2020 in Review- St Andrews Wargaming

Well, what a year this has been! 

I thought I would take a look back at the last 12 months to see my hobby progress and how the blog is progressing. Obviously, this has been a very different year for everyone, and has had a big impact on all aspects of life, including hobby work and output. 

Hobby Progress

This has been the year of the Primaris! Most of my hobby output this year has been adding Primaris models to my White Scars and Deathwatch army. The release of the awesome Indomitus boxed set provided a bunch of new units for both armies. 

Update on 2020

Hi everyone, today I wanted to give you an update on some of the things that I have been thinking about over the past few months and update you on St Andrews Wargaming. 

Blog

Regular readers will have noticed a distinct lack in output on the blog in the last year. This was partly due to motivation and partly due to having less free time to game or do hobby work on my armies. 

A lot of this was to due with the current COVID-19 crisis. My work has continued to open throughout the lockdown, so haven't had as much spare time as others to work on my project. Plus, it has been a particularly nice summer so far, so I've had little motivation to stay indoors and write or paint while the sun has been shining. The lack of anything to do at weekends during lockdown has not actually had much impact on my hobby motivation. I got a bit done at the start, painting up a couple of units and some ITC terrain, but other than that, I've not really been doing much over the past few months. 

The lack of hobby content and gaming has meant that motivation for writing the blog fell a bit by the wayside. I'm happy to report that this should be changing soon. 

I'm also hopeful that the quicker games and smaller armies of 9th edition will help out the with battle reports. To be honest, towards the end of 8th edition, writing up the battle reports was getting to be a bit of a slog. There was simply too much happening to note and write about, that it was taking me ages to simply get through them. The current batch of tournament battle reports from the Bournemouth Bash were played almost a year ago, and I am only now getting round to finishing them up. 

One Million Views! (and Didcot Wargames Club)

This past week, the blog hit 1 million views! I don't normally pay too much attention to the view count (mostly due to Russian bots and weird links boosting the numbers), but I've been keeping an eye on this target as it approaches. 

2020 has brought a bit of a renewed interest for me in blogging. My number of articles were dipping for most of 2019, but I've been much more active with my painting and blogging in January, and hope to continue the trend through the rest of the year. 

In other hobby news, 2020 will also bring a new first for me, as I start up my own gaming group. 

I've been looking into doing this for a while now, as the club that I attend is on a Friday night and a good 45 mins drive from me. Due to changing personal circumstances this year, my Friday nights may not be as free as they once were, so I was looking for another outlet for my gaming needs. 

As a result, Didcot Wargames Club will be opening in March. I'm looking forward to seeing how this venture goes, and if it will have enough interest to keep it going for the long term. Fortunately, I have enough terrain and mats to maintain a small gaming club, just on my own. However, there has been a good level of interest so far, so I'm hoping I will be able to grow the club in the coming year. 

Check us out on Facebook if you are in the Oxfordshire or Didcot area and are interested in a new gaming night locally. If any other bloggers out there have experience with running a gaming club, please let me know of any lessons learnt over that time! 

St Andrews Wargaming- 2019 in review

I thought I would take a look back at the year of blogging in 2019 for St Andrews Wargaming, and seeing what the new year has in store.

Blogging
My blogging content has been down significantly in 2019. I posted 160 articles on the blog in 2018, compared to only 81 in 2019, a reduction of about 50%. These articles have been exclusively hobby updates, battle reports and codex reviews.

There are several reasons for this. One of the main ones is that I think blog interaction and views appear to be down across the board. I think a lot more readers are migrating to social media and Youtube channels to get their hobby content. This has left a lot of bloggers behind and I think my average article views are well down compared to a couple of years ago.

I think another issue is the way that GW have changed their release schedules and release practices. In previous years, Codex Reviews were a big draw to the blog, as people wanted to read about the new releases and new rules and units for an army. For much of 8th edition, GW have started giving advance copies of the codices to the bigger Youtube channels and websites. As a result, most people are getting their information about the new releases from those sources, weeks before anyone else can supply these highly sought after articles.

Another issue for me has been the increased release schedule of the new books. We have gone from one to two codices a year, to almost one a month with 8th edition. It can be hard to keep up do date with the reviews for just the armies that I have. For most of my reviews, I have focused on the special rules, warlord traits, psychic powers and stratagems, rather than reviewing each unit in turn. I have saved the more indepth reviews for my Frontline Gaming articles.

As I will discuss below, the battle reports have also been a time-consuming part of blogging. This has limited the number of posts I can put out.

Changes in my social life have also limited the amount of time I can spend on the blog. I started a new relationship this year and have taken up some hobbies that have cut down the time I can spend on blogging each week, which has helped contribute to the lower output this year.

Another aspect that I need to work on for the new year is interacting with other blogs. Potentially one of the reasons for the reduced readership and comments on the blog has been that I have also dropped off in reading blogs and commenting on other blogs. As I have said previously, interacting with other bloggers is a great way to keep the community going and get more people interested in your own blog. I've been trying to start this up again more recently, and hope to improve on this in the new year.

Many of the people I starting blogging around the same time as, and many of the blogs I used to follow on a regular basis have either stopped altogether or seen a dramatic reduction in their posts; Confessions of a 40k addict, The Burning Eye, From the Horus Heresy to Infinity and Beyond, From the Fang.

A big shout out to some recent bloggers who have taken up the mantle, producing great content most weeks; Stylus from the Woffboot Chronicles and Redtoof from Redtoof's mostly 40k blog.

I also want to call out some blogs that have continued to go from strength to strength; Old School Gaming, WeeMen and Cascadian Grimdark. If there are any other blogs you think I should be following, please leave a comment and let me know.

Many thanks to all of those that continue to read and comment on the blog on a regular basis, and for helping to keep my motivation up in the past year.

Blog Update

Hi everyone, just wanted to update you all on what is coming up with the blog. The content has been a little light recently for a number of reasons. First up, I am in the process of moving house, so have been busy with that, and have most of my hobby supplies boxed up at the moment! 

I also know that written battle reports have been a little light recently too. The reason for this is that my gaming club is on a Friday night. As a result, I've not been able to attend much recently due to other social commitments. However, in a few weeks, I will be attending the Dark Artisan Open tournament, so will hopefully have some great new battle reports to write up. 

I've also been making some purchases for my Dark Angels Primaris army. I picked up a copy of Shadowspear to add some powerful new elements to the force. I hope to get these painted up in the coming weeks to add some more firepower and mobility to the army. 

You can also check out my articles on Frontline Gaming. I've been writing about my experiences with the Primaris army, as well as a bunch of reviews on the Genestealer Cults. 

Thanks to everyone for continuing to support the blog, you can join the facebook page for more regular updates, as well as the YouTube channel for more video battle reports. 

St Andrews Wargaming- Blog Update

Hi everyone, today I have an update on what is happening with me and the blog in the coming weeks. 

I just wanted to put some thoughts down on what has been happening and what is coming up for St Andrews Wargaming. 

First up, written battle reports have been a bit sparse recently. Don't worry, this is not a waning interest from me on the side of written reports. My games for the battle reports get played at the Spiky Club in Reading on a Friday night. This means that from time to time I don't get a game each week if I am away for the weekend or have plans on the Friday (a rarity, I assure you!). The last few weeks have been a bit sparse through illness and visits home, etc. I'm also going to be busy and away at tournaments for the next few weeks, so reports may be a little light for the coming weeks. 

Don't worry though, I'll be attending the Warfare tournament in Reading and another tournament up in Stockport in November. This means I'll have 10 tournament battle reports to write up come the end of November and December, so plenty of great content to come there. 

St Andrews Wargaming on Warhammer Community!

I've just had an article go up on the Warhammer Community page! 

I was contacted a few months ago to see if I would be interested to write an article for the Warhammer Community page. After thinking about it for a nanosecond, of course I accepted. I wrote up the article you an now read on the page about one of my favourite ways to play the game, maelstrom of war. 

I honestly never thought it was going to be posted, it had been so long. But with a long release schedule, it finally went up today. To say I am happy about this is an extreme understatement! 

New blog toys- Gaming mat and lighting

This week, I picked up a few more toys for my battle reports. The first is a gaming mat. This is an urban combat mat to match my cityfight ruins that I have been painting up in the last week. 

I also picked up a couple of photography lights to help with the lighting on my battle reports. These should hopefully provide much better video battle reports in the future. I've got a game arranged for the weekend, where my Genestealer Cults will be taking on the Night Lords. 

Imperial Knight Valiant Competition Winner

Today, I did the draw for the winner of the Imperial Knight Valiant. 

I had a great 86 people enter the competition, the list of entrants is below:

1. Rory Priest

2. NafNaf

3. WestRider

4. Dave Mary

5. Petar Knevovic

6. Siph_Horridus

7. Joe M

8. Harry Scar

9. Markus Weber

10. Ammar Amjad Khan

11. Will Galloway

12. David MacLellan

13. Simon Campbell

14. James Chalmers

15. Rory Priest

16. Tom Kendrick

17. Kirsten Williams

18. Nathaniel Gibbs

19. Daniel Markfoged Frederikson

20. Joe Ward

21. Nick Thrower

22. Graham Sanders

23. Miles Gabby

24. Jessica Smart

25. Graham Guthrie

26. Marc Van Holst

27. Mick Miller

28. Iapedus Maximus

29. Alex Brown

30. Petar Knevovic

31. Rob Lane

32. Scott Resnick

33. Jessie Howling Wolf Simon

34. Alexander Greenwood

35. Tim Reuter

36. Philip Hargrave

37. Bryn Hill

38. Ed O’Malley

39. Dan Wellington

40. Tabletop Apocalypse

41. Lollo Dix

42. Tarin Almstedt

43. Victor Castillo Jr

44. Corey Croot

45. Joshua Lothar Keggereis

46. Austen M Hansen

47. Ian Connolly

48. Bui Chinh

49. Do Huu Bao Trung

50. HellHenni

51. Aurekta

52. Chinh Bui

53. Padman

54. SDFNet 40k

55. MrBadAndy86

56. Threat Level One

57. Steve Sdfnetfortyk

58. Marti Baker

59. Steven John Pennock

60. Dave Weston

61. Andrew Pelletier

62. Ryan Oestreich

63. Christopher Carmona

64. Skye Illyria Ryan

65. Ian Johnson

66. Spencer Miller

67. Andy Frost

68. Brain Rober

69. Bryan Groves

70. Neil Farley

71. Felix Uelsmann

72. Jonathon Woods

73. Ben David

74. Ed O’Malley

75. Simon Campbell

76. Matthew Coll

77. Ben Wolstenholme

78. Leo Midwinter

79. David Murray

80. Jon Arthur

81. Stu Wolf

82. Daniel Cave

83. Andrew MacTavish

84. Dustin Jones

85. Markus Weber

86. Absurd Sisyphus

The draw video is here:

Congratulations to David MacLellan, who won the Imperial Knight. This awesome Dominus Class will be winging its way to you in the near future. 

Holiday Time!

I'm off! I'll be away on holiday for a couple of weeks. There will still be great content coming up on the blog while I am away, but I may be a bit sporadic in replying to comments in this time. 

I'll be posting the winner of the Imperial Knight Valiant competition when I return, so be sure to enter if you have not yet. 

Enjoy your time without me! 

Blog Giveaway- Win a Knight Valiant!

The past couple of years I have done a Birthday Giveaway for the blog. This is to thank all the wonderful readers and commenters out there who help make this blog what it is and give me great feedback and encouragement to keep going. 

This year's giveaway was a bit delayed, as I wanted to have time to sort out a great prize for one lucky reader out there. Having just finished my Imperial Knight Codex review, I will be giving away one of the new Knight Valiant models. Check out my review of the Knight yesterday to find out how awesome they are, and why you will want to get one! 

In order to win the prize you must do one of the following:

1. Follow on Facebook

Head to the St Andrews Wargaming Facebook page and follow and like it. Comment on the pinned "Win a Knight Valiant" post and answer the same question: What is your favourite model in the 40k range and why? 

2. Follow on Blogger

Add yourself as a Follower of the blog using the Follower box on the right hand side of the blog (if you are not already a follower). Also, please drop me an email at corrm83@gmail.com with your entry and username (this makes it easier to verify the winner). 

Comment below answer the following question: What is your favourite model in the 40k range and why? 

Be sure to sign in when you comment below. Otherwise, your name will come up as Anonymous and your entry won't be counted. If your screen name is different to your follower name, let me know in the comment so that I can find you. 

For those of you using the mobile site, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "View Web Version" in order to see the Follower app and to sign up. 

Competition Rules:

The competition will end on Thursday 13th September at 9.00 am, so get your entries in before then. (EDIT- the original rules said Thursday 13th August, instead of Thursday 13th September. Apologies for the error, I wanted the competition to run for more than 4 days!). 

When the competition is closed, I will pick one follower at random, who has answered the question, to win the Knight Valiant. You are free to enter the competition on both Blogger and Facebook if you wish, doubling your chances of winning the prize. 

I am willing to pay postage values up to £10 GBP to send the Knight to the winner, so please bear this in mind if you are entering from abroad and are likely to have high postage costs to send you the Knight (I'm not made of money, unfortunately!). 

So there you have it, simple enough! Get entering and spread the word! 

New Blog- UK 40k Tournaments

Today I wanted to introduce you to a new venture that I have decided to embark upon, a blog called UK 40k Tournaments. 

I frequently get asked where I find out about the tournaments that I attend and write about on the blog. Most of these come from Facebook or from speaking to other gamers and bloggers, but finding out about them can be quite random and just depends on whether they pop up in your feed. 

I decided to try and put together a resource for gamers in the UK to find out about events that are occurring across the country, so I made a new blog, UK 40k Tournaments. 

If you are a budding tournament novice or a seasoned tournament veteran, please check out the site and let me know what you think. I am hoping to grow this as a site that players will look to to find out about events in their area and provide links and information on the events.

One of the features of the blog I want to highlight is the tournament map section. This highlights all of the tournaments listed on the blog and gives you a quick way to find any events in your area. 

With that in mind, I'm asking readers and other bloggers to help me spread information on the new blog. Encourage your local TO to get in touch to provide information on their events. If you have any details on an event that you are attending, please let me know so that I can update it. 

If you have any suggestions on the format of the site, or what you would like to see, please let me know. You can contact me at uk40ktournaments@gmail.com

St Andrews Wargaming turns 3 years old!

Today, St Andrews Wargaming turns 3 years old. 

It's hard to believe its only been 3 years since I started this blog, and even harder to believe a time before I spent so much of my free time writing for it! 

Over the last 3 years, I've written around 620 posts on the blog. That equates to about one post every two days. Hard to believe that I've got that much to say on any topic, never mind 40k! Added to the almost 170 posts for Frontline Gaming, I'll say that has been a pretty productive 3 years. 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and comment on the blog. I hope the blog continues to grow over the coming years. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, or anything you would like to see on the blog in the coming years, just let me know. 

New blog toy- Lightbox

A new toy for improving my photos on the blog arrived yesterday, a Lightbox. 

I've been thinking about getting one for a while, and several readers have suggested that it would improve the quality of my photos. As I have been making an effort to improve my painting skills, it is only right that I try to improve my photos as well to showcase my new talents! 

I purchased the lightbox after seeing @craig_paints talk about it on twitter. The one I bought was a TFJ studio LED lightbox. It was only £16.99 on Amazon, which seemed like a real bargain for me. 

Here are some test photos that I took when it arrived. 

Lightbox and camera phone. 

St Andrews Wargaming Facebook page

I've finally got round to setting up a Facebook page for the blog. Hopefully, this will allow me to engage more with those of you reading the blog, as well as share more regular updates and chat. It will also allow me to share other great content from fellow bloggers and Youtube videos that I am viewing. 

If you are interested, please follow the link to join in! 

Sprue Grey Feature- Secret Origins

This week, I was fortunate enough to be featured on Secret Origins by Adam at Sprue Grey. 

This is a new feature he has started where wargamers get to tell the readers a bit about their start in gaming. If you are interested in my own gaming origins, check out the article to see where it all started for St Andrews Wargaming. 

He is also looking for people to take part, so leave a comment on the article if you are interested in doing so. 

Warhammer 40k Bloggers facebook group

Just a quick post today to let you know about what will hopefully be a great new facebook group for those that write 40k blogs and those that love 40k blogs. 

Nick from the Burning Eye blog has set up a new group to further promote 40k blogs and blogging. Rather than muddle it up, here are Nick's own words on what he hopes to achieve:

"Greetings all! Welcome to my new plan (the first of many in 2018).

From what I’ve seen, we’ve all seen a bit of a downturn in views this year, and so this is my attempt to make an effort at halting that trend.

What I want therefore is for you all to post links to your blog articles here, with a little précis of the topic as an intro. That’s not all though, I also want you to invite all your blogging friends to join the group and do the same, and anyone you know who enjoys reading blogs, even if they don’t have their own.

Send a message to us with your blog’s homepage (and an idea of your content themes) and we’ll look into creating a master list available as a page on our own blog and linked to this group where you can search for new authors to follow."

Facebook is a great resource for sharing hobby content and blog posts. A lot of facebook groups don't like you posting blog links at all or very often, but this group appears to be specifically geared towards that. This is great and you can join it knowing exactly what you will be getting there. I'm hoping to find some great new blogs to follow and content to keep up with. 

Click the link to find out more and join up!

St Andrews Wargaming- 2017 in review

For me, 2017 has been a great year for 40k, and it has been a pretty good year for St Andrews Wargaming too. I'm going to take a look at what has happened in the last year for me and for the blog.

Hobby Content
This has been a good year hobby wise for me. At the start of the year, I was well in progress on painting up my Deathwatch army. I had started this force towards the end of 2016 and kept at it as the year began. This was helped along by taking part in Squaduary, allowing me to engage in the community scheme to get a unit painted up in February.

In September, I completed the army and posted a showcase of the force. I was really happy with how the army turned out, becoming quite a sizeable force when it was completed. I was also very happy to receive a best army nomination at one of the tournaments that I attended.

St Andrews Wargaming- On the Move (Again!)

Haven't I just done this?!? Yes, yet again, I will be on the move. I recently got a new job down in Oxford, so will be moving further south later this month to start my new career. 

Fortunately, this is now a permanent job (at least, as permanent as possible in this day and age), so shouldn't have to move again for a while! I'm hoping to get set up with a new gaming club fairly quickly, there are plenty of games of 8th edition still to be played! 

Content may be a bit sparse until I get set up, but fortunately I have a bit of a backlog of battle reports to keep the blog going in the meantime. 

Blog Milestones- 500 Edition

This week the blog has hit two major milestones that I wanted to highlight. 

Thanks to Dave at Confession of a 40k addict for his great images once more.

First up, my 500th post was up on the blog at the weekend. At around two and a half years old, I'm surprised I've had that much to talk about! 

Secondly, yesterday the blog hit over 500,000 views. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read the blog and comment on my articles. It really is the feedback and interaction with all the great bloggers and readers out there that keeps me coming back and posting on such a regular basis. 

On a side note, I would encourage you all to keep commenting on all the great 40k blogs that you read. A simple "Great work" or "nice post" makes all the difference, especially when you are just starting out in blogging. It is great encouragement to keep young blogs going. 

Don't worry, this slightly egotistical post is not all you are getting today, my Space Marine codex review will continue this afternoon with the review of the mammoth Elites section of the new book.