The Official --( Introduce Yourself )-- Thread!

[HeyJude]

Hi everyone, I am new to the site and forum.  Call me Jude.

I was born and raised in Southern California, but I've moved around a lot since I left for college.  I lived 3 years in Vermont, 5 in Ohio, almost 12 in Arizona, and am now living here in southeast Florida.  (as an aside I see a lot of Florida members on the forum.  Perhaps a meet and greet and game session is in order).

I have always been an avid fan of sci-fi and history.  My father served in the navy in WWII, and as a boy I spent many hours wearing his old cap, pretending to shoot down zeroes.  I got into rpgs when I was 9.  I got my first wargame when I was 11.  My parents took me with them on a road trip to Vegas, and on our way out my mom stopped at a small strip mall just off the strip to get supplies.  There was a hobby store in that mall, and I convinced her to let me check it out.  Inside I saw Avalon Hill's Starship Troopers and just had to get it.  I spent the rest of the trip through Arizona reading the rules and testing it out, and finally bought the book (at a grocery store no less) a few months later.

During the 80's I mostly played a lot of sci-fi games: Battletech at first, then Warhammer 40k.  My circle of friends didn't like historical games, but we did play Axis & Allies on occasion.  I also got into GDWs Test of Arms at the end of the 80's, which was a fun game.

After that work, career and kids kept the gaming activities down.  I bought a large bulk of PG and SWWAS games about 8-10 years ago but didn't play much.  Now I am getting back into the groove.

I have a wide range of interests which sometimes keeps me from focusing too much.  In addition to PG, I also enjoy miniatures games, and I'm currently working on painting US and German armies for I Ain't Been Shot Mum in 20mm.  Sometime I will also get arounf to painting and playing all the Robotech RPG minis I got from the kickstarter, and somewhere in there I will paint the 20 or so blood bowl teams I have.  I also play a lot of strat-o-matic football online, and play in two different online leagues.  The cold war is another topic I have been interested in lately, and I am working on buying old 80's classics I missed.  My latest find is Nato: the Next War In Europe, and I really want to get my hands on SPI's next war in Europe as well.

I have vassal but have not played online games yet, but am always looking for new foes.  

Looking forward to being on the site and forum.