Meeples in your neighborhood: Jeff Haubrich

How did a group of friends from Moosomin – a town of 3,000 people located 20 km west of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border – get involved in raising money to help Regina’s less fortunate?

For Jeff Haubrich and his team, when it comes to board games or good causes, distance is not a barrier – or even for being a “Board Lord”! As Jeff said, “We have a team member from Regina that we don’t get to game with very often. The 24-Hour Event is like a reunion for us in that regard.”

After hearing about the PwYF campaign from co-chair Matt Robertson, Jeff offered to help out as a volunteer. Matt replied, “Why don’t you enter a team?” Most of the Board Lords are part of Jeff’s regular gaming group, and when they heard about the opportunity presented with PwYF, they were all in!

(By the way, the “Board Lords” name predates the group’s involvement with PwYF. “In the early days of our weekly game nights, we played in the conference room at my work. It was a suitable place to game, as it has lots of modular tables,” Jeff said. “A colleague of mine commented that we were ‘board lords’, as we like to play board games and we were gaming in the boardroom. We all thought that it was a great name, and it stuck.”)

For Jeff, PwYF is all about having fun while helping others in need. “Watching the team getting excited about helping others is a great feeling. It’s very uplifting. Even though we’re outside of Regina, there are local opportunities to raise funds, and people care about food security and social issues in the province.”

Jeff grew up in Assiniboia, and he’s currently the Chief Operating Officer with Borderland Co-op in Moosomin. He and his wife Jeanette have three adult kids, so they’re enjoying being empty nesters. While Jeff plays games weekly with the Board Lords, he and Jeanette have begun playing together more often, and get-togethers with their kids often involve games as well.

Jeff has been playing games for as long as he can remember. “Most of the early days were mass market family games,” he said. “We shouldn’t discount those games, as Axis and Allies and Risk are still great games and have influenced countless others.” The first “heavy” (ie. complex) board game Jeff played was Alexander the Great, a wargame from the early 1970s. He also had a copy of Dragons of Glory, a wargame in the Dragonlance setting from the late 80s.

Since getting into modern board games in 2010, Jeff has discovered he enjoys “Euro games with interesting themes the most.” He also likes thematic adventure games, area control games, and engine builders. Recent favourites include Scythe, Dune: Imperium, Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done, and Scholars of the South Tigris.

Jeff is especially drawn to games with “new and interesting mechanics that can connect theme to gameplay. A simple example of this is the flocking mechanic in Wingspan. It makes perfect sense that birds that tend to be in large numbers would have the ability to tuck cards underneath, or for the predatory birds to be able to tuck birds of a lesser size.”

“The thing that appeals to me the most about the hobby is unplugging for a while,” Jeff said. “When I’m playing a board game, I’m focused on what is in front of me. I’m not worrying about work, or all the stressors in life, for a few hours. The best part is that we get to do this with people we like to spend time with. It also puts structure in place for those that might find it difficult to socialize with others. There are so many mental health benefits to our hobby.”

Most of the Board Lords’ fundraising is done through their annual bake sales, which have been very successful. They’ve also held events such as a Catan tournament in Moosomin, and they’re planning other gaming events for this year’s fundraising.

When asked for advice or encouragement for other gamers from outside Regina who are thinking about getting involved, Jeff has some no-nonsense advice: start small and build on what you achieve.

“For us it was one idea – bake sales – that went over very well. We knew that canvassing for donations outside of Regina was not the right approach. Our community gets bombarded with fundraisers for sports teams and children’s activities in the fall. We made sure to avoid those times when other organizations were running lots of fundraising.”

“There are great ideas in the PwYF Community page that helped us out,” Jeff added. “Gamers are good at problem solving; it’s what we do for fun!”