Less than five years ago, when I first contemplated a website to display and discuss my WWII miniatures, I intended it as a way to stay in touch with fellow collectors at the Armored Fighting Vehicle Forum, where I had been posting for some time. Teeming with enthusiasm, I pitched the idea to my family. One of my kids glanced at me quizzically and wondered out loud if there were enough people out there interested in my “stuff.” My wife, on the other hand, was characteristically brutally honest: “Ah, so your three friends from the Forum can look at your little toys,” she quipped with a smirk. It was an inauspicious and discouraging beginning for my proposed endeavor.

Today, a reader in Poland visited this site. It was an insignificant click for that reader but a milestone for this website, for with that click the site reached one million views. I realize that it may not seem like much in a time when a post on YouTube can go viral with millions of views in a couple of days. And yet, I’m thrilled. I had always assumed that I was one of a small brotherhood of geeks obsessed with war miniatures. Not so.

After wondering who was visiting the website, I installed a flag counter earlier this year (the widget at the very bottom on the right hand side of the screen). I was stunned to find that there are people all over the world visiting the website. In five months, miniature enthusiasts from over 100 countries, including unlikely places such as Iran and Iraq, have visited the website, as graphically demonstrated by the flag counter map below. I’m now certain that I’m not alone.

I would like to thank everyone who happens upon this site — loyal readers and casual browsers alike — for their support. I do this because I know there are people out there who read it. I can’t think of a greater reward.