TRYING TO PUT 20 POUNDS OF STUFF IN A 10 POUND BAG

 It Looks More Orderly Than It Is: There is More Stuff Than Shelf Space (and You Can't See What's Left, Right, and Behind the Camera): Sorting and Culling Is In Order.

Ever since sometime in late August, things have been something of a blur--a combination of high tempo at work, a series of disruptive unplanned trips half way across the country to deal with family issues, and gaming projects that I didn't "recover" from before moving on, have all taken their toll on my "man cave." The spiral into entropy began with putting together the Ramillies 1815 game, for which my room was both the workshop and staging area.  And then, once it was over, I brought the stuff home and just dumped it in the room, an explosion of 28mm Napoleonics,  terrain, reference sheets, game bits, etc.  I walked away and left it "for later" to sort and stow. The time and energy for that, though, didn't come. Meanwhile, I tinkered with one or two more games (abortive), which left more stuff sitting out.  Of course I acquired new toys, a few more books, and did a few more painting projects, all things that would need new homes to be found, but which instead just got put in the room--sitting out mixed in with the exploded old stuff.  And that has been the state of things for the last few months.  I was operating right at the capacity of the room before.  I'm past that now:  the long-anticipated clear out is a matter of necessity. 

 Napoleonics In The Attic

I've taken the first big step, which was to take my 15mm Napoleonics out of the room and up into the attic--from there, I suspect that they may continue on their way out of my collection, but that's for later. For now, this step has opened up shelf space that will allow me to get some traction on the project (these used to occupy the open shelf space in the right hand corner of the opening picture).

 Perhaps when all is done, I'll be able to do better than lean my swords up in the corners.

I've been whacking away at this a bit at a time over the last few weeks. I intend to dedicate more and longer stretches of time to this project now (dare I call it "spring cleaning"?). I guess somewhere in the back of my head has also been the growing sense that I have reached that point where, as a gamer of a certain vintage, there is stuff that just needs to go. That is a long term thing that I'll no doubt start to engage with in this process (the 15mm Napoleonics being a start). In the short term, the urgency is upon me to to turn the room around so that I can start hosting games again (I'm overdue) and also so that I can start playtesting my Huzzah! game, coming up in May--now there's some more positive motivation!

Excelsior!