Monday 4 November 2013

150 posts - a look back

I started the blog back in April 2012 with a mixed bag of objectives. I wanted somewhere I could talk about my hobby as most of my other social media was dedicated to my other hobby, which is LARPing. While there's some cross-over, there's a lot of people who aren't interested in the other, so I decided to separate things out.


It took 25 posts and a month to put my first photos up - of a completed Leman Russ tank. These days I try and make sure all of my posts have some photo content in, as I find it helps break up the text and just generally looks better.

I've also gotten slightly better at focussing - not much, but a little.

The blog really took off in September 2012, when I posted up a bunch of rumours and things I found out at Games Day. Those two posts earnt me over 4,500 views, which given most of my posts seem to average out at about 50 views. Before that, my Imperial Guard 6th Edition tactics articles were my highest viewed articles, due to the massive lack of in depth tactics articles compared to 5th edition.


I had got back into 40K and painting because my wife paints. She didn't game. But late last year she suddenly realised that she'd actually got a playable Dark Eldar force, and ended up learning to play, which I documented.


This year, I have tried out Inquisitor 28, picked up (but not yet played) Taban's Eden, learnt Malifaux, and gotten involved in Dark Sphere's 40K slow grow league. I also recently tried Infinity.


I also hit quite a few events - Salute, Grumpy Old Wargamers, Enter the Citadel and Games Day 2013. The latter, despite a slow start to hits, led to a massive explosion in the number of views I received. Last month had a spectacular 13,619 views. Given that at the start of the month, I hadn't passed the all important 40,000 view milestone (which is now smashed), that's a lot of people coming to have a look.


While I've been writing this little retrospective, I've been having a bit of a think about what this blog is. There's a lot of aspects to it. I try and make sure I provide regular content, producing a reasonable amount of readable words and viewable pictures - at least one a week, preferably on Monday. That discipline is something that I hope will stand me in good stead in some future projects.

There's also the community aspect. The Youtubers around Templar's Crusade 01 and Joeyberry seem a little more obvious about their communication with each other than, perhaps, the odd mails or comment exchanges I might have with, say, Headologist, Mordian 7th, Admiral Drax or the indeterminate amount of Zzzzzs . . . But I still don't regard myself as being in the same category as the folk who play Inq28 with JB, for example.


I am very pleased that my painting and miniature photography is now progressing to the point where there are pictures and efforts I've made that I'm really quite proud of. You can see the sort of thing I'm now managing with finished models here.

This remains a personal blog - it mostly consists of painting updates and a few battle reports, but sometimes I come up with articles on other subjects which catch my eye. And these are often some of the things I'm most proud of - so if I'd have to pick out anything for someone new to the blog to go and have a glance over, it'd be these. I'm also often a lot more nervous about them, as they are me expressing an opinion, rather than simply telling people about something I did, or something someone told me.

So, here is my post on the influence of Durer on early Warhammer art, and also my post on why I don't mind, from a setting perspective, Chaos Space Marine leadership.

Oddly enough, quite a lot of my hobby time does end up being about doing things not just for the experience, but also to provide blog content. The blog itself has become, in some ways, quite an integral part of my hobby experience. Given how eclectic the blog is, I'm aware there's a wide range of reasons people will have subscribed, but I am quite curious as to what sort of things people will be interested in the future.

So, I'd like to hear your comments - what bits are your favourites? Is there anything you'd like me to ramble on about? What do you blog for, and how does it interact with your hobby?

It is not often I fish for comments, but it would be nice to see if we can get a discussion going in the comments section this week.

16 comments:

  1. Congrats on making the 150 mark, that’s incredible! I started my blog a year before yours and I’m only at about half that number of posts!
    What bits are my favourite? I really enjoy seeing your minis getting panted and out and about in games. I guess that is why I blog too, to keep track of my progress and what I have been up to.
    Keep up the good work!

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    1. The number of posts is something I'm really proud of. There's been a few times where I've missed a weekly post, but also times I've managed three or even five posts in a week. As a method for getting me used to sitting down and typing words on a regular, self managed basis, it's certainly succeeding.

      I do sometimes worry that a lot of the progress posts are simply me bemoaning that I've not got enough things done. Of course, the way to deal with that is to man up and actually paint more!

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  2. For the most part I'm interested to read whatever you feel like writing about, because for me part of what makes blogs good is that they're a window onto what the author cares about. But in particular I like hearing about strategy musings, hearing about actual games in which interesting things happened and seeing photos of miniatures (whether in play, newly painted or in progress).

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    1. Fortunately, the things you like hearing about are things I like writing about...

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  3. First of all congrats on the milestone !
    Blogging is surely a very motivating thing since you want to feed your blog with freshly painted stuff, newly played games and all sorts of considerations. It allows to share all the aspects of this hobby and tie them together like nowhere else. You like old stuff, new stuff, you hate plastics or you can't understand lead addicts, it's you blog, you play to win or you play to have fun, nothing's really wrong, your blog is your place and it shows a lot more about you than just your modelling skills.
    I have to say that I really appreciated your posts after/during big events as you tend to have a good criticism without falling into pure fandom.
    Your consideration about CSM leadership was very interseting too even though I'm not much of a player myself and I tend to not get all the inuendos behind each rule...
    A good hobby blog (imho) is one that shows the aspects of this hobby the author likes and how he(she) tries to make his way in it.
    I tend to get away from blogs whith too few hobby related posts or with filler posts written just because the author felt compelled to writing something when he had nothing to say.
    Anyway, you don't resort to such techniques and though I'd like to see more model pictures here (I can't help it ;) ) I'll continue to follow this place with pleasure.

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    1. I've just used a couple of hours of a day off to take a bunch more model pictures, due to my realisation that a lot of my army was painted before I started taking a lot of photos.

      Now, admittedly, those photos are going into the "filler bank" for when I've not achieved anything in a week, but I thought I'd at least let you know that they're queued up.

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  4. The posts of yours that I have enjoyed most are your battle reports - going through what you fielded, faced, how to make the most of what you played and how you are improving your game. :-)

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    1. (Battle report spoiler)

      My most recent battle, which I now need to write up, did not really include much improvement, and a lot of being shot and stabbed in the face...

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  5. Congrats on the milestone, man! I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog, the battle reports and hobby articles are a particular favorite of mine, and I always love seeing pics from the various conventions you attend.

    Keep up the great work!

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    1. It seems that battle reports and hobby articles are a favourite with the regulars. The convention pictures / reporting is something that attracts the wider Internets, and now and again, a few of them stay...

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  6. I have been well and truly out of the loop of late, but hearty congrats on the 150th! I've been dotting aroung this corner of the blogosphere since May 2008 now (when things were just starting to take off) - that's five-and-a-half years - and I'm *still* pleasantly astonished by just how friendly and helpful this community is!

    Here's to more...

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    1. The positive nature of the community is really encouraging. It has certainly helped me at times.

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  7. Definitely the idea that CSM are just self serving. Huge idea. Mega.

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    1. I should have more genius ideas. If only there was a way of making them more reliable at turning up...

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    2. More sugar is unwise. My consumption levels are already . . . worrying.

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