quick, lads! run!

It's Diana Rigg!

 
This months Miniatures Wargaming magazine has a lovely little introduction to all things Oldhammer - spreading the word to the wider gaming community.

Miniatures Wargaming #381 | via

The article starts with a really good definition of Oldhammer that manages to be both to the point and inclusive (no mean feat!) and then goes on to list a handful of sites and blogs of interest. Several of these are run by net-buddies and hugely talented miniatures gamers - well worth having a dig through if you don't already:

• leadplague.blogspot.ie
• talesfromthemaelstrom.blogspot.ie
• sho3box.wordpress.com
• tabletopheroesandvillains.blogspot.ie
• oldschoolworkshop.blogspot.ie

But wait, what's this? realmofzhu.blogspot.ie ? Shome mishtake shurely ? What is our humble old Realm doing listed in amongst these worthy sites? According to the author...
 
"More fantasy focussed than most of the other blogs on this list . Mr Zhu spends his time writing about British Industrial Relations of the early 1980s as represented in Warhammer Fantasy Battle Scenario Packs as well as a 2nd Edition Amazon Army List, feminism and Diana Rigg. Normally that stuff I would run a mile from - it is a credit to Mr Zhu that he manages to make this material interesting. Recommended."

The rest I can kind of see, but I'm not sure why anyone would run a mile from Diana Rigg! Thank you Mr. Kinch I'm glad you found my ramblings interesting enough to write about. Cheers!

Realm of Zhu: Year One

Time to indulge in the navel gazing that seems inevitable with blogging. Since it's inception the Realm of Zhu has had 14,109 pageviews,  I've written 65 posts, and raised enough cash through advertising to buy a second hand copy of the Citadel of Chaos from a carboot-sale (Google ads terms prevent me from disclosing the exact sum, but I think you can work it out). Yes, blogging can be fun and profitable!

Most popular posts
No real suprises here, as others have pointed out generally about OSR blogs the creative stuff gets a lot less hits than the commentary and review stuff.

Female armour posts  (total combined views 4135)
Rogue Trader - The Space Rock Opera (258 views)
Fighting Fantasy Collector Checklist & Guide (230 views)
Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 67 (220 views)


Popular Google Searches
These are clustered, so 'grace holley armor' etc. is included in Grace Holley:

Grace Holley (82)
Female Armour (75)
LoTR / Lord of the Rings (72)
Fighting Fantasy (53)

However, it must be noted that image search keywords aren't counted here, and by and large the largest number of visits is from Google image search.

Weird Google Searches
Unfortunately are few and far between:

Naked wargame minis (nope, none here)
Wizard of the dark Zhu (awesome)

Top Referrers
Sites other than the mighty Google which send traffic this way:

http://fightingfantasist.blogspot.com/ (94 - thanks Coop!)

http://www.fightingfantasycollector.co.uk/ (44 hey -check out the updated 2011 collectors guide)
http://www.warseer.com/ (40)

Other
The Realm of Zhu was ranked 202 in Cyclopeans gargantuan list of old-school blogs ranked by number of followers.

Now my intention was to use this blog to do mostly world-building and post D&D related drawings. However, rather than finding blogging fueling creativity, instead I find I'm mostly nostalgia-posting, drinking booze, playing gamebooks, whittering on about hobbits, and posting pictures of pretty ladies wearing armour.

Grace Holley welcomes you to the OSR (via Jetrefilm)

Well, here's to the next 12 months, thanks to all the followers and commentatorators, it's you guys (along with that copy of the Citadel of Chaos) that makes it all worth while - Cheers!