Miniature wargaming is probably the longest-running pastime of my life, rivaled only by sport fishing, and playing music. Not so much the games themselves, but the hobby side: scratchbuilding, painting, crafting, and modifying terrain and models in all scales and settings.
It all started in the late '80s after I read an article on using miniatures for TTRPG battles. I grabbed some craft paints, a couple of metal skeletons, and a trollish-looking goblin (which is still around in a box somewhere).
A few years later, I found a shop selling Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and the rest is history. As in, I pretty much only do historical wargaming nowadays!
I'm drawn to researching the early adaptation that technical and tactical breakthroughs bring to any era of warfare. Even within a condensed period like WW2, this applies not only to the 1939/40 period but also to theatres like the North African campaigns and the Battle for the Mediterranean — the phases most compelling to wargame, before the total collapse of the Axis powers turned everything into a foregone conclusion.
As another example from WW2, my main army for the past few years has been the Belgians, and I tend to use elements of the Chasseurs Ardennais when setting them up on the tabletop. Bicycle infantry, Ho!
I know.
I'm weird.
[Wargaming] Last weekends con; DBMM and Fighting Battleships
[Wargaming] Mechs for Battletech
[Wargaming] Gangs for OPR:Skirmish
[Wargaming] Decluttering and plans for now
[Wargaming] Finns for the Continuation War -41 onwards
[Wargaming] Some Venusian Wars WIP
/Skald