So, what about me?
Well, keeping it short… I’m forty something (a polite way of saying someone’s getting close to fifty!) though I’m only about fourteen at heart!
I’m married to Sue, my ever supporting wife, friend, and lifelong companion (That should keep her sweet!). We have a beautiful daughter, Yasmin, who’s twelve (occasionally five and every now and then, twenty-three!). We also have a dog, Bertie, who’s a Beagle, steals socks, and doesn’t like to be left on his own.
We live in the forgotten County of Shropshire (UK), surrounded by hills and a hundred and one other dog walkers! However, I was born in a little village called Pelsall, and unfortunately still have a bit of a certain West Midlands accent.
I spent twenty-five years in the RAF, and the last few as a house-husband, looking after the above mentioned daughter and dog.
Now the important bit, Games…
I’ve been playing games of one sort or another since the year dot (my year dot that is, not the creation of the world year dot!). I was weaned on card games and dominoes, and later the usual family games like Monopoly, Cluedo and Risk. My dad taught me to play a pretty good game of chess, though I’ve always been an unorthodox player and too quick for my own good. My teenage years were spent taking money off my mates at cards, and trying to find someone to play Dungeons & Dragons with (Fail). I played a fair amount of war-games; Napoleonic and ancients to start off with, and then modern, but it all fell by the wayside when I hit seventeenish!
When I joined The RAF, I discovered that a lot of others on my training course were role-players too, and started to play D&D. After a few game the DM threw his toys out the cot and didn’t want to run the game anymore, so I took over. I introduced the group to the world of Palladium Fantasy RPG and ran a campaign for pretty much the rest of our time in training, I like to think I did a pretty good job too!
Unfortunately been in the Military means moving around a lot. Some of the places I’ve been to there have been fellow gamers, though once out of training it was never the thing to mention you…. ssshhh!!!…. were a gamer… especially one who played Tabletop games! So, I never really got to play as much as I would have liked, but, over the last few years that’s all changed… to a degree. We play a fair amount of games at home; Yasmin is often willing to play a game of her choice (usually Mansions of Madness), but is slowly becoming more receptive to my suggestions. Sue likes some games, and during the school holidays we often play Pandemic, Flamme Rouge or Timeline. Mostly I play games solo, or very occasionally, with my mates, who are spread far and wide across the country.
I’ve always wanted to write a novel, but confidence on whether or not anyone would like what I write, has so far held me back – but now I’m writing about the things I’m passionate about, so, I hope you’ll stick with me on this ‘journey’ (apparently it’s all about the journey nowadays!) and we shall see where it leads…
Thanks for reading,
The Solo Meeple 