I painted my first military figure and bought my first wargaming book in 1962. Unfortunately, I could find no one who shared this budding interest of mine and I gave up any ideas of commanding a brave Napoleonic regiment defending a critical bridge down to the last man.

But, a few months ago I stopped in a new hobby shop, to buy some percentile dice, and this whole world of wargaming opened up to me. I would like to offer some suggestions to others, like myself, who are just starting into this fantasy of miniatures and dice. Where you can die and still come back to fight another day.

1) Support your local hobby shop. The place that offers the space and materials to play the games deserves your business. Don't be the type of person who will buy that figure or book somewhere else just because you can get it a few cents cheaper. Buy where you game.
2) Hang out. The more times you stop in that shop, the more familiar you become. The owners usually have been gaming or painting for years and can give you lots of tips.
3) Ask questions. Experience counts. Some of the people you'll meet even know the color of the underwear worn by the 20th Maine at Gettysburg. Actually, that's not so tough. I found the answer looking up some uniform info. It amazes me to hear a discussion over whether a certain vehicle was in use in 1943 or early 1944.
4) Try as many different games as you can. This way you'll find out what you like and be able to concentrate on that particular period. I found out that I don't care for the WWII squad type games. I can never get across the first road, but I do like WWII air force games.
5) Learn the game. After the first few times you play a particular game, you should really start learning it. By knowing what you're doing the game is speeded up. Don't just watch. Get in a beginners game if possible.
6) Paint some figures. This does a couple of things. First of all it forces you to do some reading and research which increases your interest in a time period. Secondly, it gives you a better feel for the value of all those figures the gamemaster brings from home. This will cause you to be a little more careful when handling someone else's handy work. Don't worry about the quality at first. Please yourself and remember, these figures aren't going to be examined up close, but will be several feet away defending that bridge.

I hope these few thoughts will be of help to some other "beginner" who would like to get more out of this hobby. See you at the table. I'll be the old guy defending that bridge to the last man.