I sometimes think that with responsibilities bearing down, games are an escape. And as I make a last mad dash to the weekend, it seems as if life has become one long mission of avoiding responsibility.

But the reality is that wargames are for when you can afford the cost, cost in time, cost in energy, and whatever costs accrue for devotion to a game for a few hours. I find that when responsibility looms, when stress bears down, I head towards the mindless simplicity of a computer game or an old movie, something I can participate in without needing to do much of anything. I can play computer solitaire till the sun rises. It gives me the illusion of doing work.

But wargames are for happy times. They are never remotely like work. Which comes around again in the simplest way to the purpose of writing, to focus on wargames and to focus on miniatures, to turn away from the TV or pacing the floor or staring fixedly at the wall and pay attention to something worthwhile.

I have so far learned that photography lights would have been a very good thing, that I have more stuff packed away in boxes, and that I love my wife for her special tolerance. So things are off to a good start.