My Great Escape

During my Junior High years I lived in Auburn, Calinfornia. These years proved to be some of the worst in my life. I went from a familiar school where I was well liked, to a truly horrible middle school named E.V. Cain. I turned into some hideous monster looking thing with a horrible haircut. Also, I was (and am) a huge geek. Needless to say I was a huge target of the bullies, and it seemed the whole school was bullies. When I say the situation there was downright terrifying, I mean it. The teachers were afraid of the students and the inmates ran the asylum. We had kids arrested on the school grounds for attempted murder. Kids taken away in an ambulance from an attack only to return confined to a wheelchair. Teachers weren't safe either. It wasn't good. Even my friends would stab me in the back, just to look cool.

I felt like the biggest outcast in the world (my christian school days contributing to that). I had no self esteem, and I was scared to death. I fell into a huge depression, borderline self multilation and suicide. I needed an escape, somewhere I could go and be myself and not feel alone.

One summer I went up to my brother's for the whole summer. That stands as one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made, since I basically just stayed home, did all the chores, then got blamed for stuff I have never, or never would do. It's no surprise that they still try and get some dirt on me to make me look bad (they haven't, but that didn't stop them from making stuff up).

Saying that, it is only fitting that I found the path to my escape while up there. It was near the end of my stay, and we were running a booth at the annual Turkey Day or whatever. I wandered the streets of town and saw a store that looked pretty cool. I went in not knowing that it would change my life. It was a hobby shop, selling the usual Magic: The Gathering card game, as well as others. That wasn't what caught my eye, though. There was a small shelf with pewter miniatures on it. Upon seeing them I got excited, and told the shopkeep (haha I'm a geek) that I used to paint them as a kid with my dad. He explained to me that not only where they great mini's, but they also went with a game where you collect armies and battle it out with friends on a table.

I stayed in that store for hours, eating up all the information that I could. The store owner even took me upstairs to the game room and showed me some armies people have collected, from then on I was hooked.

The door to Tabletop Gaming, Games Workshop, and miniature painting was opened to me.

The first thing I did when I got home was look up hobby stores that were close by. I ended up finding Great Escape Games in Sacramento, CA. As I walked in I gazed up shelf after shelf filled with wargaming and roleplaying products. If there was a heaven, I had just walked into it. The manager told me that every Friday is game night, and thus a tradition was born.

Every Friday I would go to the store and stay there all afternoon and well into the night, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. I didn't have an army of my own at the time, as it required a bit of money, so I didn't play Warhammer Fantasy or 40k as much. I did play the smaller GW games though, mostly a game called GorkaMorka. In Gorka you controlled a small band of orks in the far future in a Mad Max type setting, riding around in crude vehicles and basically trying to kill your opponent while collecting scrap. It was much fun, but sadly the game is now discontinued.

I had a regular gaming buddy I played with, who also introduced me to the painting aspect of the hobby. I remember that he used to do commission work with paintjobs for money. I didn't have any money, so I'd bribe him with mini's I had in my collection to paint my band of Orks. I still have the first mini he painted for me (the other stuff got lost during moves). Eventually I started to paint my own, and I'm just now getting good.

A lot of the time I'd just hang out and chat with all the gamers, and watch them play their games. One night a multiple Grand Tournament winner came in with his army that was painted by GW's 'Eavy Metal painting team. Was almost like meeting a celebrity for me, lol.

The store was in a small shopping center, and a few doors down was a Chinese take out place. I remember Friday nights as much for the smell as the actual gaming. The store allowed us to bring our food into the gaming rooms, and the sweet smell of teriyaki would fill up the place as we waged our little wars.

What I loved the most, though, were the people. I didn't feel out of place at all, and 99% of them were really friendly and fun. Sure a lot of us geeks have an odd outward appearance, and lack some social skills , but I can honestly say that wargamers are some of the best people I've had the privilege of hanging out with.

I felt like I was welcome in that store, mainly because I was. Even though I was the youngest by far, being 13 or 14 among people in their 20s - 40s, I still felt like I belonged. It was my escape from the hell of school and every day life.

After I discovered that store and the wargames therein I began to climb out of my depression. I was no longer completely alone as I had found some kindred spirits. I got happy again.

When I heard that we were moving back to Oregon I was torn. I was happy to get away from Auburn, but I didn't want to leave my friends at Great Escape Games. I was afraid that I wouldn't find a store where people played at again.

My fears were confirmed as I haven't played a single game since moving back. I ended up going fully into the painting aspect of the hobby, but I still want to find a group of people to game with again. Having a driver's license will help with that a lot, as I can go out on my own more often. Hopefully in Texas (next year maybe) it will be an easier hunt.