About 11 years ago when I was living in Thailand of all places I met my wife, Sarah. She was Maltese American and the reason why I eventually ended up living in the United States. After a decade of living in the USA (in San Diego, Maryland and Virginia) a lot had happened. I’d rediscovered miniature wargaming after a 15+ year break, purchased and renovated a house, and helped build and sell a startup.
My mother passed away when I was last in New Zealand, and being closer to family had started to feel much, much more important, and being married to a Maltese citizen for 10 years, I was able to apply for citizenship as well as free movement in the EU. So while visiting Sarah’s father in Malta for a music festival in 2022, we borrowed the Toyota Hilux and secretly explored the neighboring island of Gozo. We’d toyed with the idea of moving back to Malta, perhaps Mellieha, St Pauls Bay or Armier where Sarah had spent her childhood, but felt that it was far too busy – driving around Gozo however, things just seemed right.
By late 2023 we’d made the decision that we wanted to relocate, so entrusted one of Sarah’s childhood friends to help us with the house hunt. We decided we wanted a piece of history, such as a farmhouse of a “house of character” in a quiet village in what’s known as an urban conservation area – something that hopefully will protect against the rampant construction and development that is plaging Malta as well as having some pretty strong tax benefits.
We eventually settled on a farmhouse that was in the westernmost village of Gharb (which funnily enough means “west” in Arabic, which a large amount of the Maltese language is derived from). It ticked all the boxes, and had a few stunning surprises that weren’t mentioned on the real estate listing in much detail – a WWII era air raid shelter converted into a wine cellar and a “study”. The study was what ultimately made us choose the house and will be the new home of Manor Gaming.
Of course calling it a study doesn’t really do it justice, it’s a 2 story room where the second story was the former owners (who renovated the 350 year old farmhouse in the early 2000s) personal library. This of course will now be the home to all manner of historical books, rule books and source books for miniature wargaming here in Gozo.
We’ve started meeting other gamers on the island, and while the gaming community isn’t as extensive as those on the main island of Malta (Gozo seems to be more expats when it comes to gaming, while Malta has a massive competitive 40k, Blood Bowl and Kill Team scene) I think it has a lot of potential to grow. So I’ve started a facebook group for Gozo Miniature Wargamers in the hope of attracting more folks to game, whether it be Sci Fi, Fantasy or Historical.
In the mean time, I’m waiting for our shipping container to arrive from the United States so we can unpack and get to gaming on a regular basis here on the island.
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