I'm not sure if I should just continue with the blog like I've done before mainly posting pics of things I've painted or actually try to post something more "useful". I think my main issue I have with just posting painted stuff is that you rarely if ever get any real feedback that you could use to maybe improve yourself and your painting. I'm not innocent of this either as to be honest mostly when I write comments on other peoples blogs I do tend to stick to the usual praising phrases even if I at least try to come up with some remark about some nice little conversion or something especially good with the paint job. The same issue is with forums as well with little real conversation to be had and mostly just more or less meaningless comments with "Great paintjob!" being pretty much as prosaic as it gets.
Still just posting pics does give myself some sort of a log of what I've been doing in the past and hopefully see some progress in painting skills along the way. But outside of that I feel like I should try come up with something else to post so that the blog would have a purpose. I'm just not really sure what that should be. Better written AARs with maps etc. might be a good way to go, or writing down some of the scenarios that I've been playing or running. Or writing some more tutorials or product reviews could be the way to go. Well I guess I'll have to try figure something out
On another note I haven't been really been idle in my hobby pursuits finishing 13 battalions of Swiss and Croat troops in the last two months as well as getting quite a few games played. I haven't really gotten around to taking pictures of these, but will probably have to do that sometime in the future.
With the majority of my Russia 1812 miniature project done I needed to do something completely different so I've been building up one of the 4Ground buildings that a clubmate had bought for our club. Excellent stuff and they've really improved their buildings and have some clever ways of hiding the joints. They do look very nice, but are extremely time consuming to build as all the doors etc. are working. It took me about three evenings to build up with about 6 hours of work put in along the way.
My ETC tournament list has also seen some changes so I needed a couple of more miniatures done. A few more EW tanks in the form of PzIIc's and two Char B1 Flammenwerfers put into better use after the capitulation of France. The B1's will probably not see much use as they are too slow compared to everything else, but as I already had them I thought I might as well paint them up as dark grey panzers are breeze to do. Though they do tend to cause the same effect as King Tigers in Late War with people really putting too much effort into destroying them compared to the threat that they actually pose. The PzIIc's on the otherhand will be a major component in the list as in the end I wanted a fast hard hitting force instead of a more static line with larger firepower. Funny enough the one I'm going with now is very close to the first draft I had. Should have just stuck with that before listening to too much advice :)
My ETC tournament list has also seen some changes so I needed a couple of more miniatures done. A few more EW tanks in the form of PzIIc's and two Char B1 Flammenwerfers put into better use after the capitulation of France. The B1's will probably not see much use as they are too slow compared to everything else, but as I already had them I thought I might as well paint them up as dark grey panzers are breeze to do. Though they do tend to cause the same effect as King Tigers in Late War with people really putting too much effort into destroying them compared to the threat that they actually pose. The PzIIc's on the otherhand will be a major component in the list as in the end I wanted a fast hard hitting force instead of a more static line with larger firepower. Funny enough the one I'm going with now is very close to the first draft I had. Should have just stuck with that before listening to too much advice :)
Glad to read you again! And waiting for these Swiss and Croat troops...
VastaaPoistaThanks Phil! I'll have to get the camera out someday. And actually unpack the minis after the last game day :) All will happen eventually
PoistaI'd love to read more of your insights into games and reviews of various things. I particularly like home-made scenarios and following the process of turning an idea into a workable game. Painting posts are great to look at, but like you say, no one tells you your kid is ugly! Keep up the great work :-)
VastaaPoistaYeah I guess it's normally not that acceptable to be honest :) Maybe it's just us Finns, but we generally prefer to be brutally honest or then just be silent. Shouldn't expect that from more civilized folk! :) Still a bit more active conversation about technique etc. would be nice at least on forums.
PoistaWelcome back Samuli! I know how you feel about the blogging stuff. I've encountered the same problems in the past, especially as blogging and following other peoples blogs eats up quite some time. So it's a obvious train of thought to want to make blogging a more 'diverse' matter than the usual posting of pics, a few rumblings, and the typical 'Great painting' comment.
VastaaPoistaI myself sometimes try to add a little more spice (historical background, reviews, etc.) but sometimes I feel my English isn't up to the task and on other days I'm just too lazy.
Yeah this whole blogging affair can be extremely time consuming. Probably should limit the quantity of posts and focus on quality so it wouldn't feel such a chore.
PoistaI'm cheating a bit with following other peoples blogs as I tend to do it at work :) Does take time, but not my free time. At least it gives me nice breaks every now and then.