I have spent part of the weekend reorganising my toy/wargames room so that I have somewhere to put the jewellery cabinet my wife 'donated' to me. It gave me the opportunity to begin having a bit of a sort out, and long-term it should make access to some of my figure collections easier than it has been. In the interim, however, things are a bit of a mess, and when the sort out is complete, it will take time to get used to where everything now is.
Having a sort out has also meant that I have identified parts of my various collections that I am not likely to use again, and they have been earmarked for disposal. It has also resulted in me 'finding' things that I had forgotten that I owned (including a box of Zvezda models that I bought when I visited the Artillery Museum in St Petersburg!) ... and which I will have little difficulty in finding a use for.
Having a sort out has also meant that I have identified parts of my various collections that I am not likely to use again, and they have been earmarked for disposal. It has also resulted in me 'finding' things that I had forgotten that I owned (including a box of Zvezda models that I bought when I visited the Artillery Museum in St Petersburg!) ... and which I will have little difficulty in finding a use for.
It's amazing what you find hidden away - I have found stuff that seemed so important at the time of purchase and yet is still in the box months or years later.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteI suspect that this is true of many wargamers ... but it won't stop us doing it, will it?
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteAs a possible repository for donations, I want to tell you what a bunch of us have been doing for awhile now. A club I joined has been giving away 6 (or more) complete wargame sets at a big summer convention every year. The recipients must be youngsters--the idea is to "welcome them to the hobby", and thus get them enthusiastic about it (and thus hopefully reverse the "graying of the hobby" we all lament).
We generally build the game sets by means of donations, and the results have been most gratifying. The kids get 2 complete painted---by us, usually--armies, rules, dice, and terrain, the last built by me (he said modestly). Had someone done this for me when I was 10 or 12, I would probably have exploded. As it was, I endured scorn from my parents and almost everyone else I knew for years, but stuck with it. Not all kids do, I'm afraid.
I mention this in case anyone on your side of the pond has considered whether this is something worth doing. It has been a source of tremendous satisfaction for all of us, not to mention a great way to dispose of perfectly good wargaming material for a good cause.
Best regards as always,
Chris Johnson
Chris Johnson,
DeleteThat is an excellent idea!
As far as I know, no one in the UK does anything similar ... although I would love to be proved wrong. It would have to be a club effort due to the scale of the undertaking, but I am sure that amongst the larger clubs that do exist in the UK, it would be possible.
One thing that I have seen is model tank building at a wargame show in Kent (BROADSIDE, which is organised by a club that an old friend and ex-pupil of mine helps to run). ARMOURFAST set up a table near their stand, and youngsters can build one of their model tanks, which they can then keep. They also get a free set of rules to go with their model. It has been a very successful, and I hope that they will continue to do it.
All the best,
Bob