Well
today is the Shed Wars blog’s 5th Birthday and I think it is still
going strong. As is usual for me on these events I like to look back and
summarise the previous year in a short review.
I’ll
firstly talk about the stats and then come onto the review proper.
As you
can see from the numbers below the page view count continues to rise – this year
it looks like I’ll be just shy of 200k hits in a year but the good news is that
my page view count still seems to be on the upward curve each month
|
Number of
followers
|
Number of
page views
|
Dec 2012
|
80
|
25000
|
Dec 2013
|
180
|
95000
|
Dec 2014
|
285
|
230000
|
Dec 2015
|
373
|
383000
|
Dec 2016
|
387
|
578000
|
Earlier this year the Russian bots seemed to have plagued
everybody’s sites and delivered an unwanted spike July and prior to this aberration
my photo session from Salute always drive the highest monthly volume in a year.
On the subject of Salute .....
This year was no different with over 6000 hits to the site
just for my Salute photos. I also learned this year that a couple of my fellow
bloggers got press passes to Salute so if there are any of the Salute organisers out there who want to give me a pass I’d be very happy.
As far as I
can tell my Salute photo post has always the first up on the web in the past
three years.one. You can reach me by PM on either the LAF or TMP (thanks!)
On the follower front this has clearly slowed down
with only 387 listed. Perhaps this has hit the threshold?
Stats over....................................
So what of 2016 – was it a good year?
Well of course the
hardest part of this year was losing my Father. He had been an inspiration for
me when it came to this hobby, always interested in my next project and
offering words of wisdom.
He was a journalist and although I write badly, this
blog does to a certain extent maintain that family tradition.
We do miss him and Christmas
will be hard for the family but in his words we need to push on and get things
done.
 |
| The Old Man at Waterloo |
If I was to summarise the 2016 year in one word it would be
BIG.
The highlight for me was extending the Shed – this was a
very big challenge but with the help of my gaming buddies on a warm summer’s
afternoon the pre-built sections of new shed extension arose and took shape. Over the autumn months this has been
insulated, electrics installed and shelving added. It’s a much better
environment than before and once the weather improves you’ll be seeing a lot
more games on display.
 |
| Shedson doing the groundwork in April |
 |
| Assembling the panels |
 |
| Assembling |
 |
| The new extension |
 |
| Inside the extension |
Clearly the Shed extension was a BIG project but this did
not slow down the introduction of new projects to my gaming world. Indeed for
the first time ever I built two complete 28mm painted armies.
Back in December of last year my gaming chum Mark set down
the challenge for us to create the English Civil War in 28mm. Over a period of
four months we assemble and painted between us the best part of 1600 figures.
Indeed my Parliamentarian army is one of my proudest achievements. I not only
think it looks great it also wins games.
 |
| The Parliamentarian Army taking shape |
 |
| An ECW engagement |
Mark & I (along with other Shed Regulars) have probably
played around a dozen games of Pike & Shotte this year and everyone has
been a real joy. By my reckoning the Parliamentarian forces have had a slight
edge in victories and from next year I get to upgrade the forces to New Model
Army status (we agreed this earlier in the year)
 |
| The first ECW battle |
The second BIG army project was the Zulu Wars in 28mm - over 400 Zulus painted and the best part of
200 Allied troops. This was a labour of love and is dedicated to the old man.
Thesis little lot has only seen the table a few times but we have plans to
refight Isandlwhana and Rorkes Drift on the anniversary of these engagements in
January (still think I need more Zulus).
 |
| The finished Zulu Army |
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| Rorkes Drift (still not been fought over in anger) |
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| A Zulu Black Powder game in Full flight |
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| Usuthu !!! |
Although not strictly wargaming I did receive three BIG Kickstarter
projects – Blood Rage, The Others and Conan. These are all big boxes of games
and now the weather prevents the shed from being used these types of modern
boardgames have become the staple fare of our Monday night sessions.
 |
| A Big Delivery |
Aside from the Zulu and ECW games the Shed has actually been
quite quiet this year (clearly this was in part down to the rebuild) but this
will hopefully change in 2017.
On the terrain front its been really quiet - this used to be a big pull for the blog. A few bits and pierces were created but not as much as I would have liked - hopefully things will change in the new year.
 |
| One of the very few new terrain pieces in the Shed - breached walls |
 |
| Pulp Submarine |
Other news includes the successful hosting of BLAM once more
in the local pub – for my sins I hosted a very enjoyable Dads Army game using the
Pulp Alley rules.
 |
| Dads Army Game at BLAM |
So what of 2017. Well if you have been following the blog
you’ll know I have embarked on a new project centred around the Greek legends
and myths. I am currently writing the ruleset for these and once the figures
and terrain are completed we’ll be playtesting these and then seeing how these
can be developed further.
 |
| The Start of the Jason project |
Other projects that hold an interest are getting into
Darkest Africa (I bought the Congo ruleset at warfare and enjoyed a great game
of this in the Shed hosted by Alastair earlier this year). I also have a
yearning to revisit the post-apocalyptic period but this time with a Fallout
theme. Twelve months ago Mrs Shed bought for me and Shedson an XBOX One with Fallout 4 – I have been
enjoying this tremendously and feel that it could be easily transferred onto
the table top.
As the year progresses we’ll see what develops but it should
be exciting
Thanks for reading and following
Eric the Shed
PS
As I was putting this together I realised that in January 2016 I finished off my Frostgrave boards and figures. Total number of games played - about 3 - just goes to show we can invest all the time (and a lot of money )into a hobby and then forget all about it.
