FREE games milestone is close!

WOW. What can I say except THANK YOU?! Seriously guys, you all rock.

I still to this day remember twice while running this channel where I was super conflicted about what to post. First was right at the beginning. I had just started painting miniatures for board games as I'd just gotten into the board game hobby shortly before and my wife was pushing me to make a YouTube channel on it. I wasn't so sure though. What if people said my painting was terrible? I wasn't overly good at it or anything. The internet can be a cruel place after all...

Boy was I worrying for nothing. Instead of what I feared, I was welcomed into such an amazing online community that I was dumbfounded by it. I had always heard horror stories about YouTube comments and viscous online communities but all I can say is I found quite the opposite.

Next time was really opening up about how I felt. As I've cataloged here in the past, I started out wanting nothing but positivity on the channel. That's not so much because I didn't want to be honest (anything negative was simply omitted, which is why my early KS coverage is so patchy) but instead because I wanted to be a positive impact. I wanted people to come away from my video happier than before they watched it. I absolutely love to make people smile so if I could do that across the globe via the internet? Well, who could pass that opportunity up?

But over time as I saw other channel's videos, as I saw instances of people claiming to look at a product and give opinion but obviously was just stringing their viewers along, after several times of remembering the many issues within other industries such as video games and the more I began to have some sort of actual following and clout I realized I could not just have a positive impact in mood, but a positive impact within my little niche part of the industry. If a very critical review of mine meant a viewer saved $300 of disappointment, well that's just beyond any scope I could have imagined when first starting this channel.

Plus, I'm a little weird and notice odd things and say things without thinking (see any unboxing video of mine) so it was actually quite hard to stifle all of that to begin with.

Needless to say every single time I've taken a chance, every time I've stuck my neck out you guys have been right there with me, supporting this channel beyond measure. It's not just financial either. Of course I don't get those sweet ad dollars from the game companies. Sure there's an every growing list of companies that will never ever send me something to review early for you guys, but instead all of you, my core group behind this entire channel are always there willing to pick up the slack when these companies refuse to, and then you all go above and beyond any financial help and are actually THERE for me.

Whether we always agree or not, whether I goof up or not (Lord knows I do) or get stuck in a repetitive rut (most recently around CMON, my apologies), you guys are always there. To back me up when I need it, to provide constructive critisism when I need it, and to let me know that regardless of industry support, I can always count on you guys. And for that above all and from the very bottom of my heart, thank you so much for being here. You are helping shape and improve the industry, one rulebook with an index at a time.

Now, about that title and image. We hit a big step toward the next milestone here on Patreon (75% of the way!) and that means it's high time I detailed how I want to celebrate it with you guys. If you are new here then you should know I don't do most goals (I call them milestones) as some other Patreons do. Where they might lock away improvements under a financial goal, I refuse to and instead will make what I want, when I want as you all well know. Instead, I like to make an excuse to celebrate with you guys. Eventually someday that'll mean actual in person meet-ups and events but for now it involves me giving back as best I can.

And this next one is a big one! When we reach the celebration milestone I'll be contacting a few of you at random and seeing what game you'd like from my now rather vast prototype collection. That means Oathsworn, Stormsunder, Titans, Wolfenstein, Dawn of Madness, D.E.I. and more will be up for grabs here.

I still owe you guys a video and since I'm already filming the office changes, I figure I might as well send one out already. I just can't resist so I'll follow that office video up with my video where I'll be shipping it out along with these painted miniatures I've had sitting here for a while :)

Pat yourselves on the back and know that you've made what I do an absolutely amazing experience. I love working on the channel and I feel that's not something most can truly say.