New Year Cleanup: The Bloggening

Like the rest of the planet, it seems, one of my New Year's tasks is to clean up my blog.  I don't like to call it a resolution. I won't be spending the whole year on this.  It's just something that needs to be done periodically and the beginning of the year seems like a perfect time. It's been a while since I gave the blog roll a good scrubbing so I'm starting there.

I've added links to the inspirational blogs by James Wappel and Studio Giraldez. If you don't stop by both those sites regularly please click through to get your socks knocked off.  Also added to the list is the fantastic Massive Voodoo.  It's a wonderful source for tutorials and general inspiration.  Each of these blogs are run by veteran hobbyists with buckets of awards under their collective belts.

It is with a heavy heart that I have also removed entries from the list.  These blogs have not been updated in a while so there's not much point in keeping them on the sidebar.  They still remain fantastic resources so for posterity I have preserved links to them here.

From The Warp - An excellent gaming chronicle and tutorial source.  Ron ran this blog for a long time and built up a pretty big community around it.  His tinkering and painting inspired not just me but all the members of my gaming group to try new things with our hobby.  He's on official hiatus so there haven't been any new posts, but the archives are worth just browsing. Here are some of my favorites.

• How to build a Pre-Heresy Imperial Jetbike - A fantastic conversion that I think looks better than the official forgeworld model.
• How to Sculpt Greenstuff Cloaks and Capes - A simple technique that provides a great effect.
• Deathwing for Sale! - At one point Ron decided to sell his Dark Angels army to make room for another one.  I was lucky enough to be able to buy it.

40K for the New Professional - Various posts from this blog have helped to form my current approach to learning, gaming and competition.  Kennedy's insights on applying business practices to your hobby in order to plan and achieve goals were a revolution for me in how I think about gaming.  Unfortunately the blog is now completely defunct and the old posts are not accessible on that site.  Here's what I could fine around the web.

• Treating Your Army Like a Business - Part 3 of the five part series is preserved over on House of Paincakes. I would love to find the other parts.
• Kennedy has a more recent blog here.  This one hasn't been updated in a year, though. So not much to see.

So here's to the new blogs and a fond farewell to the old ones!