About Me
I was born in 1972, in Houston, Texas.
I entered the hobby through the gateway of role-playing games (RPGs). I was in to fantasy, fantasy books like Lloyd Alexander's Black Cauldron series, fantasy movies like Excalibur (which my parents took me to see when it came out in 1981, then I watched literally dozens of times more on cable television). So when Dungeons & Dragons came out I started buying up the books and modules. But as much as I liked fantasy, I liked science fiction more, and when I discovered my local game store and found out about Traveller, I was excited, but I couldn't risk spending the money on something unknown. Sometime in the early 80s my grandmother took me to the game store for a gift-giving occasion, either my birthday or Christmas. She told me I could spend $50. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for! I picked up Traveller. We continued this tradition for the next year or so, and one time when I went in I discovered the store was either relocating or going out of business, and everything was half price. I went crazy. I started buying so much stuff--all the Traveller books I could find. Then I started noticing the boxed games that were part of the Traveller universe. I took a chance and purchased my first real wargame, Fifth Frontier War. I loved it. I didn't have anyone to play it with at the time, but that was fine.
By the time I got to high school I'd made a friend who was also interested in wargames. He started with Axis & Allies. We'd have many sleepovers with all night sessions of that game, and we expanded to others: he bought Blitzkrieg, then Panzer Blitz. I bought Panzer Leader and Arab-Israeli Wars. He bought The Normandy Campaign, and I returned to the game company who first introduced me to wargaming: Game Designer's Workshop (GDW). I bought the Third World War series (and played the hell out of it), but what really caught my eye and forced me to save up was the Europa series. By the time I graduated I had picked up Case White, Fall of France, Their Finest Hour, and Marita-Merkur.
When I went to college the games went into storage; I couldn't really take them with me. When I graduated I had a serious girlfriend, and we moved back to Houston together and got an apartment. While she studied in medical school and I struggled to find work in the barely extant film local industry, I spent a lot of time playing on my new Windows 95 computer. My roommate my last 2 years in college had been a tech guy, and we had played on his PC a lot, so I'd already been introduced to the internet, the web, email, listservs, etc. When I got my computer and started looking around I discovered some of the online wargaming community. I also discovered that Europa had been taken over by Game Research/Design. Their web presence was awful. So I called them to place an order, and told them how bad their web was. Winston Hamilton, the CEO of GR/D, asked if I could do better. I said I could, and we traded product for website. I guess they liked it, because the base of my work (uncredited despite my complaints) is still on the HMSGR/D website.
But we moved again to California, had a kid, moved back, had another kid. I decided to stop working and become a stay-at-home dad. As my boys got older I discovered the renaissance of the board gaming industry, and started buying games to play with them. This led me to notice the renaissance in my favorite niche of the industry: wargames, and the parallel growth of the online community.
Now, with one boy about to head to college, I'm determined to start actually playing, even if solo, the games I love. And this is where I'll share my experiences.
I entered the hobby through the gateway of role-playing games (RPGs). I was in to fantasy, fantasy books like Lloyd Alexander's Black Cauldron series, fantasy movies like Excalibur (which my parents took me to see when it came out in 1981, then I watched literally dozens of times more on cable television). So when Dungeons & Dragons came out I started buying up the books and modules. But as much as I liked fantasy, I liked science fiction more, and when I discovered my local game store and found out about Traveller, I was excited, but I couldn't risk spending the money on something unknown. Sometime in the early 80s my grandmother took me to the game store for a gift-giving occasion, either my birthday or Christmas. She told me I could spend $50. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for! I picked up Traveller. We continued this tradition for the next year or so, and one time when I went in I discovered the store was either relocating or going out of business, and everything was half price. I went crazy. I started buying so much stuff--all the Traveller books I could find. Then I started noticing the boxed games that were part of the Traveller universe. I took a chance and purchased my first real wargame, Fifth Frontier War. I loved it. I didn't have anyone to play it with at the time, but that was fine.
By the time I got to high school I'd made a friend who was also interested in wargames. He started with Axis & Allies. We'd have many sleepovers with all night sessions of that game, and we expanded to others: he bought Blitzkrieg, then Panzer Blitz. I bought Panzer Leader and Arab-Israeli Wars. He bought The Normandy Campaign, and I returned to the game company who first introduced me to wargaming: Game Designer's Workshop (GDW). I bought the Third World War series (and played the hell out of it), but what really caught my eye and forced me to save up was the Europa series. By the time I graduated I had picked up Case White, Fall of France, Their Finest Hour, and Marita-Merkur.
When I went to college the games went into storage; I couldn't really take them with me. When I graduated I had a serious girlfriend, and we moved back to Houston together and got an apartment. While she studied in medical school and I struggled to find work in the barely extant film local industry, I spent a lot of time playing on my new Windows 95 computer. My roommate my last 2 years in college had been a tech guy, and we had played on his PC a lot, so I'd already been introduced to the internet, the web, email, listservs, etc. When I got my computer and started looking around I discovered some of the online wargaming community. I also discovered that Europa had been taken over by Game Research/Design. Their web presence was awful. So I called them to place an order, and told them how bad their web was. Winston Hamilton, the CEO of GR/D, asked if I could do better. I said I could, and we traded product for website. I guess they liked it, because the base of my work (uncredited despite my complaints) is still on the HMSGR/D website.
But we moved again to California, had a kid, moved back, had another kid. I decided to stop working and become a stay-at-home dad. As my boys got older I discovered the renaissance of the board gaming industry, and started buying games to play with them. This led me to notice the renaissance in my favorite niche of the industry: wargames, and the parallel growth of the online community.
Now, with one boy about to head to college, I'm determined to start actually playing, even if solo, the games I love. And this is where I'll share my experiences.
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