Secret Geek

Not a lot of people in my life know that I am a bit of a secret geek

My story goes way back to when I was a young boy

Many moons ago !

I think it stared when I was in my latter years of middle school or my early years of upper school

It seem weird saying middle and upper school nowadays

But I think that's just showing my age!

Around that time I used to spend a lot of time at my cousin's house

We used to get up to all sorts of mischief nothing too bad may I add

On with the geek story

I can not fully remember how it all started

But my earliest memories are sat at my uncle's in the front room playing Hero Quest

It was an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley, in conjunction with British company Games Workshop

It was set in a fantasy fictional universe where a companion of four characters

A Barbarian

A Elf

A Wizard

And a Dwarf

all worked together to take on the evil forces

We had so much fun playing the game!

But we wanted more!

So one day we went down to the local

Games Workshop

which was located in Bradford town centre

I remember walking through the doors and thinking WOW!

It was GEEK HEAVEN

We spent ages in there that day

The staff were great with us, showing us around the store, introducing us to all the different games

And talking us through the hobby

There were many different parts to the hobby

Table top war games

There where loads of different games but all of the games were all played kind of in the same way.

2 armies fighting each other on a table top covered in scenery trees, hills, bunkers and ruins to make it look like a proper battle field

Each player takes it in turns to move their models using tape measures for distance

And then shoots their opponents

This was done by rolling dice

I don't mean rolling dice at each others models ha-ha

I mean depending on the out come of the dice roll is weather you hit or not

If I were to tell you everything about the games it would take me ages but that's kind of how it works

But be warned if you don't have an imagination I don't think the hobby would be for you

Painting the models

All the games you play you need models
All models were either plastic or metal

All unpainted

The shop had a huge selection of paint and the staff always did painting tutorials

Which was great because I could not paint the models to save my life.

For the next few years Games Workshop was our life!

Me, my cousin and even my uncle all collected stuff and played games.

We met loads of new friends, some who I'm still in contact with now.

Most weekends were spent down at the store - it was like a youth club

I have got so may fond memories hanging a round in there

And then going to pizza corner for a slice and a can of coke after
I remember it being so cheap.

And to my knowledge pizza corner is going strong.

We had some great times

To be honest at that time of my life its all I wanted to do!

Then it came to an end

Growing up isn't easy when you're a teenager especially when you're not popular

It was a bit different for me, I was quite popular

I was in the school football and rugby teams

I hung around with the "COOL" kids

But they didn't know what I did for a hobby

And if they did know I don't think it would of gone down too well

I doubt I would of been part of the popular crew!

A few close friends at school knew and to be honest I got a lot of grief from them

The words Geek Workshop got regularly used.

It wasn't long till the word got out around school about my secret geek life

And that's when the name calling came on a daily basis - a few wouldn't even talk to me
But that's how kids were back in the day

Everybody knows what school life was like
You did what you could to fit in

The name calling got a bit too much and I didn't know what to do.

It seemed like I had a choice to make

Do I keep doing my hobby that I have been doing for years and spent a lot of money on?

Or do I stop going so I can hang around with my so called friends without being called names on a regular basis and be in the popular gang?

I made my decision

I wanted to be a cool kid

I got all the stuff I had collected over the years and just chucked it into a skip

A decision I came to regret!

So that was it
I stopped the hobby

15 years later

So now I am 31

I have done all my wild nights out with my mates

Been on lads holidays

Spent most of my weekends in the pub after playing rugby or football

I met a wonderful lady who later I married and had a beautiful boy who is now 9

I have lived the perfect life

But there is one thing missing- I didn't really have a hobby

As I mentioned earlier I was really close with my cousin and uncle and now we all work together and they had recently both started the hobby up again

So I was there thinking I don't have a hobby.

I couldn't care less if I am popular or not anymore.

I wouldn't care less if people thought I was a geek.

So I started up again (God I regret chucking hundreds of pounds of miniatures away now)

On my next pay day I went down to my local Games Workshop and got some new toys :)

Now I'm 32 with a good collection of models and regularly play table top war games with a new bunch of friends who I have met, along with my uncle and cousin

Now I enjoy the hobby in a different way

When I was younger I preferred the gaming side to it

But know I really enjoy the painting side
I think it has a lot to do with me realising I am rather good

I even came first in my 1st ever painting competition that I entered when my local gaming club ran one!

The pictures above are the models I won with

Now I have a huge selection of paint and will regularly sit by my self at the kitchen table listening to music and will paint for hours, or until my back hurts (that's old age for you)

Some of my recent work