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).