I think I’m the “Old Soldier” of this group as I am going to be 47 in November 2004 (going on 17). My role in the group is to 1) force Curtis to purchase more and more models in a never ending arms race that can only end in him broken and groveling in a downtown bus station and 2) drafting overly complicated campaign rules.

In addition, I enjoy writing up the occasional battle report, providing goofy “fluff” around our games that occasionally amuses the group (and always cracks me up, which is all that matters), trading Austin Powers movie quotes during battles with Casey until one of us blows Coca-Cola out our nose and fielding all the really different (insert annoying) armies with “Parthian Shot” abilities just to drive Curtis and Casey nuts (such as Eldar in BFG and nomads in Warhammer Ancients).

My older brother got me into war games when I was about 8 and he was 17. We used to make up our own rules using the old H.O. scale Airfix plastic models. I still have hundreds of these in my closet.

Starting in college, I drifted away from the hobby until the late nineties here in Atlanta. I was looking for a special present for my youngest son (then about 8) and ran into Alec Peters (see other Bios) at a mall in Atlanta. Alec was running the “cart” he mentioned in his bio doing demos and selling Warhammer and Warhammer 40K for the late and greatly missed Mageworks game store.

It reminded me of my younger gaming days and inspired me to dive into Warhammer. I was amazed to find that others actually codified and published sets of game rules that were much like the informal systems my brother and I used to make up.

Actually, I think I was beginning to realize that my sons were growing up and I would soon not be able to buy new toys to play with. Therefore, I needed to find a way to justify continued toy buying in the guise of a “hobby”. At Mageworks I ran into Dave Smith, the proprietor, Curtis Callaway and Casey Hall who form the core of our gaming group.

I bought a bunch of Warhammer stuff, built a table and painted up models for my son (thankfully my painting has vastly improved since then). He was interested for a while but is more focused on computer and game “station” games. Dad (that’s me), however, was immediately hooked. Somebody had to use all this cool stuff, right? My plan was working to perfection.

Since then “the group” has rotated through Warhammer, 40K, Warhammer Ancients, converting Warhammer Ancients into 15mm, 15mm WWII, Napoleonics, EPIC, BFG and various computer games. We’ve entered Rogue Trader events and made trips to Gamesday and Historicon together. Happily we’ve found a core group that are avidly into modeling and gaming, have a grip on reality, practice healthy personal hygiene and do not take winning too seriously.

I’ll be adding pictures of my forces to the site soon. Curtis is doing a great job hosting.

I’m married with one son in college and my youngest just starting high school. I’m Director of Strategic Analysis for a major US Corporation. (Yes, I do war games at work too, and they actually pay me (M&A, global strategy development and strategy deployment. There is also a subliminal message in this bio that will result in you buying our products. Yes. You will.)