2011 – Review of the Year

For the last blog post of this year, I thought I’d have a quick look back through 2011 and (in the next post tomorrow morning) look ahead to 2012.

This has been the second year of the blog, but I think it’s a year in which things have slowly started to come together a bit on the blogging front for me. First, and most importantly, I’d like to thank everyone who commented, followed, read or just flicked through the pages on the blog. Blogging is a social activity – it’d be no fun if no one read the blog posts – so it’s been really great to see that other people seem to have enjoyed some of the stuff which has been appearing here. I only hope you like what’s coming in 2012!

I also saw that the number of followers has reached 200. So, to all new followers, as well as old friends, WELCOME and thank you all.

As for blog posts, I managed 56 (not including this one), which was double the amount in 2010. It was just about what I thought was realistic in terms of achievable numbers, although looking back there seems to have been a few months where I posted a lot, and some when posting tailed off. I’m hoping for a bit more of an even coverage next year.

The most popular post was “Winter Sports: The Abode of Madness” with 2234 page views. I was a bit puzzled about this, as it wasn’t that different to a lot of the other posts. I have wondered whether it was because it was visited by a large number of blog readers looking for dangerous, insane off-piste skiing and snowboarding. If so, please accept my apologies for the misleading title.

As for exactly what type of blog posts you enjoyed reading, I don’t really know. I think you liked the terrain building articles, the AAR/ battle-reports, the wargames show reports and newer posts like the painting guides. Have no fear, ladies and gentlemen, because there should be lots more to come on all these in 2012. For example, I counted that I’d played 28 wargames in 2011, almost all of them at the St Albans Wargames Club (a.k.a. “Lard Island”), but that I’d not reported most of these. I’ll try and do better in the future ... mea culpa !

It hasn’t been a big year for me purchasing wargames figures. I’ve bought a few, mainly in 10mm for the Great War divisional wargame project we’d intended to start in 2011 but which hasn’t got off the ground so far. In the 28mm, I bought less than 150 figures – although this may well be because I’ve got piles of lead hanging around the garage waiting to be used.

Painting wise, I managed 132 Great War 28mm figures, far fewer than I’d hoped for but the dip was due to three months of making terrain and being busy at work for big chunks of the year. I managed four new terrain boards, each of which took a lot longer than I’d expected.

So, what were my highlights of the year? By a very short head, the leaders would be the Salute and Crisis wargames shows. The best thing about wargames shows is meeting old friends and new, and both of these shows were perfect for that. The games on display were stunning at both shows, and at each show there was a great turn out from my club. The after-show dinner in Antwerp was particularly fun.

The other main highlight, and running in a very close second, would be the TooFatLardies games day back in July when we put on a series of games around Tobruk 1941. That was a terrific day’s gaming (even with my ham-fisted umpiring at times!)

I also got a lot of satisfaction in finishing my Passchendaele wargaming project by the end of the year. It’s good to try and finish something, once in a while ...

Any dark clouds in the year? Yes, one or two, but thankfully pretty small. I never got my camouflage netting right for the artillery position in Glasgow Copse (which is why that never got blogged!). I didn’t even half start a couple of projects I wanted to. I put far less written material on the blog than I’d hoped for. And I’m still trying to finish the Platoon Forward variant for the Great War. Oh well, there’s always next year!

Anyway, with some great memories, old friends and new and some (old and new) projects to turn to again next year, I think I’ll say goodbye to 2011.

Have a great New Year everyone.