Board Talk! #1 - How my tabletop gaming journey began

Today I thought I would tell you how I came across boardgames and tabletop gaming in general.

It all happened relatively late, in my 30s.

While I was growing up, in Portugal, boardgames or games in general was always considered a fringe thing.
All kinds of gaming - digital or otherwise was always seen by society as "deviant behaviours" - reserved for introverts.

It might seem silly now - but the truth is that when you live in a country as sunny as Portugal - most indoor hobbies tend to be frowned upon.

For the first dozen of years of my life, apart from the ocasional game of Monopoly or Loto over Christmas and some light traditional card games with an elderly uncle - there was no room for gaming in my life.

It all changed when I was 12, and I bought with my weekly allowance a small pack of Magic: the Gathering - from the Ice Age set. And I got roped from there - suddenly with the beggining of mainstream internet, I could read blogs, see decklists and contact with players from all over the World!

Even though I was physically alone in this interest - I wasn't alone anymore. As time went by - although my friends were resistant, more people got roped into it and eventually I could take part in some tournaments.

From there I have jumped to Vampire: the Eternal Struggle - a great card game, that currently is no longer being officially published (although it is still being supported by a large community of fans).

And then life got in the way. I was just out of uni and the job market wasn't really that great. My only options at the time was either forget I had a degree and start from scratch in a more technical position - or go to grad school in England.
I took the second option.

The first few years were really tough - not only in terms of work (grad school isn't a walk in the park), but also by getting used to a new country, new people and to find new daily routines all by myself.
So to begin with there were not that much gaming.

Then one day, it happened by accident. My flatmate had some very serious family issues he had to deal with - and his girlfriend decided to give him something to keep him occupied.
So she gave him a starter set of warhammer 40k.

As I was already primed for that sort of collectable / gaming sort of thing - I couldn't resist in joining the fun!

And for the next 2 years - both of us bought extensive amounts of plastic crack, we found and joined local gaming groups - where surprisingly we were amongst the younger crowd. And it all felt amazingly!

Gaming in England didn't felt like a fringe thing for social pariahs.
We were regularly meeting with other grown-up family men and women, that would take their weekly leave from their kids to join in fictional battles .

From there to the boardgaming, it wasn't a huge step. Warhammer and miniature gaming is insanely expensive as an hobby. Plus as far as enjoyment, it gets to a point where you are expected to keep on adding things to your armies to remain competitive, even when your enjoyment isn't really being that enhanced. It turns into a really nasty money-sink.

So I thought boardgames would be a great alternative.

You buy a box - with a self-contained game - and that's it!
There are some expansions sometimes, but you can always ignore those if you are not into it - and it will remain a fair and fun experience for all people involved.

My first boardgame was Dominion - a great card game I will talk about in the future.

What I didn't knew at the time is that it is a really addictive hobbye - and soon enough you will want to have ALL the pretty cardboard boxes...

So much for avoiding money-sinks!

What about you? Have you tried any of the cool boardgames out there?
If you haven't - you should!

Just mind that wallet, though...