Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

It’s exactly a year since I started this blog.  I thought I’d do a little reminiscing on the 1st birthday.   When I started I didn’t have any vision or aspirations other than using it as a hobby diary.  It was a place to document my hobby activity and air my hobby ramblings.  I’ve stuck to that, only posting when I’ve completed a piece of work and there's only been an occasional rambling, thankfully any readers would say.  And I’m pleased to say there has been some readers.  OK I can’t tell if anyone has actually read anything, but at least they’ve looked and there’s been well over 12,500 visits which isn’t too bad.  I’m fully aware that most of my interests are “talk about niche" as someone on TMP pointed out.  Niche within a niche hobby - I’m happy with that.  My hobby world doesn’t currently include the perennial favourites of Napoleonics, American Civil War, anything Games Workshop related or the Normandy campaign of WW2.  And t...

I always listened to music when painting but during the extended time at home I've turned more and more to podcasts and YouTube.  Perhaps since my social contact has been so reduced it's a need that is being fulfilled.  I'm amazed at how much wargames stuff is out there.   I'm playing catch up but I'm especially fond of The Yarkshire Gamer aka. Ken Reilly's output.  All of his updates are interesting and the marathon Reet Big Wargames Podcasts where he interviews people from the hobby are particularly worth catching.   Ken sounds like the sort of chap that you could have a great chat and a nice cup of tea with (it'd have to be Yarkshire mind) or probably something a bit stronger.  Although his main thing is great big battles with 28mm figures and a number of players (which through various reasons is almost the polar opposite of  where I'm at), his collection is inspirational and his enthusiasm and warmth shine through.   ...