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