Lantz here. As we enter the first week of 2012, I want to take a moment to look back at the best blogs of 2011 according to yours truly. There are so many amazing writers and hobbyists out there, it's hard to nail it down. For this article I'll be using categories and selecting the best of the best out of my selections. Just like the Grammys, this will be two or more hours long and will consist of pop artists ruining classics like "Sweet Child of Mine". So strap in and enjoy the show.
The "We Want More" Award
These nominees are my favorite blogs out there that just don't post as much as I'd like/think they should. Selfish, yes; we all have lives and the blogosphere comes second to those lives, but to hell with it all. I want more, damnit!
The Nominees:
Musings of a Metal Mind
Mathhammer
Tabletop Teek
GDMNW
Harlequin's Kiss
And the winner is...
This was a hard choice, but MoaMM wins out. The massive amount of original work that this blog has posted over the years is astronomical. The Tyracrons project alone has me screaming for more. I've always loved this blog, and every time it goes through a "slow period" I can't sleep at night and oft cut myself to cope with the pain.
The "Best Hub/Network" Award
This award goes out to all of the hobby networks out there. Those that bring the community closer together while promoting great work and providing a lot to the community as a whole. Promotion, contribution and bringing us all together is the criteria I'm looking at for this one.
The Nominees:
Miniature Wargame Conversions
Blood Of Kittens
House Of Paincakes
From The Warp
Spikey Bits
And the winner is...
This one was neck and neck between a few of these. Spikey Bits has really surprised me in how they've stepped it up a notch. Spikey Bits started out as a bits store, a successful one at that. Yet they took the initiative to work their blog up and not only promote blogs and forum posters with superb work, they also show off their own conversions, help the community out with rules and better the community with discussion via opinion pieces. My hope is people will look to Spikey Bits rather than BoLS in the future as the ratio of quality seems to be shifting between the two in the last few months.
The "Promotion Extrordinare" Award
This one goes out to the blogs that push other's work. Relentless promotion of the community's work and really get the ball rolling for new projects that many of us just wouldn't see otherwise is what I'm looking at, here. They do the digging so we don't have to and all of the following blogs have provided me with at least half of my RSS feed.
The Nominees:
Tabletop Fix
Santa Cruz Warhammer
GDMNW
From The Warp
Colonel Shofer
Ricalopia
And the winner is...
Tirelessly tenacious doesn't begin to describe this blog. From miniatures webstores, to forums, to bloggers; CSMOCDMB (even the abbreviation is a mouthful!) covers it all and manages to pump out upwards of 40 posts a day just to get the word out. No one deserves this award more.
The "Up And Comer" Award
There's a lot of competition for this spot. There was a "baby boom" around Spring of 2011 of new blogs and even those that had been around for a while, but just started to make their way into the spotlight. This is probably the hardest call to make, but in the end there can only be one!
The Nominees:
Frontline Gaming
Spikey Bits
Fuzzbucket's Mini Mayhem
Warhammer With Zail
IDICBeer 40k
Recalcitrant Daze
The Emperor's Codex
And the winner is...
Seriously, where did this guy come from? Starting up in late March of 2011, Zail has been one of the fastest growing names in our community in a long time, making appearances on BoLS, FTW, SB and several other big names out there. His work with the Necrons has been the real winner, lately. From his kitbash Triarch Stalker to the glowing paint scheme of his Catacomb Command Barge; his skills are top notch and all over the board.
"Best Overall" Award
Finally, I want to give an award to the best overall blog out there. All of the above blogs are included as nominees, but my criteria for this award is everything under the sun. Promotion, tutorials for painting and conversions, bringing the community together and overall cleanliness and ease of use of their blog. I'm sure most of you agree with me on this one:
Ron from FTW has been a staple in the 40k blogging community for some time. He does it all. Conversions, painting, tutorials, promotions of other people's work, commissions, blogging tips; literally everything. After a short hiatus from his blog due to personal reasons, he soon returned with a different plan in place and took aboard some new writers to help his workload and keep From The Warp going. From us here at TLA, we thank you, Ron. You're an inspiration.
And that's it for 2011's awards. To the blogs mentioned here and even those I hadn't mentioned; your work never goes unnoticed and every post pushes the hobby community further.
Here's to 2012.
We're absolutely honoured to have been twice nominated. Let's see if we can't muster enough content this year to win something!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work over here by the way, we remain regular readers. We'll also endeavour to put finger to key a little more often this year.
You guys do a phenomenal job. And just to clarify, you guys post more than most, I just want to see more; can't get enough!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words.
:D
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping Gareth's prep for NOVA 2012 will prove stimulating. We've never seen some many red bawkses!
Congratulations !
ReplyDeleteGreat blog !
Im following you, You can follow me too
http://malditoduendeminiatures.blogspot.com/
You got it, DuendE! You have a very nice blog, indeed. And your English is fantastic, sir. I'm really enjoying your work.
ReplyDeleteShucks, you young gun ;) ;) ;) TYVM !!!
ReplyDeleteI, too, should like to congratulate and thank, in particular, all the blogs listed, here, but also everyone who is helping to turn, what was a disparate set of hobby/gaming areas, into a supportive and richer community.
I spend many hours per day, sieving through my bloglists (and I KNOW how much I miss on the forums/webpages !!!), and it is made that more delightful, when I can learn new skills and approaches ... often just to look at something beautiful.
I should also like to congratulate Lanz, for being one of the most active and effective ambassadors, for the whole shebang, on the Interwebs.
Thank you Lanz.
The Colonel.
Hear hear!
ReplyDeleteAw thanks Lantz. I'll try to keep the slow periods to a minimum in 2012 so's you don't lose so much sleep.
ReplyDeleteI am honored to make the list, but bow to the winner of the Category. =P Several good choices in all area's and I would agree with just about every choice. Also it was odd how many new blogs seemed to show up this last year, but I like to think that's a good thing for our online community overall!
ReplyDelete