The overarching goal

I want to have a clear goal in mind as I put together my various miniature projects. This makes it more likely that I will complete these projects and gives me a yardstick by which I can judge when and how to start new projects or improve older ones. I don’t want to turn into one of those wargamers who has tons of unpainted minis and half-finished terrain and thousands of rulebooks for games they’ve never played sitting around. On that last score, I’m especially guilty. I tend to collect rulebooks for games I’m pretty sure I’ll never play. So it’s important to have a goal that keeps me going and keeps me getting actual playtime out of the things I’m doing.

There may be several sub-gaols, but I’d like to have a “big picture” goal, a “mission statement” if you will. For me, I think the big picture goal will be the following:

I will produce “in the box” miniature gaming projects. The figures, rules, terrain, and all other play aids that I need to play a game with other people will all fit completely inside a standard 18 gal. plastic bin.

That seems like a pretty big box, but the terrain requirements mean that there’s a bit less space than you might imagine. In my head, I figure that this means no more that 100 figures (total for all sides in the game). This keeps the painting and prep work to a minimum and it means I can just pull a box any time I feel like it and go to a gaming event with something ready to put out on the table right away. By being able to field both sides of a fight, people can just drop in and play with me (but it also encourages them to paint up a few items of their own to if they get interested in playing regular games with me). These restrictions also allow me to indulge a variety of gaming genres.

So, gaming in a bin, that’s the goal. Let’s see how well I can stick to it.