My Gaming Path

70's: I guess my path to miniature wargaming and RPG's was laid long before I even realised. War gaming at this time was limited to water pistols, running around the yard, and those $2 bags of soldiers (usually British, American and/or Germans) a few period non-specific tanks and a really sad tree or two. Set up across the front yard a tennis ball made the perfect projectile, if the figure fell over, he was dead, still standing and it was "just a flesh wound". And of course this decade was the one of Star Wars.

80's: The earlier part of this decade was punctuated by two three things Geek: discovering The Hobbit (and through it the LOTR), being introduced to D&D and getting my first computer. Of course there was also the forays into Eddings and Donaldson, early Ral Partha, and of course Dragon, and before it simply became an in-house advertisement, White Dwarf. There was spending allowance on the school photocopier to get more character sheets, not to mention pilfering grid paper when my Math teacher was not looking.
The later part of the 80's held much of the same, but before High School ended it was filled out with Medieval re-enactment, making arms and armour, ESCI Napoleonics, WRG 7th Ed. and then DBA Greeks, offering my real introduction to rules that did not include a tennis ball or something exploding. I could also sprinkle this time with things like WHFRPG, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, MERP, and lets not forget Fighting Fantasy.

90's: This was a period when RPG's became simply books on a shelf replaced (albiet only for 10 years or so ) by the computer. It was a period of getting a degree (in IT) and finding work, moving away from home and my regular gaming group and then finally moving abroad. It was also for the first 6 years a great time of weekly wargaming. Nearly every period was covered, while rugged up against the cold we played in a large garden shed or in the luxury of a dedicated room. From 5mm to 25mm, my interest was fueled and I even started the possibly never ending sinkhole that is known as "getting into a period" as I jumped aboard what was the flavour of the month and tried to overcome my hatred of painting the little buggers.* It was also a time where friendships drifted as life simply got older and many of my armies found a place to be stored at my parents and simply gathered dust until recently.

00's: This was a period of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and though I had dabbled in the previous decade this one was where I played the most. The few wargames I tried disappointed and being abroad and living as an expat I never really had the space nor the opposition** to play anything serious or get back into it in a manner I would like. Though it was at this time that my good friend Justin got into Dwarven Forge, and slowly at first but then with more regular drunken revelry a group would gather to roll some dice and move our characters through a dungeon inhabited by all types of nasties just minding their own business and therefore waiting to be killed.

Present: What can I say? DA2, Mass Effect, Oblivion, a return to pen&paper D&D with a small group (who could be better at meeting more regularly ~hint~) meeting the Napnuts guys and getting my wargaming mojo back. It's a time of Hirst Arts, Warhammer, and trying to limit my periods to a manageable 4 or 5, so far 15mm Napoleonic, ACW, 25/28mm Fantasy (I might need to limit this from Dwarfs, Orcs/Goblins, Undead, Elf, Human and Skaven, to something less space taking), and 20mm WW2. I could throw in 25/28mm Sci-fi, but apart from gather the "bits" I have done nothing with this so far so it really is only a couple of shoe boxes worth of sprue. This is a time, when disposable income has allowed me to do what once I could only dream, and so the main change for the present is that as I come to the end of my current lease and start to look for a new home, one priority is a spare room that can be "my shed" and therefore my gaming home. ~grin~

* What can I say? I hate painting the soldiers, but love scratch building and making terrain.
** I have decided that the best way to circumvent this is to make sure that I build both sides of any period that I get into. My good friend Greg did this, and I think its the best way to go as it means I just need to find a wargamer to play against, not one who is also into the same periods.