I'm the Limey (and founder) of Limey Yank Games.
My first wargame – at about the age of 11 (circa 1972) was against a colleague of my Dad's. It was the famous WWII 'Battle of the Half Coconut'. We used miniatures and rudimentary rules as I attempted to capture the aforementioned shell. The highlight of the game was when my opponent created a smokescreen by putting a match to the coconut. I’m not sure his wife was as impressed as I was!
Soon after that, I established my first school club. Again, activity was miniatures based but the rules became more formal; with Wargames Research Group Rules used at times. Outside of the club I started to buy the occasional SPI game. I can't recall my first boardgame but Sorcerer and Outreach were amongst the early ones – so I guess we're talking 1975/76. I started buying S&T in 1976 (starting with 'The Plot to Assassinate Hitler') and my collection began to grow apace. SPI was my mainstay with the very occasional game from Avalon Hill or other publishers.
Figure based games remained my primary hobby with the all too common move away from true wargaming into Role Playing This coincided with my first full-time paid employment. I know this because I remember most pay-days would see me heading in to Leicester to spend my hard earned on games. This saw my boardgame collection grow to somewhere in the region of 150 titles.
Then I stopped. I'm not sure exactly when, and I'm not sure exactly why. I guess this was around 1983 and my last bought game was probably the SPI/TSR Wellington’s Victory. Thinking about it, I bought my first house with Sally, my future wife, in 1982 and we were married in 1984 – uhm, methinks there might be a link.
Well, I've remained happily married and have a 25 year old daughter who is my pride and joy (and who designed and coded the last few versions of LYG). I've discovered smoking, scuba-diving and motorcycles in that time; all expensive hobbies that I no longer pursue, thus freeing up money for another hobby.
In 2003 I discovered Cyberboard and eBay. Not only was my old hobby still alive, there were affordable games available including a raft of games from my youth and brand new titles from companies I'd never heard o. And most importantly of all, there was a means of playing these games against real opponents with a graphically pleasing presentation and without the need to leave a game set up for weeks on end – which simply wasn't going to happen in my home. Cyberboard is the principle reason I’ve rediscovered the hobby – thanks Dale.
Well, the game collection has now exceeds 800 and Limey Yank Games is now well established in the hobby with the sponsorship of many of the most important companies in our hobby – thanks guys.
I've had the privilege of playtesting a number of published games and I'm now helping develop a game on Blehheim to be published by Legion Wargames.
The ability to work with others in the hobby is one of the big benefits of this internet age. Then meeting these people (especially when so many are the other side of the Atlantic) is a real buzz. In 2007 I got to attend Origins in Ohio and in In 2010 I got to visit the CSW Expo in Arizona.
