Breaking free from ennui

It feels as if I am gradually emerging from the feeling of ennui that has been dogging me of late ... and none too soon with COW (Wargame Developments's annual Conference of Wargamers) starting next Friday. Luckily I've done most of the preparation that I need to do, although I still need to write the individual briefings for each of the players taking part in my 'Carry On up the Nile!' game.

The short break Sue and I took in Bristol helped, as has the recent thinking that I have been doing regarding the organisation of my Napoleonic and World War II collections. However, the biggest thing that has helped to jolt me out of my state of ennui has been the work I have been doing to create A WINTER-ISH WAR and a second mini-campaign book entitled TROUBLE IN ZUBIA. The latter is almost finished, and re-reading what I originally wrote about these two mini-campaigns on my blog, and looking at the pictures of the battles that I fought, has reminded me that I can derive a lot of fun from my wargaming without having to do loads of preparation and using what I already have to hand.

I have underlined and emboldened the two statements in the previous paragraph because I have realised that it was thinking about preparing figures etc., for a wargame and looking for stuff to add to my existing collections that has been one of the causes for my ennui. (There are others, but they are more to do with having what appears to be a cold that has lasted for months and problems with my right hip and back due to scoliosis, old age, and arthritis that have reduced my mobility somewhat!)

I don't expect a sudden burst of feverish wargaming activity to replace my ennui, but once COW is over, I do hope to do some solo wargaming using my mini-campaign board, my Hexon II terrain, and figures from my existing collections.