My parents got divorced when I was around 9/10 years old and we went from being a pretty aspiring middle class army family to borderline poverty practically overnight due to my dad taking the divorce badly and refusing to pay maintenance for a couple of years.

My mum, who up to this point had filled the roles of officer's wife at army functions, great housewife in the home and having a little Saturday job in a cut crystal shop, suddenly was working every hour possible as a telephone operator to help make ends meet.

With bills and having to pay the full mortgage, money was scarce and birthdays/Christmas' were saved for, pound by pound over the months so my brother and I could have one nice present each. I'm pretty sure I had a hand-me-down NES from one of the neighbours who had gotten a Megadrive for Xmas, so one year I got Megaman 2. Was pretty awesome.

By the next year I had fallen in with some local role/board game playing geeks at the local board game shop which was stocked high with Warhammer and Shadowrun. I hung out at this shop a lot, became really good friends with the staff and sometimes my mum would have to come and drag me out of the shop after school and at the weekends.

I think my mum had gone into the shop one time after work when I wasn't there and asking for their advice, one of the guys sold her the original Space Hulk (discounted because the box was a bit crushed).

It was an amazing Christmas present, I loved it to pieces - I played it every week with my friends and it kept us entertained for months (along side Bloodbowl which another friend of mine had).

So, I had forgotten most of this until one day last week I'm sitting at work and my colleague drops a package on my desk. When I ripped open the brown packet and saw the title across the box cover I think I mumbled something like 'But.. but, how does he know? How does he know that?' while my eyes swelled up with water..

heh, sounds really embarrassing now but the memories of my mum's grace and the good times with friends in the summer just came flooding back.

I've been away in Istanbul on holiday so haven't be able to give this version a go (it's a new card based version) - but I've invited my friends over for a bash next week. Oddly, my two best friends I have now in my 30s are the same two guys I played this with at 11.

Mashulace, well played son. Well played. You brought a grown man thiiiiiis close to blubbering like a baby in front of a social services office in central London.

Thank you.