Towards the end of 2015 I was not in a good place mentally. I had been through a rough spot in my life and become reclusive and depressed. spending all my time home on my own. It wasn't very good for me. Thankfully a friend from work was persistent and convinced me to come to our local club Powerfist Gaming, and play a game of Warmachine. He explained how it worked and got me curious enough to buy a Cygnar battlebox. I painted up Stryker1 and his 'jacks and put them on the table. What followed was probably weeks of defeats with the occasional victory. The important part for me was the socialising, I'd developed a stutter after the depression, and didn't really want to talk to people. Warmachine forced me to talk and interact and did me a world of good. I was thankful enough to have one of the newer players at the club take a mentorly role and guide me through the pitfalls and ply me with tips tactics and such to help out. This help has driven me to give back as much as I can to the local community and the wider Warmachine community as a thank you, and also in the hope that it can help others the way it's helped me.
At first, once I'd caught up to the local meta in skill level I was quite driven to get to a good competitive level nationally. I realised soon that the drive, persistence, and skill required is a little beyond me. This drove me more towards developing our community. With the loss of the PG program, and the few local tournaments happening I decided to see what I could do to remedy that. I ran my first tournament in a village hall, and have slowly built up from there. It's certainly been an experience, and I intend on using the blog to share my experiences, past and future, with everyone. I hope that maybe I can inspire others to help their local Warmachine communities develop, grow and thrive.
