When did you first get into GW games?

[chord]

I can't vote as I don't play other tabletop wargames.

I started with AoS 363 days ago.

 

[obaobaboss]

I started about 12 years ago. Big Fan of Warcraft, googling for cool pictures... there I found the orc-miniatures for WHFB. Love at first sight (as a kid I collected action figures, so this became my upgraded version ^^).

 

Other than Warhammer Fantasy I played only Mordheim a lot. 

[rokapoke]

5 minutes ago, chord said:

I can't vote as I don't play other tabletop wargames.

I started with AoS 363 days ago.

 

Can't vote at all or just for question 2?

I'm not sure if the votes will be kept if I edit the questions, though... sorry!

[chord]

1 minute ago, rokapoke said:

Can't vote at all or just for question 2?

I'm not sure if the votes will be kept if I edit the questions, though... sorry!

Question 2 is required but there is no options for me to select, other than "other" which isn't entirely accurate.

[GRex]

Back in the 90's my buddy came back from a family vacation from England. He had a White Dwarf and Mail Order Troll foldout pamphlet. After a summer of cutting lawns we ordered the new Warhammer Fantasy 5th edition and some paints.

[Lysandestolpe]

My dad took me to a warhammer retail store when I turned 7 and got me my first skaven clanrats box in 96. After that there was a lot of lawn trims and recycling trips to get enough money to keep collecting and painting. I've now been in the hobby for over 20 years with no breaks from painting and a few years off here and there from playing. My buddies back then got into Warhammer Quest that ones older brother had.

Oh man, "If I could turn back time, dun dun dun!"

[Thundercake]

BATTLE MASTERS, BATTLEMASTERS!

then cold turkey till 6 years ago when I got the Assault on Black Reach 40k starter set as a Xmas present.

[Wraith01]

I discovered WarHammer in September. Passed by a Games Workshop store, while on vacation, in Florida. Bought the Age of Sigmar Magazine and White Dwarf that had the Slaughterpriest, then went back bought the Storm of Sigmar set and some paints. Once I got home I found a local gaming store bought the AoS Starter Set and have been playing since. I'm up to 2, 1000+ point armies and looking to Branch out into a third.

On that same trip I bought a Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth battle box but I haven't played that yet, but gave it my vote on the second question.

[uk_unbeliever]

1992 when GW Cheltenham opened (think it opened 91 or 92) and I got Fantasy 4th ed for Christmas either 92 or 93, cant remember which! Monopse goblins and elves and cardboard monsters, loved it!

[BigNoodleDave]

I think my first game took place in summer 2008 where my friend wanted to introduce me to the hobby. So, he included me in a game where he was taking on 2 other players. He rocked his High Elves and I had a small contingent of Dwarfs. It was so confusing at the time but got me interested. Went back to uni soon after and began looking to starting an army. Was going to pick Wood Elves but was conviced into buying Bretonnians for their more easy to get into nature at the time of 7th edition Fantasy. Was a great Christmas to myself that lovely Bret battalion :-D

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[Nogle]

Risk and axis and allies in late eighties, then heroquest and battlemasters when they came out. After a few years of magic at my comic shop, a game store opened up in 1995 that sold Warhammer. I've been playing ever since, even worked at a GW store for a year (during the time third edition 40k came out).

 

[Marc Wilson]

1985 round about white dwarf 70? I was heavily into fighting fantasy and of course they were both strongly linked at the time. I vividually remember the A3 mail order sheets which I used to send a SAE for. Think my first miniature was a life elemental (which I no longer have)

[Hyperkinako]

Like many got bought Hero Quest, probably for Christmas 1989.  10 year old me was already a fantasy fan reading the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, so this game really sparked my imagination and got me hooked.  Think I had seen some lead models an older friend of the family was playing DnD with and wanted to know more.  From there I picked up White Dwarf (128 I think was my first issue) which opened my mind to there being more than just a board game and a world of cool stuff out there.  First models I picked up were some Space Marines.  Collection and hobby then just expanded from there, got into Fantasy and 40k plus most of the other GW games.  Again as with many this lasted until I went to Uni, where priorities changed (Drink, Girls, no money) and my gaming moved more into video games, which funny enough is where I ended up as a career.  Took the occasional glance at what was going on with GW over the years but only got back in at the start of End Times.   My son had just been born and I thought it would be cool to get back into model painting again as I was spending more time at home.  Took a look at GW's site and was blown away by the new Nagash model.  End Times books got me excited for Warhammer again and the addiction returned.  Now loving AOS and excited to see whats next.  Just wish I had more hobby time now

[Nick in York]

9 hours ago, fartsocks said:

Can't really remember exactly how I got into the game. I know at school in the early 90s when I was about 9 or 10, some bigger boys had Citadel combat cards. Basically top trumps with warhammer models, like the Bloodthirster below.

Oh man, I'd forgotten about those cards. I wonder where mine ended up.

[Lucio]

I've been involved in GW products since the age of 10, with my first exposure being Heroquest, and a couple of White Dwarf magazines. Ironically, due to parental mishap, I also got started in RPG's at the same time due to asking for Advanced Heroquest one Christmas, and recieving the D&D boxed set.

Like many players, there's been times when I've put the hobby down and moved onto other past times, but it's something I keep coming back to. No other hobby offers a mix of creative, and social aspects, whilst still also allowing for time alone, something ideal for someone who has difficult relating to people.

One area where I differ from many of the old guard, is I'm not sold on the idea that the rules or experiences were better in the past, 2nd Edition 40k was a nightmare to play with any real number of models, and however nostalgic I might get for my first Space Wolves, or plastic Ork bowmen, the quality now is a huge improvement. Even better, we're seeing vastly improved support for new players, and the GW staff are far less sales orientated. Still remember my 13th birthday, taking my money in and being convinced by a staff member that since they had a sale on, I should spend all £80 because it gave me £120 "worth" of miniatures, resulting in me buying a load of metal Ork minaitures that I struggled to put together.

 

[Tuluth]

I thank and blame Dawn of War for initially getting me into the hobby...kinda, back in 2004. Stepped into a GW; dark and rainy day in Seattle, and didn't get any service, so I walked out 15 minutes later. A year later, having moved, drove an hour to the nearest store that sold GW, picked up an Eldar guardians and grav tank. They're still sitting unassembled in that box somewhere in my house. Three years later (2009), I've moved again, and I'm in Baltimore on a business trip. I stop into a mall, and they have a GW, so I pick up the 40k rules (6th ed I think) and Eldar codex. Was never able to get intro games or anything else, and as such never got into 40k.

Jump to 2014, and my girlfriend (now wife), who had been collecting 40k and WHFB for 20+ years,  pulls me into a GW in Ontario, Canada, and we start looking at WHFB miniatures. Then we find out that AoS had dropped just a few weeks earlier. I picked up the Orks and Goblins battalion box then, with the intention of painting them up, and having them serve as dual purpose for some D&D or similar games. The grots are still unassembled, the Orruks have now Waaagh! from the box, having been replaced by Iron Jawz, Pink Horrors and Gutbusters.

[thediceabide]

It's pretty easy for me to know exactly when I got hooked, because it was issue 200 of White Dwarf magazine, so I've been playing since August 1996. Got started with Rogue Trader, because we didn't know for a few months that 2nd edition had come out, made the switch to 2nd but used a lot of Rogue Trader rules still (great scenery rules, Rubber Moss was particularly fun).

Played 3rd and 4th, worked for GW retail for a couple years during college, took a solid break for most of 5th edition, came back when the necrons got a redo (I'm a sucker for flyers), quit 40k in October 2015. I also played Fantasy during all this time (mostly Ogres and Skaven), as well as every specialist game, though when AOS hit my local fantasy scene died entirely (sadface). Since quitting 40k I have been playing Infinity as my primary game, though came back to AoS when the GHB got more locals to jump on.

Now I'm looking forward to playing more AOS (though Infinity is still my primary game), picking up KO to face down my big ogre army. I tried Guild Ball but found it too complex as a secondary game, got back into Blood Bowl, I like Heavy Gear and Beyond the Gates of Antares, but don't have much time to play so many game systems... but that won't stop me from getting Shadowspire.

[******]

Started back some time around '94/95 with 40k when it was acceptable to use a cardboard cutout for an ork dreadnought.

Oh yeah, and blood angels seemed to be more orange than red.

My school friends started playing and quite quickly converted me over to Warhammer.

Dwarves, Undead, Empire then some Nurgle daemons took all my Birthday, Christmas and paper round money.

One of the group of friends parents would be a nominated road trip driver to take 4 of us to a GW opening (or Grand reopening) that seemed to happen within a reasonable travelling distance every 6mths/year. We saved up and took full advantage of 3 for 2s on blister packs and boxed sets + other special offers.

Then my group of friends very unceremoniously ceased playing when we all went to college. Summer happened. Not a word was said. We just all stopped.

Roll on c10 years, a new friend introduced me to the Horus Heresy books.

Roll on another 5ish years, Silver tower caught my eye. I bought it, the man in the shop said very few people have a fully painted set. I thought yeah ill prove you wrong..

Then within weeks age of sigmar caught my eye even more. Khorne all the way!

I, err, still havent even primed the silver tower stuff

[Kaleb Daark]

1983.

I had been introduced to Dungeons and Dragons about three years earlier.

I bought it on nothing more than the box art. I was sub zero cool.  I didn't understand waht it was, nor how to play it, I was trying to understand how this mass battle "roleplaying game" worked and what a ****** it was trying to write out a seperate statline for every model you wanted in the unit (cardboard cutouts) even though there were fifty of them all the same!  - it took a good few of days for the  penny to drop!

The character that was eventually to become known as harry the hammer was actually originally christened Uthmog Elvenblade, and was first released in the SS1-2 Warriors of Chaos box.

 

SS1-2 Warriors of Chaos - Compendium 2

1: Ulvar Vileblood, 2: Skathor Skullcrusher, 3:Kardos Bloodhelm,
4: Belmoth Blacksword, 5: Athgul Evilhand, 6 Drakar Deathbringer,
7: Ogroth Darksoul, 8: Morthog Doomaxe, 9: Uthmog Elvenblade,
10: Nekris Demonblade

 

I've still got my first pre-slotta miniature, an evil priest, and my first wow mini which was the ME61 sauron on his throne model 

[Davariel]

I got into the hobby back in 2004 through the "Battle Games in Middle Earth" magazines GW did with DeAgostini a while back. I was a Tolkien obsessed 10 year old who thought the idea of building a miniature Lord of the Rings army was most awesome thing ever. Luckily for me I had several friends who felt the same! I played that for several years until I went off to high school and lost touch with my old gaming group, but still kept painting and collecting. 

It wasn't until a few years later that a few friends with similar interests got curious about those models of mine... turned out it wasn't hard to convince them to start playing LotR! Of course this only lasted about six months before in late 2008 they in turn dragged me into Warhammer Fantasy (having spontaneously decided it was a better game with better models). I was skeptical at first... but then I saw the Bretonnian pegasus knights and I was sold 

Been collecting fantasy (and now AoS) ever since, even though we only actually played WFB for a year or two before shifting our gaming focus entirely to Mordheim...

[Criti]

The year was 2001.  I was 16.  It was springtime.  America had yet to lose its innocence to the attacks in New York.  But I would mine.  For you see, it was at this time that my father was found dead in the streets.  A jagged green dagger was planted in his chest and a crudely drawn, inverted triangle was etched...no...scratched into the brick of the nearby building.

I spent months searching for his killer, learning the ways of a warrior along my journey.   I gathered might heroes upon the road, but I would soon learn that they would not be enough aide in my quest for vengeance.  Nay, I would require an army.  For as I travelled across the Great Ocean to the Old World, I learned that my foe were Legion.  They held more numbers than the beaches held grains of sand.  They were called... Skaven.

So I raised a vast army of Men and Elves and Dwarfs, and I am now doomed... e'er more to engage in my new life.  An existence of never ending war...

Also, I was a kid who stumbled into a hobby shop looking to find new pieces for this game "HeroQuest" my buddies and I were playing.  We were long done with the main module and were into making our own quests.  Had no idea this larger world of gaming existed. 15 years later, there is a reasonable possibility that my house could have been purchased outright had I not spent what I have in models over the years. 

[Bowlzee]

My brother and I got into GW with Hero quest. Played it so often, and had an the expansion packs.

We then progressed to Warhammer Quest.

My friend got Space Crusade which was my direct link into playing 40k. With the 2nd Edition box set.

[DGH875]

I got into GW games when a friend of mine had Tyranid Attack and I played that. I then got Space Crusade and Mission Dreadnought. Not long after that I got 2nd edition 40k, followed by 3rd. Then I stopped playing for a long long time and have just got back into painting AOS stuff recently.

[DynamicCalories]

I guess I am roughly the same age as @Bowlzee because I had the same boxed games he had. I am from the heart of GW itself, war torn Nottingham, and I think my dad knew someone at Lenton Lane which is how we came across Hero Quest. I barely played it, as an only child, but I had fun with playing it to my own rules in my head against myself.

Same with 40k, 2nd edition which I bought from Toys R Us too. When 3rd came out I was routinely visiting my dad during summer and he used to spoil me stupid, so I had a lot of Skaven and Eldar, but obviously not boring troops - just metal minis of all the special stuff because I was young, and dumb.

I moved on to Tyranids when pocket money was a thing, just after they got refreshed to the newer sleek chitin line. I bought my first box of warriors and a carnifex in Lenton Lane, when it was still a small downstairs store with a stairway to the museum, but no Bugman's. T

hen I hoped over to Tau when they appeared, but I sold/gave both of those armies away to friends. Picked up a few Lizardmen, but never really gelled with fantasy. By this time other people had started playing that I knew, or at least attempting to play. My grandmother's neighbour had a son who just started working at Lenton, and he got me fresh boxes of the then brand-new Space Wolves and metal Grey Knights, and I think at my grandparents I have (in 4th money) about 3k Points of Wolves/Grey Knights that are primed. I wonder about going home and finding them and selling them, but it's a trip from Glasgow. I stopped bothering around 16/18 when money made it an issue.

I got back into the hobby, like many, off the back of Total Warhammer, and a desire for a relaxing hobby to do after studying. I think they really fixed the entry level for new players, and the price points in general. It's good to be back.

[bottle]

If you guys listen to the Black Sun Podcast you will have heard my story of how I got into wargaming. I have been into it for around 20 years starting when I was 10/11 with a friend who brought his older brother's White Dwarf into school and got me hooked! My parents got me the 2nd Edition 40k Starter set and I grew up with that, Necromunda, White Dwarf and loving everything about the hobby in general.

 

I took a break for 6 or so years when I lived in South Korea, and got back into it when I returned to the hobby in 2014. As well as being an avid AoS player I also play Necromunda still and I am slowly preparing a Genestealer Cult army for 8th edition when it arrives... or maybe I will stick with Shadow War Armageddon and Deathwatch Overkill as AoS takes enough commitment to collect and paint whole armies for!

Here are some fun photos:

 

Here are some of my first ever painted minis! Pretty terrible, even for a 10 year old haha!  

And as I don't get to post my 40k stuff here, here is my current Genestealer Cult - still a long way to go before its a playable army!