There's lost treasure in the loft

14 August 2017

I went into my loft today to rescue some cases to use for the family holiday to Majorca. And to my horror my books, games and collections were all over the place. I blame “teenager interference”.

The problem is that while most of my recent spare time has been consumed by my rediscovery of wargaming, you lot keep having good ideas about Collection Calculator which means long and detailed specifications for the next phase.  And this has led to a deep neglect of some of my treasured possessions.

My winter will be spent (after decorating my son’s room) in a massive sort-out and reordering of the loft.

Here are some, but not all, of the photos I took today. I will post more when I get around to tidying and sorting my collections.

This is what’s left of my “quick access” shelves. These are the books and figures that I might need fast by just popping up the ladder and selecting research materials, rules, boxes of figures and/or games for use. Why there is a creative knitting folder, a Coronation Street annual and a Marks and Spencer history in there I will never know. I will now have to talk to my other half about it without giving too much away. 

The same disorder has visited my back wall shelving area where I stored more specialist wargame rules, figures waiting for painting and notepads full of ideas that never quite came to fruition. This area will definitely need a good sort-out as things have begun to appear in there that are not appropriate - specifically the dried flowers, movie cases and old 3.5 inch computer disks (I dread to think what’s on those).

The lower part of the shelf seems to be, on the surface, relatively unscathed. However, it still needs to be sorted and catalogued onto the Wargamer Collection Calculator. My family has scant regard for my Wargaming history and my insurance would never pay up on this lot as I am a little vague on exactly what I have. It turns out the Quality Street tin is full of my old Reaper Fantasy Wargame Rules figures with a few medieval figures for good measure. And, of course, you can clearly see the Harpoon, Flintloque and Squad Leader board games. 

This is another set of a shelves that contains Games, Books and Rules. The lower shelves have boxes and boxes full of old figures on them. I am ashamed to say that many years in the loft has meant a serious neglect of what has been stored on top of them. 

I so need to sort this out as it my hobby history all in one loft. I started collecting in 1976 and it is now 2017 - 42 years later. I know I have lost some it in various moves while friends were given some figures and some I have inherited, but I have religiously kept hold of the rules and books. It is a library of how a Wargamer works.
Collecting rules and books was a major part of my time out of the hobby, I bought them to keep my interest up in Wargaming. I haven’t even taken photos of the shelves in the loft containing my magazines and serious books or the five Bags for Life stuffed with Wargaming rules, as well as even more books and reference material.

I will need to atone for my sin of consigning my collections to the loft and leaving them to the mercy of teenagers and family. I guess the problem is that the family just see all this as “Dad’s stuff” – and don’t get the excitement of unearthing rediscovered treasure. . .