All the people in here who were lucky enough to live near hobby shops that actually carried miniatures. I remember when the Dungeon! board game first had the plastic pieces and thinking they were cool enough to use for Dungeons & Dragons... and then seeing Ral Partha metal miniatures for the first time on a family trip to Boston... and then finding out that those Dungeon! playing pieces were actually based on Ral Partha miniatures. My mind was completely blown, and I spent too much money buying up a bunch of metal.
I never actually saw battle maps, though. The first time I saw battle maps or even 1-inch grid paper was well after college, circa early aughts. Again, never living near a gaming and hobby store while growing up sucked. LOL