Wargames Club

I had first made contact with the local wargamers club at a hobby display day in Tamworth back in 1991. I was helping my father at the time, who was still trading his philatelic materials wherever he could. Curiosity lead me to a group of people who were playing some board games in the far corner. After overcoming my inherited shyness, I got to talking to them, discovering, with pleasant surprise, that one of the chaps I was talking to played the same play-by-mail game as myself and we hit it off straight away.

The next step was attending a meeting. They met once a fortnight at an old hall in town on Friday nights. I was astounded to see so many games being played, and all these miniatures. I was pretty much hooked after just one meeting. Table-top gaming though wasn't the only thing they were into, and I quickly got involved in the fantasy role-playing sessions as well. I was made to feel welcome, like I was one of the gang and I ended up with some good friends, but unfortunately, I made a couple of enemies as well.

It was great for a while. Members of the group would drop in on my Saturday night shows on community radio, a couple I even got involved in broadcasting. Then there was the indoor soccer teams, and the Sunday afternoon training sessions. There were weekend long role-playing sessions, piss-ups, movie nights, road trips and just occasions were we would sit around, have a few drinks and just shoot the breeze.

All good things generally come to an end. The circle was resurrected to an extent after I moved to Woolloomooloo, but it wasn't the same as the times we had in Tamworth. Now that I moved to the Central Coast, I hardly see any of the group, though I do get the occasional e-mail, and try to see those that have remained in Tamworth whenever I'm up there. 

This rather grainy image of the soccer teams was taken in 1993. You wouldn't think that both of our teams (the mixed and the mens) had lost their finals that night!