Now With More Award-Winning

It's with a lot of surprise, and with a little bit of a humble thanks that the 'Stylish Blogger Award' docks here at the massive orbital defense station that is Mik's Minis.

The Stylish Blogger Award given from one blogger to another one might say, is like a pat on the back for a good job. It's definitely a viral, zombie-like spread of good will so it's too good to pass up. I was awarded mine yesterday and have been thinking a little on who to nominate myself. There are four rules:

• Thank and link back to the person giving you the award
• Share seven things about yourself
• Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award
• Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

Well right off the bat I have the crew over at What Would Patton Do? to thank for passing the honor my way. Really, when I say crew, I mean the captain of that frigate, Steven (although I'm sure the rest of the staff would have no qualms). Steven is one of those rarities that I met online first, then later met at a con in real life, and still liked him, haha. What they've done for Flames of War in their neck of the woods is plumb amazing, and sitting here typing this I have no idea how they take that kind of audience and subject focus and do such an overwhelming good job with it. If you haven't been there yet, get on with it! Now, seven things about me, hmmm?

1. When I was in third grade I fell about fifteen feet off a large boulder, landed halfway down on a dead cedar tree, and was impaled point-through my torso on a branch. I still have the stick.
2. On the very rare occasion that I actually buy a lottery ticket, there's a small part of me that actually thinks I'm going to win.
3. When I hear a radio ad (but not television) for buffalo wings I enter a Pavlovian, mouth-watering stage.
4. I'm an elementary school teacher.
   
5. I love them both, but if I had to pick only one it would be Sci-Fi over Fantasy.
6. Going on twenty years, Seinfeld is still one of my favorite television shows.
   
7. I go out of my way to help save bugs, all kinds, no matter how small/insignificant.

I guess that was the easy part, now on to the nominating. I'm telling you this though, I'm a trooper and I'm not going to shirk my duties...with great power comes great responsibility! I'm putting forth all fifteen blogs of noteworthiness. Fifteen! Now let me say up front, I follow way more than fifteen blogs, and of those 'way more than fifteen blogs' I'm positive triple that number are worthy of mentioning. I don't have the blog-fortitude though for all of that however, and I apologize if you got left out. So here you go, these blogs are ones I go to first and foremost for a wide variety of reasons.

1. Little Lead Heroes. This one is a no-brainer, Andy's one of my closest friends and gaming buddy who I've known forever. We roll dice about once a week and some of my more ambitious projects have been spawned with him in the co-pilot's seat (or vice-versa). His focus is a little all over the place with a wide variety of both genres and scales.
2. Imaginary Lives. Another local gaming buddy, this blog is seldom updated (ahem) but offers a lot of great looking figs among other things. Flounder has got a lot of game under the hood and it's just dying to get out. Again, a wide variety of genres and scales abound (I see a trend developing).
3. Warrant of Trade. If I keep going at this rate, nominating all my real-world friends, I'll be done in no time, haha. Seriously though, Rucht has got legitimate industry credentials and he runs a heck of a game, not to mention he's a pretty nice guy to boot. His blog has a lot of musings on game developing and running as well as extensive game reports on his ongoing Rogue Trader RPG campaign.
4. Repple Depple. Okay, this is the last of my 'buddy' gamers, I swear! Brian's the one who's had me knee-deep in all kinds of well-developed and themed historical lands. It is also because of him that I painted my huge warband of Vikings (and then he skipped town)! Great batreps, lavish tables, beautiful minis...he's got it all.
5. I See Lead People. Eli runs a true gamer's blog. It's got a little bit of everything, including his own sculpting, and also boasts a healthy amount of writing to boot. It's an intelligent geek blog run by a very nice compadre.
6. Sons of Twilight: Brad's one of those guys who I'd probably be rolling dice with on a regular basis if our zip codes were closer. He's got a great blog that sports everything from 40k to Blood Bowl to Legos. Sounds familiar!
7. Green Skeleton Gaming Guild. The title may be a mouthful, but the blog is even beefier...beefier with more RPG goodness than you can shake a cudgel at! Brutorz Bill posts regularly, has many features, and always has cool new things to talk about about and gets you wanting to go buy the latest, hot indie sourcebook.
8. Destination Unknown. I've never seen an author put so much of themselves into what they write, but Christian does day in and day out. He was the first (and only) person to ever commission a piece of art from me for a gaming zine a very long time ago (about a dozen years) and through the power of the internet I was able to connect with him once again. His views on life, the universe, and old school AD&D are a must read.
9. Geektactica. For some of the best write ups, greatest looking tables, and fantastic figures you need to go no further than Jet's Geektactica. The action covers a wide variety as well, but mostly centers on Gothic Horror and/or the Wild West. There's some very nice games going on in that corner of the world.
10. Chris' Miniature Woes. In a lot of ways I feel like Chris' blog and my own seem to often be in synch with the ebb and flow of what's going on in gaming. He's got a lot of cool things going on, and as you can guess, he doesn't stick solely to one thing. Sci-fi dominates his world though and it shows.
11. GWpertinent. Tristan's got a lot of good stuff to stick around and read about. He's big on Blood Bowl and the occasional Necromunda campaign, as well as some great batreps and a lot of Space Sharks! Despite his blog title, he does branch away from GW from time to time as well, which is a big plus.
12. My Dice Hate Me. Lots of projects, lots of fantasy and 40k, and even lots of Warmachine round out Meatball's blog. He's got plenty of other things to entice the reader as well, including ramblings on the social aspects of the hobby and a healthy amount of non-GW stuff also make their way in there.
13. The 25mm Warrior. Josh has cooked up all kinds of goodness, and more importantly...enthusiasm on his blog. I only hesitate because the updates are somewhat scattered, but I'm sure he's working on fixing that, especially after this prestigious honor, right?
14. Dicerolla. Papa JJ is another one of those gamers who games and blogs because he enjoys it, and it shows in everything they do. Like almost every blog I've listed, he's got variety, but that's just the tip of the surface. There's a certain quality and atmosphere he achieves with his blog, it's more than sublime, it's just authentic.
15. Firebase-Spartan. Actually this is a rather new addition to my 'regular' list of readings, but it came in packing a solid punch so here it resides in the top fifteen blogs I follow. Spartan 117 is kind of doing things the way I wish I could in a way. I know I can't, I could never focus the way he does. But if I did, man oh man could I get some nice stuff cranked out. That's exactly what he's doing now, so check it out.

And with this list, that concludes my tour around the hot-spots I personally like to visit above others. They have all solidly earned their Stylish Blogger status. Like I said earlier, if there's an omission here I left out, it's not intentional. Also, once again I'd like to thank Steven of WWPD for giving a nod in my direction, and since he only nominated four blogs, I'm really glad I made the cut!