In response to a current discussion on ConsimWorld I've been scratching my head and trying to remember my first wargame - I *think* it was "Waterloo" (AH) but can't be sure at this distance of years. It's rather disturbing that I can't even remember how I got into a hobby which has been such a major part of my life. I know my friends and I had been playing wargames with Airfix figures and ships for years - I always lost the naval battles because my friends were prepared to shoplift from the model shop so they had much bigger fleets than me! It must have been round about the age of 11 or 12 that we discovered hexes and cardboard. I remember playing "Napoleon at Waterloo" (the S&T freebie) in the classroom every lunchtime. And I'm sure "Conquistador" got played on a bench in the physics lab. There was a thick amateur zine called "Albion" which stoked my enthusiasm. And at an impressionable age I had two postal games of "Anzio" with Tom Oleson (who developed the 2nd edition), the first of which I won! Scratching together pocket money for a few months subcription to S&T, exploring games like "Flight of the Goeben" or "Winter War" - ah, happy days.....