I had meant this to be my 200th post, but something went a bit awry and this is actually my 201st. Anyway, 200-odd posts seems a suitable point at which to take stock of where things stand on this blog and highlight a couple of important developments.
Readers will have noticed the lack of newly painted AWI figures on this forum, and many will know that this is because over the past few weeks I have been hard at work on two new periods - the First Carlist War and the English Civil War. Both are periods that I have been drawn to for a while. Whereas in the past I have found it very difficult to leave the AWI for other periods, the occasional foray excepted, this time I have found it very difficult to return to the AWI after settling in to something different. I have almost 80 FCW figures painted up now and my first ECW regiment is also nearly finished, together with a couple of guns and some personalities. I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm currently enjoying a leave of absence from the AWI.
A second issue of importance is that, all going well, in December I will become a father. That will obviously have a huge impact on my painting output and it made me realise that I want to squeeze in a couple of small collections for new periods prior to the shutters coming down on or around 3 December. So that is another factor in a drift away from the AWI. A third factor is that, after 5 years of almost total concentration on the one period, I am simply running out of things to paint for the AWI. I could continue to paint every British and Hessian regiment that appeared, but given the impending chimes of midnight that doesn't really seem a good use of my time. I worked out the other week that there are really only a dozen more AWI units I would want to do, and I would rather paint them at leisure over the next couple years, as and when I have a need for them, than rush them all through this year.
So where does that leave this blog? In a way, that's largely the reason behind this post because I would like to know what readers would rather see: a halt to this blog and a new one started on my new periods, or a continuation of this blog but with far less AWI content and far more other stuff. I can see merit in both approaches. For example, the attraction of having a blog solely on the First Carlist War (to show what a colourful and interesting period it is) is balanced by a concern that many people won't bother looking at it. Then again, it's easier to manage everything in one place. It did occur to me that all 3 periods are civil wars, and I thought perhaps I could tweak the title of the blog to reflect that. There will be more AWI posts, just not nearly as frequently as before (perhaps once a month). So if you have a view either way, please let me know; and if you want to see the new stuff I have about 6 posts' worth already!