Thoughts on blogging, facebooking & foruming?

"What's the point in all this facebooking, foruming & blogging?"

Napoleon didn't have to grapple with this shIT...
Not my picture, it's just always amused me.

This might seem like a negative title for a post but it's actually inspired by a private message I was sent by a reader in response to a recent post. To my knowledge the sender has never commented before & to be honest I haven't checked to see if they are a "follower" or not. The point is that they took some considerable time to write to me with quite a long missive which in part looks like this...

"Your blog is colossal mate - your mention of old Wargames Illustrated WGHC stuff brought a smile. That's always been what I've wanted to aim for since I was a kid and saw Charles Grants rules in the library. The latest post is a walk through memory lane, and as you say, painting & sculpting has changed but these still have a great look! The battles you and your mates play are fantastic...

...so keep the blog going, you had an extended break but I still kept coming back for inspiration."

For a while I have been halfheartedly wrestling with some questions about why I write this blog or why I don't sometimes write this blog! Over the last couple of years other more immediate social media platforms have taken some of the limelight in our hobby, notably facebook groups, instagram, pintrest & youtube. Lastly we still have the old school forum - the hotbed of creativity & positive energy - I jest. I have flirted with some of these, you may have seen that I post links to the blog on some facebook Napoleonic pages & some forums too. Pintrest & instgram, at my three daughters behest. Twitter I stay well clear of of although no doubt there is some gaming content there too.

Austro Hungarian senior officers.

The reason I have done this is simply to grow followers & likes by driving viewers to the blog to get them to comment or follow it - pretty simple. However a harsh truth is this - facebook followers will often like the post on fb, maybe even comment, but given the speed of response they cannot possibly have visited the blog let alone looked at the pictures or read a single word. Facebook likes will often outnumber site visits. Facebook seems very transitory to me, there's no sense of a permanent archive, no long reports or discussion. Many thanks to those who do visit Marauder Moments though.

The forums generally leave me a little cold... I have loyally supported the General de Brigade forum for years but it seems increasingly like an echo chamber! The General d'Armee forum seems to be on the Lardies website but to be honest I can't be bothered with it! I used to post on TMP but not for a long time now, it's not as toxic as some imagine but it doesn't float my boat.

I still read plenty of blogs but sadly the two which launched this blog are now largely defunct or void of fresh Napoleonic material, they are;-

https://itinerantwargamer.blogspot.com/
&
http://garagegamer.blogspot.com/

The moving image

I was impressed with Dave Brown's youtube films introducing GdA to the gaming world - great stuff. Youtube is where it's at for modern gamers, if you play 40k the content is limitless & very professionally done. It's funny, informative, critical & very detailed in reviews & previews. People are making a damn good living out of playing 40k on youtube!!! To my knowledge nothing like that exists for Napoleonic players, nor I suspect will there be! I'd love to do that but the tech is beyond me & I suspect the prospect of we Marauders in a cellar drinking & swearing while playing toys on film might not inspire! I don't think youtube is ready for that yet.

Russian Tony demolishing French champagne with ease.

Chris & I after the Attack show in Devizes one fine summer day. 

French Tony recording casualties & supping ale.
Might he resurface in 2019? I hope so!

So what am I driving at? My attempt to win more followers & more comments leaves me a bit hollow - I have known this for along time if I 'm honest - I already have great readers. What gives me greatest pleasure is the kind of feedback in the comment above; heart felt appreciation for what we do and how we say it. I have a hardcore of most excellent followers who very kindly comment and usually in glowing terms. Thank you.

Foundry Prussians from my collection assault a burning village. 

The person I quoted above makes three really solid points, the first & third are linked. It really is a "colossal" blog! It wasn't always so, I remember the first posts literally being seen by no one except my chums! This is my ninth year and the content has ballooned. I have never been one to post every time I get a new book or toy, I don't do WIP posts & try to avoid personal or non Napoleonic material although not always. This means that the meat and bones is big battle reports with lots of pretty pictures - exactly what I would want to read. Sometimes I do new unit posts too, those seem popular. Those usually get done when basing is completed in my kitchen. I am half planning to do another Vogue post this time the Moscow edition! I'd like to do a photo shoot of my Russian Life Guard and another far larger shoot of Tony's Russians. My point is once again that this is what I'd want to see on a blog.

Tony's Russian army needs a big photo shoot sometime soon. 

My new friends second point is the "memory lane" thing. I seem to have struck a chord with lots of people when mentioning old skool gaming & modelling of the Gilder variety. In that spirit I may do a few posts showcasing the pictures from those early magazines which featured his Napoleonics & articles - copyright be damned. Those few pages printed decades ago made all this happen. Imagine if there had been an internet back then... And yes, my mates and our battle are fantastic!

The Gilder effect.
Pic taken at Mark Freeth's Wargames Holiday Centre, scenery & collection mostly by Peter Gilder. 

 
The last point mystery person makes is that they "...still kept coming back for inspiration."

That makes this all the more worth while. I know from the back end management side of the blog that an awful lot of people still find us and comeback to delve through old articles & pictures. It tickled me recently to see my Neapolitan Guard pictured beside a uniform plate on a painters post, he was asking which was correct, my rendition or the plate! Last week I saw someone else I don't know had shared my post to a third party page - I found myself liking it! 

Austrian cavalry massing outside a walled city near the Danube 1809. 

There in lies the answer to why I write this blog - I like it.
It pleases me. I will endeavour to continue to do so. I like looking back at our games, rereading the nonsense I write & looking the pretty pictures. I may even finish the Borodino & Sofonova reports one day, maybe.

French light cavalry & horse artillery from Rich's collection.

Rich - honorary Marauder, retired.

The feckless chase for followers & likes isn't for me anymore, I would rather know we have 20 people who actively engage with the content again & again as if it's a resource of some sort.

Long serving Marauder Moments vets will no doubt object to Mr Grumpy's replacement at the head of our Bavarians. 

Maybe no one will read this as much is me thinking aloud. Suffice to say there is plenty more content in me and plenty more games to play with the Marauders. There is even a massive new project underway but more of that when it's ready - I don't do WIP posts.   

Work in progress post which I don't do of course. 

                         

All my posts are strictly Napoleonic wargame related.

Many thanks for indulging me in this post if you got this far & your support - you amaze me!
Special thanks to the guy who pm'd me as above, be assured;
"The best is yet to come." 

Stay safe, Jeremy