Saturday 3 November 2012

Elastic Retreat

While this blog was set up to document the strategic withdrawal of gaming in my life, there are tactical successes masking the extent of the ground lost.



Last Monday I broke the barrier of 5,000 pageviews, coupled with a daily record of 123 views on the previous Friday. That was a day I didn't post here, but my links from Fortress Ameritrash served me well.

Reaching 5,000 hits in just over four months is an amazing feeling and outstrips what I expected and hoped or even dreamed possible. It's thanks to a few lucky breaks, like Ray and Fran's 20 questions, that I'm slowly finding a broader audience. And I guess I haven't exhausted all avenues for self promotion yet.

I'm very thankful to all you visitors, whether you comment here, or react on Facebook, on Twitter, at the Fortress or anywhere.

While increasing blog stats count as tactical success, a strategic victory for family and gaming is that next year I will go to working four days a week instead of five. This will give me the opportunity to structurally take over some time from my girlfriend looking after the kids, allowing her to work more, as well as giving me more time with the kids which seems to have beneficial effects on how we get along. Of course this also gives me some more time for myself = gaming and military history.

However, it seems this time has been claimed already by two writing and publishing ventures I am very excited about, but cannot tell you yet. Don't worry, you will find out if and when they go live.

The last two weeks have been mainly focussed on Spiel and boardgames, and more will follow as I start playing those games. But I hope to be able to give you some more military history, especially in the Napoleonic era.

As projects go, I'm afraid this means that WWI will take a step back, to the benefit of my other plans for 2013. Dark Ages I hope to see more of, although Dux Britanniarum is higher priority than SAGA. There may be diversions as megagames and holidays interfere with normal programming.

But all this gives me a good feeling. Don't underestimate the rear guard!

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your milestones. I know when I started my Blog last year that seeing these figures pass by gave me a little confidence boost. Although I chose not to focus on them, they did nevertheless cheer me up and help me realise I was doing something people were enjoying and responding to.

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    1. Go Jur! Go Jur! GO!GO!GO!

      Steve"cheerleader "Avery

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    2. Of course it's all vanity but I'm not ashamed of it. At least it's a good opportunity to show my appreciation to the readers.

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    3. No I wasn't implying you were being vain, these 'milestones' actually do tell us bloggers we're on the right tracks they really do. I chose not to focus on them because it meant I might start taking my eye off of the ball so to speak, and forget why I was achieving those figures in the first place. Here's hoping you smash more milestones... and you can brag about them all you want. It's your Blog after all. :P

      Keep up the good work.

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    4. You have every right to comment on my blog, just as i did on yours. I invite it. And i welcome your remarks. Will try to keep,my eye on the ball.

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  2. Jur,

    Saga is such an easy game (ruleswise) I doubt it will interfere with playing Dux...Me thinks Saga would be a nice introgame into a larger Dux game (altough the timeframes dont match this should relly not be a big problem.

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  3. Hi René

    It's not that SAGA is too hard, but I first need to finish my Dux warband before moving on to SAGA.

    It all depends on how fast you can paint ;-)

    By the way, congratulations on your birthday!

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  4. Good stuff Jur, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your newly found time.

    I too used to do a four day week and enjoyed it. More productive at work, and quality time with my small boy. Family life is very important, and combined with full time work doesn't leave much time for individual pursuits. Fortunately for me my small boy seems to find gaming interesting. He badgered me to visit the Prince August factory when we were in Ireland on holiday and wants to play Starship Marine.

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  5. Good stuff Jur, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your newly found time.

    I too used to do a four day week and enjoyed it. More productive at work, and quality time with my small boy. Family life is very important, and combined with full time work doesn't leave much time for individual pursuits. Fortunately for me my small boy seems to find gaming interesting. He badgered me to visit the Prince August factory when we were in Ireland on holiday and wants to play Starship Marine.

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  6. Hi James,

    life with kids is a challenge and I'm relieved I only do a part time job. The mirror side is that I don't get as much time with them to convert them to gaming and miniature. But first steps have been taken, and they're not adverse

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I appreciate comments. Let me know what you think!