Let me introduce myself

For as long as I can remember I've liked playing games.

Board games, then early video games (Pong and the like, games on the ancient Oric-1 and the Spectrum 128K), then roleplaying and tabletop miniatures games and continuing with modern PC and console games. I played Chess, Draughts, Monopoly, Hotels, Connect 4, Ludo, Othello, Trivial Pursuits, Game of Knowledge, Operation, Battleship. Then Heroquest came out and that sucked me into Space Hulk, Space Crusade, Advanced Space Crusade, Advanced Heroquest, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader and second edition 40K, Man O' War, Space Fleet, and then the Games Workshop specialist games Mordheim, Inquisitor, Warmaster and Battlefleet Gothic. I dabbled in Marine 2002 for a brief period. I played Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus for a long time, until it became known as Epic. This all dragged me inevitably into roleplaying games, mostly Star Wars and then first edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I tried Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 but couldn't get into it (mostly because the idea of needing 500 books to play one game put me off, but also because I was moving to another country at the same time as trying to learn it).

I managed to find a wife who put up with me spending all my money on computer games, toy soldiers and spaceships, and even turned her into an enthusiastic game player as well. Then the kids came along and they didn't have a chance - they play too and they haven't even reached age 10 yet.

Limited edition Space Hulk, you bet I did.

Then this year I took the plunge and started to move away from my Xbox 360 and Games Workshop games to go back to board games. I got the kids their own version of Battleship. We dipped into the collectible miniatures Axis and Allies games on land and sea. Then we decided to give Fantasy Flight Games a try and now we have Space Hulk the card game, DungeonQuest, Gears of War and come my birthday Dust Tactics, with City of Thieves a likely Xmas purchase.

I like playing games, and over the years (I'm guessing somewhere in the region of 26), I've developed a lot of opinions on every type of game I've ever played. And I like sharing my opinions, and thankfully the Internet gives my wife's ears a rest and lets me vent online, even if no-one cares or listens. So I finally got off my lazy arse to set up a blog to publish my gaming opinions. Who knows, someone might even read them. Some might agree, most will more than likely not. More importantly, the wife won't have to listen to me ranting about toy soldiers anymore.

Well, maybe not...

So. I'm Jimmy Blue, anonymous random internet guy, and I'm a not so hardcore gamer. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to dealing with it, or so I'm told.