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I'm interested as to how you guys got into Gw wargames, what was your main motivation in the choices you made and how you ended up where you are today.
I'm curious because so many of you have a different outlook to me on things.  I'm getting more interested in the tournie scene though (hence more posting here) but I wonder if my route was similar to anyone elses here.

EDIT: What follows is a big rambling block of text about my wargaming history. Ya don't have to read it to answer me, I just posted it to order my thoughts and in case anyone was interested.

I started playing 40K when I was 11 or 12 with the second edition rules. A friend of my brothers lent me the rulebook, codex imperialus and the wargear book and I read them over the course of a holiday. I love them- it was very different to anything I'd ever seen before. it let you create your own worlds and heroes and armies and gave you a system for playing around with them. brilliant. I got the starter set for christmas. While reading the books I had fallen in love with two races- Orks and Squats. But when I got the box, everything seemed to be about the marines, and the Ork models were awful looking. So I played marines. I also really wanted to start a squat army. I got an old pool table and set it up in my room, and made crappy terrain. Then I browbeat my friends into playing with me. (I come from a small village in south east Ireland, so no gaming stores near me)
As time went on, I slowly built up a bigger collection of models- mostly from what was in the half price bin at the local toy shop. I grabbed the gorkamorka orks I saw, and some old kommandos and kustom kombi weapon deathskulls, because they looked cool. I got quite a nice little club going- we had a tyranid player, an ork player, an eldar player and a chaos player, and my brother played gaurd.
I branched out into fantasy too- got some lizardmen because the beastmen weren't sold locally and played against my friends wood elves. (Great fun!)
Every now and then, when in Dublin, I'd grab some of the models that the toyshop didn't stock. I also ordered a bunch of squats from mail order, and then found out that they didn't have a codex. After a few years of this, 3rd edition was released. I loved the new ork rules- I'd always wanted my boys to be good at close combat, and now they were.So we played loads of games using the BBB rules for armies, and had a blast. My force of 20 ork boys, 10 kommandos made from the great old kommando models and a wartrakk actually did okay, too!
As time went on, we upgraded to codices that were released, and I got the plastic brian nelson orks (I was ecstatic, these were so great looking)
I was very proud of my mobs when they got built. I added a mob of shootas and a mob of sluggas, and a trukk.
Then I went off to college, and there was no wargaming club, so I started one. We played every thursday, and I'd wheel a stolen shopping trolly full of scenery down through the streets to the campus. We started off with a skirmish campaign, and then moved to a map campaign in the second year. About then, (3 years ago) I began to get a little bit tired of playing the same old games with orks, so I started a death gaurd army when I realised I could make it very cheaply by buying warhammer zombies and plastic chaos marines. I also had branched out into fantasy a lot more, because I loved the new edition, and had started that beastman army and an orc and goblin army made pretty much entirely out of plastic because it was cheap. I used to go to cons, and had my first experiences of tourney gaming with my orks. I never did too well, usually ranking in the middle of the table.
Nowadays, I'm still in contact with the club I founded in my uni, but work means that I rarely get to play (I live in dublin and don't have a car). So I'm playing a lot more games against Duke Sam, as some of you will have seen. And we're both getting into a more tournament mindset in some ways- whereas before I primarily bought what was cheap and looked nice, and then tried to cobble an army together, now I'm looking more at what's effective or not. It's fun! I'm looking to attend more tournaments too.

So, that's my transition from club gamer who never really minded winning or losing, and picked units based on price and appearance, to budding tournament player.
What about you?

EDIT:Forgot to mention, the reason price was such an issue was because apart from my parents buying the main set, I funded my own hobby by mowing lawns, picking strawberries and working on the docks.  These days I have a wee bit more disposable income, so I can think more about unit selection and less about value for money.

I was going to post a reply, but I just couldn't get through all that text.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Dangnabit.
I figured this might happen. You don't need to read my bit, just the first paragraph or so!

I had been out of miniature games for years when by chance in early 1995 I was wandering around High Street Kensington, London, with my family, waiting for a restaurant to open. There was a GW shop so I went in, to waste a bit of time. It was my first time in a GW shop for years.

To my amazement, I found a bunch of 40K battlesuit models called "Tau Crisis Suit" that looked cool, modern and fairly realistic. I thought GW had started to ditch the gothic dark future crap and bring their science fiction game up to modern standards. I didn't realise the Tau were an alien race in 40K, and the rest of it was the same tired old Tolkien-in-space-rip-off-with-extra-skulls as ever. Without investigating further I bagged a set of rules (4th edition) and a Tau codex, and started to collect a Tau army.

It took a little while before I realised it was still mainly the same old crap as it had been in the late 80s, only more expensive. By then I had sunk a fair bit of time and money into it, but anyway the Tau were still shiney and modern so I persisted with them and continued to build an army. The one saving grace of 40K is that it's so widely played you can find a game nearly anywhere.

I've come to understand that if you play 40K you just have to accept the whole "Spase Marienz! Hurr" mentality of the game, and relish the camp excesses for the Liberace wargaming they are. Embrace the monstrosity and it will reward you! (But never take it seriously...)

I got into miniature gaming in a somewhat roundabout way. Way back in 1995, when I was in high school (god, I feel old...), Magic was huge at the time and I played A LOT. Eventually, I discovered a little store in the mall 3 blocks from my house called "Gamer's Paradise". They're a small chain here in Chicago that used to specialize in games of all kinds. I became friends with everyone who worked there and eventually got a job there. Back then, GP used to hold "Games Days" where they would set up tables in the mall concourse and game. I had seen a mini game (D&D) in passing when I was a kid but this was the first time I was exposed to it fully.

On my first "Games Day", I was exposed to 2 games which I've never stopped enjoying - Necromunda and Dirtside 2. With one of my (very measly) checks, I broke down and bought the Necromunda boxed game. $60 was a BIG investment at the time but I was hooked. Eventually i gravitated to 40K and the other Specialist Games.....

That's my story...

Well, in that case, I won't read the rest (well, at least not right now) and give you an answer. It all started back w/ Heroquest and that other, D&D-heroquest-type game whose name I can't remember. That gave me my first intro into fantasy gaming. From there, my friend and I picked up Battle Masters, and had a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know what Battle Masters is, it was a mini's game where you set up a 4 x 4 mat that came in the box and it pitted Orcs/Chaos vs. Empire/Brettonia (though they weren't called that). It wasn't made by GW, but it featured Chaos Warriors, Chaos Knights, and other, Warhammer imagery. The game was a lot of fun and a good intro into miniature wargaming.

From there it was WH 4th edition. I started Vampire Counts and Empire (both of which I still play) and eventually, we got into 2nd ed 40k as well. I played all throughout High School, never really building up large armies as I was a student and mommy and daddy didn't give me money for stuff like that.

In college I stopped playing for a couple years until I made some friends who also happened to play. They got me back in and its been non-stop ever since. Now that I have a full-time job, I'm finding more money to buy the stuff I like, but less time to actually game. Its now been three weeks since my last game (work trips and all), but only a few hours since my last purchase (BL sale!).

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Posted By Kilkrazy on 04/26/2007 2:14 PM
I had been out of miniature games for years when by chance in early 1995 I was wandering around High Street Kensington, London, with my family, waiting for a restaurant to open. There was a GW shop so I went in, to waste a bit of time. It was my first time in a GW shop for years.

To my amazement, I found a bunch of 40K battlesuit models called "Tau Crisis Suit" that looked cool, modern and fairly realistic...

.....Without investigating further I bagged a set of rules (4th edition) and a Tau codex, and started to collect a Tau army.

Not to call you out, but do you really mean 1995?  Because neither the Tau nor 4th edition was out then.  In fact, 3rd edition wasn't even out then.

Always loved miniatures. I obsessivly coveted them since seeing them being used for D&D when I was a kid.

I saw rogue trader in a game shop when I was 15. Opened it up, saw minis, so read further. The art was good, the fluff was better. I went there often to read it unitl I broke down and bought it. I bought alot of minis for it, a few rhinos when thy were 3 for $10 in a single box. GW stuff was still pretty rare for the mossst part, especially since not many stores carried huge lines of their models, just some to fill in their ral partha lines for fantasy games. it was still predominatly a game where you had to mail order to britain for your needs.

The potential for making a truly great game was and has always been there. if you have seen and read a copy of rogue trader, you realize that. Rogue trader as a game, was clunky to say the least, but when youre using less than 20 models, and many are made from extreme kitbashing, the creative juices really were allowed to flow with that game.

Thats one of the reasons I am such a staunch critic of GW. Its because I know they are sitting on a great property, but they lack any knowledge on how to manage it to make it a really great product. It is a tool for short term profit, when it could be a long term monster.

If they did what they should have done when 3rd ed came out, we would not be sitting here wondering where everything went wrong, we would be rabidly devouring this game even more than we already are.

>>Not to call you out, but do you really mean 1995? Because neither the Tau nor 4th edition was out then. In fact, 3rd edition wasn't even out then

Dammit. This time-travelling is so hard to keep track off especially after a whole bottle of claret.

My gaming begins with early issues of White Dwarf with decent (in fact very very good) role playing articles and scenarios. White Dwarf was trhe publication for gaming back then, insightful imaginative and intelligent.

I played a lot of old GW boardgames such as Battlecars, and after a break discovered Rogue Trader 40K. I didnt play much and I didnt like Warhammer. Fantasy Warriors was a better system.

I returned to GW gaming with 6th edition Warhammer - when it finally got good, and Battlefleet Gothic - GW's best tactical game.

Now I have 40K armies too, though primarily they are a collection first, and gaming pieces afterwards.

Well, for me, miniature gaming started early. I played Rally Round the Flag (American Civil War) with my brother (15 years older) and the Central Illinois Tabletop Warrior from the time I was in 3rd grade through High School. I also played some Napoleonics as well.

In college, one of my roommates had a subscription to White Dwarf and no being able to leave campus meant that weekends were pretty slow (minus the parade/mandatory football game). So I started reading his WDs. I liked the background and got involved in our game club. Mechwarrior was huge then but there were also a lot of 40k players. I tried 2nd edition a few times but people were more interested in winning than bringing in new players. I thought the game sucked but I loved the background.

After graduation, I went to Ft. Knox and my old roommate went with me. He had a Necromunda boxed set and we set up a campaign with about 8 of us. Loved it, played it a lot along with Bloodbowl.

2 years later, I was out at Ft. Irwin, CA (middle of the Mojave desert) and my Squadron had a wargame club. Every Thursday that we weren't deployed they got together and played 40k. The new edition had just come out and while up in Edmonton, Ontario, I picked up a boxed set at the GW store in the mall. Started played SMs because the codex was out and they looked like fun.

When I moved back to KY, my old roommate was there and he had Fantasy High Elves. My neighbor (another friend from college) had Chaos, and a guy down the street (another college buddy) had Lizardmen. So I started wood elves and went to my first GT in Baltimore back in 2000. I was hooked.

When I moved up to Chicago, I started a Nurgle army under the first Chaos codex for 3rd ed. I was the only person who played nurgle in the area that I could find. I started getting into the Chicago tournament scene and met quite a few fun people, many of whom I hang out with on a regular basis when family and work allow.

So, from a horrible introduction to 40k, I branched off into the specialist games and eventually back to the main 2. (I don't count LotR) I still enjoy Gorkamorka and Necromunda when I get a chance and love the tournament scene here.

DaBoss, your story is truely amazing. You weren't embarressed or anything when you opened a gaming club in your uni?
And to play even though there really was no designated area, so you made your own!

My first true glance was when I was around 10 (Im 16 now) I think, I was in Junior High, probably 6th or 7th grade. I went over my friend's house, and we decided to go to a gaming store called Dakka Dakka. I had no idea what anything was, and we two managed to scrape seven or so dollars for a blister of Skaven. I painted my first mini, it was a green skaven with a brown cloak and a flocked base. Man, green skaven?

Anyways, we just roleplayed and rpg'd the whole day with bits of random terrain, like those cheap 20 dollar (USD) castles youd find at Toys R Us.

Then, years later, around 13 or 14, I went back to Dakka Dakka. Then renamed Battlefield Manchester. Saw Tau, liked Tau, got Tau. Got my ass handed to me every single game. (Well, we were playing it all wrong any how). So I switched to Orks. Greatest move evar.

Then Battlefield moved, then eventually closed to my dismay. Their gaming tables were top of the line greatness, they even had this master crafted Mordheim Table that was heaven on your eyes. I remember the day the owner was repairing the table, he was trying to cover up the pink foam on the table's cobble stone ground. He painted the edges with Chaos Black, then Primed the center with Chaos Black primer. Funny how Chaos Black Primer is different than Chaos Black.

At the time of their closing I had about 1k points of Orks, and had my first glimpse of Warmachine, in its very early conceptual stages of Prime. I saw these two kids learning how to play, and I went off to play some 40k.

Now, I have 1850 points of Orks, a good number of Khadorans, and a budding Menoth army. Though, I do wish there were more players around this here parts.

By the way, I read everyone's posts, and its all so touching.

was ur friends name brian sweeny?

I actually got into playing 40K from playing LOTR when the movies came out. With my ugly as sin white space marines, then moved to warhammer with dwarves, and the finally back to Imperial Guard when the Plastic Cadians Came out.

Wow. I think it takes 5 power dice to cast Threadnomancy on something this old.

Started playing when I was about 10...that would be around 1993. I honestly cant remember how I got into it...all i can remember is that my group of friends all played for a year or 2 before we realised 3rd edition was coming out and we stopped...played just about every army there was back then. Money was of course limited and most purchases made were from birthday and xmas pressies (a habit I have still clung onto, cash is a perfectly acceptable gift). Have only recently got back into gaming but have wanted to for a while. Am now a very happy overlord of the swarm!!

Dang your right bah, I just assume its not old as heck when its on the first page.