Ty Bomba

In the mid-1960s, while Ty Bomba was in elementary school in Pennsylvania, his grandmother gave him a copy of a Parker Brothers American Civil War wargame titled 1863; due to that game, he later stated, "I discovered how much fun this hobby is, and was hooked.

Bomba later admitted, "I designed it not realizing that given the psychology of most wargamers in the market, a game which cannot be played solitaire wouldn't be well received.

Bomba also spent many hours talking with fellow employees Larry Hoffman and Chris Perello about the state of the wargaming industry.

In 1989, Bomba, Hoffman, and Perello left 3W to found their own game company, XTR, in order to publish the wargaming magazine Command.

Reviews of the first issue and the pull-out game designed by Bomba, Blitzkrieg '41, were laudatory, with critic Charles Vasey predicting "a healthy future for this new venture.