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

[armyduck95]

Hello Everyone. My name is Eric Duckworth. I began wargaming when I was about 9 and had my plastic Army Guys "Guns of Navarrone" battle set. I set up the terrain and used monopoly dice with basically 50/50 chances of hitting as the Yanks tried to storm the fortress. I also got involved in D&D in middle school, but couldn't keep a gaming group going.

My first REAL wargame was Victory Games' Sixth Fleet in the late 80's. I sat for two days and read the rules and played each escalating scenario from basic rules to campaign games. I was hooked. Soon after it was NATO: Next War in Europe, AH's Third Reich, Battletech, Arab Israeli Wars, and The Original Squad Leader. I played almost entirely solo through high school.

In the 90's joined the Army at 17 and soon after high school attended West Point, where I was able to thoroughly enjoy gaming through a dedicated wargame club of cadets and officers. Here I was introduced to miniature games - Ancients, Napoleonic, WWI, WWII, and modern tactical and skirmish games (DBA, firefly, MBT, Firefight, Firepower, Challenger, rule sets). I also enjoyed Sci-Fi (OGRE, Battletech, and Renegade Legion: Centurion- which I still love). I also played and enjoyed Squad Leader very much an a host of other games, to include GDW- Frank Chadwick Games and Supremacy. However, I swore I would never play Games Workshop (I eat those words later).

In the late 90's I acquired ASL and became very intimidated and bored with the rules, no matter how much I tried to love the system- it was just not playable enough to be able to game quickly. I played Sci Fi miniatures with (Ground Zero Games' Dirtside II), and then got hooked on the very playable Games' Workshop- Epic 40K. That was my gateway drug from about 1998-2007 where I picked up Warhammer Fantasy (Lizardmen) and Warhammer 40 (Imperial Guard) and played that almost exclusively because of the ease to find partners, and support.

I worked for Games Workshop for a year when I left the Army and my Imperial Guard Army has won various painting awards. In 2008 I pretty much turned in my GW playing due to cost and frustration with how much/often the rules changed to help GW generate a profit (I can't blame them). I met a fellow gamer who introduced me to Panzer Grenadier. White Eagles Fortress Poland was my first game and I was hooked. While in Korea last year I joined pg-hq through Avalanche Press and started playing by email with some pg-hq members as well as by Skype with Alan Sawyer.

I love the simplicity of the PzG rules that still capture the essence of WWII tactical combat combined arms and leadership. It has all the flavor SL without the tedium, and more realism than Panzer Leader. I have since rebuilt my boxed game collection. My two staples are Panzer Grenadier and Lock n Load for the squad level games as well as their modern modules. I have The Gamers' OCS series, but haven;t found the time to play, aswell as with with SWWAS, GWAS, and a few GMT titles.

In real life, I am a US Army Armor Cavalry Officer and General Staff planner with multiple tours in Iraq and Korea. I love military history and science fiction. I am married 12 years now to my wonderful wife and we have a 4 year old son. I am known for being long winded in my AARs; and been awarded for it. I have since had to put gaming on the back burner until I get settled in to my new house and job and make up for some lost time with my family.