Weekly Waffle # 389 – Block Perch
9th August 2025
This week for the Weekly Waffle I have a couple of updates for you. One I have pictures for and the other is all about the pictures that I already have on the site. So it’s been a busy week even if there isn’t a lot to show for it in terms of this update.
So I’m going to start off with the work I’ve been doing in the background. When I switched hosting providers last year I started to put more effort into making the posts easier to find on the internet. The art of Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO as it is referred to really is a black art. Over the last year I’ve started to learn some of the basics so the any new posts or pages are now starting to score quite well.
But my image scores were lower so I’ve started to work on those as well. But it’s a lot of work that is really laborious to do. Or at least it is without paying a lot of money for software to do it for you. And as this site is just for fun I’m not paying hundreds of pounds a year to do it for me.
So over the last week I’ve managed to update about a hundred posts with key words and other bits to improve their score. I’m now down to about eighty posts to finish everything I’ve over published.
But the image front has been a little different. I need to make sure every image has the alt text field completed along with a good set of keywords. I have been diligent about this in spells over the years but I have to go through every image in my library and check them all.
So the question became how many pictures do I need to check. The answer to that question is just over eight thousand six hundred. Just let that sink in. I know I have taken a lot of images over the years but that figure did come as a shock to me.
It also poses the question of how do you even start to work your way through all of these. Fortunately I have been using a plugin called Real Media Library which allows me to group all of my images into neat folders. So I just started at the top of the list and decided to do it one folder at a time. And it’s going quite well. Some of the key words could probably be better but they are all in the ball park.
By in the ball park I mean at the moment I have keywords for all my Guild Ball minis. So if you search for the manufacturer, game or team you will get a result. But I haven’t added the name of every mini. That is something I may do in the future. Especially for something like Guild Ball with named characters and there aren’t that many of them so it’s not a massive job.
I’m probably about three quarters of the way through the process and whilst it is time consuming it really is quite therapeutic. It’s also a reminder of some of the things I’ve painted in the past. Which has raised a couple of questions for me. The first is I wonder where that mini is now, do I still have it or have I last it. The second is I really enjoyed painting that and I wonder if I could do a better job of it now. Which may be lining up future projects.
One thing it has got me thinking about is where or not I should think about taking new pictures of some of my minis. Early on I used to use a white background and have since switched to a black one. So should I put them all on to black to make the galleries all look the same. It’s something to think about but not necessarily something I’m going to do straight away.
Although if I can find my box of Guild Ball minis that could be a good place to start. Not a lot of minis to do and I’m going to need to put the Falconers away with them at some point anyway. Maybe over the next month I so I can dig them out and spend some time updating the gallery.
Anyway that’s enough about that. The weekly waffle should be about new things that I have to share with you. And this week that is a little bit more on the Guild Ball Falconers front.
As the post title suggests this week I have a perch for the Falcons to sit on. In game terms it is the goal, but it’s a really nice model in its own right.
When it came to painting it I wanted to keel the colours in line with the captain. So whilst there isn’t any turquoise the rest of the colours are all the same. With the exception of the green falcon symbol in the centre of the goal.
I did consider doing this I turquoise but the green on the box art looked good so I stuck with that. It did then make me think about swapping out the turquoise for green on the rest of the team but again I like the look of things as they are. So I’ve stuck with choices and I’m not changing things.
But what do you think of it.
You can see more Guild Ball miniatures at my gallery here
I’m liking how things are progressing and I’m enjoying my painting time. I know I have some older guild ball minis that I never got round to painting so I think I’m going to drag them out. Anything that keeps the mojo toped up and me painting each week.
You never know at this rate I may even try to run some games and get people interested in playing again. I have enough minis for a small league. So if people are interested all they have to do is turn up. No painting needed. Which means it. Won’t cost them anything, other than some of their time, to try out a new game.
That could make an interesting topic for a future weekly waffle, reviving games that are either out of production or out of support. If you have the rules what does it matter that the game is no longer supported. In the case of guild ball all of the rules and stats cards are available on line. So everything you need is right there.
And if I don’t fancy playing season four then I have rule books for the first three seasons. All in all there is no reason not to give it a go. But what game would you like to try or revive.
That’s it for this week but I will be back here next Saturday morning with more weekly waffle for you. Until then I hope you all keep safe and that all your hobby projects are successful.
