Wednesday, January 07, 2015

One Million Pageviews and a Competition to Celebrate!

Sometime around midnight on Saturday/Sunday the blog went in excess of one million views! Doesn't sound much in internet terms but it still blows my mind to think about it. Of course a lot of those views will be for images but at least some of them will have actually intended to view From the Fang. In fact a decent proportion of my hits come from people searching "from the fang" on Google.

I'd like to thank everyone who's visited the site over the last three and a half years of it's existence. If you'll allow me to blow my own trumpet for a minute, I'm even prouder of the views since this is pretty much a one man ship. Of course, Matt has contributed two of the codex reviews and the odd battle report but generally speaking it's my own work.

Anyway, suffice to say I wouldn't still be blogging if no-one was reading it so as a little thank you to you all I'm going to be running a competition. The prize will be one of Frontline Gaming and Table War's F.A.T mats (formally Megamat). The winner will be able to choose from one of five designs:






I own the "Alpine" mat which I bought as part of the original Kickstarter. I've been 100% happy with my purchase. Seriously, these things are awesome. They're basically mousemat material which means they're pretty waterproof (though I haven't dared test this yet - there are videos showing it though) and have a real quality feel to them. The thing I like most though is how dice sound on them. I know that seems a ridiculous thing to say but seriously it's a nice noise! They now come in a fancy bag too:



Anyway, you're probably wondering how you can win one. Well originally I was going to say just post any old comment below but instead I want to here why you think you should be the winner. I don't want any sob stories, this is not the X Factor! Instead I want you to make me laugh and perhaps even demonstrate why you're such a die hard reader of FtF. That's all there is to it! I look forward to reading your responses!

31 comments:

  1. No comments yet?! Well, let me be the first:

    I deserve the mat simply because I intend to cut it up into several dozen mousepads, and sell them off on craigslist at a profit, like a mergers and acquisitions company buying a failing business and strip mining it for parts.

    Just kidding. I've been dying to get one of these mats and ditch my clunky, cumbersome hard terrain tiles.

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  2. Congratz on the hits buddy, keep up the great work, I would love that snow mat, it would go so well with my new Space Wolves army :D

    All the best, Nick

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  3. Great news on reaching a million views! Going to put my name in the hat for the prize, why not I'm greedy.
    Been reading your site for about two years, after reading your review of a battle brothers tournament I attended ( it did not go well ). Since then I have routinely read your great blog, and it has got me through long night shifts, tedious car journeys, and the multiple night time wakings that come with a new born baby.
    Anyway I know you'll choose wisely, and I look forward to playing on my new battlemat. ( got to be optimistic )

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  4. I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal. People know me. I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

    Discovered by the Germans in 1906 they called them Phat Matts. Which, of course, in German means, "A Whale's vagina.

    Thats why I should win.

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  5. Sob stories? Never been very good at them, and quite frankly my wife is from Yorkshire so any tendency towards seeking sympathy gets short shrift!

    Instead I'm gonna say this - I started blogging because I'd seen blogs like this one (not only this one, but it's still one of my favourites).

    Congrats on the million views, here's to the next million! I'm still pushing hard and a fair way off my first 100,000.

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  6. 1st off congratulations.

    secondary...

    Has Matt Rolled any 6's for his Transcendent C'Tan yet? :P

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  7. Can I have a double cheese burger, fries, and a diet coke, please. To go, thanks... Does that come with a napkin!

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  8. (Crooksy86) - I feel I deserve have that mat because....I really want it?

    Cheers

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  9. Let me congratulate you on this awesome achievement and express my thanks for 4 years great blogging!

    As to why I should win the mat, well LOADS of people will get to use it because I'd most likely leave it at the club I belong to (the Wessex Wyverns who meet at a pub in East Dorset) for everyone to play on. The club doesn't have any mats suitable for 40K, or indeed any mats at all, just crumbling sheets of chipboard!

    Secondly it would be good product placement for FAT mats to keep the mat in Blighty as so few people around here have seen one. I play at various clubs in Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset so lots of folk will be 'exposed' to it.

    Lastly I am a musician with an amateur home studio (OK its my laptop and a microphone) and I can't wait to sample the awesome sound that dice make when rolled on it and use it in a kicking piece of, er, folk music. Yes I'm a folk musician, but I do promise to sample the sound and use it in a piece of music just for you!

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  10. I deserve the snow one for my Space Wolves because everytime you post I come to read, no matter the white and black combination of your blog that make me eyes cry in pain!

    Congratulations for that awesome number! You have a great blog that help me in the "death" times at the office!

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  11. I should win, for Russ and the All Father!

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  12. I shouldn't win! My first post is just a plea for free swag! But I have been reading the blog since your Dark Eldar 7th Ed codex review (as they are my main army and I'm always hungry for more quality content about my evil little toy soldiers).

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  13. Amazing news, I'm slightly jealous as I've been at it for four years and haven't broken 600,000. I'm going to suggest I must have a much more exclusive blog then, for the discerning 40k fan ;)

    I'm not going to put my name in the hat for the mat, having got my Realm of Battle board for a frankly ridiculous £74 I should be using that and there seems plenty of folk who have written far wittier or more deserving requests. However, if there's ultimately a raffle element that's involved I'll donate it to my good mate PeteB [so longer as he promises not to sell it alongside his next 40k army, his Space Wolves from BW8 had been ebayed within a few weeks of the event].

    Anyway, well done on becoming a millionaire!

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  14. Congrats on the milestone. That is a mighty one! I feel like a new born baby compared to many of these blogs out there.

    Reasons for winning? Hrm. Well my orks knock over buildings all the time, and I already have a fat mat, but one of my buddies just got back from being deployed and could use something for his fancy space elves to fly around on. So think of the childen, and the puppies, and also the orks...because orks need your help. Did you know that 10 out of 10 orks are abused by their parents? Spore to the face every time.

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  15. I am fat. The mat is fat. We fatties belong together.

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  16. It's been a great run, and let it never stop (if anything, let it pick speed to get to a true sprint!)

    Your blog got me into this hobby. Really. Relative to the standard age of most people in this hobby, I'm a pretty young guy. When I started my little force of Tau in my club, I wasn't well recieved, as most people there were the older, inner circle elites, who wanted no plucky kid to mess with their games. I was kinda disheartened, so I began reading on tge su ject instead, so I'd at least feel like I belonged... And what blog popped up when I wrote "tau empire 6th ed" in the search field? Why wasn't it From the Fang! Friendly, unbiased reviews untainted by the bitterness you see some places, great battle reviews that where short but dramatic, and of course, Blog Wars, which I'll sadly never attend to... Bloody Atlantic Sea >:(

    Many people and sites have helped me since then, but yours was the first, and is still one of mu favourite places to visit. I even have a bookmark directly to the site from my phone, which I check every day... And I do mean every day.

    Cheers from Denmark!

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  17. Congrats on a million views, Alex! It's a great blog, and you manage to consistently keep it interesting and varied. It's hard work keeling a blog going (ahem) so congrats on managing it. There are 5 of us at Claws & Fists, and we struggle to post half-a-dozen posts a year...

    As for why I would love to win that mat. I would like to recreate the 'Cup-Cake Challenge' between my Nids and your Tau on one of those mats!

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  18. Space Wolves. It was Nids vs Space Wolves, wasn't it. Oops...

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  19. Well, your competition has turned me from lurker (particularly since you've been doing codex reviews) to first time poster.

    I'd like the mat as, well, just cus they are freaking awesome and I'd love to play a game on the grassy planes mat, I can't think of a genuine reason why I would be any more deserving than anyone else, so how about a few of my favourite jokes...

    Why did the Chicken cross the road?
    Knock Knock
    Who's there?
    The Chicken

    I went to a zoo the other day.
    It wasn't very good.
    It only had one little dog.
    It was a Shih Tzu

    A woman walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre.
    So the barman gave her one.

    Did you hear about the new element Aah?
    It's the element of surprise.

    Did you hear about the explosion in the cheese factory?
    There was nothing left but de brie

    Ok, I'll stop now. Well done on your stats and thanks for all the good articles.

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  20. As a Space Wolves player (choosing Alpine if the winner), it would finally allow me to fight those heathens of other chapters on terrain similar to my home world, rather than the gray and green felt my host always uses. Nothing against the felt but I would love to see my gaming group extended beyond the felt and into more suitable terrain. We need to teach the felt heads that it is alright to think beyond the gray and green and bring themselves into the 21st errr 41st century. On top of that it would serve as a fantastic back drop to my expanding Space Wolves chapter. As a long time collector of almost all armies, I have decided to devote myself to building the entire Space Wolves Chapter. The Mat would look fabulous with Space Wolves on it from end to end. It could also double as the mat for my Night Lords when they invaded the world that held the Callidus Temple on the surface of Uriah III.

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  21. The Blog Wars are calling
    On their way back From the Fang
    In Tournaments surrender to
    A new edition on the rise
    Blog Wars fallen far from heresy
    New Releases and Reviews
    On Blood Angels edge you trail
    Because there's Dark Eldar by the roadside
    In a 40K new world

    They tried to troll us,
    Looks like they'll post again

    Blog Wars never lose it
    Blog Wars never chose this way
    Blog Wars never close your eyes
    Blog Wars always shine

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  22. I should totally win because my hawt wife has so graciously been letting me teach her how to play 40K and I believe the crushing victories I have been dishing out every week will be a little more bearable for her if we weren't scratching up the dining room table every time :-) support hot wives with husbands who don't know the meaning of winning with grace!

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  23. Crap the post above was me and clearly proves my long time lurking but never posting because I didn't even log in properly...

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  24. Congrats on 1m pageviews Alex - here's to 2m!

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  25. It was a cold and stormy night. The wind blew hard and the rain lashed like nails from the sky, the very power of the God Emperor stinging your face as you marched resolutely through the darkening gloom. This was the end of all things, stripped of honour and stripped of life as no life was worthy without the honour it belied. The Emperor was dead and the Imperium shattered.

    Fools! You cursed to the air and the elements flashed, lightening wrought across the sky as if you controlled the earth and the heaven but for one brief moment. Hands as agonised claws, stretched upward in a vicious embrace, straining to pull back time from the warp to feel the flow of fate and grasp hold of that one point. That solitary pivotal point where all
    had turned and the collapse of the Imperium of Man had begun. The tide had turned and hell had flowed in the arteries of man.

    But to no avail. Crushing despair hits you as you reach the peak of this lonely mountain on this forgotten backwater world. Armour sundered, bolter broken, remorse all but spent; you collapse to your knees on one final agonising gasp and if anyone were around to hear the final mutterings of the the Great Fang they would have heard but a regretful whisper:

    "I should have given that snowy Fat Mat to Rob Hill"

    And then all was darkness and the fall of man was complete...




    So you know... Dire conseqences should you not heed this warning!!

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  26. Hey man glad to hear about your one million view, it's been a great ride and your're actually the one who got me into Warhammer.

    Now why I deserve to win, well we Dark Eldars take what we want and it might be in your best interest to "give" us the map.

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  27. Hi there! Congrats on the million views, it's quite awesome!



    I think I should win cause I'm launching a narrative campaing with some friends and this has just rekindled my love of the hobby. I have a whole SM army to paint and for the first time in years, I feel like painting it! And this thanks to blog like this and people like Reece on FLG.



    So yeah! I think I should win this!



    Oh an congrats again ;)

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  28. Sorry if this posts twice, I couldn't see my comment after I posted it so Im trying again,

    This Mat would be great for me, as I have been playing 40k for a year, and My wolves have grown from a battleforce to almost 5000points.

    Currently I am in a campaign with a couple fo friends, and the Ultramarines are on their way to Fenris, backed up by Grey Knights to put an end to the Wolf Heresy they suspect. The match has been put off for several months, because, would you believe it, we didn't have the cash for the Alpine F.A.T mat, so this prize would enable me to defend The Mighty Space WOlves Fortress from the ignorance and pomposity of the Ultra marines and Grey Knights...can you think of a better use for it???

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  29. I'm gonna try this for a thrid time...

    As a space wolves player, who is knee deep in a campaign match with my group, I could really do with this mat because ournext battle will be an attack on the FANG led by the Ultramarines, and backed up by Grey Knights, to attempt to pu an end to the Gene Seed corruption and near heresy that the wolves flaunt towards the rest of the Imperium.

    Thsi match has been on hold for several months, purely because we didn't have the cash for an Alpine FAT mat, so now you can help me to prepare to defend the Mighty Wolves Fortress from the treacherous pomposity of the Grey Knights...can you think of a better use for it??

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  30. As other before me, the contest is turning me from lurker to poster hehe.

    First of all, big congrats on achieving the millions. That's a huge deal! Now looking forward to seeing you achieving the 10 millions mark :)

    Now why should I win the mat? I've started the hobby 2 years ago, managed to build up quite a nice army to play with friends and organized multiple games within our circle.

    Even managed to make my wife play and she started Blood Angel. She's she's quite crafty with her hands (*wink* *wink*) she also like to make stuff.

    Since scenery as always been the issue as I don,t have any, my wife started working on making me specific Fenrisian scenery (ice rivers, blocks of ice, a whole frickin Morkai temple with huge wolf head in a styrofoam mountain, etc.). Currently sculpring and painting all this.

    The only missing piece to achieve this masterpiece to the glory of the Sons of Russ? A proper mat to lay the ground to that awesome homemade scenery.

    So that Alpine theme mat seems to be the perfect fit to lay the snow to the ground that will be stomped by my Thunderwolf cavalry and coloured red by having multiple heretic, xenos or just plain fools head cracked open!!!!


    Also, one of my friend just opened a hobby shop of is own starting with card and board games. We want to setup our permanent fenrisian battlefield at the shop to entice players to manifest themselves and help grow our user base of that fine hobby :)

    For Russ!!!!! (and Russ as also been my nickname for most of my life, veen before knowing about War40K so how could would that sound if the Primarch himself would win!! :)

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  31. Thank you to everyone for posting and for reading this little blog. I really wish I could afford to send you all a mat. Anyway, I'm closing the comments now and I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow evening......

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