania to reclaim his ancestral homeland and bring death and destruction to his enemies of old! Painting Credit: Joey