MiniatureWargaming recently got a nice note of thanks from Phillip Jones for an earlier posting on his napoleonic rules set, Elan:
Hi
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve just been told that over 2100 downloads of Élan Deluxe have occurred in the first week its been up on the deepfriedhappymice site!
So its gone out with a bang alright!!
So, my sincere thanks for help making that possible.
Best wishes
Phillip
The moral of the story is that if you have a set of rules, or a neat website, or anything else to offer free to the wargaming community, MiniatureWargaming dot com is the place to promote it. And if you have a document, but don't have a website, I can host it here for you. In either case, just send an email.
MWG now is now experimenting with banner advertising. There will be a free trial run for a limited number of advertisers until September 1, 2004. To learn more, contact the editor.
And, if while you're visiting, you DON'T see an ad at the top, please let me know. I need to find out if this thing is working for anyone but me.
Thanks
MiniatureWargaming dot Com has reached 50,000 hits!
This site has been open since March 22 and reached 25,000 hits on June 14. So that's 25,000 hits in the last month alone!
Thanks to everyone who has visited. I started the blog with the intention of organizing and sharing the links in my "Favorites" folder. I originally thought it might take a year to reach the 50,000 hits mark. It has turned out to be more popular than I imagined.
Next on my list of goals for the site: 500 posts and 100,000 hits.
As always, constructive comments and criticisms are welcome.
Miniature Wargaming dot Com achieved another milestone yesterday when more than 1,500 hits were logged in a single day.
Thus, another of my goals was achieved. Other goals: 500 postings (I think I'll get there in September), average 1,000 daily hits (well on the way); get to 50,000 total hits (probably September); score 25,000 hits in a month.
Ultimate goal: become the number one stop for useful information for miniature wargamers.
More site news:
Miniature Wargaming has had visits from 55 different countries, listed here in order of the number of visits: United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, US Military Bases, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Netherlands, Italy, France, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Greece, Poland, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Singapore, Brazil, Norway, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, Luxembourg, Iceland, Russian Federation, Ireland, Croatia, Estonia, Israel, Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Indonesia, Guatemala, Belarus, Hong Kong, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Yugoslavia, Chile, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovak Republic, Fiji and Slovenia.
On the heels of breaking the 25,000 hits mark, Monday set a new record for hits in a day: 650+ I don' t have the exact number yet -- my counting service hasn't sent me the official daily report yet. But the graph clearly shows 650+
Huzzah!
Sometime during last night's Pistons-Lakers game, Miniature Wargaming dot Com reached a milestone: 25,000 hits since its creation on March 22, 2004.
Right now, the site is averaging more than 400 page views a day. Its not much in comparison to The Miniatures Page, but I think its a good start. Even better: When you type Miniature Wargaming into Google, the site comes up second only to the mighty TMP. Google searches on other wargaming terms regularly turn up MiniatureWargaming dot Com in the first 10 sites.
Most interesting to me is that most of my traffic is from first timers. My "repeat" (people who have visited in the last 30 days) traffic has been holding steady at around 180 - 200 page views a day since the site's inception. As the weeks have gone by, however, the steady increase in visitors has been mostly a result of people coming in through Google and Yahoo searches.
I don't know what to make of this, though. I post new stuff several times a day. Is this not enough to get people to stop by on a regular basis? My -- purely ego driven -- goal is to get to 1,000 daily page views. My -- more altruistic -- goal is to have a site that neatly categorizes as much wargaming material as possible; to become a one-stop site for gamers looking for information.
Constructive criticism and advice is always welcome!
Miniature Wargaming began as an attempt to organize all of the links to wargames resources that I had acquired over the years. I chose the ‘blog format because: 1) it allowed me to enter the links and descriptions as time permitted 2) I could easily group things into categories 3) the links and descriptions were searchable and 4) I could access the links from anywhere I had an internet connection.
Over the last year, MiniatureWargaming has evolved into a massive project, with more than a thousand links to free wargames rules, figure painting and modeling advice, terrain construction tips, free paper figures and terrain, battle reports, product reviews and more.
Each of the links is categorized, and the database is fully searchable. So if you’re looking for free wargames resouces, this is the place to start.
I’m always looking for new material—especially free wargames rules, paper figures and terrain, and painting and modeling advice for fellow wargamers. If you’ve created something that you’d like to share with the wargaming community, use the contact form to send me an email.
The only caveat is that I don’t do commercial announcements in the main blog. If you wish to send such an announcement, you could visit the Miniature Wargaming Bazaar and follow the instructions there.
I also need help keeping the links on this site up to date. If you find a broken link, please send me an email, or use the comments link below the postings.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
