Friday 6 December 2013

Shed Wars 2nd Birthday !


Gosh doesn’t time fly, it only seems like yesterday that I decided to set up the Shed Wars blog to record for posterity my wargaming hobby (or is it an addiction?). Well today the blog celebrates its second birthday and quite a lot has actually happened.
 
Lets start with the stats.... last year I reported that I had achieved 25,000 hits and that I had almost 80 followers. This had been achieved on the back of just over 50 posts. I set myself the goals of trebling the number of hits to 75,000 and doubling the number of followers. Could this be achieved?

Well I am delighted to report that I have achieved both goals. I am delighted to report that my follower count has risen to over 180 and that I am in touching distance of achieving 100,000 hits. With a bit of luck this figure could be achieved by Christmas ! Not too sure if this is a momentous number in the grand scheme of things but I am quite chuffed. There seems to be a habit of awarding prizes when these milestones are achieved so not to be outdone I will come up with some kind of prize when this magical number has been achieved – watch this space !

Of particular note was the month of October when I achieved 10,000 hits in one month. I was rather pleased but to do so again might be a tall order. Average daily rates seem to have settled around 200 hits per day.

So my ambitions for 2014  - lets push the boat out...

#1 – increase the number of followers again from 180 to 300. If you are reading this for the first time or drop by on a regular basis please do tick the follow box – you will do my ego a load of good. In return I promise to follow your blog !

#2 – push the total number of hits to 200,000 – ie another 100,000 - this means I need to average c300 hits per day – this I believe is achievable by adding more relevant content, adding links to previous posts, posting more on other forums etc

This is a good time to reflect on what has been achieved during the year...in no particular order

·         I attended all the major shows in the year – Salute, SELWG, Warfare, Colours & Cavalier

·         I hosted games at Matakishi’s Teaparty and Blam 2013

·         I have met a load more folks as a result of these.

·         We have continued to play games across the year in the shed – a particular highlight being the big Pirate game

·         At the beginning of 2013 I finished the Pirate terrain, figures and ships – more games to follow

·         The next big project is coming to the end of its build – The Tales of Shedwood – Nottingham the Medieval city is built and we are playtesting the rules

·         Saga has become a big feature of the shed with its ease of set up and furious play

·         I have spent too much money

·         Big terrain items have been completed, castles, cliffs, coastlines, bridges and palm tree forests....

 

Its all been good fun and based on the comments received (over 600 this year) it mostly appears to be of interest.

Unfortunately Basil the Wargaming Hamster passed away earlier this year but his memory will live long in this written record. If our cat has her way she might become the next furry sponsor of Shed Wars!

So what about 2014.

The great thing about this hobby is the diversity of activity within the hobby, whether it be modelling, painting, terrain building, research, blogging and even playing. All these have their place and I get equal enjoyment from most. Which is a good thing as I love to arrive at an idea and then work my way towards the end goal. Over the last two years I have focussed on three big projects – the French Indian Wars, Pirates and Robin Hood. All of these have focussed on the 28mm scale and can deliver big visual heroic games. There are transferable elements for each across terrain and figures which has made life easier. But the real question is what next?

At this moment in time I am mulling over several ideas – including Pulp, a very British Civil War, Fantasy Dungeon settings or Space Opera....or maybe I just do them all. I do know that I want to build an Arctic terrain board complete with Ice flows, snowfields, crevasses and pine forests – but for what period ?

Lets see what the new year brings

Once again thank you to all those who do follow, a thank you to those that read but don’t follow and thank you to all those in the hobby that make it so interesting

 
Happy second birthday Shed Wars – its been fun

 

 

 

29 comments:

  1. Congrats on the milestones Eric. I think you've been helped along the way to reaching them through posting on PMT.

    Onwards and upwards to ever higher page views and follower numbers! :)

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    1. Thank you tamsin

      without a doubt the posts on tmp have helped to build the numbers

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  2. Congratulations on your success, the first two years are the hardest :) I'm looking forward to what 2014 brings from your workshop, it's always inspiring.

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  3. Congrats, Eric! Looking forwards to more of the same- but I would also love to see your take on Space Opera, Pulp, and the icy Arctic!

    Will Matakishi have a feline rival?

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  4. Happy Birthday Shedwars! Will you celebrate with a coat of creosote?
    Just one minor quibble: you said, "I attended all the major shows in the year – Salute, SELWG, Warfare, Colours & Cavalier." That's hardly all the major shows is it? No Partizans? Triples? Carronade? Claymore? and so on. Still, a goodly number to chalk up, so well done!

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  5. Always good content Eric, excellent work. I always look forward to updates, and am never disappointed!

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  6. Well done! At least you get to play some games. All I do now is blog as I don;t have time to paint any more!

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    1. Cheers Legatus - you are always welcome to join in a game if you are in the Surrey area

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  7. Congrats!! Inspirational as always.

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    1. Cheers Alistair - going to try and run a game in the Xmas break - watch those emails

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  8. Happy Birthday Eric. Keep up the great work! Please remove CAPTCHA, it really does discourage the comments...

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    1. Duly noted I didn't realise it was on - how to remove is another matter

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  9. Congratulations for your birthday!! Keep up the good work!

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  10. Excellent progress all round

    To complete your show calendar why not try a trip north of the border to Carronade on 10th May next year. We like to think of it as the best show in Scotland

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    1. I suppose this might be the last chance to cross the border without a passport ;-)

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  11. Captcha now removed - lets see what happens

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  13. Happy birthday Eric! Hope it's the second of many. This is a great blog to follow, it's been very inspirational as I'm working towards putting together my first wargame. Keep up the good work! :D

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    1. Hi Matt

      Thank you...all the best with your first wargame...are you running a blog showing progress?

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    2. Yes - just a little one at www.drybrusher.com where I'm also unashamedly ripping off Matakishi's fantastic modding ideas for a Weird War 2 Crossfire game. I'm enjoying building all the components for the game at the moment, probably looking at playing my first game sometime mid next year when I can convince some friends to join in.

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    3. I am sure Paul (aka Matakishi) wont mind - I know him very well and his games are always superb. Suggest you sign up to the Lead Adventures Forum - loads of help advice hints etc...You'll also get to hear about the various game events that happen.

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  14. I'm heading there now - thanks Eric. So many good people involved in our hobby, it's great to be part of it.

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  15. Happy 2nd birthday. You always have such useful tips on building terrain, top stuff!

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  16. Happy 2nd Birthday:-) What next?? I say more 10mm Yeh. but then I would :-)

    Jason

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