Suggestions for my new hobby.....

[Kebabman]

Ive recently given up wargaming due to deteriorating sight and problems with my hands,the only problem is im bored s***less,so any ideas......

[lentulus]

Aside from 54mm skirmish gaming?

What exactly are the hand issues? 

I used to game with a guy who was legally blind.  To actually look at a figure he had to use a magnifying glass and get within about an inch of it, but somehow he managed.

Have you considered forms of gaming that are less tactile?  Role-playing can be an almost entirely verbal exercise and it can be quite a sophisticated pursuit with the right group.

[Aart Brouwer]

Role-playing can be an almost entirely verbal exercise and it can be quite a sophisticated pursuit with the right group.

Lentulus, you are brilliant. I've been racking my brain to come up with alternatives for the gentleman, and this may just be it. You can role play in a dark room on the North Pole in the middle of the Arctic winter and it would still be a great experience. And save a lot of money and time, let alone paint smears on your best pants...

Cheers,
Aart

[17-21l]

Dearest Kebebman. Firstly I thought about Mast##ation! but then I thought about your eyes, and of course your hands.  Is it that you cant see a gaming board or that you cant paint anymore??

I confess that I think , after 24 years of painting, it has started to affect my sight - and 10mm? god bless it - maybe a lil too small for me now, but hey ho!

Give up the painting mate - use the armies youve got or buy ready made - either 2nd hand or painting sevices, only thing I can think of - or indeed BIG SCALE skirmish.

Anycase - best of luck Im sure you'll find something mate.

[Leon]

A decent painting service would be my first suggestion, there are some excellent guys about at good prices.  And upscaling would be my second, as much as I'd like everyone to be 10mm fanatics, it's better to have people in the hobby than out of it.  Are you a member of a wargames club?  You could start 'hosting' games, where you become like the 'Dungeon Master' of the game, throwing in random actions, and controlling the flow of everything?

[Steve J]

Take part in multi-player games where others can help out on the eyesight and hands issue. Alternatively, take the role of an overall commander and issue orders to your subordinates and see how they comply with said orders.

[FierceKitty]

It seems obvious, but no one has said it. Every wargamer should play chess anyway; not as pretty in some ways, but verrrrry satisfying if you like tactical thought, and you can get a big set to compensate for failing eyes (I'll need to go this route some day too, I begin to realise).
   And now the less obvious one - try shogi (Japanese chess), which is a lot more like a real battle, since you never have the situation, familiar from international chess, with one player reduced to a singe piece and the other with a king and a pawn.
  The Chinese variant, xiang chi, is great fun too, though perhaps not in the same league.

[nikharwood]

I think both the RPG & referee routes are the best suggestions here...will give you the best freedom to use your existing resources I think - your imagination!

And the use-the-toys-you've-painted-already (while heresy, natch) is top-notch advice to us all 

[dicehead]

There's so many good RPG's out there you'll run out of time before you run out of good games and if there's nobody local there's plenty of skype players looking to find someone. If your sight is an issue how about loading an mp3 player full of live play from RPG podcasts, it's a great way to see what games are actually like to play.

http://www.rpgpodcasts.com/ that's a pretty good source but there are lots more.