Ah, that would have been an ok picture without the washing line in it. Oh well.
This blog started over a decade ago. I was embarking on my 40K project - Devos IV to provide a backdrop for my games which had a touch of realism to it, even if it was a Forge World realism, rather than a real realism.
My internet searches showed me blogs by other hobbyists. Encouraged by feedback from Karitas and Admiral Drax, upon whose blogs I commented, I began the creation of the armies and scenary for Devos IV and the story of the rebellion or insurrection, depending on your point of view.
The next few years put me touch with hobbyists from elsewhere in the world, notably the USA and Austrailia. I've been helped and encouraged by others and hopefully have managed a bit of helping and encouraging myself along the way. I won a Liebster once for Devos IV, so that's a highlight.
I suppose the height of 40K blogging was the From The Warp blogging circle. But the guy running that burned out or found something else which sucked up more of his time. Gradually other bloggers stopped blogging, overtaken by Real Life or other games systems which were not as cartoonish and awkward as later editions of 40K seemed to be. Like most the FW books, Devos IV is rooted in 5ed.
I think a lot of people transistioned to Instagram and so on.
It's been over a year since I posted on here. I'm still modelling and painting and obviously had an idea of where the Devos IV was going. If you've been a long time follower, hopefully the sense of 'impending acheivement of imperial war aims' will have come through the writing. Not as expensive in blood and treasure as Vraks, but nowhere near as long, either.
Why am I writing this ? If there's anyone out there who was interested in this blog, perhaps you might be interested to know that the hordes of little men grow every bigger and that the cadres of giant killer robots are still getting inadequate but homogenous paint jobs. Or they will, once I get around to it.
I may end up posting again. And do hope that anyone who ever read this found it interesting or amusing or it gave some small spark of pleasure or inspiration.
And of course, an annual post keeps it where I can find it, in case I win the lottery and can afford to turn it into a book.
I was also lamenting the slow erosion of the hobby blogging space to myself recently. It's something I'm also hoping to get back into over the next year (Real Life depending!) I've always hoped that as people get more and more disillusioned with social media they would (re)turn to blogs to post their thoughts and pictures instead.
ReplyDeleteBlogging takes more time than a photo on a smartphone and adding a hashtag... unfortunately. I like the thoughts and even recipes or bits and a window to the soul of the hobbyist... I continue to post at WeeMen, but also cross post the same to IG, less so now Reddit as that was always so toxic for some reason... but yes I also lament the loss of the blogger community, hopefully they don't pull the plug before I can save it all somewhere as its my entire hobby journey!
ReplyDeleteMy son was watching something on YouTube and the 'influencer' said "remember when blogging was a thing?", I felt personally attacked.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy posting on my blogs, but nowadays it largely feels more and more like I do it for myself more than anything. A kind of record of my hobby. The recent Ai bot page-hit onslaught aside, my views have been scraping bottom for quite some time. The days of the old house of paincakes blog group was probably the height of my viewership.
Nowadays I can post a full length, detailed battle report and get 14 views. Whereas a blurb and a few pics on Instagram will garner about the same for a fraction of the effort, and the same blurb and a few pics will go vaguely viral in a facebook group. I recently had a FP post hit 450+ likes with dozens of comments (my blog would kill for that kind of engagement!).
That makes my blogs feel like they are going the way of the dinosaurs. :-(
I retired my blog so many years ago now, life moved on and I could no longer create enough output to even post every half year. Its been sad to see the sphere dwindle but I guess that's just how things are now. I do still occasionally post on the BeardBunker run by friends but even that is rare.
ReplyDeleteI still keep many defunct blogs in my feed just in case they awaken so I'll still see if you ever post again. Maybe one day we'll learn just what did happen on Devos IV.
I'm still about. Lurking now more often than participating. My own blog is sadly tepid and unloved. (I even have a post draft half-typed sat waiting for me that I just haven't had time or energy to complete and publish.)
ReplyDeleteBut it's always a treat to see when blogs I follow and that I like are updated here and there. Blogging in general though..... yeah, a dying artform.