Having just finished a long-running educational commitment, I had been looking forward to resuming gaming with gusto at the beginning of September, getting the next battle of my Gallic War campaign fought and bringing some of my new toys to the table. Life has not worked out like that! The demands of my growing family for space have meant that I am again without a viable gaming space currently, until I can swap things around sufficiently to make one. I may end up back in the garage, although it is pretty much a storeroom currently and does get pretty chilly in winter. I can start playing on the kitchen table, although that never really works as well as it might: my house is just too busy a place and crucially there is nowhere to store my toys close to it. Storage space generally is becoming tight, even for my primarily 6mm-focused collection. So what to do?
One possibility would be to concentrate on a few low model-count and low terrain-count games. Another would be to concentrate on playing boardgames more and leaving miniatures games for my rare face-to-face encounters. Both these courses of action might imply big changes to my gaming plans and although I do like smaller games and boardgames, I do like to play the bigger actions in a wide variety of periods too. But my home gaming seems to be hitting some kind of physical limits at the moment, and I am not quite sure how to overcome them. Wish me luck!
A man without a gaming space is a tough situation. For many board games, playing by VASSAL may be an option. I wish you luck in your pursuit.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Jonathan, I hope to be able to cobble together some kind of workable solution soon.
DeleteConvert the end of the garage into an office space (with insulation), alternatively, shed or loft space?
ReplyDeleteI think in the slightly longer term that this will be the solution, although it will require us as a family to not need it as a storeroom quite so much.
DeleteFor a while, I moved all of my gaming onto a large pinboard (which also takes an 8 x 6 hex grid with 4” hexes. The advantage was that mid game, I could lift it up of the dining table and rest it on the bed or an ironing board etc, so that the board could move around and avoid ..... the chaos!
ReplyDeleteThe large pinboard idea is a very good one - I will give this some thought.
DeleteA tricky situation and one that has no easy answer. I might suggest a 2' x 2' table that is easy to store anywhere in the house. Then maybe scenarios such as those in One Hour Wargames that require around 8 units a side might help as well. Aside from a low figure/base count, the terrain is minimal too. Whatever you go for I wish you luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve J - those are good suggestions and I imagine they will form (part of) the solution
DeleteOne of the reasons I play DBA was to get around this exact problem. The small unit count and table size made it portable but still allowed a 'real' figure game to played. The relatively quick playing time helped as well. I have been lucky in that since we moved to our current house two and a half years ago I have been able to commandeer the small bedroom as an office come hobby space although there isn't room for a gaming table. That's why I settled on the modular table top solution. It packs down into four 2 x 4 foot sections and the folding banquet table is slightly smaller when closed up. That all goes into a space in the garage about 2 feet wide when not in use. When i want a game I put it up in the (small) conservatory we have at the back of the house. I am getting on in years so no young children to worry about just the visits from Grandkids which I can plan around. Even then I'm not able to get as many games in as I should like.
ReplyDeleteIt does get better and their are solutions it is just a question of finding something which works for you. All the best - Elenderil.
Thanks very much Elenderil, that sounds hopeful.
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