I don't think I read the instructions either. So I started wargaming in Scotland about 1976, up till then it was all 'pew pew' with Airfix figures and tanks, then discovered Charles Grant's 'Battle' Practical Wargaming' in the local library, and we were off.
In the early days, homebrew Napoleonic rules with 25mm Minifig Austrians, WW1 dreadnoughts, and WRG 3rd Edition ancients. Various moves, a flirtation with RPG later, other stuff intervened, then I moved to Australia, where I ended up with a massive collection of 15mm Ancients/Medievals for DBM/DBMM and a whole range of other stuff like AK47, Future War Commander, Cold War Commander, Aeronef, Modern naval, Pre-Dreadnoughts, 20mm WW2 and so on.
I moved back to Scotland, (Dundee), in 2016, to be closer to ageing parents, started playing at the Kirrriemuir club, where I get to play against Charles Grant Jnr. on occasion, and so the circle is complete. I still get out to play DBMM perhaps annually, but the bulk of my gaming these days is either Sharp Practice 2 for AWI (and I have figs for Napoleonics and the '45), or Chain of Command, where I seem to be continually adding new platoons, support options, buildings and other terrain options.