Age when you started Wargaming

[Eevika]

First time I bought models was as a 12 year old but only really got into the hobby at 18

[WarbossKurgan]

56 minutes ago, Sleboda said:

I was 14, in 1985. The players in my D&D campaign had gotten so powerful that they ruled nations. I wanted to have them fight wars, so I bought Battlesystem from TSR. 

I moved on to 3rd edition Warhammer when it released, but Battlesystem was the start for me.

Very similar date and age to my start (13, in late 1984), but we jumped straight into Warhammer 2nd Edition (we had seen adverts for 1st Edition but never an actual box in a shop!)

[amysrevenge]

24 in 1999.  Decided I wanted to start painting models.  Bought a bunch of Ral Partha metals, painted them, went back to the store, got a discounted Lizardmen half of the starter box.  Went in and bought a rulebook a couple weeks later.

[Minis by Night]

I was exposed to Warhammer Fantasy in my teens, in the late 90s. My friend's dad had an Undead army, which looked both magical and majestic. I think I played one game with pretty much only proxy "models", Skaven against Chaos. I owned maybe 1 or 2 actual models, but the thought of painting them never even crossed my mind, let alone buy a full army. Warhammer seemed like a game for millionaires.

Then at the age of 35, after seeing some videos about a guy who had a room full of minis, and then watching some painting tutorials, I bought a box of skeletons and a few paints thinking "What's the worst that can happen?". 2 years and a lot of money later, I paint everyday, and the hobby has pretty much taken over my life.

[Praecautus]

I remember seeing citadel miniatures in my local toy shop and starting to collect them way back in the late 80s. Used to have random minis and remember them on my bedroom shelves unpainted. I remember certain sets well eg a warhammer set with 40-60 minis - 10 each of elves, dwarves, orcs, skaven in white plastic, thrugg bullneck and his space orks, citadel special sets with old oop random minis for whfrp.

I eventually got into 40k and had a huge ork and chaos renegade army, all painted to a dubious quality. Also had fantasy roleplay, space marine, epic, blood bowl and dark future.

Mainly collected and painted but did a few games with mates, but mainly we did roleplay.

took a long hiatus until a few years back and now have the income for the Khorne army of my dreams 😃

[michu]

My first contact with warhammer was during 7th ed when I was 13. In one of comics I was reading, there was a parody of a warhammer. One quick google search later I was hooked. But unfortunately as I wasn't able to afford Battle for the Skull Pass set (it was beautiful) I quickly forgot about WFB. In 2016 I  tried to look at the WFB again but to my surprise there was that new game. At first I wasn't convinced as I was sad that I missed old game but soon doubts disappeared and I was ready to try AoS. I bought my first miniature in 2017 - it was that ScE Liberator from "Getting started" magazine. But ultimately I decided on skaven with the Spire of Dawn set.

[valenswift]

In the mid 80's my dad and I often walked past GW in Manchester and back then they sold a variety of games. Eventually my dad got the courage to go in (I think this must have been '87) and he bought Vietnam 1965-1975. Now this game never got played but soon after seeing it I managed to convince my parents to buy me WFRP. From there I bought anything GW and had rules and minis for battle and 40k as well as the boxed games like Dark Future and Adeptus Mechanicus. However the game we played most (probably because it was cheaper than a full army and at 13 it's all we could afford) was Blood Bowl.

Edited October 16, 2019 by valenswift

[123lac]

Never played but I had a few Lizardmen, Dark Angels and Tyranids around age 10. Also had a bunch of my older brother's White Dwarf magazines from the late 90's.

Fast forward to age 28 when I have enough money to actually afford a full army and a girlfriend who helps me paint them.

I still don't really play though. That's the next step once everything is painted and I have a break from study.

Edited October 16, 2019 by 123lac

[azdimy]

Started to play warhammer fantasy battle back in the late 80s. I ve collected more miniatures than I care to admit accross all those years. My friend's son calls my hobby room Alibaba's cavern 😀

[Sonnenspeer]

3 years ago, I was looking for a hobby that I could share with my oldest son, who is quite a nerd. He was 10 and I 36. Picked up a box called Storm of Sigmar, but had no real idea what was behind that. We had a great time, building, painting and gaming together. He is now lost to  video games (thank you, fortnite) but I’m still in the hobby waiting for my other sons to be old enough J

[Cèsar de Quart]

I must have been 7 or 8. Little Bretonnian archers landed on my local newsagent's. I still have them, and I've never wanted to repaint them.

[Caffran101]

Would like to be able to vote twice here:

14 - when I bought my first bit of GW stuff (it was when the first bought out the LOTR model / paint subscription stuff to coincide with the movies).  I never really did very much though other than play some random games ever couple of months using half the rules / half made up rules). I then stopped at 17.

25 - Found out a friend was into AoS and was drawn back into the hobby. This time with a greater understanding of gaming / painting / modelling / etc.

[Realmhead]

I got into the hobby in a roundabout way.  I was book shopping before heading off to summer camp (I couldn't go anywhere  without a book at that time),  and I stumbled across this massive book with a picture of blue power armor using a chainsaw to decapitate some gribbly space-beastie (the Ultramarines Omnibus,  if you're wondering).  It looked awesome, so I got it. 

Went to camp, and someone saw me reading it and told me, basically "hey, did you know that there's a whole hobby that goes along with this?" All this happend when I was , I don't really know, 12-14 maybe?

Long story short, I found a book, and the hobby found me. 

[chord]

Started a few months after the launch of AOS when a store opened in my town.   Having never played a GW game I walked in, the store manager showed me the rule book for 40K and the rule book for AOS (the 4 pager).  I went with AoS since I dont have a ton of free time . 

[Osprey07]

My friends and I started collecting about a month before fantasy ended. Thankfully most of my models survived the end times and returned as Wanderers and Sylvaneth

[Aelfric]

My first foray into wargaming was collecting plastic Napoleonic Airfix from the age of about 8, then metal English Civil War Essex Miniatures.  My first Fantasy minis were Minifigs Lord of the Rings bought in 1976 (or possibly 77) - I loved the pig-faced orcs.  Not sure when I bought my first Citadel minis, but they definitely had  metal bases and were in their early days.  I drifted away during 4th ed and came back during 8th.  Collecting and painting has always been a greater part of the hobby  for me than actually playing, but I have to say that  if AOS as a rules system had been around when I started I would have played much more often.

Wow, how time flies!

[Wraith01]

I couldn't afford Warhammer before I got a job.

My parents weren't going to pay for it while I was growing up and in college the only vice I could afford was $20 a month in comic books. 

[Obeisance]

I dabbled in 40k with a friend when I was like.. 12-13? Around 1990? I think it was second ed. We played with his stuff. I remember shooting cyclone missile launchers at stuff and being disappointed like nothing died. I purchased a couple blisters here and there, but frankly, I grew up kind of poor so playing this really wasn't an option. 

When we got to high school, my group of friends were playing AD+D. We played a lot of that. I also picked up Blood Bowl, Space Crusade and Hero Quest at various points. I actually wish I still had my copy of Hero Quest, I have zero idea where it went.

After high school, I got into M:TG and played that until I was about 19. Quit in 2000. From there I got into 40k/whfb and played stuff here and there for a bunch of time.. Around 2015 I dabbled in M:TG again and decided it was WAAAY too expensive now that Mythics existed.

Then came 6 years of competitive Warmachine and I sold out of GW stuff entirely. I picked up Malifaux for a bit and dropped it in that time.

2-3  years ago, I picked up Infinity and it's still my main game. 

When 40k 8th dropped, I tried it and sold out deciding it was terrible.

When Soul Wars dropped, I got the Nighthaunts, but was like... eh. AoS didn't take hold.

And then finally, the new Skaven book came out. Skaven were my thing back in the day.

...

So now I bounce back and forth between Infinity and AoS, because I enjoy both for different reasons. 

And I turn 40 this month. I've been gaming for almost 2/3 of my life.

 

 

[Jator]

I think it was around twelve when a classmate lent me a White Dwarf and I get hooked. I was already a fantasy fan into LotR and Dragonlance, and I started collecting a few minis and monopose plastic boxes in a disjointed manner. I even asked for the 4th edition box for Christmas (Grom vs Eltharion) and manage to get a single game at the LFS where I played D&D.
But the lack of money, skill (for painting) and a gaming group frustrated me and I gave up on the hobby.

Years later, with all the End Times fuzz, I realized that I had money and knew friends into the hobby, so I jumped in (Some might say it wasn't the best moment, but hey, people were underselling their armies).

Honestly, I get bitter when I think about all the years I missed, so stories like the ones shared by @Minis by Night and @Televiper11 helps me reconciling with myself.

[Televiper11]

4 minutes ago, Jator said:

I think it was around twelve when a classmate lent me a White Dwarf and I get hooked. I was already a fantasy fan into LotR and Dragonlance, and I started collecting a few minis and monopose plastic boxes in a disjointed manner. I even asked for the 4th edition box for Christmas (Grom vs Eltharion) and manage to get a single game at the LFS where I played D&D.
But the lack of money, skill (for painting) and a gaming group frustrated me and I gave up on the hobby.

Years later, with all the End Times fuzz, I realized that I had money and knew friends into the hobby, so I jumped in (Some might say it wasn't the best moment, but hey, people were underselling their armies).

Honestly, I get bitter when I think about all the years I missed, so stories like the ones shared by @Minis by Night and @Televiper11 helps me reconciling with myself.

I understand the bitterness. Now I use it as motivation to truly enjoy my hobby and passion while I still can.

[Gorks Pokin' Finger]

Started in middle school. My friend's cousin got our group into wargaming. I was coming off the Warcraft 3 high at the time and thought bringing the RTS to real life (in a different IP) was incredible. I got my first box of metal Black Orcs, pledged my allegiance to Gork (or Mork), and the rest is history

[Arkhanist]

17 hours ago, Jator said:

I think it was around twelve when a classmate lent me a White Dwarf and I get hooked. I was already a fantasy fan into LotR and Dragonlance, and I started collecting a few minis and monopose plastic boxes in a disjointed manner. I even asked for the 4th edition box for Christmas (Grom vs Eltharion) and manage to get a single game at the LFS where I played D&D.
But the lack of money, skill (for painting) and a gaming group frustrated me and I gave up on the hobby.

Years later, with all the End Times fuzz, I realized that I had money and knew friends into the hobby, so I jumped in (Some might say it wasn't the best moment, but hey, people were underselling their armies).

Honestly, I get bitter when I think about all the years I missed, so stories like the ones shared by @Minis by Night and @Televiper11 helps me reconciling with myself.

The irony is that as a teenager I lacked money for the hobby but had plenty of time so ended up with some real oddball stuff painted in outrageously bad schemes (many from a couple of friends who donated their unwanted models as they quit). As a middle aged dad I have much more money to buy new stuff, but lack the time to paint or play! Many people end up taking a break, or several, from the hobby. Just finding other things more interesting (the opposite sex being a common one) or just moving on is entirely normal.

So don't stress about the time you missed - you spent it living your life! You're in a place now where you've found a 'new' hobby you enjoy, and that's always a good thing, no matter when it happens.

I shoved my old models into storage in my 20s due to girlfriend, time, space, job - and despite several aborted attempts didn't really get back into it until my late 30s. Though mostly painting and smaller board games I can play with my wife rather than full-on tabletop, though I like to fantasise about one day having fully painted armies to a decent standard again - hopefully before my kids are old enough to start playing! Got a humongous backlog to get through first... I might not have much time, but that I can spend I do enjoy.

My four year old twins show great interest whenever I'm painting or constructing, wanting to 'help' - so the latest is I let them 'sand' the models like daddy - with polishing sticks 😄

So there's definitely hope I'll end up inducting them into the hobby in a few years! Muhahaha.