Clutter and more Clutter

Packing up your home is always stressful,but packing up a wargames room beats that hands down.
 Although there was a delay [expected] in exchanging contracts,I am moving in late October.However dismantling my room is very daunting,where did all this stuff come from. I seem to have hoarded various pieces of polystyrene,cardboard,old paint,sand and scatter flock ad infinitum.
 I am not certain when I decided that BLUE flock was necessary,but I have found a bag of it,why I have it is anyones guess.I have moved 80+ terrain boards to my temporart home,but still have another 20 to shift.Remarkably they seem in very good condition,barring the odd chip.Having seen them it makes me doubly keen to build a new room and finally see all my wargaming ideas come to fruition.
 I have just purchased a decent number of Dixon SYW prussians from E bay at a very decent price. They are nice figures,and will do perfectly for a minor German contingent. My metal mountain has however grown to Ben Nevis proportions and as soon as I settle down again I must crack on with the backlog. I have also got hold of a couple of the new Jackdaw French dragoons, so another unit will have to be bought just in case there is a meteorite that hits Old Glory HQ and wipes out there production.

 The one thing that has kept me going is my drawing of my hopefully final wargames room,so when things get stressful as they will and do, I can whip out the sketch and get on with it. 

Moving Home.

As I have stated previously I have sold my home pending the completion of all legal matters,which has proved a problem in the past. I have had a couple of sleepless nights already realising the enormity of what my wife and I intend,ie. move home,find rented accomadation and then build a new home whilst pending retirement. No pressure there then.
 One of my worries is how do I pack and move ALL my terrain boards,all 70+. These boards have been built over the last 15 years and are all 2'x2' mdf. They are bulky and they are heavy. It also came as a shock just how much stuff you gather over the years when war gaming and collecting in general,and that's without what I have stored in a friends home,which is my war game magazine collection. I think like most war gamers I suffer from a hoarding illness,and hate throwing away anything, just in case........Heavens knows what the 'in case' actually is.
   In the past I have been quite ruthless about metal mountains,however I have been hoarding lots of RSM Hanoverian figures,just in case they stopped making them. I have also come across about 30 jars of paint,all in primary colours,just in case they stop making red,white and blue acrylic paint in the near future. Where does it end... Whilst contemplating the huge task of packing these things up, you start to think of the problems of next of kin,should I slip this mortal coil before I complete all my projects. Who would get rid of my stuff? Do they realise their true value? Who would actually care?
All answers on a postcard. Anyone got any cardboard boxes? 

My wife has always said war gamers were a strange breed,and I think she was maybe right.
[ She actually used much stronger words!]

Finished SYW Rules. A NOSTALGIC WHIM.

I have finally finished  typing the ammendments to the SYW rules that we [3] use. I must say John did a good job of  taking my basic vision[thats a very pretentious word!] and creating a set of rules that I feel reflect the period while capturing hopefully the essence of Old School Wargaming. A tall order I suppose but they do work well,provided they are played in the manner required,ie. as a wargame, not a competition one. The problem that I now have is getting them printed as I added coloured photographs to spice up the dialogue,I also expanded the play sheets.So if anyone has got any suggestions as to how to get them printed cheaply then I would appreciate it a great deal. I tried Kreigskunst,Blackpowder and Minden Rose prior to John drafting these rules together,and although I am biased,these did work the best,but its all a matter of opinion as I do like the way Blackpowder work in other periods.
I have copied the title page and introduction just to give people a flavour of what they are about.

                         THE INDEPENDENT WARGAMES GROUP
                                              'A NOSTALGIC WHIM'
Being a simple set of fun rules for players of Old School War gaming for the period of the Seven Years War.
[ Based on the ideas of Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone, Brig. Peter Young and Stuart Asquith et al. ]


       [1] Introduction;

These rules were born out of a nostalgic whim.......

The intention was to create a set of war games rules that would be fun to play, simple to understand and based on the principles of the founders of modern war gaming.

The rules are simple to learn, but should not be discounted as merely chaff. They require each player to use the tactics of the historical period, that is the Seven Years War, latterly described as the first world war.

This period was chosen as it was littered with historical personalities, colourful uniforms, blaggards and néer do wells.

My old war games opponent, John Reidy has crafted together ideas taken from all the giants of modern war gaming to create a set of rules that are intended for FUN, a word sometimes forgotten in war gaming nowadays.

I therefore ask all players to use these rules, suspend belief and enjoy the experience of large war gaming units and handfuls of dice.