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

[Matt W]

I am Matt Ward, living in Richmond, VA for the past 19 years thus breaking a record for living in one town for a period of time (Pittsburgh, PA for 18 years and Amherst, MA for 18 years). If you add all that up you will get 55 years which is right. I have been playing board wargames for 42 years or so starting with the hoary old AH classics and progressing through S&T/SPI and The Gamers, stopping about the time The Gamers sold to MMP as we suddenly had two kids under the age of two and other activities took up my evenings/nights/weekends.

My single most memorable early gaming experience was at a friend's house in winter. We were playing Midway and since we played Midway about 100 times I can't even remember which side I was or who was winning but we looked out and it was snowing like crazy. Once we finished the game there were about six inches on the ground. My friend had a large and decrepit set of naval models, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and carriers. We split the collection in half, took them out into the snow and set up our fleets at opposite ends of the yard and proceeded to have a naval snowball battle. I seem to remember that there were rules of some sort but quite frankly, who cared? It was a ball.

I've been married for 32 years and after a series of medical misadventures for my wife we adopted two lovely triracial girls (white, black and Cherokee). They are now reaching the age where they know so much more than we do that parenting has taken on the aspect of warning the girls about the consequences of their actions and then trying desperately not to say "I told you so" although, of course, we did.

I work in the medical industry in the United States providing business support services to physicians and hospitals (I turn what they do into money, legally) and have done so my entire career in a variety of positions. I travel extensively for business (thus the occassional explosions of small PG scenarios from, say, Airborne) although age and medical conditions (a DVT of all annoying things) may cause me to become a little more tech dependent in the future. I am a Luddite when it comes to technology. I still view what I am doing right now as a version of an electronic typewriter and, although I no longer look for the correction tape I haven't been able to successfully incorporate images into my electronic life. Thus, no picture, for which most would suggest a certain level of thanks is in order.

My gaming has been primarily solo over an extended period of time since my travel and family obligations have been quite disruptive. As I enter into late middle age (the over the hill stage) I find that I can actually carve out some time and have been playing ftf with Hugmenot (Daniel) regularly. I will learn to Skype (and that should cause my children to consider me less of a Neanderthal) over the next year or so.

I came to PG through a sale on APs web site. If I remember correctly it was called the Bulk Man Special and included 30 or so PG games and supplements for $300. It included all of the boxed games in print at that time and many of the supplements. I have kept current with the system since then and have actually picked up most of the out of print items as they have become available (Thanks Kevin!!). I played PanzerBlitz when it came out and enjoyed the level of engagement. When Squad Leader and ASL came out I rebelled at the rule books. I work with plenty of government and insurance company regulations on a daily basis and do not need to be wallowing in hundreds of pages of rules in my leisure activities. Let's face it, when there are on line instructions on how to put together your ASL rules binder(s), something has gone horribly wrong.