I, Jeff Funkhouser (jefwfunk1), first saw Towergames and the Line of Muskets game about two years ago (2004). A friend recommended it. I think I played a couple of tutorial games and invested in 50 towers, but I never played a human because the Hotseat option wasn't available, yet. Then, in August, a friend and long-time gamer from WAY back (25 years now), Mike McCalpin (mmccalpi to y'all in the know), redirected me to the site and I started playing almost immediately. The HotSeat option allowed multiple opponents in multiple scenarios!

I was hooked! I played Movies frequently in those early days and he'd try his scenario 'twists' on me while I learned the ropes. Just surviving a battle with him got me 3 or 4 rank pts even if I didn't win since I was a rank 1 or 2 and he was a vaunted 5.

I began to get bolder in my style of play as I earned my advancement bars making ranks 3 and then 4 around the end of November. One secret to advancement is I've always maintained 4-6 games at a time. I peaked at 11 games right after Atlanta was unveiled. That was a crazy time.

The thing that keeps me coming back to the game is that I get to play with and against real humans. That's what makes it interesting to me. I've played Antietam, Gettysburg, and Bull Run more than fifteen times each and every scenario is different! Playing a newbie is almost as fun as playing someone who's a rank 4 or 5. You never know what they are going to do, and your job is to respond appropriately. I look forward to continuing that for some time to come! I'm very excited to hear some preliminary details about Towergames' new WWII game. That will be equally fun, I'm sure!

-jeff. 16th April, 2006