Like many people in their thirties I got into wargaming and miniature collecting in the mid 80s. My Dad collected and played with WW2 miniatures. I remember how excited I was when he took me along to my first gaming show, SALUTE 1987. Dad won a painting trophy and treated me to several painted 15mm crusader pikemen and knights. Over the next couple of years I built up a motley collection of historical and fantasy minis. I invented and played games with my brothers that used combinations of dice and projectiles (Very Crossbows and Catapults). 
My approach to gaming and collection dramatically changed when I went to senior school. In the first couple of years me and most of my class (it was an all boys school) spent all our free time fixating on GW minis, games and publications. Highlights included: The original box set of space marines, Hero Quest, Fantasy role-play, Epic (think it was called Space marine) Squats, 40k first edition, Space Crusade and of course the magical monthly publication that was White Dwarf. They were happy days, but unbeknown to me they would not last. As I approached my late teens (Geeks did not carry the kudos they do today) my love for gaming was replaced by a love for girls, alcohol, cigarettes and any other vice I could get my grubby little hands on. Over the next ten or so years I would sometimes pick up a White Dwarf magazine, or stare through the window of my local Games Workshop, but never considered getting back into the hobby. In 2006 I found my self travelling Australia. For reasons unknown to me I walked into GW Perth and bought a fantasy Ork army, carry case and paints. The trip gave me plenty of time to for painting as we were travelling from Perth to Sydney in a camper van. Painting the models rejuvenated my love for the hobby and I visited GWs in every major city, playing games and building my Ork army. When I eventually returned home, I could not really convince any of my friends to join me, and my fantasy dream slowly fizzled out. All was not however lost, as with a little arm bending I did manage to get two of my brothers interested in playing 40k. Over the next few years we spent a small fortune collecting and playing with the following armies: Chaos marines, Vanilla marines, Space Wolfs, Blood Angels, Tau, Imperial Guards, Eldar, Orks and Necrons. All of these armies were at least 1000pts and some closer to 3000pts. We enjoyed gaming nights once a week at my brothers and even managed to increase our numbers from three to five players.
At the start of 2012 my interest in the game started to wane. I spent a few hundred pounds and most of the christmas holidays ( I am currently a student studying at uni) painting a huge Ork horde. The horde was very effective, winning all but a few of the games I played, but it just took so long to play, involved so many models and left me very disheartened. I think it was simply the sheer number of models and the new edition of 40k looming, but I just stopped playing. I was not alone in my disillusionment and our small gaming club instead started playing card and board games. I did however keep my eye in and continued watching You Tube channels such as Beasts of War and MiniWarGaming and listening to the D6 generation...
Great first post. Very similar to me. Gamed during teens and at uni. But dropped it when i moved away to work. Have twice bought some new GW stuff but found it takes too ling to play. Have just bought some warmahordes stuff and loving it. Can setup and play a proper game in a night. Couldnt with warhammer. Will be reading your blog with interest. Keep it up.
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