I know I've said this before, but I've pretty much switched gears to Twitter, however I'll still try and give this section some love at least once a week too..
Well Reaper Savage North has taken up a lot of time this week. I've also had a little slump this week, as my motivation has been at an all time low. What most people don't know about me is that I'm a single father with 4 kids, and I've also had a lot of kid/school events to deal over the duration of this week, because my 9 year old twin girls are cheerleaders. I've also been on an ongoing job search for a new day job, and the economy is shit here in the US, more so in SouthWestern, PA even. So I've been going to a lot of interviews, and doing a lot of searching thro various means (online, in person, etc) while the kiddios have been in school.
I am however still working my way towards starting on WarRocket, Urban War, some terrain from Xmark, Itar's Workshop and a handful of Tengu Models that have arrived in spurts over the past couple of weeks.
I also acquired some Rosemary brushes to review, which I've heard a lot about, as readers kept telling me I should review them. I also have some Micro-Panzer Studios models in the assembly/priming stage at the moment, with the 15mm stuff from them being completed, and I also started to paint some of the newest Freebooter's Fate models, for another review covering the latest models from them. The JR Miniatures 15mm terrain review is nearing completion too, and the HellDorado LOST Starter Set review is also close to done, I'm just in the painting stage atm on it.
So I have a lot on my plate at the moment, and I'm always adding more to it, as that's the only way I'm able to post at the very least 3 articles per week at this point.
Dream Pod 9 and I had planned a lot more Heavy Gear coverage too, but it appears their budget has disappeared for review samples all of a sudden, so I'll probably just cover the eBooks I was given by them initially, and that will be it for Heavy Gear for the time being. That's too bad, but this is how the industry works most of the time. It's completely unpredictable what I end up covering, and when, even if I attempt to plan ahead. At least they were upfront about it and told me, instead of ignoring emails for weeks, and they acted professional about it too. I can't say that about many other companies in this industry. I also know that some are just busy with projects near completion, and what not. I'm not talking about them tho.
Many companies in this industry will tell you they're sending stuff, and then never reply to emails, or blow you off for weeks on end, only then to make up some lame excuse when they finally reply, which to me is totally unprofessional. However in this industry, who said it was made up of professionals to begin with? There's a few out there, but not as many as you'd think.
Quite a few of these companies are made up of no more than a guy like you, me, or the average douchebag up the street who has an attitude, and thinks he's better than everyone. You never know which of the three you'll end up with either, because most are quite small operations with no more than 3-4 people running the show. Some even just one.
I could write a really juicy book called “if you only knew the half of it”, when it comes to dealing with companies in this industry. lol I think that's what I've had the hardest time with in this industry.
I came from the PC gaming/hardware industry where almost all of the companies have dedicated PR people, and some even outside PR firms handling review samples, setting up interviews with the developers, and they are just truly professional people, with professional attitudes and temperaments. Granted I met my share of douche-bags in that industry as well, but it wasn't nearly as many as I've found in the tabletop/miniatures gaming industry.
So the most stressful part of running WarGameGuru has been dealing with some of the companies in this industry in general. Although I will say this, I have more and more companies emailing me asking me to review their products, than I have to email anyone asking them to review product X, Z, or Y now. It's nice to finally be recognized like that, and to be at that level of awareness by many companies in the industry.
Things are changing and getting a little easier, but even a few of them have made promises and nothing ever showed up, which is why I don't announce what I'm planning to cover very often, unless I have the items in hand first. I've been burned too many times in the past by companies claiming they sent, or are sending something. These days I'll believe it when I see it up close and personal. One thing is certain, everything about this industry from this side of it is completely unpredictable. That's the only constant.
Well Reaper Savage North has taken up a lot of time this week. I've also had a little slump this week, as my motivation has been at an all time low. What most people don't know about me is that I'm a single father with 4 kids, and I've also had a lot of kid/school events to deal over the duration of this week, because my 9 year old twin girls are cheerleaders. I've also been on an ongoing job search for a new day job, and the economy is shit here in the US, more so in SouthWestern, PA even. So I've been going to a lot of interviews, and doing a lot of searching thro various means (online, in person, etc) while the kiddios have been in school.
I am however still working my way towards starting on WarRocket, Urban War, some terrain from Xmark, Itar's Workshop and a handful of Tengu Models that have arrived in spurts over the past couple of weeks.
I also acquired some Rosemary brushes to review, which I've heard a lot about, as readers kept telling me I should review them. I also have some Micro-Panzer Studios models in the assembly/priming stage at the moment, with the 15mm stuff from them being completed, and I also started to paint some of the newest Freebooter's Fate models, for another review covering the latest models from them. The JR Miniatures 15mm terrain review is nearing completion too, and the HellDorado LOST Starter Set review is also close to done, I'm just in the painting stage atm on it.
So I have a lot on my plate at the moment, and I'm always adding more to it, as that's the only way I'm able to post at the very least 3 articles per week at this point.
Dream Pod 9 and I had planned a lot more Heavy Gear coverage too, but it appears their budget has disappeared for review samples all of a sudden, so I'll probably just cover the eBooks I was given by them initially, and that will be it for Heavy Gear for the time being. That's too bad, but this is how the industry works most of the time. It's completely unpredictable what I end up covering, and when, even if I attempt to plan ahead. At least they were upfront about it and told me, instead of ignoring emails for weeks, and they acted professional about it too. I can't say that about many other companies in this industry. I also know that some are just busy with projects near completion, and what not. I'm not talking about them tho.
Many companies in this industry will tell you they're sending stuff, and then never reply to emails, or blow you off for weeks on end, only then to make up some lame excuse when they finally reply, which to me is totally unprofessional. However in this industry, who said it was made up of professionals to begin with? There's a few out there, but not as many as you'd think.
Quite a few of these companies are made up of no more than a guy like you, me, or the average douchebag up the street who has an attitude, and thinks he's better than everyone. You never know which of the three you'll end up with either, because most are quite small operations with no more than 3-4 people running the show. Some even just one.
I could write a really juicy book called “if you only knew the half of it”, when it comes to dealing with companies in this industry. lol I think that's what I've had the hardest time with in this industry.
I came from the PC gaming/hardware industry where almost all of the companies have dedicated PR people, and some even outside PR firms handling review samples, setting up interviews with the developers, and they are just truly professional people, with professional attitudes and temperaments. Granted I met my share of douche-bags in that industry as well, but it wasn't nearly as many as I've found in the tabletop/miniatures gaming industry.
So the most stressful part of running WarGameGuru has been dealing with some of the companies in this industry in general. Although I will say this, I have more and more companies emailing me asking me to review their products, than I have to email anyone asking them to review product X, Z, or Y now. It's nice to finally be recognized like that, and to be at that level of awareness by many companies in the industry.
Things are changing and getting a little easier, but even a few of them have made promises and nothing ever showed up, which is why I don't announce what I'm planning to cover very often, unless I have the items in hand first. I've been burned too many times in the past by companies claiming they sent, or are sending something. These days I'll believe it when I see it up close and personal. One thing is certain, everything about this industry from this side of it is completely unpredictable. That's the only constant.