Until I met my fiancé, I had never heard of miniature wargaming. Fast forward about a year and I can completely understand his obsession with it. The only question was if there was room for a female newbie player, especially within the MeG rule set. After watching him put together army lists, purchase, prepare and paint new miniatures, and seeing him off each week as he met up with other wargamers to play a couple of games on the weekend and every other Thursday for a weeknight matchup, I was beginning to feel like an outsider. That changed when I accepted his open invitation to watch him play. Not only did I see his armies come to life during his regularly scheduled games, but I had the privilege of attending the first Ides of Martz – West Coast Championship Tournament at the beginning of this month. All the participants were very gracious, welcoming and patient with me as I watched them play the final round.  Dale Shanek's Asiatic Successor army beat out Marco Ulloa's Medieval Castilians, leaving them in 2nd and 5th place respectively. Dave Lauerman's Barmarised Shan army faced off with John Baumann's Later 100 Year's War English, landing them in 3rd and 6th places. Dan Martz, Jr.'s Middle Swiss won the battle against Dan Martz, Sr.'s Nikephorian Byzantine's, ending the tournament in 1st and 4th place respectively. Lenny Herrmann with his Early Crown of Aragon army and Richard Gagliasso with his Later Republican Roman's had a pass in the final round. It was great fun, and a tremendous learning opportunity.  I was pleasantly surprised by their encouragement for me to get in on the fun.

With so many aspects to wargaming, playing, painting, preparing terrain, etc., I've discovered that there is room for everyone in this fascinating hobby. Thank you to everyone at Game Castle in San Jose, CA for answering all my questions, and to all the members of the Bay Area Gaming Society for being so welcoming and supportive.  My own adventures in wargaming begin this week as I put my efforts into building terrain and practicing game play with a loaner army. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and hearing your feedback as I venture into this challenging new hobby.

Great post.  Good luck on your journey.  I was lucky enough to drink and play with many of those guys last year at Historicon.


Ray

Welcome to the fold,
A superb post, and I hope you have as many happy hours as we have had with these rules.

Great post. Welcome to the game and community.

I have sent this post to my wife, in hope.

No acknowledgement yet...

Dru

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement.  Looking forward to getting input on my upcoming army and meeting many of you at Historicon as I soak up all the knowledge I can. Here's to hoping more women will find their place at the gaming table.

Most Welcome ... 

Quote from: Lagertha on May 20, 2019, 10:33:34 AM
Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement.  Looking forward to getting input on my upcoming army and meeting many of you at Historicon as I soak up all the knowledge I can. Here's to hoping more women will find their place at the gaming table.

Amen to that!

Having had many happy games with Lynda Fairhurst over the years, it is great to see another lady player come aboard.
Hope to see you at Historicon in 2020 when I plan to be back over to give MeG a big push.

Simon

(PS help with army design and choice from the author always available...)

Thank you Simon. I've been watching your YouTube videos and have heard so many wonderful things about you. I look forward to meeting you in person in 2020.  I'd be thrilled to get your help with my first army.

Quote from: Lagertha on May 20, 2019, 10:33:34 AM
Looking forward to getting input on my upcoming army and meeting many of you at Historicon as I soak up all the knowledge I can.

Look forward to meeting you at Historicon this year. My daughter played on the FoG:R and MeG circuit in the UK for a year but has quit to concentrate on her school work (doing chemistry homework between moves under the table did not work for her!). We can try and have some coaching games along side any competition that gets organised.

Didn't stop her beating me senseless

Quote from: Lagertha on May 24, 2019, 12:26:04 AM
Thank you Simon. I've been watching your YouTube videos and have heard so many wonderful things about you. I look forward to meeting you in person in 2020.  I'd be thrilled to get your help with my first army.

That is kind indeed.  Hoping to do more videos soon. Indeed bringing my Ipad to Skullrollers so we can shoot some there to add to the set.

Si

My apologies for taking so long to respond. Any coaching games that can be squeezed in on Thursday would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.