First post as I enter my new retired 'fulltime' gamer career

So, the first full day of my retirement draws to a close and it feels good!

As we are still in the holiday mode, the amount of time available today to devote to my 'career' was very limited. I was able to spend a couple of hours working on my 15mm Sci-fi figures, doing an inventory and assembling 20 or so speeder bikes, and a couple of scout grav tanks, but really no major progress.

The inventory was the big thing, something that I am trying to do for all the genres that I have figures for. The main reason for the inventories is twofold:

1. First off, there is my overall determination to reduce my expenditures and to concentrate on completing existing projects, and most importantly playing a variety of games as often as possible.
2. Secondly, there is the simple more practical aspect, and that is the fact that with my new retirement status, there is also a reduction in disposable income. 

So each should feed the other, hopefully.

The idea of cutting back on adding to the great pile of unfinished models, and projects has a real appeal. Hopefully I will be adding posts showing finished projects. Still, I sense that trying to wean myself off the spending habit will be very hard. Even now there are two last orders to be made that were to have been made before the new year, but were delayed. Once done I plan to impose a moratorium on new purchases.

The plus side is that I am rarely tempted by new games. Yes the hype will impact on me, and yes they can be tempting, but by cleverly dragging my heels, I have, in the past, managed to elude the temptation. Gangs of Rome, and any number of recent Warlord games spring to mind as examples of games that I have resisted. The genres that I have, and the scales that I play are pretty much all that I really need.

One weakness that I do have, is that I do like to buy and read new rules (playing is another matter) However, even this habit will be resisted. To help in this matter I have deleted some gaming news feeds, to try and reduce the temptation.   

Now to be realistic, this is not a lifetime ban on purchases, that would be impossible, but a major reduction in spending and acquiring new stuff can only be considered a good thing. In addition to the reduction of new purchases, I am looking at reusing and re-purposing existing stuff. Case in point are some American Vietnam M113 carriers that will hopefully see a new life as Sci-fi low tech troop transports.

More on that later...