2014: Hobby year in review

Hello Friends!  A new year has begun and I was inspired a bit by fettFace over on Back on the Battlewagon to do a review of my blog over the past year.  I also wanted to take a peak at where I stand on my 2014/2015 Hobby goals and decide if I want to scrap anything or add anything.  Time to break out the Way Back Machine and take a look at the Mad Mek's year!

A BLOG WAS BORN:

I am not the most computer savvy person.   I played flash games on my Facebook and never used Twitter.  I'm not sure what Reddit is and I have never participated in a Snap Chat.  Up until 2014, I had never read another blog.  I'm in my 30's!  This is silly!  Why on earth would I decide to do something so different from what I was used to?  

Like most of us, I was brought into this hobby by friends of mine.  They had been playing 40k while I was living out-of-state, and when I returned, they wanted me to play.  I was a huge Magic the Gathering player at the time.  I have been to Grand Prix and I have a significant investment in that game both with time and money.  My best friends eventually got me into the game with Orks.  The first model I ever built by myself in my entire life up until that point was my Looted Wagon.

I had never done anything like this before, so I took a lot of inspiration from a Google image search.  When I was searching, I kept finding all sorts of random blogs. Amazing stuff from this great community.  People who are so willing to share what they have done, despite a very real chance of ridicule and rejection.  I was amazed by the community.  I decided that I wanted to become a part of it.  So in March of 2014, the Mad Mek's Workshop was born.

POST IT!

I have had a chance to interact with a lot of different people because of this blog.  People from all over the world in fact.  Thank you! Especially those who take the time to post comments.  Comments are the thing that lets us bloggers know that our voice is being heard.  People like Greggles who go out of their way to post on tons of blogs, provide fuel to keep the ideas flowing.  I have been lucky to have people like Marc and Benjamin, post comments on a regular basis, it is especially flattering when you see the caliber of work that those two produce!  Thanks again!

I had 41 posts in 2014.  My first post was on March 21st, the first comment I received was on June 13th from none other than Colonel Winterborne who has an amazing body of work.  I remember how excited I was about it.  My next comment didn't come until August when Dave Weston graced the workshop.  That was a turning point for the blog.  I decided to do the 2014/2015 Hobby Season Challenge and in the process, was introduced to a lot of inspiring gamers and hobbyists.  More traffic started coming to my own blog and I put up a blogroll of my own.  I have been pretty lucky with some very decent traffic.  Now I just need some more followers!  I have 3 so far.

So far my post with the highest traffic has been Anthropology 1302 (Re-Post) with an amazing 556 pageviews!

 TO DONE LIST

I set some pretty lofty goals for my hobby to-do list.  I have finished a few things and still have plenty more left to do.  On the modeling side, Mad Mek Screwbitz is done, so are my weirdboyz (Next post!), and the Big Mek with KFF on a bike.  I need to finish the Tanks Bustas, Painboy on a bike, Stormboyz, Battlewagons, and Kanz (6 more).

Painting-wise I finished the Gorkanaut, and I need to figure out how many boyz I have painted for my Green Tide.  The scariest thing on the paint list is the Stompa and I don't think I can stop building long enough to prime everything... I think I am going to dump the priming goal for something else.

I just had an idea!  You tell me what should go on the list:

1) Screwbitz

2) Weirdboyz (all three)

3) My first Looted Wagon

I will count the votes and add the winner to the list.  I will move it to the top of the queue as well.

WAAAGH!

All in all, 2014 was a great year for me.  I was introduced to a wonderful hobby and an amazing community.  So again, I would like to thank everyone that has read this blog.  The pleasure I get from knowing that people are reading what I have to say is incredible.  For those of you with blogs of your own, keep writing and Thank you for Sharing.

The Mad Mek