KeepYourPowderDry's Sixth Bloggiversary

 I really am still very surprised that people read this nonsense.

And read it you clearly do. I am absolutely blown away by the reach of this niche of a blog, visitors have come from six of the seven continents of the world (surely it is only a matter of time before I bag my first visit from Antarctica). I must admit that I will probably be watching the hit counter, more than is healthy, sometime around the end of February as it nudges ever closer to half a million hits.

Pushed the boat out this year, the KeepYourPowderDry annual staff party was held in colour.
Saturday boy was off sick (again).
Flemish Wedding Party, artist unknown. Image from Düsseldorfer Auktionshaus sale page

'Viewing' figures have grown exponentially this year; annual figures had settled down to just under 100k hits a year, but this blogging year it is just nudged over 161k. Wow. I genuinely, never actually expected anybody to read the blog. My ghast is well and truly flabbered.

Why such an increase? Warlord's release of Epic Pike and Shotte has clearly been a factor (shame about the 'hate mail' from some members of the Warlord Epic community), as has the unfortunate incident of a YouTuber accusing me of 'blackwashing' history.

The most popular post this year? My review of the Epic infantry sprue. 

All time most popular? Still my Parliamentarian coat colours post (which has had more than 1k hits than the corresponding Royalist post - strangely I'd have expected them to be more or less the same). 

Google, and all its regional iterations, is by far the largest referring URL. Regular readers (hello all twenty of you) will be saddened to hear that 'podiatrist Tyldesley' has slipped from the search terms table this year.

This year's incidental highlight, was overhearing KeepYourPowderDry being mentioned at Montgomery Castle when I visited (the speaker lamenting the absence of Montgomery Castle in the ECWtravelogue). Hopefully I've now made amends by documenting the castle, and Powys in general. And, no, I wasn't brave enough to say "hello".

I would like to thank a few people for their continued support: Haydn and Suzanne for their continuing generous support via BuyMeACoffee; everyone else who has bought me a virtual coffee or who has clicked through an ad on the blog (all of this helps keeps the wheels of the blog turning); everyone who has linked to the blog on their own blog/website or in a Facebook group; the Bolton chapter of the KeepYourPowderDry fan club for taking pictures in the Isle of Man; and most of all, my boys and Sarah for continuing to tolerate all the 'whilst we are here, can we just...' moments.

Thanks are also due to everyone who has linked to KeepYourPowderDry on their own blogs, forums, Twitter (I'm a Mancunian, it'll always be Twitter, and never the letter before 'Y'), Facebook, BlueSky, insert social media vehicle of choice here.

Final thanks go to everyone who helped spread the word about the BCW Project and and Wiki - looks like we were able to save it in the nick of time!

A gentle reminder, for those that 'know': the "most comprehensive", referenced, list of Civil War coat colours has been available here, at KeepYourPowderDry, since May 2020. Collated, researched, and with all secondary sources checked back to original primary documents by yours truly. 

The future? 

I think that I might have to drop down to fortnightly posts - I'm running out of stuff to blather on about. Sorry Haydn, I know this will mess up your Monday morning routine! To be brutally honest I never thought I'd still be regularly churning stuff out 6 years down the line. I also admit that I did wonder if I would still find stuff to write about, this time last year, yet somehow I managed it. My painting pile is getting very small, and is unlikely to be replenished, plus my painting speed has dropped down to 'glacial' due to the day job. Do not fear, I will continue to review new ranges and keep the Which Figures? posts up to date.

The ECWtravelogue will continue to be updated and expanded, but at some point it may well disappear from KeepYourPowderDry as I hope to reinvent it in a different format.

This time last year I promised rules reviews - I think I've caught up with them. I will of course continue to review new rulesets as they are published, and I have started branching out into book reviews too. So expect a few more of those.

And finally, thank you for reading.

p.s. Happy Christmas/winter solstice/Saturnalia 

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