Yes, the Palouse Wargaming Journal reaches "Lucky" 13 years on the blogging front. For stats, PWJ is up to 335 Followers (a number that rarely changes), 1,809 Posts, and 56,964 Comments. For me, these anniversaries often bring up a time of reflection on what has passed before.
The blogging landscape has seen change over these past thirteen years, no doubt. When PWJ began in late 2012, the wargame blogging community was already in full bloom and quite active. I likely arrived late to the party and, perhaps, unfashionably so. Still, I pressed on even as trends began to show a shift from blogging to other forms of social media. Over these thirteen years, wargaming blogs came and went with the balance tipping in favor of those leaving the platform. After thirteen years, I continue to press on. How much longer? Well, that is a good question to occasionally ask myself.
These reflections often bring up a number of lingering questions that regularly circulate through my mind. One rumination (of many) on this anniversary brought me back to the post I wrote more than two years ago on how battle reports are read (see Reporting from the Front: How are Battle Reports Read).
Blogging our individual, wargaming journeys can enrich the hobby by documenting research, painting progress, and battle reports, allowing community feedback and camaraderie. Battle reporting, while only one facet of wargame blogs, has become a significant weapon in the blogging arsenal. For the PWJ, battle reporting focus can be quantified by the number (and frequency) of battle reports chronicled here. Yet, as I remarked in my post in the link above, "Almost always, the chronicling of the battle report takes longer than actually playing the game". This raises potentially troubling questions about priorities: are we playing games and chronicling them for enjoyment or to create content? Prioritization takes on added importance when many self-confessing readers simply skim or entirely skip a featured battle report.
When the creation of content becomes more time-consuming than the activity itself, we must question whether the tail is wagging the dog. For some bloggers, playing may feel more like a chore or performance rather than a rich narrative journey. On one hand, sharing battle reports and game narratives online expands the hobby’s community and can provide motivation for getting figures to the table. On the other hand, some might argue this sharing encourages a "sound bite" culture, where quick posts, highlights, and visual snapshots overshadow deep engagement and storytelling.
Does the desire to chronicle our games diminish the lived experience of playing by encouraging players to focus more on photo-ready moments and quick, digestible content rather than deep, immersive play? Does the pressure to document and share experiences fundamentally alter how we approach gaming? Are we optimizing battle reports for easily digestible sound bites and visual moments geared toward online consumption rather than personal enjoyment and narrative development?
This shift toward brevity may reflect broader changes in human attention patterns. Blogging and social media have played a role in this evolution. The desire to frequently post crisp and brief highlights may overshadow the contemplation in immersive play and narrative building. In effect, the attention span of even committed and engaged readers may be shortened unintentionally. Nonetheless, a number of blogs I regularly visit emphasize detailed battle reports and nuanced storytelling, suggesting that the value placed on the journey is still alive, at least among certain circles. Personally, this journey value is especially true for those hosting a game wherein players have the flexibility to concentrate on strategy and tactics while the umpire handles the mechanisms of game play, adjudication, and the writing of an unbiased battle account. To answer an early question, are we playing games and writing about them for enjoyment or to create content? Perhaps both factors play a role, but I find chronicling battles as a prose narrative an enjoyable pursuit and a way to preserve history. Hopefully, players and readers agree.
Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI agree blog posts can take a significant amount of time to create, especially if it includes photos.
Some blog posts can be very long; if it's something I'm not that interested in, I skim through it. Others however, can resonate and even if long be read in total.
Many people argue blogging is passed; I too was late to blogging.
The real question is what is the purpose of blogging or what does it provide?
I'd argue it's a mixture of sharing what you are doing and a record for yourself of what you've done. Battle reports probably need to be a mixture of both, but balance a step by step approach with a more exciting summary.
Photos and or maps can help to explain or save words, but probably are more often just an eye candy illustration.
Keep on at it, if only for yourself!
Neil
Thanks for your feedback, Neil! I understand skimming vs reading and level of interest trade-off well. Yes, the main purpose of blogging ought to be for self-satisfaction and keeping a journal of any progress on the hobby front.
DeleteCongrats on the 13 years Jonathan, a blog I enjoy reading. I find blogging is a balance, I concentrate on what I'm painting, more for my own records and eventually building up to a game. I tend to keep reports brief and rely on photos to tell the story. Again this more a personal thing as I like to look back on old games
ReplyDeleteThanks, Neil! Blogging is a balance but a balance between all of the other facets or wargaming and life, itself. I enjoy returning to old battle reports too.
DeleteI blog primarily to share enthusiasms with like minded players and to provide a (hopefully balanced) opinion on rules, figures and the like. I also use the blog to record things that I may need to come back to at a later date. To be honest my target audience is me, or people similar enough to me to enjoy what I write and the way that I write it. I do enjoy researching topics to gain a better understanding of aspects of what we aim to reproduce on the table top and sometimes the time spent in assembling the information far outweighs the time spent writing it up. I post those items both to provide that information to others and in a small way to say 'hey look at what I created'!
ReplyDeleteYes there are times where it takes longer for me to create a post than the event I'm describing took, be that a game or a painting session. Other times I can create a blog post which has little or no sunk time behind it as it's a simple post about something I have been considering but haven't actually done.
Overall, I like longer posts with more detailed content over short sharp pieces, but that may just be me.
You have the correct mindset for blogging! If you are not in it primarily for your own benefit and enjoyment, the task can become a job. We ought to avoid that.
DeleteWell done on 13 years worth of blogging. Writing battle reports can sometimes turn into a chore as they will take more time the game itself. I have found I have increasingly moved to writing shorter narrative reports, often glossing over some of the game’s detail (which may also be a failing memory and poor note taking). I take this approach as I enjoy writing these types of reports, rather than the blow by blow reports. This maybe because as a solo player in the main, I always have a narrative running through my mind as I play the game.
ReplyDeleteI do find myself reading other’s game reports of all styles, but do rely on photos to keep myself orientated to the action being described.
Thank you, Peter! I enjoy the narrative approach to battle report writing as well. I rarely discuss dice, probabilities or even rules mechanisms in detail. Your battle reports are a good mix of photos and narrative. I like 'em!
DeleteFirstly, congratulations on your blogging anniversary.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I found this post very interesting. It raised issues I've often considered.
My battle reports are very different in style and very brief. I do this because I only report my competition games, and this involve at least three, and sometime five games, and I don't think my readers will "stay the course" of so many long reports. Even so, I still find my reports getting longer and taking some considerable time to prepare.
I now use a template with the following headings:
[1] Introduction - travel, venue etc
[2] Summary table - date, theme, army, list, event size, & results
[3] By the numbers - assessment of my army based on global stats
[4] Strategy & review - general points only
[5] Game #1 - mugshot, tabulated data on game & very brief comments
[6] Closing remarks -
The sections make it easier to write the report. Everything is either data or small chunks of text. I hope this helps the reader too.
Example: https://blog.vexillia.me.uk/2025/05/adlg-northern-league-round-2-manchester.html
Anyway, keep on blogging.
Thank you, Martin! I would enjoy seeing your thoughts on some of the issues raised in this post. Hint, hint!
DeleteTemplates are a good way to avoid scope creep and keep yourself on task. While I tend to use an unwritten, baseline format that is consistent across battle reports, there can be variation. Often times, length is dictated by the number of photos taken as I try to give narrative to each photo! Culling and curating photos to include can be a lengthy task in itself.
Congrats Jonathan, I've also been around for a similar amount of time. For me there is a tradeoff in time and energy, so whether or not I report a battle or is dependent on how well covered I think the battle/system is already, plus personal interest, and I generally I only bother with historical refights. Some of these I provide more detailed breakdowns for (e.g. force lists), others just briefer narratives. Blogging still can't be beat for quality wargaming material in my view, especially if you are looking to refight a scenario, then blogs give much better info than other wargamer content.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mark! I like to chronicle each game as a tribute to the effort players put into each game. I agree that blogging is my preferred form. I really cannot get into watching wargaming videos and I follow no other social media.
DeleteJonathan,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the thirteen years blogging , quite an accomplishment. Your mix of reviews, data from questionnaires, painting reports, cycling and of course the battle reports always offers something. Interesting to me is the posting speed with with you started and accelerated to nearly one every three days, quite consistently for over ten years now. I always enjoy a stop at your listing, sometimes the subject matter is away from my comfort zone--then I learn something about another period of warfare! Looking forward to many more of your posts.
Cordially,
Joe
Oh, on the AAR's and blogging. Most games are not related, nominally the Napoleonic and WW2, end the gsme at the original
ReplyDeleteWell done on reaching 13 years of blogging, a milestone reached. I came very late to blogging and only blog when I have the time to do it but I do enjoy it and enjoy documenting my usually failed attempts at various projects but I enjoy it none the less. You always read about how blogging is dead but there is still plenty of wargaming and gaming in general blogs out there so I tend to ignore this statement. As for battle reports I always find them interesting usually some great eye candy but also you always get a feel for a set of rules and how players tactics work or don't. Anyway once more congratulations and here's to the next 13 years!
ReplyDeleteI will add my congratulations on your 13 year anniversary and also my appreciation for all the effort that goes into writing and producing the individual posts. I enjoy all your content.
ReplyDeleteI realise I have just reached my 12th anniversary but have not been able to match your output in quantity or quality. But I still enjoy adding to my blog. You must also enjoy yours as well.
I believe that we are part of a kind community of wargame bloggers, not large perhaps, but nonetheless a great additional way to enjoy our hobby.
I think it is very difficult to find the perfect game report. Writing styles, ability, and available time all impact the result, as does the purpose - to explain to a reader or just to remind yourself. I appreciate any report I read, if only for the effort made to produce it.
Anyway, I hope you keep blogging 😁
I have never warmed to Facebook and find that it is just too hard to follow. Items of interest seem to disappear and I can never find them again without having to scroll through a lot of things I am not interested in.
ReplyDeleteWriting a good AAR is a real art form, and yours have to be among the best out there as they are always easy to follow. It is only when I have come to write a few of mine own that I have realised how much effort goes into them. I think a good AAR also serves as a nice reminder of past games to those involved and I wish I had done more. I have taken a few picture of our most recent Napoleonic game but found I forgot huge chunks of it as we got too involved in the action.
My congratulations and thanks for the blog. I read blogs daily over my breakfast. I do this by going to two blogs which list other blogs and tell me when they were last updated. So those are the blogs I look at and mostly I read them in full. I like best those where if you enlarge one of the photos the rest appear as thumbnails so you can scroll through the larger pictures. If I have to enlarge each one separately and then close it before enlarging the next I may not bother to do that on all the photos. If posting is quiet I use the blogs I arrive at from the launch blog to relaunch into others less visited. There must be blogs I forget about or never find but I've enough content to stay interested.
ReplyDeleteWhen I retired I reconsidered having my own blog online but haven't. Mainly because I wouldn't create enough content to be interesting and secondly because I still don't seem to find the time to do all the core activities - painting and gaming and reading - I want despite having mostly stopped work.
On my computer I do have a file I call "My very own blog" which is a simple diary of my hobby progress. There is a dated entry for what I have been doing and yearly lists of painting that's completed and battles fought. I've now added a list of purchases [and gifts] because I struggle with the survey question, "How much have you spent this year?" This chronicle has no photos. I often check the progress lists for the current year with previous lists i.e. I've only played half the number of games so far that I played this year and it looks like painting output is fairly consistent in retirement as when working [which is tricky to understand].{My list of battles records, Period, Rules and who beat/fought who. I find the rules used bit perhaps the most interesting. Together it lets me know which collections haven't had an airing].
In addition I belong to the Virtual Wargame Club which began in Covid and is open to join if any of your readers are interested. This is where I bring photos of what I'm doing - painting, gaming, visits to historical sights etc. and share them at the weekly "show and tell". This now is my main social interaction with other gamers.
I play mostly solo these days having not met any local gamers yet but find the advantages of solo play mean I'm not looking that hard.
Maybe it's that solo gamer streak which explains having a "blog" that only I see.
Sorry it's a long response but no one has to read all of it and can ignore or skim across the surface.
My thanks to you and all the other bloggers out there. It's the way I like my content - if it all moved to Facebook etc I probaly wouldn't move with it.
your regular reader,
Stephen
Firstly congratulations on 13 years of blogging, long may it continue. I blog mainly to share my hobby efforts and game experiences, this used to achieved by the many display/demo games Dave and myself put on at many shows. Alas this slowly dwindled has we got older, late night preparations, early starts, Dave’s increasing deafness and my unilateral hearing loss all took its toll. Our blogs as well as recording our hobby also shares the things we enjoyed with like minded souls. I get lots of inspiration from reading others blogs and hope that mine does the same however brief or long they maybe. Onwards!
ReplyDeleteJonathan -
ReplyDeleteCongratulations upon 13 years of war games blogging and achieving a considerable following. Quantity and content can make a big difference, I think. After 16 years, I have published fewer than 800 posts - less than half your output, so I have no complaints about the number of followers or comments. Yours is a very worthwhile blog, from my point of view.
I like to create worlds and tell stories about them through war gaming. And so my battle and campaign reports are in the form of stories, but with the occasional 'author's voice' breaking through if something needs explaining, or to be expressed in 'game' rather than 'battle' terms.
I have occasionally explored alternative story-telling techniques: captions, on-pic captions, press releases, editorials, 'historiography'... They can make the writing up more interesting, and one hopes the reading as well.
But I'll also intersperse my war stories with projects. Actually, I really ought to do more of this. Quite a few of my projects have gone unreported until almost completed, and then there's a kind of surfeit of stuff.
Balance - one's gotta have balance...
Cheers,
Ion
Happy birthday to the Journal Jon. Interesting thoughts as always …….i guess my views are self evident from the style of my own meagre Blog. I tend towards the visual and rarely read full battle reports unless I was actually involved in them. My inspiration most often comes from other peoples pictures. I’m not a fan of Facebook as it is too random whereas the blogging community can be kept very focussed. If I have some rules they are pretty flexible but one of them is if it feels like a chore it probably is a chore.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on a milestone and for a thought provoking piece.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder what people make of wargame posts which today take different forms. They range from the written word, both short and long, to photos reports through to videos of variable length.
Well done on 13 years Jon and here's to 14 and beyond!
ReplyDeleteA thought-provoking post, as was the original a couple of years back - which I remember reading.
I guess I blog mainly for my own amusement/enjoyment - and my main aim is to share the hobby with a group of like-minded friends around the world.
I don't always read every word of an AAR - even yours to be completely honest - it often depends on the time of day I am looking at them! I do try to always leave supportive comments on the blogs I visit regularly though - because I realised in my early blogging days - if you don't leave comments - you don't get many in return! There are several blogs I look at quite regularly where the content is interesting, nice games, well-presented painting reports etc - but they have very few comments - and I believe the reason is, they rarely comment on other blogs. For most of these, I generally don't leave a comment either. Is this a bit childish or FB like - possibly - but I count comments, not views - and always have - so if I leave two or three comments on another blog and never see reciprocal comments on mine - I just stop leaving comments - I probably still read the blog, I just don't let on I have been there!
Finally, I had to smile reading the comment from Duke of Baylen above - because I do exactly the same thing - and its PWJ that I use as my blog "index"! I also agree with his comment about Facebook - which is why I hope blogging (and Blogger) keeps going for another 15-20 years - after that I may not be in a fit state to be overly concerned one way or t'other!