Ok, I got Liebstered!

I know, I’m a bit late for the most recent round of Liebster(ing) however I have a good excuse which I’ll explain in another post or two later. I’ve never received a Liebster and therefore I’m quite thankful to my fellow bloggers that believe my humble efforts to catalogue my hobby are worth the accolade. Firstly I’d like tothank my agent for the opportunities he’s been able to find, then the Director for taking a risk on an upcoming actor…..(sniff), then my mum for (sniff), always (sniff, whimper) believing in me (sniff, whimper…….floods of tears a la Gwyneth Paltrow).

Ok enough of the silliness. Below are my answers to the current round of 11 questions. As I’m late in actually answering them and have limited net time at the moment I’m unable to nominate any well deserving blogs for the award as nearly all the ones I follow have already been nominated (some quite a few times it seems). Therefore I’ve decided to provide links to some of my favourite blogs and a little summary of their content. Hopefully this may attract them more readers and broaden the circle that is the Blog community.  

And now the questions

1. Why did you start blogging?

It seemed like a good way to keep a record of my hobby achievements. Sometimes you forget some of the great painting (or not so great) that you’ve done over the years so my Blog was an attempt at keeping a journal and motivating myself after a bit of Hobby slump.

2. If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be?

The weird perception that you must play what is written down in the those holy tomes that are rules manuals. You don’t have to play the rules as written, you can play and write what you like! If something doesn’t work or fit your story then change it. Oh and playing “balanced games”. Stuff that! Lets have some unbalanced games that tell a story. Abandon points values and just play what feels right. Oops, that’s two isn’t it.

3. What is best in life?
My wife and kids.

4. Do you want to live forever?

Nope, I’m looking forward to grey hairs, growing old disgracefully, grumbling about the “youth of today” and telling my grandkids how it was in the good old days of 3rd edition Warhammer and life before Kickstarter

5. Fame or fortune?

Fortune, I don’t want the attention but the cash would come in handy

6. What miniatures are you most proud of having painted?

Like most people its usually the most recent however I have done a little “pressure” painting over the last few months and as such they ended up as gaming standard. I really like my Rohan models however I’m getting the urge to go back and tinker with them. Oh and my 15mm FoW US Airborne, although its a shame I can’t seem to find an opponent who wants to play the damn game for fun rather than all tournamenty (it’s a word!).

7. How do you deal with burn out?

Hobby burn out? That’s easy, play fight with the kids on the living room carpet, building lego cars with them then having a good chin wag with the better half. Always puts me in a better mood and things into perspective.

8. Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Blah, its too easy nowadays to hit up Google for answers to obscure things like this. I kind of miss the bad old days of not knowing things.

9. Star Wars or Star Trek?

I honestly thought I’d have said Star Wars however I ummed and ahhed over this one for a few days and I can honestly say Star Trek. And it’s a really simple thing really, I loved playing with those little 1/7000 ships you could get more than the Star Wars toys, I found the action figures too fiddly and unreal whereas you could zoom your Enterprise through the air chasing that Klingon Bird of Prey and imagine you were on the bridge issuing orders.

10. If you could only buy from one miniature company from now on, which one would it be?

I want to say Perry however where would I get my LoTR figures from. Oh hang on it doesn’t say I can’t buy second hand……..

11. What is your favourite takeaway?
What ever my tongue is craving at the time (as long as its veggie!)

And now the Blogs.

This is a snapshot of some of my favourites however don’t just take my word for it, visit them and decide for yourselves. Oh and this is in no particular order

http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.com/

Mike is quite a prolific blogger as he aims to blog once a day on his hobby activities which often feature TFL games, various Dark Ages systems and occasionally diverging into statistics, heraldry, podcasts and literature reviews.

Oh and he’s quite good on snippets of hobby news!

http://scrivsland.blogspot.com/

A wide range of era’s and systems played here. Scrivs also manages to churn out an unbelievable amount of painted models as well as being a decent bloke and good sport when it comes to games.

http://shedwars.blogspot.com/

THE site for terrain ideas, Erik is always putting together buildings, castles, churches, railways, rivers and mountains. His gaming table is something to behold, and even better he has his own shed!

http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/

Massive ancients projects, usually seen at UK shows demoing his To the Strongest rule set and contributor to Wargames Soldiers & Strategy. Inspirational!

http://legatuswargamesarmies.blogspot.com/

Prolific blogger with many offshoot blogs however the Legatus posts here regularly and most often than not on non-hobby related topics, usually relating to his many travels. Always an entertaining read, irrespective of the topic.

http://scottswargaming.blogspot.com/

Currently Scott is focused on Lord of the Rings themed gaming with a rather enviable focus and hobby skill. His terrain boards are great, not sure where he finds the time but he can be relied on to impress. Check out his Watcher in the Water board.

http://fiendsinwaistcoats.blogspot.co.uk/

Victorian gothic themed blog with interesting and usually out of the ordinary posts. Recently there's been some nice reviews of artworks and model builders. Always worth a read.