A Tabletop Pirate Looks at 40

It's been over five years since this grognard threw together a miniature wargame.  In that time I've sold off the bulk of a once formidable collection, failed at more than one business enterprise, moved across six time zones, and carefully prepared three children for life with a wargamer.  As my 40th year approaches, I find that sweet siren song of the tabletop calling once again.

My hands itch to roll some dice.

They also itch to hold a paintbrush and glue some fingers together.  That, after all - preparing to game - is the bulk of the hobby.  In past year's the ratio of solitary time assembling a game to social time playing a game tended to exceed 20:1, and anticipate this go around will be no different.

As is so often the case, you need three things for this hobby: time, space, and money.  To be frank, I have none of the three.  But I do have years of experience and a blank slate upon which to draw.  Hopefully this time around I can plan things out with more care, and not wind up with closets full of half completed and never played wargames.

To that end, here are the ironclad ground rules for the endeavor:

1. I cannot begin to build the tiny warriors nor the terrain over which they will fight until I have finished my current game.  What's more, I have to play at least one full game of a project before I start on a new one.
2. Every game must be self-contained.  That is to say, everything needed to play must fit into a single box.  (Hence the title of this blog.)

That's it for now, but I'm sure other rules will crop up as I am tempted by the well stocked shelves of the local hobby stores.

This blog is part braggadocio - works and works-in-progress will feature heavily - and part public confessional.  It's just another way of keeping myself honest and sticking to the 2 Ironclad Rules.

Thanks for reading along.