[Already cross-posted on the Blog board –for obvious reasons– and on the 18th C. one TMP link
but re- posted here one because I had the surprise to discover on this {General Discussion}squared forum interesting threads about fictitious Lace Wars countries that, oddly enough, were not crossposted to any 18th C. one: 3 of the 78 ‘new' gamers interested in ‘Tricorn' Imagi-Nations I discovered on this board]
It may seem displaced, rude or even aggressive to ask for the multiplication of blogs on a Forum: such was not my intent!
Forums such as this dear one and blogs are not 'competitors', on the opposite they are complementary. Their aims are different.
*FORUMS* are marvelous and IRREMPLACEACLE for the *INSTANTANEOUS* exchange of information between hundreds / thousands of kindred people. BUT we are drowned under an overflow of information on the web, messages posted here pass by and are soon forgotten. Thus, Discussion Boards are far from ideal when it comes
to perusing their Archives (so much the more as none I know allows to search by date). Besides, illustrations can only be posted elsewhere (e.g. in on-line Albums such as Photobucket ). Within a few days it becomes difficult to associate
pictures there and the corresponding text (painting or modelling hints,
background, battle report…) here.
On *BLOGS* (and sites) illustrations and text stay together, and searching their archives is far easier (specially if the blogger cares to label his posts). Thus blogs are reader-friendly and convenient when it comes to explore and retrieve *ARCHIVED* information. And blogging is NEITHER more difficult NOR more time-consuming than
posting messages on a Forum or images on Album…
With the recent reprint of ‘The Wargame' TMP link and its forthcoming ‘Companion' link , the interest of the wargaming community to Imagi-Nations, specially Lace Wars ones, will probably be *boosted*.
Yet they are already less rare than their limited presence on the Web may suggest. I already have on my blog link some 50 working ‘Fict' links to blogs or sites partly or totally devoted to (at least) one fictitious 18th C. country. But a cursory browsing of the TMP and 3 Yahoo groups revealed 78 (yes, seventy eight!) other gamers with that same interest: I just published their list as a comment (currently the last) to the ‘Recent updates' post: link = tinyurl.com/yokjv2 .
*Please peruse this list*: I had more than a single one motivation to post it.
-If you think you may appear on it, make sure you were not forgotten.
-If you know of a wargamer (yourself or a fellow player) interested in Lace Wars Imagi-Nations, with or without a blog / site, please post his / her coordinates: thanks in advance.
-If yourself (mentioned on the list or not) share this game setting, to discover how many ‘we' are, to realize that you are not alone, not some kind of freaky ‘drop out', hopefully will decide you, not only to make your ‘outcoming', but also to ‘take the plunge' and *launch your own BLOG* (it's free and, believe me, incredibly *easy*). We all to gain in the mutual encouragement, inspiration and learning provided by published personal experience, photos, comments… Thus don't be shy and openly join the ‘Virtual Brotherhood'! What you created deserves to be known and will inspire and encourage others. And remember, among the 6+ billions of persons in Earth, only YOU can publish your creations, they are your –totally original- brainchild; to let them stay in oblivion is like letting an endangered species die out. The more numerous we will be present on the Web, the richer will be our exchanges (even if only ‘virtual'), and the (bio-like) diversity of the Imaginary 18th century.
If you feel tempted by the idea of designing your country (or group of warring neighbors), its (/their) geography, natural resources and economy, its history and current political situation, deciphering the Court gossip to disclose plots, 'characterizing' noteworthy individuals with some RPG-like events thrown in… you can take the plunge *before having a single mini*! You would not be the first (nor the last) Imagi-Nation creator to launch his blog before buying the first miniature soldier for its army – browse the ‘Fict' links for stimulating examples.
And of course owning only fully historical miniature armies it perfectly compatible with their use as the Armed Might of an imaginary country tinyurl.com/2ucrhy : it corresponds to the ‘1st' (Neil Cogswell's ‘War of the Bombar Succession') or ‘2nd' (The Grand Duchy de Lorraine in ‘The Wargame') levels of ‘unhistoricity', with inspirational and respectable precedents.
Similarly, as soon as your country(ies) has(ve) a name and a little 'character', you can enter the exchange of diplomatic missives on the 'Emperor vs Elector' emperor-elector.blogspot.com collective TMP link blog (currently 40 members)!
You don't need to have a blog to contribute: send a mail to the blog owner / coordinator TMP link
and he will give you a blogger IP allowing to post and comment on the blog (and, I guess, to post comments on any blog).
Personal involvement varies freely from 'lurker' to 'regular poster', between individual contributor but also with time, current main object of interest, mood and pressures from 'The Real World™'. But you are then recorded in the 'links bank', and the collective blog is a very enjoyable, friendly and stimulating meeting point TMP link
for Lace Wars
TMP link Imagi-Nations Rulers. Contributors are pleasant fellow who share their knowledge in the kindest way.
With its ‘battles by proxy' link =
tinyurl.com/yuahwp ‘EvE' offers isolated wargamers an opportunity to break their isolation TMP link and have their solo battles a precious part of a common effort.
The Laws of Physics are relaxed in our Multiverse: Space is elastic, with e.g. already 3 'France'; Time is extensible and Malburian as well as AWI countries and armies coexist there (even a few Napoleonics –feeling so lonely among the ‘hardboiled historical' Napoleonic Great Vocal Majority).
Not all the 78 wargamers listed are currently rulers of an ‘active' Imagi-Nation: some are just starting, other have switched their main field of interest but have a long, inspirational and enjoyable experience to share. A few did not built a whole fictitious army, but ‘spiced' their ‘historical' one with colorful imaginary Freicorps. One or two only converted minis into quasi-historical (de Saxe's ‘daydreamed' Legion) or historical but mythical-looking (Schaumberg-Lippe Carbiniers) troop types. But *ALL* have done an original work that fully deserves to be published for the ‘education', inspiration and enjoyement of the community.
In the hope of discovering new fellow gamers sharing this inclination, of raising some interest, and perhaps having a few ‘historical' wargamers, or newcomers to the hobby, intrigued enough to explore the concept and current realisations,
sincerely, and *cheers* to bloggers-to-be,
Jean-Louis
PS: as a blogger I confess to now have a very « Google Reader user unfriendly » practice: in order to keep all info. relevant to a given topic gathered rather than scattered along numerous posts, I expand previous posts, either in their main text ([ab]using the ‘edit previous posts' utility) or by posting *comments*. Actually I tend to treat my blog as a ‘poor man's website', with the last post (sept 12!) regularly updated as the ‘What's New?' intro page. Probably an infringement of Netetiquette?
