What got me into SBG?
Short:
A love for all things Tolkien and the bargain introductory cost (24 minis for just 14.95€, the full
metal Fellowship for just 34.95€, back in '02) - incidentally the same reasons for refusing to buy any of the new(er) stuff, the majority of which neither fits my own imagination of Tolkien's world aesthetically nor my notion of adequate pricing. 30€ for two and a half (!) hideous low-quality hobbit-sized minis? Riiiight... *pukes*
Long (wall of text incoming, ye be warned):
I first heard of Tolkien when I was in 5th grade in the mid-90s but didn't get to read LotR until 2000 when I stayed in the US for a year. I got it from the High School library two months after getting there. English not being my mother tongue, I just couldn't cope with its complexity and gave up before Bilbo even got to give his speech.
Well, ten months and a lot of conversational experience later, I gave it another try and read the entire thing from cover to cover in four days. And then I started over. Then read the Hobbit. Then the Silmarillion. Then the Hobbit again. And since then I've read LotR and the Silmarillion at least once a year - it just never gets old!
Well, as you all know, about the time I started really getting into the matter, the first movie came along, and I LOVED it. Plot changes were tolerable and since Bombadil always struck me as odd, I didn't mind his exclusion all that much.
Got both the regular and extended DVD on their respective release day.
Then, about a month or two before TTT hit the screens, I was shopping when I, by sheer concidence, noticed a large SBG poster pointing toward the local GW store. I knew about tabletops alright, but had never been into them before, but I decided to take a look. Long story short, I walked out that day with a pre-order of the TT starter box, a WD and the Fellowship and some hobby supplies.
Value for money was
stunning: loads of great minis, a full rule book with all the trimmings and even a limited Grima (which did turn out to get a regular release a few months later, but whatever... ^^) thrown in for good measure. Again, by sheer coincidence, I stumbled over BGiME and that was pure gold also. It all went from there really.
Unfortunately, things took a notable downturn later on: I actually despised the TT film for its stupid plot shenanigans (Elves at Helm's Deep, Éomer gets shafted, Faramir's a pr*ck, etc.) and was disappointed with RotK (ridiculous AotD cop-out at the Pelennor, 'Sauron the lighthouse', no Scouring, etc.), and while GW couldn't be blamed for that, it did have a notable negative impact on my motivation, having to face players who had no qualms about fielding forces that would make Tolkien spin in his grave!
Things were ok, though. Until the reboxing that is. That pretty much killed all business GW might have had from me dead then and there. One huge incentive to keep collecting, the great value for money, already diminished over the years by steep price hikes, was just gone. Now, with the Hobbit and its ludicrous introductory cost, the number of new players in my area has reached ZERO, which means I play a lot less than I used to: it gets old playing the same old, same old, again and again. It really makes me sad. Ah well, enough rambling.
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