How old are you!?

                                                                          How old are you!?

    Old Gamer is not just a catchy title. If you talk of the graying of the hobby, you are talking about me, I have been at this longer than 50 years. A Gold Gamer! I have been through it all, because I was once a young gamer, trying to make my way into the hobby. Gate Keepers? Met quite a few, luckily there were a few more gamers open to letting a kid do more than push a few micro armor destroyers around and let the real gamers play the game. Soon I managed to get a few of my own miniatures and figures and looked forward to using my own stuff. Then I joined the military and my gaming came to an end, for a little while. While some of my gaming took the form of Risk or the old Milton Bradley games such as Axis and Allies. Slowly I found other gamers, only to move around the US and have to start from scratch. My interests ran the gambit, I collected 25mm figures of one type or another, including getting my Micro Armor and Valiant ships collection even larger. I even dabbled in D&D, as it was the only game in town for a while.

Then came Chicago. Avalon Hill had a new game out called Napoleon's Battles and of course the lure and call of Napoleonic's finally took hold. I mean I was in Chicago, and the number of Hobby Shops as well as game stores was amazing. So I got my 15mm Old Glory figures and painted up some Brits and cannon and set out. By now, I wasn't a kid anymore, I was a 30 something guy with some funds to spend and a pretty good knowledge of games and how to play. Guess what I found? Gate Keepers. Button counters. Color critiquers, and in general negative people. At one store I was told my figures were not good enough to be on their table, so I had to use someone else's. At another place, a large game was going to be played and we were divided up into sides and then given a list of figures we had to buy and paint up. I had drawn of all things The Scots Greys. This was quickly taken away and I was given a line unit. With suggestions on which paints to use and how to base them. That part was fine, what wasn't fine was sitting watching all the others play as my "reinforcement" regiment was never called in. 

And that was the extent of my 15mm Napoleonic foray. Then came the Store and the games there. Gate keepers changed a bit. They didn't shut out new guys, they encouraged them a bit then set them up for annihilation in a game. Win at all costs even if you have to "misremember" a rule or two, maybe even a chapter! Then came the simpler games, the fun games, where winning wasn't the important thing. The so called "skirmish games" where newbies could get a box of everything they needed and they could play. And people taught them to play, with a mulligan or two if needed.

    Now I am back to the big games. Warlord Epic sets are just what is needed. And of course I have my 15mm stuff, this time for WWII.