I just thought I'd give you an idea of how I got drawn into the strange, and eclectic hobby of 'Wargaming';

1970's - It all begin for me at a young age with an interest in old war films (such as Von Ryan's Express, The Dambusters, etc), and heroic epics (such as Waterloo, Spartacus, El Cid, etc), which led me to collect huge numbers of old Airfix, and Matchbox 1/72 scale figures. At this point I'd never heard of Wargaming, or Role-playing, and my gaming was limited to fighting out imaginary battles (with my own added sound effects) in the flower beds of my parents garden.

Early 1980's - Things changed for me when a neighbour introduced me to role-playing via a battered copy of 'Tunnels & Trolls'. I remember that several of my friends and I would meet up in my neighbours shed, where we would spend hours trying to complete the home-made adventures he'd created. This opened up a whole new world to me, bringing such old RPG's as Dungeons & Dragons, Aftermath, Runequest, and Traveller to my attention. I loved the escapism that these games enabled in my mind, and I designed many new adventures for these games myself. It was at this time that I first discovered Games Workshop, in the form of a tiny little shop they had in 'The Shambles' of the ancient city of York. Back in the day GW was a wonderful place to visit, having a huge mixture of stuff (RPG's, Wargames, Boardgames, Cardgames, and they even stocked novels) crammed onto rickety old shelves, by a myriad of companies. A real Aladdin's Cave of fun and ideas, not the sterile corporate monstrosity it is now. Whenever I pass the old premises I still get a wistful heart-aching nostalgia for days gone by. If you want to get an idea of what they sold, just take a look at one of the low numbered issues of White Dwarf. It was here I bought my first metal miniatures; four pre-slotta figures - an evil fighter, a monk, a wizard, and a thief. Sadly these have long since disappeared from my collection, but every now and then I see one of these figures on Ebay, and contemplate buying them, but I never do.

Mid 1980's - It was around about this time that I first discovered Wargaming, strangely enough through the local public library. I don't remember the title of the book, but it had a comprehensive history of the Napoleonic Wars, with a set of rules in the back. At long last I had a use for the hundreds of Airfix figures from this period in my collection, and soon I was fighting battles with badly painted plastic figures. My collection of GW fantasy figures was steadily growing, but still small in number, as even back then their prices were high compared to most other manufacturers, and the figures I had were used for RPG's rather than wargaming. I delved into other periods and backgrounds, having 15mm Macedonian and Roman armies, 1/300 modern Israeli and Arab forces, and 20mm World War Two forces. All of these were sold when the 3rd edition of Warhammer appeared, to enable me to purchase two 15mm fantasy armies - a Wood Elf Army, and a Chaos Army, both of which were mainly composed of historic ancient/medieval substitute figures.

Late 1980's - I stopped roleplaying during this period, as most of my friends had outgrown this juvenile (to them) hobby, and I sold off my huge collection to a trader who badly ripped me off in terms of price (£50 for a collection which had probably cost me over £700 to amass). It was at this time that I began to play Warhammer 40,000, again using substitute figures, in this case Esci Vietnam, and Airfix WW2 figures. At the end of the 80's I went off to University, and lost any interest in the hobby (due to an epiphany I had regards alchohol, girls, and a general embarassment at having such a nerdy hobby).

1990's - A decade spent wandering in the wilderness of hobby-less-ness.

1999 - I eventually found my way back when I picked up a copy of White Dwarf, began drooling over the gorgeously painted figures within, and went to spend lots of money. Since then I've gamed many periods, and had many different armies, most of which have come and gone. Here is a condensed version;

1) Warhammer in 28mm using mainly GW figures - Wood Elf (120 figures with about 10 painted, now sold), Dwarf (100 figures perhaps 20 painted, sold), Orc & Goblin (200+ figures with about 20 painted, now sold), and Empire (120 figures with perhaps 40 painted, stuck in a cupboard).
2) WH40K in 28mm using GW figures - Imperial Guard (80 or so figures with perhaps a third painted, either in my bits box, or sold), Daemonhunters (50 or so figures with 10 painted, a 3 year on-going project), and Marines (bought, very little done, sold).
3) 15mm Stargrunt using Peter Pig Ak47 stuff - 250+ figures and vehicles, with maybe a quarter painted (sold).
4) 15mm Napoleonic - French (around 300 figures with perhaps 30 painted, sold), and Allied Force (150 figures, none painted, sold).
5) Necromunda - A force from each House, most now sold, but two gangs painted and kept.
6) 15mm Ancients - Macedonian using Xyston figures (120 or so figures, none painted, sold).
7) Mordheim - 20 or so gangs, both official and unofficial, 50 or so painted, most sold.
8) 10mm Flames of War - German Panzergrenadier force, 4 vehicles painted, now in a box as a 2 year ongoing project.

Have you noticed the pattern? I tend to get interested in a subject, buy loads of stuff, paint bugger all, rarely actually play the game, and end up selling it all at a huge loss! Once I realised this I decided to cut down and stop attempting to collect and play games which required large expenditure on lots of figures. I began playing skirmish level games, with Mordheim being the first. I now have very little interest in army level games at all, with four skirmish projects ongoing;

1)Zombies - An adaption of the Pulp Friction rules, which are in the primary development stage. I have a collection of 120+ figures which need to be painted for this.
2) Old West, using Warhammer Historicals 'Legends of the Old West' - I've had these rules for a while, but not played them yet, even though I've now amassed 50+ cowboys.
3) Pulp - the rules this blog is about. I have a huge collection of figures for this subject, though I'm proud to say I do have 50 0r so painted (some kind of record for me there!).
4) Gladiators - I bought a Foundry Collection, with the intention of painting and selling most on Ebay, whilst keeping a few for myself. So far, I've painted zero, and the rules currently occupy 3 sides of A4.

That's enough for now, my finger aches.