Warhammer 40k

As a kid, my parents bought me Space Crusade & "seigneurs de guerre" (french title, sorry, don't know the english one) games.

Played a lot with friends.

And my local town was hosting once a year a game festival, where local clubs could display what they do.

There was this table . Small islands, a big skull island, and flotillas moving around. That was Man'o'war. I was hooked (and approx. 8 yo).

Then found White Dwarf at the local library, and fell into the Hobby.

(And several aditions of this game festival later, I also fell into RPGs).

My mates and I used to play D&D(coloured box sets) back in the day and one of my mates friends brought over Rogue Trader and a bunch of GW miniatures, we played all day and at the end the guy said he was interested in picking up a different game (I don't remember what), and offered to sell me everything he had for $40, It was a lot of money back then but a good deal so I bought it, and I'm still painting and playing today.

My parents would always buy my an ornament related to my interests for Christmas. I was really into LoTR and my mom couldn't find an ornament so she decided to make one herself. She purchased a metal Nazgul on horse from GW. I was enthralled by the miniature, and my wargaming hobby was started.

Had a close friend in school who was collecting Ultramarines. That was about the time 2nd Ed came out, and for Christmas my brother and I split the starter box. I was going through a bit of a crisis of faith, and the imagery and background of warrior monk Space Marines really grabbed me. Later I got hooked by the really old metal Imperial Guard (I have a soft spot for underdogs) and I was permanently hooked. I later lost that friend who got me into it in a car accident near the end of high school. Whenever I see ol' Marneus Calgar I think of him.

I was kind of tangentially aware of Warhammer / 40k forever, but mostly a D&D / MtG player until I tried out Warhammer Online. There combination of the pure Frazetta metal of Chaos and the good natured zany hilarity of the Greenskins hooked me instantly. Since then I've been down alllllll of the rabbit holes. I never got into paying for crack plastic (bought a 3D printer instead), but I'll take a quiet moment for your buddy while assembling squig cavalry tonight.