Half-a-Million Views

Sometime today this blog got its 500,000th view. Okay, it was probably a Chinese-based bot rather than real wargamer but still, I know several genuine gamers have read this blog at some point, so we can count that as a win.

Seriously, first of all, very many thanks to everyone who has read any of my posts here, and even more so to those who have also taken the time to comment or link to other parts of the blogosphere. It is very much appreciated, whether it is a kind word, an insightful comment, a recommendation or a correction, or a mixture of them all. And I think, without exception, every comment has fallen into those categories.

 

The Most Viewed Posts have been:

 

Playthrough of the Portable Napoleonic Wargame

Review of Neil Thomas' book One Hour Wargames

The Battle of Bassano: A Detailed Playthrough of Polemos: General de Division

Review of Henry Hyde's Wargaming Campaigns

Joy of Six 2018 Show Report

The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549: A Mini-Campaign

Review of Martin England's Threat Generation System

Joy of Six 2022 Show Report

Twilight of Divine Right: First Look & The Battle of Fleurus

Review of Neil Thomas' book Wargaming: An Introduction

Five Leagues from the Borderlands: A Camp Raid AAR

Review of WRG 1925-1950

I think that gives a fair snapshot of some of the themes that this blog has ended up being about: simple games, small boards, fast play, campaigns, smaller figures for bigger games, solo play, a wide variety of periods, mining old magazines, equal emphasis on new and old rulesets. Some of that was by design, some of that emergent: in particular, the themes of small boards and fast play have partly been a reaction to circumstance, partly to changing preferences, partly to changed foundational ideas. On this blog, the game is the thing: I like the models and the colour and the display, but there are other people out there who do that so much better! But I think overall the aesthetic quality of my games has tended to drift up over time.

I think looking back it is only a pity I didn't get more games in. Some gaps were due to work, a few to illness, a few to family commitments. But a couple of other periods were just dry spells. I think I have got a little better over the years at identifying the things that stop me playing, and overcoming them: because, I rarely get to the end of a game and feel I wasted my time. And that is surely a good sign. Other higher level regrets are that it is clear that my painting hasn't been all that efficient, i.e. although I have been not bad at getting armies finished, not every army has really got to the table enough to justify the efforts on it. Things that stand out here are my 6mm Medieval Arab army, my 6mm Wars of the Roses armies, 6mm WW2 Russians and US, 15mm Moderns, 15mm WW2, 28mm fantasy, 28mm science fiction, 28mm Napoleonics, 1/4800 naval, 1/600 WW2 aircraft...not saying I have never got these things to the table, but I am saying that I probably haven't got enough out of them so far. Perhaps that will change in the future and perhaps I also need to think about what steps will make that happen, and take them. It should in any case make me really cautious about expanding into new periods. As soon as my youngest son is old enough, I should perhaps think of passing some things on straight away, assuming he is still very interested. On the other hand, I have had so much play out of my WSS armies! If I had know then what I know now, perhaps I wouldn't even have bothered with Napoleonics...😊

Are there any 'missing' things? On one level, the answer will always be 'loads' but that matters to me...maybe something colonial? But rather than having lots of separate Colonial-era armies, I think I might just like one or two armies that can be used to proxy for other things. I just have to decide what that might be! Otherwise, I don't really have Chariot Wars armies (although I guess I could use Ancient Britons for these...), or many spaceships, or C20 naval stuff. 

Anyway, what of the future of the blog? For the present, it is steady as she goes, although with some hopes of having a little more writing time in the future, so more games, more reviews, more discussions. Next project I think is to get more of my house rules properly written up and added as pages to the blog, there are a few games or rulesets waiting for this treatment. 

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by, read, comment, link and ecncourage. It has been fun, a nice part of my hobby life and I hope just sometimes a little bit helpful or encouraging to other gamers.