I was born on the 11th November 1971 in Maldon, Essex, England. The first of three children, and the only boy.

 

My family (God Bless 'em) consists of:

My Father - Derek - excellent dad, excellent footballer and true role model for me

My Mother - Felicia - best mother out there bar none

My Sisters - Terri and Dawn - both obsessed with Horses, love 'em both loads

 

Early childhood is blank memories (not surprising really), although I have been told by my parents that I had a very vivid imagination and that I started my obsession with football by smashing all of my mothers hand-made cut-glass collection with a superb shot, beating my father in goal (in the living room). Great things ahead for this wee laddie in the football industry??? Well, actually not...... I did play in a number of amateur teams as a youngster and during my teens, played for the University team, but found that my other hobbies got in the way of dedicating myself to football totally.

 

 

Schooling was very impressive until I discovered alcohol, parties and gurlz. I managed to obtain 11 'O' levels (some taken a year early), and then progressed to study for my 'A' levels with a view to becoming an Officer in the Royal Air Force. But, yeah, ummmmm, the 'A' levels turned out to be a major learning period for me. I neglected my studies to partake of the three vices mentioned just now. I ended up passing one out of the three subjects I took.

 

This led to me starting University on a Higher National Diploma course instead of the Degree course that I felt I was due. Heavy work and studies during my first year at the University of Hertfordshire provided me with great results, leading to the University offering me a position in the second year of the Degree course - yay no time lost and I proved to myself that I should have gone there to begin with. Of course, I also had heavy social activities during the first and subsequent years there (football, martial arts, gaming, drinking, partying etc).

 

I ended up with an Honours Degree in Aerospace Engineering, but my wish to join the Royal Air Force had been corrupted by my time at University. I was enjoying civvie life too much, so I looked at a career in civvie industry instead, focusing on Engineering Management.

 

 

After graduation, I found a job at a Production company in Braintree, Essex as a Trainee Manager. After a year of management training, I was promoted to Assistant Manager, looking after the Assembly, Paint and Stores Departments. I was also the Safety Officer at the company. I was there for three years until I had to make a big decision about my future (see later...)

 

 

I met my wife, Linda, at University. She was a Malaysian studying Law, and I met her in our final year. We hit it off quickly and developed into a serious relationship. After her studies in the UK, she went back to Malaysia, and I had a serious decision to make....... do I want to follow her and 'pop-the-question' or not? I decided that this was too much of a good thing, so did all the usual stuff like visiting for a holiday, met the parents (god, how nerve-racking that was), asked permission from the father to propose to his daughter, and broke the news of my intentions to my parents.

 

I proposed to Linda at The Hard Rock Cafe in Kuala Lumpur..... and got married a year and a half later in Johor, Malaysia.

 

We now have two darling children, Liyana (2.5 yrs) and Alexander (7 months). Even with the added expenses, problems, time sharing etc... I love them more than anything.

 

 

I work as a Head of Section and Principal Lecturer in Engineering and Engineering Management at the German Malaysian Institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The management work keeps me busy and constantly challenges me, whilst the teaching provides me with stress-relief and fun whilst at work. I had never considered teaching as a career, but now I wouldn't change. I love it!

 

 

Well, my sister Terri now has a little boy (well not so little for his age really), Riley, a cute kid.

 

One of my wife's brothers has two kids, Farah and Faris. Again cute kids.

 

So the next generation of the Kirby Clan are here........ let's see what happens...

 

This is my main hobby. Starting when I was around 11 or 12 years old. I went into my local model / toy shop looking to buy an aircraft kit, when I spied some books on a higher shelf. Intrigued, I reached up and took one to have a look. It was the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook 1st Edition (yep, I'm old!!). It looked cool, with knights, dragons and monsters on the cover. I started looking through it, wow, heavy on the text, but I liked what I read. The idea of having games where the action takes place in your imagination....... whoo. I also spotted a white box up there. Taking it down I saw that it was also fantasy based, but a different type of game, this one involving metal miniatures. This was the Warhammer 1st Edition box.

 

It was at this point that the shopowner saw me perusing the books, and said quite calmly, "Those are too old for you son". Too old, too old......... a challenge..... I bought the Players Handbook there and then. I then convinced some of my school-friends at the time to give it a go, and the rest is history...

 

Since those early days, my gaming range has spread a great deal, with forays into most genres and types of games.

 

Currently my favourite gaming products are:

 

1. D&D 3.5 - excellent new format to the classic

2. Runequest - superb game system and world

3. Judge Dredd d20 - how can anyone not want to play a Judge? "I am the Law"

 

1. Dogs of War - modern skirmish

2. DBA - ancients game, simple to learn, hard to master, loadsa depth

3. Dark Age - sci-fi skirmish game, great rules and superb figures

 

1. Heresy Miniatures - great demonic figures, service is superb too

2. Rackham - excellent fantasy figures from France

3. Hasslefree Miniatures - Kev White has brought out some real nice sculpts and is even doing one with my face (the horror!)

 

My involvement with gaming has also improved over the last year or two. I have become an official RPGA Gamesmaster, a Black Ops Team Member for Devil Dog Design, an Outcast Team Member for Dark Age Games and our group (Broken Bayonets) is involved in playtesting games for manufacturers.

 

We normally game and spend our weekends at Wolf's Game Shop in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.