One of the great pleasures of being the Editor-come-Photographer for Wargames Illustrated is the opportunity to go ‘on location’ and photograph readers' figure collections. Not only do I get to see the ‘toys out on the table’ I also get to see the behind-the-scenes conditions in which gamers store their figures and terrain. Sea Peoples and Hittities on the tabletop. When you’ve been gaming for years, storage becomes a big consideration, and with that comes the additional consideration of accessibility - it’s all very well having 30,000+ figures, but if you can’t get to them, what’s the point? Yesterday I visited Nick Gilmore, a historical wargamer for over 20 years. He had one of the neatest collections of figures I have seen. Individually, Nick’s figures all form a part of one of his 40+ complete 28mm armies - no odds and sods here - and he operates a 'conveyer belt' system - if he wants to start a new collection/army, then one of his existing armies needs to leave the building. This certainly helps confine his miniatures to one room. His ‘box file only’ storage system - with colour coding and big, neat labels - also helps with accessibility. A glass cabinet display for the pride of the collection. Nick’s ‘stock’ list of ancient armies. Like many gamers, Nick has also switched from terrain tiles to battle mats. He confesses to having over 50 2’x2’ sculptured tiles filling his garage at one time; now he has half a dozen stored under his wargames table “for nostalgia purposes” plus one green and one ‘desert’ mat, with which he covers his table when gaming. I have visited several neat little gaming setups like Nick’s before - regular contributor David Bickley operates a similar system - and I have also been ‘on location’ to photograph where most of the time is spent searching for figures or manhandling terrain boards. As we all know, there is room for all sorts in our hobby, and there is always pleasure in seeing how different gamers manage the logistics of their obsession. New Kingdom Egyptians. 100+ box files all neatly squirreled away. Colour-coded box file storage. You'll be able to see Nick Gilmore’s ‘toys on the table’ in our An abundance of Ancients article in Wi439.
