New Members Introduce Yourself

Black Barney wrote: Welcome to F:AT, Prodigal Player. Usually we don't point this out to new members but for you, it would seem necessary to mention:

It is F:AT policy that you do NOT directly damage other players or their creatures here.

Thank you.

Where do we get creatures? I've always wanted a manticore.

Hi, I'm Steve... and I'm a wargamer.
I started with the usual suspects as a child, Risk, Monopoly, and Clue, until one day, back in the early 70's, I found PanzerBlitz. I played my way through the old Avalon Hill classics and discovered SPI, GDW and John Hill's old Conflict Games line through my days at university. Upon returning home to Miami, well the suburbs of Miami, I found a few good friends/opponents to while away the nights with Squad Leader, Ironclads and others. Time passed and the old gang broke up due to families, jobs, computer games, D&D, even cocaine in one case (not me thankfully), and the gaming stopped. As for me... Well, the retail trade is not kind to those who operate multiple shops and wish to have a life.
Fast forward to the early 2000's, and I was free again! I sold out of my business, retired and started to return to school to study History, as I wanted to the first time. I discovered a games group through meetup.com and began playing newer games, mostly Euros, but finding a few meaty bits of wargames mixed in. This included the newer card driven, point to point, and block games. By '09 I had moved up to Charlottesville, Va. and really dove back in the Grognard pool.
My "sweet spot" at this time leans towards WWII operational level, mid-complexity hex and counter games (Normandy '44, Liberty Roads, etc.). although that may change over time. I still play Euros, "AT", and others, but I'm an old Grog (my license plate reads GROGNRD) at heart.

VaGrog wrote: D&D, even cocaine in one case

Sounds like a Thursday!

It was Miami in the '80s.
I witnessed a shootout between "cowboys" and the DEA while I was waiting at a BK drive-through. I didn't see much as I was trying to guess where in the middle of the floorboards of my car would put the engine block, a giant hunk of Detroit Iron at the time, between the flying bullets and my body!

VaGrog wrote: My "sweet spot" at this time leans towards WWII operational level, mid-complexity hex and counter games (Normandy '44, Liberty Roads, etc.). although that may change over time. I still play Euros, "AT", and others, but I'm an old Grog (my license plate reads GROGNRD) at heart.

C'ville? Damnit. I've been dying to play Liberty Roads against an actual human but that's just a hair too far from me in Ashburn.

Welcome to the Fort.

VaGrog wrote: It was Miami in the '80s.
I witnessed a shootout between "cowboys" and the DEA while I was waiting at a BK drive-through. I didn't see much as I was trying to guess where in the middle of the floorboards of my car would put the engine block, a giant hunk of Detroit Iron at the time, between the flying bullets and my body!

I smell a Kickstarter! I see it as hex based area control on the strategic level, with a tactical GALAXY TRUCKER-like sub game as the bullets fly and you need to cower behind Jersey barriers, baby strollers, and the like. Who's with me?

//welcome

Welcome VA...we'll get you a "senior" membership card and teach you the secret hand shake soon. Must of the knuckle dragging mouth breathers on this site are far too young to know anything about those games you mention but there are a few elder statesmen that remember the old days.

Welcome aboard.

Hey VA. One of the first board games I played (also back in the 70's) was Charles S Roberts Tactics II. I'm not much into wargames these days but it's always nice to welcome a veteran gamer. So...welcome!

Yes, Mike, we need to hook up. I love the old U-Boat and Tactics II. I've owned six copies of T2 in my life...I keep giving them to friends. Andy got my last copy..unpunched, no less, via Satan.

Hey there, my name is Wes and I live in Fredericksburg, VA. I'll play just about any game once, though I'd rather play something with a lot of player interaction, something like Cosmic Encounter or The Resistance.

It all started with your standard board games that I ignored one way or another and at some random yard sale I found a copy of Thunder Road and played a lot of that. However, I started playing video games and left board games for a while. Then at some point in college someone introduced me to Settlers of Catan and I really enjoyed it since it had been a while since I had played a board game and I remembered games like Monopoly and Sorry moreso than Thunder Road. I ended up buying it and playing it a few times, but then ignored them again, this time due to work.

Now, three years ago or so I decided to buy a few games and ended up with a few of your standard gateway euros and a copy of Cosmic Encounter, which sadly sat unplayed and unloved for a year or two until someone brought it to the weekly meetup and I asked to play. After I played that, I started to see that a game wasn't about mechanics, wooden bits, or plastic; it's all about the stories that come out of them.

At this point, my collection is reasonably big (limited to two bookshelves), though I'm always looking to both add to it and trim it down, which frustrates the hell out of me. I tend towards higher player interaction (Cosmic Encounter, The Resistance, Conquest of Nerath, King of Tokyo, Libertalia, Merchants & Marauders, Tammany Hall, Legend of Drizzt) and avoid most JASEs that I come in contact with, though I do have a few I like in my collection (Thurn and Taxis, Castles of Burgundy, Flash Point, and Saint Petersburg). I also have been dabbling with some wargames like Conflict of Heroes, Twilight Struggle, and Band of Brothers, but finding opponents is tough.