>How would I reference objects on a form from the init of a new form, without having to pass a bunch of parameters ?

Pass the object reference for the old form into the new form as a parameter; for example, if you create the new form instance from a method of the old form, you could pass the single parameter thisform to the init of the new form, save it as a form property of the new form, and reference members of the old form through the new form's the form property.