Tips for Gamers / E.J.Lowe

When I first started gaming, maybe 8 or 9...no, it was 10 months ago,
one of the f irst problems I had to overcome was how to get round having
to put a game away at the beginning of, and set it up at the start of,
each sitting. This was a big problem with me at first, as I was a
beginner and I had to play solo and therefore I played very, very
slowly. At first I used to write down the position of every it and put
the game away. This, and setting the game up again next time, was very
time consuming, so when I thought of buying a 3ft x 2ft piece of 1/4"
plywood, I was very pleased with myself for then, at the end of each
sitting, I only had to carry is 3ft x 2ft piece of plywood, with my game
still set up on it, through two doors, 2ft 6ins wide and flight of
stairs, through another 2ft 6ins wide door, then climb upon a chair and
place it gently on top of the wardrobe. This was quite enjoyable,
especially when there were 3 high stacks of counters all over the map.

I didn't REALLY have to do this. I could have left the game on a coffee
table, hanging over the sides and simply told my three children (all of
whom are under 4), not to touch it for the next day or so, but I enjoy
doing things the hard way.

This method (which I shall hereafter call the Wardrobe Method or WM),
saved me at least half an hour a sitting and a couple of times provided
a surprise ending to the game halfway up the stairs. I carried on with
the WM quite happily, until one day I found a substance called Blue-Tac
in a D-l-Y Shop. Blue-Tac (BT for short), is a blue, rubbery, tacky
substance, with which you can lightly attach, small light objects to
walls etc. It said on the box that the same piece of BT can be used over
and over again but will eventually lose its tackyness. Anyway, I bought
some and tried it out on a counter. I put a small piece of BT in the
middle of the back of the counter and pressed it lightly on the map - it
stuck on. It was quite firmly held in place and no amount of shaking the
map would cause it to fall off. Then, gingerly, I removed the counter
from the map, expecting part of the map to come with it, but no, there
wasn't a mark on the map

I now have BT stuck on the back of all my counters (except double sided
ones) and my games with these counters never end halfway up the stairs.
BT is also useful for storing and sorting counters, mine are all
individually sorted. I cut a sheet of paper so that when it is folded in
two it will fit in one of the small Zip-Lock bags, then I rule this
paper off into squares and write the details of a counter round the
edges of a square (BT picks up ink), and stick each counter in its
appointed square. So if I ever lose a counter, I know exactly which one
it is at a glance. BT seemed like the answer to my prayers until the
boys at SPI, spitefully, made one-sided counters a thing of the past and
not only that, they bring out games like Highway to the Reich, which I
just had to buy.

So now as I can't play HWTR using the WM (just the thought of dropping
one mapboard full of counters down the stairs, halfway through the
campaign game, makes me go cold all over) and as I can't use the BTM
(Blue-Tac Method) because of double-sided counters, I am going to buy
some large sheets of cork, or something else that I can stick pins in,
and will make a hole in each counter and if I am careful will make only
one hole in each hex on the mapsheet. Then, while there are already
holes in thecounters, I will store them by threading them onto loops of
cotton.

This may sound drastic to some of you but we don't all have a spare room
where we can leave a game set up for days on end and anyway I am
determined not to have any more games ending suddenly halfway up the
stairs. Finally, if any of you are in the same boat as me, I want to
leave you with a pleasant thought. What will the folks at SPI think of
next, when they decide to make double sided counters out of date? I
dread to think!