Sorry this week is a little slow for content, mostly because I'm working on a variety of pieces all at once. The Flames of War stuff has taken up a lot of my time, but I want to do this right. I go out of my way to cover what I feel are A-class titles, so expect a very large piece on Flames of War, with a level of detail and depth far surpassing what I've published so far here at WarGameGuru.
Many other articles are in the works too, like the PC combat simulation coverage of Wings of Prey and Wings of the Luftwaffe. I also ended up with some Pegasus Models items for review, and some pre-painted ready to go terrain from Ziterdes. The Micro-Art Studios In Focus piece is almost done as well, I'm just waiting to get the Interview questions back from them, and that piece will go live. The Faction Wars rulebook review is also still in the works. I also have an In Focus article planned for Vallejo Acrylics, and their stuff arrived earlier in the week too. Since a Dremel tool is so useful and versatile for the hobby aspect of our genre, I had them send along the latest and greatest model the Dremel 4000 series. So watch for a review of the Dremel 4000 in the coming weeks too.
As you can see, I have a lot going on. While there may be a few days without new content updates, it's only because I'm hard at work creating the content for the weeks to come.
I have so many other projects in the works too, but a few companies are just painfully slow to respond, and some are yet to have came through with their promise to send stuff as well. So there's quite a few projects up in the air at the moment. Why is it always the titles I would enjoy to cover the most, are the absolute hardest, and most uncooperative companies to deal with too? lol
I had one guy tell me I was unprofessional today, because I had a sense of humor. I sent an email that said “Miss me yet? lol”, because he didn't reply to the email I sent three days prior. Humor has a way of breaking the ice, and making things go a little more smoothly during stressful times, so I tried to be light and humorous, only to be told it's unprofessional to be “silly”. If you ask me, it's more unprofessional to not take 2 seconds out of your Oh-so-busy-day to respond to an email. Christ sake man, this isn't 1985, where there is no email, and it takes 15-20 minutes to write a response to someone on a typewriter, or where you have to answer the phone and be stuck talking for a half hour. 2 seconds man, that's it!
My gripe of the day is, who the hell do you think you are, when you're PAID a nice wage or salary to sit behind a desk, and your job is to interface with the press, and you can't take 2 seconds to do your job and reply to someone? Then to turn around and call someone else unprofessional, because they tried keeping things light, when you can feel the tension building. I also think 2-3 days is more than enough time to expect anyone to respond to an email these days too. Anything more than that, in my book borders on unprofessional, and some would even call it being lazy.
I'd imagine they have a tough job some days, when they get bombed by requests from the unsavory types, who are just looking for a free lunch, but it's also their job to determine who is legit, and who the idiots are trying to pull a fast one too. Some days, I really want that job. At present, there's a couple of companies in general who I've been corresponding with for over a month now to try and cover their products, and it's mostly due to the fact that people take days, and sometimes weeks to just respond to simple emails, so we can't get very far, due to lack of communication.
Some treat it like a major business deal too, a decision to be made by a panel of people, which has to be approved by the high council. lol. It's a game man, and some freakin' miniatures, wow. I often wonder how some people successfully even tie their own shoes, and make it out of bed in the morning without assistance. Sadder than that, these aren't the small companies, who can't afford to send something, these are the larger, more well known companies too. Quite frankly, they're usually the worst ones to try and work with, and it should be the opposite.
Fact of the matter is, there are no printed publications left in the US covering this genre, nor is there a single corporate backed, or even privately funded publication on the web covering this genre anymore in the US either. The last ones that existed, sold out to a large print-based publisher, and they ended up closing down the website, when the print-based efforts to cover this genre went belly up. The only thing left are the news portals who do a fantastic job of reporting news, but offer limited actual content, and sites like WarGameGuru, and the few good podcasts out there. That's it. We are the only true press left in this industry at the moment.
Granted there's a zillion+ 1 blogs out there, but they're mistaken to to rely solely on Joes' Wargaming Page, or JonnyReb's Painting Blog to cover their products. If more companies don't start to support efforts like WarGameGuru, then they have few other options left when they want to see their products covered in an unbiased venue, with a level of depth and professionalism that few others can match. Some companies just don't get it.
It always has been the companies who make these games responsibility to support the press efforts out there via advertising dollars, and review samples to keep the magazines that used to exist going, and they failed in that department. There are none left now, aside from Wargames Illustrated, and a few other small efforts overseas, and most of those are simply historical wargame magazines, which don't cover the Warmachine, Infinitys, Malifauxs, FireStorm Armadas, and the like. In the US tho, there's nothing left, and it's because the publishers, and makers of the games in this genre failed to support them. Everyone wants to see their product showcased in the best venues for them, but most want it done for free now days by a guy who bought the game or miniatures themselves, via some random blog, or on Facebook.
That's sad too, because without people with my dedication and determination to cover this stuff, there's no hope for the future of the true press in this genre. I also never ask for nothing more than what's needed to play anygame to review it, which is a rulebook/starter set, and enough miniatures to play the game to properly review the game and the miniatures they produce for it. I'm haven't even begun to go out of my way to sell advertising, and I'm not looking forward to that when the time comes, because I can already foresee how that will go over with some some companies, based on the experience I'm having so far.