Reduction in Force

So, moving.

Haven't done it in thirteen years. Have never done it without my dad's help; though he offered, he's in his 80s and I need to learn to do it myself anyway.

As a librarian, I have learned to weed. Wrenchingly, this often means tossing good or classic books that are in great condition, because of the irony that their great condition indicates that no one is reading them. To be fair, if I haven't played a game, I probably won't miss it when it's gone.

On the other hand, I have a library chess group and storage space to hide the board games in and occasionally bring them out, and I have a gaming clubhouse to store some of the miniature stuff in. That's all just an excuse not to throw it out, though.

I have a bunch of old White Dwarves (issues 200 and up). I've paid, perhaps unwisely, for the Warhammer+ site so have access to online issues back to #286, so there's an easy start.

A few books I've always meant to read (or reread) but not gotten to, I read and then toss. Currently working on True History of the Kelly Gang.

I've been cutting out the "mat" terrain pieces I picked up at Recon - roads and rivers done, trees still to go. (I'm undecided what shapes or sizes I want the trees in, though small seems preferable as they can be overlapped to make bigger footprints.) This frees up the large bag they were stored in for ... something else, dunno what yet.

I've taken most of my small board games to work and put them in a cupboard where I keep such things to break out during Chess Club for variation.

Speaking of which, I actually got a Portable Wargame going today. Some leftover AWI Paperboys faced off across a spare chessboard. I used 18th Century Horse and Musket rules, cut down a little by dropping formations (all units are assumed to be in line) and hit points (units, when hit, either retreat or are destroyed).

Each side got four infantry bases and one each light infantry, artillery and cavalry. The playtest went all right, the vaguely British side (foreground) losing three units to the Rebels' one before we halted. I only had one mildly confused player, though other kids expressed interest. The Perrys' Portable Wargame might be preferable since it's more obviously "board-gamey", and that's another two boxes I can move out of the apartment for a bit.

I have lots of small, loose things - mostly action figures, Star Trek ships and assorted plastic miniatures - that I'll need to figure out how to store. Probably either layers of bubble wrap or a bucketful of foam peanuts? The 8th edition 40K figures are particularly worrisome, as they're rare, heavily detailed and heroically posed (so lots of sticky-out bits to snap if I'm not careful). I still want to try playing with them, but if I can find a safe way to pack them I'll send them all to my brother for a painting project - he's eager to work on the Death Guard models. The unbuilt pre-8th edition 40K stuff (mostly tank kits) can maybe be traded to my FLGS.

GI Joes, on the other hand, can be tossed in a plastic box and reunited with their myriad accessories later.

Green Beret figure Lt. Falcon guards my paint markers.

I also have a small collection of Legos - some can be added to the library collection that we let the kids play with every fourth Thursday, but I want to keep my scale Saturn V model intact.

And there are (still and always) more books. Some of them very large and heavy enough that the boxes might not hold them...