My new wargaming room.

 Since the weather didn't allow me to do some work in the garden last weekend, I spent some time decorating the wargaming room. I started work on the room (paint, new floor, ...) during the Christmas break, and now the work is finally nearing completion.

I am lucky enough to have my own gaming room, along with a spot in the garage where I do most of my painting. It took some lobbying to the political powers to allow me to have my own gaming room, but once the paperwork was done, the SO was kind enough to advise me on choice of colours, choice of furniture etc. Thank you, Ann!

The idea was to create a nice room to host games, rather than turn it into a chaotic storage den. This particular room literally is the smallest one in the house (apart from the toilet, of course), so the possibilities were limited in what was achievable in terms of table size etc.

No doubt, the room will improve and receive some decorations during the next few months - e.g. I need some nice comfy chairs. Also, I didn't want to cram as large a table in the room as possible, without room left for standing around or finding a spot to put your glass filled with a single malt whisky (or an excellent Belgian beer, for that matter). So, I scaled my table down to roughly 120x180cm. After all, the games you play should be adapted to your table, not the other way around. Years of wargaming have learned me how to bend any ruleset so you can use it to play the games you can play, rather than keep on dreaming for the ideal games that will never materialize.

Without much further ado, here are some quick pictures I took this morning. Image quality is variable, since they were quickly shot using my iPad.

General view of the west wall. Three nice book cabinets hold most, but not all, of my military history books and wargaming materials. The table is not in "active mode" yet (a bare Kallistra terrain), but will probably be inaugurated with the first game in a few weeks.

South-west corner, displaying a lot of wargaming books. Featherstone, Morschauer, Grant, ... on the top shelf, Warhammer and the likes in the middle. Although the last version of Warhammer I actively played was 3rd edition, I kept buying the main rulebook to "keep the collection complete".

The south wall, with a large map showing the history of WW2 in the Pacific. The other drawing shows the siege of Bouillon castle, and was made as  an educational aid for history lessons in primary schools. 

The north-east corner. The smaller cabinet holds roleplaying books. The diamond shape is a display of the coat-of-arms of my mother's family. Above the door is a drawing of a classic hunting scene - inherited from my grandfather. A few more frames will go up on the left wall.

Another view of the west wall. The centre cabinet displays my collection of toy soldiers and some awards we won over the years for our convention games. Note the collecton of empty whisky and bourbon bottles ;-)

Cabinet with toy soldiers and awards. Also visible: my officer's cap from my regiment (over 20 years ago, I was an officer conscript), along with my engraved drinking jug from the Officer's Mess (1st Grenadiers, armoured infantry, the oldest regiment in the Belgian Army, and now part of the joined Carabiniers-Grenadiers battalion). The middle shelf is still empty, but I will put my treasured copies of HG Wells' Little Wars and Floor Wars there.

Selection of military history books, with a lot of Ospreys. Another part of my collection of books is kept in the large library / living room.

Last picture showing the storage drawers underneath the table containing all the figures.

There is still some work to do: the door and the window needs repainting, and I am still looking for a history-themed door poster.

Some newer pictures in "My new wargaming room (part 2)" and "My new wargaming room (part 3)".