Chocolate, strawberry, banana, iced coffee

In middle age, my interest in miniatures wargaming is growing. As well as reading the relevant magazines, I've begun accumulating rulebooks: "A War Transformed" (weird alternate WW1), "Flames Of War" (WW2), "Frostgrave" (fantasy), "Stargrave" (scifi)... At Cancon, I wanted to buy the "Port Royal" (pirates) core set from a trader, except I didn't wannna lug it home on the train. Took the bloke's business card and mail-ordered it from him instead. The package arrived today. Note: These aren't my pix - I scooped them out of the cyberswamp.

The first wargame I ever played, back in the '80s, was one WD bought in a clear plastic bag for only a couple of bucks. I couldn't tell you the title. If I recall, the setting was WW2. I believe it was meant to be a very basic intro to the hobby. It did nothing for me. The first wargame I played that I can name, also purchased by WD (who went on to join the Australian Army), was the multi-theatre modern-era/WW3 system "Aegean Strike". While it *did* wow me, due to the complexity and the time required, I'm not sure we ever finished a game.