It’s my favorite time of the year—the time when the WARMACHINE community takes to tables to help those in need.

That’s right, it’s FOODMACHINE season! For those of you who are new to the Foodmachine drive, let me tell you about it. Launched by the St. Louis River Dogs as a food drive for their local community, Foodmachine events combine food drives with gaming and are hosted by Press Gangers and local stores. This year will be the 10th annual Foodmachine charity drive to help feed families and individuals worldwide. Last year, the community came together and donated over 42,000 cans of food and $7,130, all of which directly benefited Action Against Hunger (ACF International).

Foodmachine events take place all over the world, but only one event can win the coveted Most Cans Donated award. For the past three years, Buffalo Warmachine has held that title. Buffalo Warmachine has collected a running total of 50,000 canned goods over the past few years; they are truly a shining example of the power of the WARMACHINE community and all the great things we can accomplish when we come together.

I’m incredibly excited to announce that I will be attending Buffalo WARMACHINE’s Foodmachine event Saturday, November 21. Special credit must go to the event organizer, Adam, who also happens to be a Press Ganger. Attendance at this event has grown to the point that two heats are now run to accommodate the huge number of players as well as the different skill levels. I can’t wait to play in the 35-point heat and get some games in with such a passionate community. Adam was kind enough to come up with a unique cheat for the event: “Check your Agel.” Prior to the round pairing announcements, players may bid tickets to replace their opponent with Charles Agel. How cool is that?

So what army will I be taking to Foodmachine? For those of you who don’t know me, I adore Theme Forces, as they help me get into the character of the ’caster. So, I needed a fun army with great modeling potential and thematically appealing Theme Forces. Clearly, Skorne was the answer. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to take Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate. I feel his Theme Force is, by far, one of the most visually striking armies on the table for a game of WARMACHINE and HORDES—the stone soldiers are simply breathtaking. For the second Theme Force, I knew I wanted to go the complete opposite direction of Zaal, so I wanted as few infantry as possible. Thus, Dominar Rasheth became my second choice. One of my forces would be made up of perfectly disciplined stone figures, and the other would be a pack of savage beasts of war.

I got together with No Quarter Editor-in-Chief Lyle Lowery and Studio Hobby and Terrain Specialist Michael Archer to make my forces extra-special for this event because—drumroll, please—I am donating the army I will be playing at Foodmachine to the event’s raffle. That’s right! Players will be able to enter the raffle for a chance to win over $600 worth of painted Skorne models. And that’s not all that’s available to win—our partners at Battle Foam donated one of their amazing HORDES bags as well as some other special handouts you will just have to attend to see!

Now that you’re excited to attend a Foodmachine event or go start your own, I want to give you a challenge for this year. Let’s double last year’s donations. That means donating more than 82,000 cans of food. So, talk to your stores and your Press Gangers to set up a Foodmachine event that will crush my challenge. Full credit must be given to Kevin (Doktor Grym) for once again doing all the legwork to make this amazing community event possible. For information and rules for running your own Foodmachine event, please check out his forum post.

Which Foodmachine event will donate the most cans this year? Which store will generate the most cans per person? And which amazing individual will donate the most cans? The world will find out this weekend!