spudWorks began life as the personal writing website of Colin Andrew Ferm. An archive of those “stories” and essays can still be found here. It’s been helpfully archived and the design has been lovingly recreated.
Today it is hopefully more. Today spudWorks should be a site that talks a little more about culture, what’s on TV, what’s in the movies, with a special interest in science-fiction specifically. Additionally, as our founder has gotten older, he’s also regressed and has returned to painting miniatures and playing war games with them. So there will be a special focus on that and the worlds in which they inhabit.
Hopefully it’s interesting to someone. After all, who launches a new website in 2026? But, fuck it. We’re stranded in Hamburg, Germany and don’t have a whole lot else to do.
What is ‘the Hobby?’
People who participate in the hobby end up just calling it “the hobby” as if there are none other. But, in general, “the hobby” refers to the building and painting of miniatures to be used in games. That is by far the most simple definition because the hobby could also include all the stuff that happens around that. People travel to different countries to play one another in tournaments and game days. People spend hundreds of dollars on lots of different kits just to bash them all together to make one 12-figure team. People will definitely fight over who makes the best miniature paints and how best to paint things. But, then, we all bring our miniatures together and enact everything from a tiny gang tussle to an epic battle between armies.
By far, the 800-pound gorilla in the hobby is Games Workshop, best known for its Warhammer line of games. But there are dozens of smaller players and everyone who participates with those games and game pieces are all part of “the hobby”.
Arguably, the people who might not be considered as “one of us” are the more traditional model builders, building tanks and planes and cars that are almost always intended just for display. But we set no firm rules, one way or the other. It’s not our place and we’re honestly not interested in doing so. Everyone who glues plastic together and paints it is a friend of ours.
Use of AI
This site makes heavy usage of AI. We used it to create the theme on which this site runs, we use it to create comic versions of our gangs, and we use it to illustrate our fiction.
Arguments can be made that using AI denies real artist work. But that argument assumes a budget for artwork that doesn’t exist. This site subsists on the income of its founder, the work he’s willing to put into it, and the AI budget he already has. Assuming there was ever a real artist job with this site was always a fallacy. No one is put out of work by our use of AI. There was never a job in the first place.
No posts will ever be written by AI, though when AI is used to help generate written content (like our privacy policy) it will be noted.
If you don’t like our AI policies, our content, or our views on the hobby, well… there are other hobby sites. In the meantime, we prefer articles with illustrations. We hope you do too.