Half A Million Visitors Milestone Is Surpassed!

On March 31, 2014 the 500,000th visitor to the Der Alte Fritz Journal blog paid a visit.

When I started this blog on August 28, 2007, I had little idea of where this blog would go or the many paths that it would lead me, but I have to say that writing this blog is one of the most enjoyable activities that I do in my spare time.

Here is a link to my first blog posting:

http://altefritz.blogspot.com/2007/08/welcome-to-alte-fritz-journal.html

I am very appreciative of the support that everyone has given me and I especially enjoy reading all of the comments that readers post on the blog. The comments are probably my favorite aspect of this blog as it gives me some insight into what you are thinking.

Hint, hint: please feel free to leave comments on this blog. 8^)

Another interesting thing can be found by clicking on the tiny "Sitemeter" icon at the bottom of each page. Sitemeter tracks statistics on the number of visitors, the number of page views, where the visitors come from. Clicking on the little map in Sitemeter shows me where the last ten visitors have come from, in terms of their country location. It is fun to see how many different countries are represented in my blog readership. I have the feeling that I could visit almost any civilized country in the world and probably find a viewer of the Der Alte Fritz Journal.

There have obviously been a lot of changes for me since 2007, the most obvious ones being the start of the Fife & Drum range of AWI figures in 2010 and the subsequent acquisition of the Minden Miniatures range from Frank Hammond in 2013. I want to thank Frank and sculptor Richard Ansell for having the idea for creating a range of figures in 1/56 scale and I cannot think of a better historical period for this concept than the Seven Years War in the middle of the 18th Century. To me, Richard's sculpting style has been the perfect antidote to the trend of oversized, caricature figures with over sized heads and hands and, as one person put it, "strong faces".  

I think that the pendulum is swinging back the other way towards more realistic figure poses and body proportions. All figures, even the caricatures, are good for the hobby because they give us a lot of choices, but to have those choices and have realistic looking figures, well that is a combination that is hard to beat, as far as I'm concerned.

And finally, this blog is all about having fun with historical wargaming and having respect for your fellow gamers. In my minds eye, people such as Hal Thinglum, Bill Protz, Charles S. Grant and Dean West (among many others too numerous to mention on one page) set the tone for me, my blog and how I present myself at conventions and in public forums. I only hope that I have been able to live up to the standards embodied by these fine gentlemen.

At the end of the day, if a gamer comes up to me at the end of a convention game and tells me what a good time he had playing in my game, then that is all that I can ask for. It is what keeps me coming back to do it again.

Best regards,

Der Alte Fritz