Roll Call Thread Addition -where are we all from ?

Roll Call Thread Addition -where are we all from ? (Full Version)

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oaltinyay -> Roll Call Thread Addition -where are we all from ? (5/18/2015 6:28:44 AM)
I am wondering where everybody is from....Are we mainly dominated by US players ? Or are there people really 'around' the world. I ran into Australians, Italians and Finns and Germans around here but are where are we all from and what do we do in life really ? The bio pages dont tell much. Most of those countries ( actually all of them ) were WW2 participants so there's some reason there but it's sort of interesting to see some engineer from Turkey to play WitP:AE or be curious about obscure battles of WW2, dont you think ? , I learned who W.McCluskey was when I was 14 or 15 I read Waldron's attack at Midway and thought about it for some time. I really wonder where are we all from ? what do we do in life ? Is there a link/trend that brings us to play witpae ?

wdolson -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 12:58:06 AM)
I think the majority of forum members are Americans. India has the largest English speaking population in the world, but the US has the second largest. The US also has a fairly large wargaming community that has been around for half a century or more. So it makes some sense there would be a lot of Americans here. I'm one of those who started with board games, primarily Avalon Hill as a teenager (though my father gave me my first wargame when I was 5, I was too young to understand it at the time). My father was in the Pacific during the war as a combat photographer so I always had an interest in the theater. He started me reading books about the war when I was 6. I've always lived on the West Coast of the US. I grew up in Los Angeles (hated it), lived in Seattle for 16 years and now I'm just north of Portland. We sometimes eat at a restaurant built in the middle of what was once the Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard where many CVEs were built. They have some pictures from the shipyard's heyday on the walls. The spot is a few businesses and a bunch of condos now. Bill

BattleMoose -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 1:32:08 AM)
I am a South African living in Australia. I have always been interested in warfare since always, certainly not restricted to the pacific theatre or WWII. My interest has generally been on particularly climatic or influential battles and the whyfores on why a battle was fought where it was and when it was.

rroberson -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 3:08:12 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: oaltinyay I really wonder where are we all from ? what do we do in life ? Is there a link/trend that brings us to play witpae ? Currently, I am from Arizona here I have been anchored about 22 years. Prior to that I spent time in San Diego, Florida, Texas, etc etc...as my father was an Air Force officer. As far as WITPAE the first movie in a theater as a kid I remember seeing was Tora Tora Tora, since then I have been obsessed with the subject. I joined the US Navy because I wanted to be in the Pacific fleet, there probably aren't many books that have been published in the last 30 years on the Pacific War that I haven't read and just about any wargame that has come out since the dawn of computers that involved the Pacific Theater I have owned including both of WITPAE predecessors.

jamesjohns -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 4:59:34 AM)
America, born and raised in a Mid-West cornfield, saw some of the world with the Army and ended up back in the Mid-West and work as an educator. Like I suspect many on this board, spent a lot of time with card board counters decades ago. Got into gaming as a kid playing Dungens and Dragons and then discovered wargaming. Played a lot of games like Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich, Panzer Blitz, Kingmaker, other Avalon Hill games (back when Apple II was state of the art and computers cost a lot of money). I miss the cardboard counters sometimes, but don't miss the house-cat blitzkreig half-way through a game of Squad Leader.[:@] Played computer games, wargames over the years as time permits but kids, wife and career limit it. Always had an interest in military history, WWII and that led to wargaming. Got into WITPAE after playing some other matrix games and thought I'd take a try at the biggest, most complex one out there with WITPAE. Interesting circle, found myself reading more about the Pacific than ever before after starting to play the game.

wdolson -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 5:12:01 AM)
Oddly the cat never bothered my wargames when they were set up. My mother was another issue though. Bill

KenchiSulla -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 5:24:56 AM)
I'm dutch.... I've Always been interested in mil. history but only after playing WitP I really took an interest in the Pacific theatre...

obvert -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 6:33:26 AM)
Born and raised in Portland, OR. Won a writing contest in 4th grade and a gift certificate to a bookshop. The first books I bought were about warships and planes. I'd been watching Bah Bah Blacksheep and Hogan's Heroes on weekend re-runs and playing with old die cast toy planes for a while. Then I got into modeling ships and made a lot fo the Tamiya models. Later blew them to pieces as a teenager with firecrackers and my air rifle. Other than reading didn't do much involving WW2 or military history for many years, but one winter got stuck in London for Christmas alone due to snow. I watched Band of Brothers and started looking at history of the war again to pass the days. Found the WITP site and looked into it, bought the game ,and played for a week straight. Bought AE a week later and it was all over! [:D]

SierraJuliet -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 7:05:33 AM)
Born, raised and live in Queensland. The dreamy days of childhood spent in cane country near Bundaberg. First got interested in Pacific War during primary school when reading an abridged version of some authors recounting of Midway. Even spurred me onto do an assignment... even then I found the Japanese carriers of great interest. Family moves landed me in Brisbane and here I still am.... must get around to invading this place some day. Little left now to remind one of the big submarine base on the river.

wdolson -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 7:55:49 AM)
I have found it interesting how few of us live on the game map when it covers 2/3 of the Earth. Bill

oaltinyay -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 8:52:05 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: jamesjohns Always had an interest in military history, WWII and that led to wargaming. Got into WITPAE after playing some other matrix games and thought I'd take a try at the biggest, most complex one out there with WITPAE. Interesting circle, found myself reading more about the Pacific than ever before after starting to play the game. same with me sir, and I am amazed at the depth of the conflict there... Granted eastern front was a "galaxy" full of dramas but pacific seems to be no different if not even more... Currently I am reading and being amazed how Japanese managed to reinforce PI at 1944....

wegman58 -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 12:06:39 PM)
Born and raised in NYC, started with Avalon Hill (the battle for Tobruk in Afrika Korps was always the key battle); many of their other games. Joined the Navy and saw the world - North Atlantic, two Meds than went to the IO in the early 1980's and more than once through the Caribbean. Transited the Panama Canal before the Peanut Farmer gave it away, one round trip and a one way trip through the Suez (flew home from that tour when my enlistment was up). Got out, went back in as a TAR and took care of reservists for 18 years. With the exception of Alaska been to every state with an Atlantic/Pacific/Gulf of Mexico/Great Lakes coastline. Wound up in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and liked it and was lucky enough to come back for my retirement tour. Now I help make some of the tools the Fleet uses today. Shared piers with some of the ships in the game (DIXIE/VESTAL/NEW JERSEY) and refueled at sea from some of the old oilers.

rockmedic109 -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 7:32:29 PM)
Born in Augsburg {West Germany}, courtesy of the U.S. Army. Raised in the Sacramento area. Santa brought me my first wargame, Luftwaffe {I never knew they existed}, and started a life long fascination. I remember getting up in the middle of the night to see what Santa brought {and save the sock items from sibling theft} and seeing Luftwaffe and thinking it was a model of a plane. Always had a fondness for history. Later I sold wargames for a small game store and computer games at a PBM company that started a game store. Still go to one game store that I frequently invaded in junior high; just to say hi. I have lived in, traveled through or visited 33 of the "bases" on the map. There might be a couple others on the Canton-Changsha line but I don't know the path the bullet train I was on went through. I Have been on 4 of the ships that are in the game. Standing at the spot the surrender documents were signed was incredibly moving. And I got a trip to Maui when the xAK Lahaina was torpedoed short of Hawaii and grumbled about it {My wife heard and asked what was wrong}.

bomccarthy -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 8:49:38 PM)
Born and raised in Southern California, and remained here for all except a couple of my adult years. Started with Avalon Hill games in junior high, then pretty much abandoned wargames with the onset of law school and a career devoted to everything except the practice of law (business investigations, advertising/marketing, and putting together proposals for national accounting firms). Needing a way to unwind during downtimes, I picked up a TalonSoft game in the late 90s that seemed closely based on PanzerLeader, then moved on to Combat Flight Simulator 3 (complete with stick/throttle and rudder pedals), SPWAW, Korsun Pocket, and finally AE. Since my dad spent his entire engineering career with Douglas/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing, aviation was always one of the main topics of discussion growing up in our household - my sister once bet that every dinner conversation that week would eventually end up on planes, cars, or military history (I think she won). My mom would try to tune us out, but WWII was not some academic exercise for her family. She was born in 1941 on Malta; although too young to have conscious memories, my mom eventually heard of some of the close calls involving her and my grandmother during the air raids, such as a direct hit on a multistory building across the street. My grandfather was a civilian foreman on the crews that filled in the craters at Luqa airfield in between the raids. He and his male friends (who also ended up in Southern California in the 50s) had other kinds of stories, like those involving "Ack-Ack", a young lady so-nicknamed for the size of her "guns." He would tell these stories, then duck the wooden spoon hurled by my grandmother.

HansBolter -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 9:29:45 PM)
Born in Chester Pennsylvania. Family moved to St. Petersburg Florida when I was 4 1/2 (9162). I live in the house I grew up in.

aztez -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/19/2015 9:38:35 PM)
I'am one of those people far far from pacific area. Never even been in the region. I live in the western part of Finland and basically have been in this are whole of my life. There has been and still is quite a few Finns around these boards. I have always somewhat intrested in history so I guess that is one part why I have been around for +10 years now. How I even discovered Witp game.. well I don't even remember but decieded to give it a go and somehow ended up starting an PBEM vs vorsteher. It was rocky journey but somehow managed to get into 1945's with him being replaced. After that well have had good luck finding steady opponents Chris, Dave and others. Never bothered with AI and got couple of PBEM partners disappear. Also tried couple of starts with PBEM as Japan but that did not work out. Allthough I read my first japanese AAR a month ago and just maybe will give it final shot. Did not remember all the good advice Nemo and others gave me. Well.. as said been here longtime and now running just 1 PBEM which is nearing 1946. Somewhat eerie to think that I was playing this game before my first daughter was born nearly 10 years ago. Enjoy football and getting into coaching due daughters. Actually getting my first official license in that part within next month. This game has given me more intel and intrest to check out what actually happened around the pacific in WW2. I still see here a lot of members browsing through from the days I was complete rookie and good to see new faces step up when veterans are taking their break off the game.

bush -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 3:30:15 AM)
Born and raised in PA. Lived and worked in OH, IL, CA, CT, NC. Moved to Manizales, Colombia for 5 years then back to CA for last 9 years. Will be going to Mexico next school; year.

paradigmblue -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 3:34:13 AM)
Fairbanks Alaska here.

MuguNiner -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 4:21:18 AM)
Born in Vancouver BC, parents kidnapped me and brought me to Seattle at age three. With the exception of my USMC world tour, I have lived in the area since.

Barb -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 8:16:37 AM)
One Slovak here! Born in the Bratislava (capital), living in Bratislava, playing in Bratislava. No military background, except reading every history book I can lay my hands on... Gaming passion started years back - with two of my best friends "creating" our own war-games based on whatever books we had chance to borrow from library. Created the basic rules, concepts, internal mechanics, and started creating OOB. Later the game was abandoned due to some weird results, or argument. Rinse&Repeat time and again. quote: We have had few "epic" experiences... - like drawing Europe from mid-atlantic to Kaukazus, from Greenland to North Africa on sheets of "square paper" (5mmx5mm squares). The size of the complete map was bigger then the living room! - like sticking together empty cigarette-boxes with adhesive tape, adding gun turrets and superstructures to be used as ships - only to be blown off by petards. The survive-ability check was made in whatever puddle of water we were lucky to find around! - gluing safety matches to small pieces of papers - to represent planes (re-creating Pearl Harbor strike formations on the floor was epic), throwing darts to determine hits on paper cut-out ships (complete Pearl Harbor miniature) layed on the floor. Complete with "chance to hit something critical" like ammo, armament, engines, etc... - Convoy battle in Skaggerrak using complete 5x4m room - like trying to invade Guam with 6 Jap Battle-wagons in support on 7th Dec. 1941 - only to get two sunk by two subs immediately and 3 more seriously damaged. Jap ASW sucked! [:D] - Using whatever we have found to simulate some ground battles - including "8-sided paper box (formerly cheese package)" as pillbox, safety-matches box as tanks, plastic soldiers, ... Later came some early computer games - we three always competing. Finally got to the UV. Also tried to sold them on WITPAE. One tried as Allies till August 1942 when he got little kick out of Luganville with some carrier action too. Unfortunately they never got deeply to it - both of them really have to be in charge of everything - to let decide some freaking game what is actually going to happen was unbearable for them. But they are happy within their kind of games (FPS, War Thunder, etc...)

Rafid -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 11:26:44 AM)
From Germany (Freiburg) In Germany WW2 is in the mind of 99% of people (including teachers) only the European theater. Started reading about the Pacific Theater by chance and found this game through Google about a year and a half ago. I think it was the unique complete combination of air, land and naval warfare which got me thinking: "This should make a great game, if you get it right." After reading some AARs I got hooked. I never played any board war games or any of its predecessors, but liked complex games and (having studied math) always had a thing for logistics. I don't have the frequent time slots for a PBEM, so I only play the AI and I hardly had the time to do that in the last 6 month. I find that I like reading AARs almost as much as playing myself. So at the moment I spend more time on the forum than in the game itself.

pontiouspilot -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 7:16:39 PM)
I am obviously from Canada....that is the blip to the north of USA. Specifically from northern Alberta near mile 0 of Alaska highway. I know there are 3-4 other active Canucks on here. There are some interesting common denominators in reading this thread: early interest in history and reading (much to my mother's dismay I read rise and fall of 3rd Reich when 12), early war gaming (I started when 11), some model builders, and many ex-military...at least amongst the Yanks. It strikes me that the demographics put 80% of us in the 45-60 yr range, obviously most with post-secondary schooling (I have 2 degrees). I wonder if the generations behind us are here and I'm missing them or whether our ilk are a dying breed?

warspite1 -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 7:41:24 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot I am obviously from Canada.... warspite1 I'm so very sorry [:(]

Feltan -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 9:54:21 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot I am obviously from Canada....that is the blip to the north of USA. Specifically from northern Alberta near mile 0 of Alaska highway. I know there are 3-4 other active Canucks on here. There are some interesting common denominators in reading this thread: early interest in history and reading (much to my mother's dismay I read rise and fall of 3rd Reich when 12), early war gaming (I started when 11), some model builders, and many ex-military...at least amongst the Yanks. It strikes me that the demographics put 80% of us in the 45-60 yr range, obviously most with post-secondary schooling (I have 2 degrees). I wonder if the generations behind us are here and I'm missing them or whether our ilk are a dying breed? Interesting observations ..... ...early interest in history and reading: Check ...early war gaming: Check ...model builders: Check ...many ex-military: Check ... 45-60 yr range: Check ...post-secondary schooling: Check My God. I have never been in the demographic for anything. Regards, Feltan

jamesjohns -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/20/2015 11:22:39 PM)
Same here; Early history interest- read everybook my school had on WWII and American Revolution Early war gaming - started in middle school with cardboard Model Builders - Attempted[;)] (unintentionally made B-24 looked post-Ploesti, a Sherman on the wrong end of a Panther and a P-40 on Guadalcanal) Ex-Military - Army Enlisted and Officer, Armor 45-60 - Yes, on the young end of the range post secondary - Yes Masters in a Science field

paradigmblue -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/21/2015 2:03:16 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot I am obviously from Canada....that is the blip to the north of USA. Specifically from northern Alberta near mile 0 of Alaska highway. I know there are 3-4 other active Canucks on here. There are some interesting common denominators in reading this thread: early interest in history and reading (much to my mother's dismay I read rise and fall of 3rd Reich when 12), early war gaming (I started when 11), some model builders, and many ex-military...at least amongst the Yanks. It strikes me that the demographics put 80% of us in the 45-60 yr range, obviously most with post-secondary schooling (I have 2 degrees). I wonder if the generations behind us are here and I'm missing them or whether our ilk are a dying breed? There are some later generations here - I was born in 1981 and I think that Alikchi is younger than I am.

MikeS4269 -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/21/2015 2:43:12 AM)
Born in upstate NY in 1978. Lived in Japan for four years; moved to Singapore and have been living here for the past eight years. I was in the Merchant Marines for a few years, switched over to nautical cartography, and am now in education teaching English as a Second Language. I am in October 1943 in my first grand campaign (as the Allies) and played Uncommon Valour and WitP Scenarios for years before having the courage (and enough wine) to take the plunge. I do board game as often as I can and read PTO history any chance I am able. (I have been away from the forums for a while and am now returning to keep current with the latest.) [:)]

wdolson -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/21/2015 3:10:44 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: pontiouspilot I am obviously from Canada....that is the blip to the north of USA. Specifically from northern Alberta near mile 0 of Alaska highway. I know there are 3-4 other active Canucks on here. There are some interesting common denominators in reading this thread: early interest in history and reading (much to my mother's dismay I read rise and fall of 3rd Reich when 12), early war gaming (I started when 11), some model builders, and many ex-military...at least amongst the Yanks. It strikes me that the demographics put 80% of us in the 45-60 yr range, obviously most with post-secondary schooling (I have 2 degrees). I wonder if the generations behind us are here and I'm missing them or whether our ilk are a dying breed? The Boomers and early Gen Xers grew up with board games and some of the younger of us had something like an Atari while teens. Computers really weren't capable of doing even a reasonable job with a complex wargame until the late 80s. The early wargames were essentially translations of board games onto the screen. As computing power continued to improve, game makers added more eye candy in the way of graphics and real time features. The Millennials mostly grew up with live action, real time games. Games that require you sit back and think about it a bit is alien. So I'm not surprised this is mostly an older person hobby. As far as the demographics go, I'm not a perfect fit, but close: History and reading at an early age - I was always a history geek, but a bit slow in picking up reading for entertainment. My 10 year older sister was reading voraciously by age 3, can read blindingly fast, and I just felt I couldn't "compete". I did become much more of a reader as a teen and always had a pleasure reading book in my bag during college. Model building - Started at age 3 and have an embarrassingly large stash of unbuilt models today. Ex-military - never went that route. I knew I would chafe at the culture and I probably would have been 4F anyway (bad knees). 45-60 - Lower end of that range, very early Gen X. Post secondary - Only a bachelors. Got accepted to grad school but decided not to go. Bill

LST Express -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/21/2015 3:32:22 AM)
Some of us older types grew up around WW2 vets. Teachers, coaches, scout masters, neighbors, dads, uncles, you name it. Certainly a big influence on many people on this forum.

Major Shane -> RE: Roll Call Thread Addition (5/21/2015 7:32:36 AM)
American. Born in West Virginia, grew up in Virginia and Tennessee. Became an Army officer and have served at various posts in the U.S. Overseas deployments to Bosnia, Mid-East, and Afghanistan. Still serving, currently stationed in Kansas. I enjoy the different problems set of this game and it's theaters. It forces you to have to think ahead and prioritize.

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