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Monday, January 15, 2024

Does Location Influence How We Game?

Does a gamer's country or region have an influence on how a gamer games?  What are some of the attributes that may drive gaming style or tendencies?  Whether considering table size, game venue, group size or a handful of similar attributes, do differences exist between historical miniatures gamers spanning the globe?

Luckily, Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy's Great Wargaming Survey offers some clues to this question.

In today's installment, I examine a half dozen of these gaming attributes with respect to country/region from the eyes of the primarily, historical wargamer.

Focus on Primarily Historical Gamers
While most previous analyses examine tendencies across all primary interests (Historical, Mixed, Fantasy/Sci-Fi), the following analyses look at wargamers having a primary interest in Historical wargaming only.
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows survey respondent counts by primary interest.  The scale spans from '0' (Entirely historical) to '6' (Entirely Sci-Fi/Fantasy).  Based upon earlier study, wargamers having a primary interest in Historical were demonstrated to fall into the '0' and '1' categories (Figure 2).   
Figure 2
With historical wargamers defined, what do any gaming tendencies suggest for this group of gamers if their country or region is known?

Now, in rapid fire sequence, let's look at some of these attributes. 

Entirely Historical Wargamers
If historical wargamers are bifurcated between their commitment to historicals as illustrated in Figure 3, then survey results suggest that UK/Ireland historical wargamers are more committed to preferring purely historical wargaming than other regions.  While UK/Ireland respondents see themselves as purely historical gamers about 50% of total, the Rest of the World (RoW) sees a make-up of about 40% of total.  Why do UK historical gamers tend toward purely historical wargaming more than the RoW?     
Figure 3
Note that "Region-Other" has lower total counts than the other regions so will not be included in these relative comparisons.  It is included only for completeness in the data.

Group Size
On gaming group size, UK/Ireland wargamers again stand out (see Figure 4).  UK gamers are more likely to prefer solo gaming over the RoW.  When up to four players are included in the group setting, the RoW catches up to the UK.  About 60% of all gamers participate in games having four or fewer participants.  Note here that Australia/New Zealand and UK/Ireland stand out as having 16+ participants about 10% of the responses.  Why the increase in group size for these two groups?    
Figure 4
Game Venue
When stratified by preferred gaming venue (see Figure 5), one result is remarkable.  Almost 30% of UK/Ireland gamers game at a club.  Few game at a game store.  All but North America follows a similar tendency.  North Americans chose a club as a preferred venue in less than 8% of the responses.  Gaming at a game store jumps to almost 17%.  For North Americans, is gaming at a game store similar to gaming at a club for the RoW?  Looking at the sum of private game settings (At Home, At Friend's Home), nearly 70% of North American respondents prefer these private settings.  Is this due to population dispersion and distances to travel, sociability or the availability of private, dedicated game spaces?    
Figure 5
Game Frequency
Gaming frequency offers interesting results as well.  When stratifying by how often one games, Australia/New Zealand and UK/Ireland (see Figure 6), on average, game more than the RoW.  These two groups tend to game at least bi-weekly in more than 50% of the responses.  This result likely reflects the tendency of these groups to attend club games.  Fewer than 40% of North American respondents game more than bi-weekly.  
Figure 6
Game Duration
What if game length is considered?  Do any tendencies emerge?  From Figure 7, survey results show similar results across all locations with some variation.  Across all groups, about 20% prefer games of 1-2 hours, about half prefer games of 2-3 hours, and roughly 30% prefer games exceeding three hours.  
Figure 7
Game Table size
What Figure 8 illustrates is that preferred table size varies but that a 4'x6' table is by far the most popular configuration.  Continental Europe/Scandinavia prefer the smaller table sizes with nearly 70% preferring a 4'x6' or smaller gaming table.  For the RoW, more than half prefer a table larger than 4'x6'.  Australia/New Zealand and North America top the regions for percentage of respondents preferring the largest tables.
Figure 8
Game Period
What if preferred wargaming period is examined?  Do any regions tend toward a particular period or are all periods universally favored?  Figure 9 illustrates the breakout of wargaming period by region.
Figure 9
What do the results suggest?  As might be expected, among historical wargamers, WWII and Napoleonics are one and two across all regions.  Besides these two major wargaming periods, do any periods see focus regionally?  Yes.  While Ancients sees similar global acceptance outside of North America, Pike & Shotte is played more in UK/Ireland.  Medievals are more popular in Continental Europe/Scandinavia and ACW is more popular in North America.  Surprising results?  I think not.

In Summary
The survey results show that location can play a role in how we game.  Region also affects what we play.  While hints of relationships between attributes have been suggested, perhaps a holistic approach to combining these attributes to show correlations between attributes (or groups of attributes) by Region would offer insight?  Previous analyses have shown that age is a driving factor in preference and choice.  Although past analysis demonstrates that older gamers gravitate toward historical gaming, perhaps extending this analysis to examine Age Group over these six gaming attributes would provide insight as well?  

How do these survey results compare with your own gaming tendencies based upon your location?  Similar?  Different?  In what way(s)?  Do you recognize other notable tendencies in these data?

Always enjoy reading your comments.

65 comments:

  1. As you well know, formal Wargames clubs, especially with their own dedicated space, are uncommon indeed in the US. and even then, usually found in or near major cities. The greater distances in the US, dispersion of the population, and lower #'s of miniature wargamers in the US are all contributors.

    Another contributor is that homes in the US are larger and most come with basements, which is the location of most of our wargames spaces.

    I have certainly played or run games at games stores and libraries, but that constitutes a very small slice of my wargaming activities.

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    1. Thanks, Peter! You sum up the rationale for the key take-aways from the survey results nicely. I have run games in public spaces only a few times. Most gaming is found in the comfort of someone’s home.

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  2. Interesting analysis, although the results are probably not overly surprising. As Peter says, the US population is dispersed over a wide area. Although Australia is as large as the continental USA, the population here is concentrated around five state capital cities. When you look at it like that the results make sense.

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    1. The results are not too surprising to me. Seeing survey results that confirm our sensibilities provides validation to the sampling.

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  3. The distance between gamers is greater on average in the North American market and I would imagine is greatest away from the coastal areas.
    Play at private homes has been the only repeatable option for most gaming for the 50 years I can attest to, basically in Southern New England.
    The in store gaming has become more popular in the last 30 years. In the last few years locally the mix of games by venue for myself is approaching 20% but there is a history of having the stores available lasting only a few years . At this point, there are three stores I am aware of promoting gaming locally by providing tables on a daily basis. These stores are primarily not historically based in products sold nor clientele.
    As Peter Anderson has said, library or schools have occasionally seen gaming being events. The small convention count is regionally approaching a dozen.
    Personal experience and availability of opportunities to meet have increased games played in number but not regular opponents.
    In 2024 I will probably host weekly games for a small group of long time acquaintances and play games twice a month at the closest store.

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    1. Thanks for you comment, Joe! Being one a non-coastal, American wargamer, gaming in private at home has been the standard with few exceptions.

      Good to see that you have a solid plan for increased gaming in 2024!

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  4. No surprises there for me Jon, but as always, good to see the data and to see how one fits into the bigger picture. Some points of view from my perspective as follows:

    A 6' x 4' table is about as big as I can reasonably fit into our dining room, which is where I game. I suppose I could go up to a 7' x 5' one, but it would be tricky to walk around, have rules to hand etc and frankly wouldn't add anything to the game. Given that my games are in 10mm and using half measurements (except for BKCII), then a 6' x 4' table equates to 12' x 8' for 28mm figures.

    Again given the restriction upon table size, 4 people is a nice number to have in the space available, but 6 would feel rather cramped and probably reduce the enjoyment for all concerned. With the size of games I and my chums normally play, of say 3 brigades of infantry, 2 brigades of cavalry plus a reserve, this is more than enough to keep us entertained and to divide the force up nicely.

    So a 4 player game with the above sized force and table size, we would normally expect to reach a finish within 2-3 hours, which fits in with the time available for all of us, doesn't impose upon the rest of the family etc. It is nice when we can get a bigger game in, but that tends to be in a village hall setting with a room rented and plenty of prep in advance.

    Gaming at a club used to be the only way to meet other gamers say 20 years ago, pre the internet age. Looking back I don't think many rules were solo friendly too, but don't quote me on this. Now with multiple forums (fora?), social media, Blogs etc, it is easy to keep in touch, meet new gamers of share solo games with others so you don't feel like 'Billy No-Mates'.

    Games Stores, aside from the GW ones, are a rarity here as far as I can tell. We have one in Bristol that was set up by a chap who won the lottery and has moved a few times, now on an industrial estate. It seems to be doing well but is nothing something that is in our DNA as it were.

    Where I live I can almost throw a stick and hit some ECW or Glorious Revolution sites, so you can see why it is popular here. Again no big surprise there and ditto for the ACW being big your side of the pond. Thankfully with greater access to knowing what books are out there, such as those by Stephen W Sears, then the ACW becomes much more interesting and fascinating for me as a gamer. 20 years ago my only exposure was at the club ans shall we say the games were less than appealing!

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    1. Thanks, Steve! The purpose of these studies is really two-fold. One is to provide a data validation of the survey and the other is to see where we each fit into the Grand Scheme of Things.

      Your point about needing to join a club to find an opponent in the Old Days is a good one. A really good one! With today's technology, that path is no longer required for entry and gaming.

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  5. Interesting data and analysis as always Jon but as you (and other commentators have said) no real surprises.
    ECW I suppose is hardly likely to be popular outside the Commonwealth (in addition to the UK I might hazard a guess it's more popular in NZ and Australia than in Europe or the US). Obviously, ACW (the "best" CW!) would be popular in the US - is AWI quite popular too - its more interesting to me but that's possibly because there is a British involvement (of course!)
    As to venues, first (when I was 10-12) it was on the dusty floor of the Scout Hall on a Sunday - got a few splinters from that! Then, we had a teacher who was a wargamer (Hinton Hunt etc) so it was at school, then I had a LONNG hiatus from about ages 18-36 until I was fortunately reintroduced to the hobby and met Mark (1866 and All That) and most of the other guys I still game with 25 years later. When Mark had the figure manufacturing and retailing business he mentions in his profile, we used to meet there on a Friday evening for games on a very large - 6 x 18 I think - table, and that lasted for about 6-8 years, then, when the business morphed into Battle Front and Flames of War, Mark exited, they moved premises, and the games I played in moved to my mate Julians house, primarily, and occasional games at Barrys on a Sunday. So, I guess you could say the initial gaming in NZ was at a hobby store.
    I believe there are organized clubs throughout New Zealand, but I have never had anything to do with one in all my gaming years and they do not hold much appeal to me now, although if I moved to another region after retirement in a few years, or something like that, I might use a club as something to meet local gamers through...maybe!
    I have no room here for gaming and most of the group are in a similar boat. Julians games are normally restricted to 4 players although he can accommodate 6 at a push - Barry has plenty of room and has another 6 x 18 table, but our days of playing there are obviously numbered - so we may be looking for a new venue in the not-too-distant future.
    I count myself as having been pretty lucky to know someone like Julian, who has definitely provided the venue for 70%+ of my gaming over the last 25 years - and of course in the last 12 months or so, I have dipped my toe into solo gaming, which I genuinely find has some attractions and benefits and is not simply a best of a bad bunch option when no one invites me to their place for a game!

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    1. Always great to have your insights on the topic, Keith! Interesting how your gaming has evolved over the decades. With your increase in solo gaming, will solo gaming be moving up your list of preferred Group Sizes in the 2024 survey?

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    2. Right on Keith, my AC double-ya brotha!

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    3. @Jon - interesting question - I will have to give that some thought when the 2024 survey rolls around......

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  6. Interesting Jonathan. We have around 60 people on our FB page from the area but only 20 who attend the club and no one travelling more than 40 minutes away. Several members also game at home, usually having space for a table at least 6x4.

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    1. Thanks, George! Having 20 gamers regularly attending your club games seems like a large gathering. Would you deem that a typical club size?

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  7. On the period shares, I do find it quite interesting that in the USA interest in ACW seems to have cannibalized interest in pre-C18 warfare rather than Napoleonics (although if War of 1812 is included in Napoleonics, that may explain some of it); I also found the RoW lack of interest in Pike and Shot interesting...unless the armies involved are actually encompassed by Ancients and Colonial?

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    1. Thank you! I was surprised that the periods of Ancients, Dark Ages, and Medievals were all much less played in North America than elsewhere. did ACW gaming cannibalize these periods? I do not know. North America leans more toward WWII gaming as a first choice over all regions except Australia/New Zealand. While Pike & Shotte may be first choice for those in the UK/Ireland, the survey suggests that is not the situation for the RoW.

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    2. I don't know how valid this is, but the US, NZ and Australia are obviously countries that have no real European history prior to about 1600 ish - and for the latter two, their only major incidents of military history are the Boer War, WWI, WWII and perhaps Vietnam (here in NZ we have our own Maori/Land Wars too). Australia has no real domestic military history at all.
      As an aside it would be an interesting question to ask people if they were happy to share their ethnicity - I get the impression wargaming is an overwhelmingly "European" hobby/interest - but I don't know - I could be mistaken?

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    3. Thanks, Keith. You may be right about length of a county’s history. I also wonder if relative isolation plays a role too?

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  8. Hard to add anything more than has already been observed.

    From a UK perspective, properties are smaller and dedicated game rooms less likely than the family domestic table, which serves double duty to meal times.

    I think this leads directly to;
    Game of 3 hours or less preferred, gatherings of four or less and table sizes being 6x4 and often smaller.

    As for gaming at game stores, over here, stores that are big enough to have a gaming area are few and far between and is really only just becoming a thing in which it helps surviving stores being viable.

    Our propensity to historical game may still be a fall out from the birth / roots of wargaming with Featherstone et al, so historical got a head start in penetration of interest and that generation is still active.

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    1. Thanks, Norm! You always lend a solid explanation for why we see what we see. Notice that UK leads the pack for the percentage of respondents choosing games "Longer than three hours."

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    2. I wonder if that could possibly be linked to clubs, who might be able to leave games set up over two sessions or more?

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    3. Interesting. Do clubs generally leave games set up between playings? Speaking to some of Postie's Rejects yesterday, they say that their games in the shed are often all-day affairs.

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  9. Im always impressed by your posts Jonathan, yes I have to check a dictonary for some of the text you use, but they are always interesting. I can only speak for myself and I always believed I was a typical wargamer from the UK. Obviously as I have got older I think other younger gamers are becoming typical and I am being slowly marginalised. I started in the early 1970's and was part of the big surge in wargaming created by our pioneers and a little by television, but when I was born the war had only been ended 11 years. I was brought up in an atmosphere of people who had survived a terrible event. I was also very lucky to have a terrific history master who encouraged research and questioning of our long history. So naturally my wargaming was based around historical events. Even though I have always been a huge Tolkein fan I never found fantasy stuff floating my boat. I lived near a local wargames club but to be honest they were never very welcoming and also came from vastly different social backgrounds so it was never going to be a good experience, so I plodded along bymyself until I found a likemeinded wargamer who Ive wargamed with for well over 50 years. Now I am very lucky in having very large armies, no longer typical. A decent sized table again no longer typical and wargame with my long suffering wargaming opponent, probably not typical either. Im not certain what that proves but there you go.

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    1. Thank you very much, Robbie! I always appreciate your insights and history in wargaming.

      What this proves to me is that, after 50 years of wargaming, you have settled into a comfortable situation that suits you perfectly.

      Historical gamers with large collections and large tables; are we a dying breed?

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    2. Yes, one opponent rings in at 53 years of playing, my table has shrunk from 8by6 to just under 6by4, the dining table as dual purpose. Still have a lot of toys, not many past our little group have collections in the hundreds. The next long-term opponent has been known across the table for 30 plus years.

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  10. Bonjour from la continent de Europe. Bugger all going on here in south central France. General factors at play are it’s a big old country and where I live it has an ageing agricultural population. The major cities are pretty well spread out and are really the only places you’ll find any gaming activity (and even then it seems to be a lot of GW 40k stuff - with youngsters being the main protagonists) Apart from a few groups like Associations des Riflemen clubs seem to be very thin on the ground. I have to wonder if the lack of interest is linked to the fact that they’ve had some actual war going on in their streets and towns not that long back - the darker side of it being easy to see for yourself in places like Oradour sur Glane near Limoges. Surprised to see that pike and shot (my own fave) is not popular in Europe since other than the ECW that style of warfare also played a major part in the continents geopolitical formation. While I was in the uk I gravitated to smaller scales due to lack of storage and gaming space - but having discovered the cost benefits of 10, 6, and 2mm I’ve remained with that small scale mind set even though I now have a 6x4 table and all the space I need. My early experience of clubs was a bad one (as a teenager amongst a bunch of Napoleonic grognard know alls) and I’ve never gone near one since. Solo gaming has been my only option until an introduction to remote gaming - which has proved a lifesaver. Despite what some game gurus seem to think ((cough…littlewars tv)) it’s been a fantastic experience and somewhat of a life line. Given that places like the US and Oz have the same geographical size problems but a developed internet / technology base - I’m surprised that other gamers have not taken it up in large numbers.

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    1. Bonjour, my friend!

      One benefit of these survey analyses is that we all get a glimpse of how others across the globe game and approach wargaming.

      I do not understand why others have not jumped at the chance to wargame with others all over the world. I certainly would not go back to the Old Ways. I am much, much richer and wiser for the experience.

      Having you along for these remote games has been a big boost to me. A real pleasure, always. Thank you!

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  11. more data than you can shake a pointy stick at Jon. Well done and extremely interesting as ever. I am a solo gamer through choice/restrictions not distance (although that can have an impact). Choice of table size is up to and including 8 x 5 depending on my whim as its in my gaming room.

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    1. Much appreciated, Dave! Having a dedicated gaming room is a luxury for some and a joy for all those who can find the space.

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  12. Another interesting post, Jon.

    I am one of those few NA gamers that plays almost exclusively at a game store. Currently, I do not have a table larger than 3' x 3' for games, and neither do my sons. Hoping to change that soonish...

    One little surprise - to me at least - comes from a comparison of game tables to gaming length. For their larger gaming tables, NA gamers seem to prefer shorter games, while in the UK the tables are a bit smaller yet the games are longer, and more frequent (if I am reading the data right).

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    1. Thanks, Greg! Playing games at a game store does seem unusual to me but you live in a large metro area that likely has a lot of amenities not seen in the Hinterlands.

      While most respondents prefer to game on a 4'x6' table or smaller, Australia/NZ and North American gamers play on the largest size tables about 14% of the time. The results do suggest that North Americans prefer shorter sessions to all but Continental Europe/Scandinavia. Is this an unsolvable conundrum or a feature of aggregation? I suppose we could dive into the data even deeper to examine this seeming anomaly. Good eye!

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  13. An interesting research question providing interesting data. I think the primary value of this study is less in any conclusions one can draw (although your analysis is, as always, excellent), but more so in the aggregate and the way that the data makes this aspect of the gaming landscape visible.

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    1. Glad you found the study interesting, Ed! I agree that seeing the broad generalizations are interesting but validating the survey data through these exercises is, likewise, helpful.

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  14. no surprises, but interesting to think about from time to time. Not surprising that the ACW being the best CW is more popular in America, and I would bet on the east coast.
    though I think my UK friends owe some ACW gams as I do plenty of Wiking stuff over here, where barely any Vikings set foot and not for long. 😁

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    1. Thanks, Stew! Maybe no surprises but interesting to ponder from time to time. I do see UK gamers playing ACW although most do not agree that the ACW is the Best CW.

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    2. That’s because they’ve yet to be enlightened by my song “the ACW is the best CW.” But all in good time. 😀

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    3. We need to work on that enlightenment.

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    4. I will look out for TayTay siinging your song all the way to a UK Number 1 next Christmas, Stew!

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    5. Stew needs to record it first so we know the melody.

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  15. Very interesting analysis Jonathan. As others have mentioned, no real surprises, I think in the UK the clubs are more common than in the US, as most like myself do not have a dedicated space for gaming and solely rely on attending a club for games. There is also a serious lack of gaming stores in my area. I envy those that can visit such places. As for gaming periods I can see why ACW is popular in the US, it strikes a resonance with you due to your involvement. For us in the UK, our history shows we had a tendency to be fighting just about everyone at any time and our gaming reflects that. My own club has 10 memebers, and no 2 players have the same preferred period. Keeps gaming interesting.

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    1. Thanks, Neil! No real surprises but confirmation of what we think we know. Here, there are neither clubs nor game stores for playing historical games so we must make do with private gaming arrangements. Luckily, many of the fellas have dedicated gaming spaces.

      As Stew would say, ACW is the Best CW. YMMV!

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  16. Jonathan - interesting stuff. A couple of probably sidewinder comments; 1) in the UK the shop will be GW and so not historic. The number of shops which would cater for historic wargaming I am guessing could be counted using fingers, possibly toes. 2) on interests I am a butterfly and recently "got" the ACW because Mrs F and I toured a number of east coast battlefields I had already bought into the AWI/Revolution. Bloody Lane, my oh my. I wonder how the period interests "blossom" in say Europe - no shortage of options I'm afraid. 3) I wonder if gaming frequency could tie in with other activities (I can't remember the questions)? For example less gaming, more painting and reading/research? 4) Group size and duration - well as a part time solo some "games" can go on for days (not a single setting to be fair!); probably not a fair answer! 5) And probably a digression, I answered giving a large number of historic periods and probably not all I dabble in - I can see why the survey asked the question that way but maybe that does skew the stats a bit; would the answers be different if the respondents could only give a single favoured period (and that's probably not a sensible question in any event). More deep dives awaited with keen interest. Farqs

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    1. Thank you, Andrew, for your comments! Are you a longtime reader or recently discovered the blog?

      Nothing gets the creative juices stirring like battlefield walks. Like you, i have walked the ground of many of the Eastern ACW battlefields. With each visit, I bring back a better understanding of the battle and how to present an interesting game for the table.

      I recall the 2023 only asked to rank the Top 3 periods. I figured that choosing a Top 3 might be a reasonable cut-off. In this analysis, I stuck to only summarizing respondents' Top Choice.

      There will be more analysis as the year progresses. If you are interested in past analyses, you can find more here on the blog.

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    2. Semi-long term but a recent follower. The one that struck me in understanding the battlefield (I think!) was Monmouth Courthouse. possibly the most affecting, and one we almost went to by accident was Spion Kop. I've never been to one I haven't appreciated and as you say the understanding of the field, as simple as say folds in the ground can be profound.

      Interesting you went top choice only; what a varied hobby we have and all the better for that. Farqs

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    3. Thanks again, Andrew! I do hope you remain a regular contributor to the commentary section.

      Yes, these were the Top Choice only and, again, only for those that considered themselves primarily historical wargamers.

      Spion Kop? I had to look that battlefield up having never heard of it before. Boer War? That is a conflict I am not too familiar with.

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    4. Spion Kop was once so well known in the UK that one of the most famous parts of an English football ground, the Kop at Anfield, is named for it.

      As to the Boer Wars (there were two), not the greatest period for the British army and the treatment of Boer civilians was shocking. But it did provide some useful lessons to modernise the army before WWI.

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    5. Thanks, Anthony. While I have gamed the Zulu Wars, Boer Wars have bypassed me. Surprisingly (maybe not!), I do have a few bags of figures for this conflict.

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    6. Further to Andrew's comment about the Kop, it's actually a term used more widely than just Liverpool. This old page from 14 years ago gives a good overview of the origin and use of the term at football grounds and a surprising link where it comes full circle, at the end.
      https://www.soccerphile.com/the-kop#:~:text=There%20is%20some%20confusion%20around,a%20club%27s%20support%20is%20based.

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    7. Very interesting provenance. Thank you, Chris!

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  17. Interesting analysis, Jon. I am a play at home person mainly, and enjoy hosting others. There is a wargaming club locally that meets during a weeknight, but I haven't attended. I don't play the competition type rules they use, but mostly it's because I prefer to do my own thing.

    I've found that post-game I like to talk about the rules played, how they worked in the game, and whether they reflect my interpretation of the reality. This doesn't always go down very well with people who don't know me (especially if they are supplying the rules, figures and scenario!), and as I don't want to come across as a wet blanket it's better just to do things on my own terms.

    Cheers, Aaron

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    1. Thanks, Aaron! Good to see you back on your blog and commenting here. Hope you can keep at it.

      Post-game discussions are always a useful exercise. The problem I run into is that time zone differences mean the games can run late for some players and post-game analysis can be cut short. What I might try in the New Year is to introduce brief Game Retrospective a few days after the game to hash out what worked and didn't work.

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  18. We're quite lucky in the UK, we all live quite close to each other, so we don't have to travel far. Our group, Posties Rejects all live within a 20 mile radius, all bar one. There are loads of clubs both big and small, all over the place. In my hometown there are 2 clubs, neither of which we play in. We play almost 100% of our games in Posties shed, which so happens to be next door to where I live, (very handy!) Because there are so many more clubs in the UK, this is why the 2-3 hour game is popular, the guys need to get into the venue at 7, set up, play the game, clear up and get out the door again by 10 o'clock, so 2-3 hour game systems are popular. The Rejects don't play these kind of rules, we have no time limit and play approx 5-6 hour games, then sit down for a cup of tea a a long chat about the game. Works really well for us.

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    1. Thanks, Ray! You and the Rejects find yourselves in a very good situation

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  19. As always I love your deep dives into the data! I am currently in Atlanta, but spent the vast majority of my life in the North East, and much of that in and near Philly, and other areas prominent in AWI history, etc., so perhaps that's why I'm surprised people in North America prefer gaming the ACW more than the American Revolutionary War/War for Independence.
    I am primarily a solo gamer (by temperament and by choice), prefer games that fit on a 4x4 setup or preferably smaller (even with my 54mm figures), and can be completed in an hour or so, including set up and tear down as I have no dedicated gaming space. So, I'm probably not the best suited to talk about gaming at stores or in a club! What I usually see of gaming in stores is some variety of GW game. Historical gaming seems relatively rare, save for Bolt Action, which I think lines up with the GW fanbase expectations of a game regardless of era or setting.

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    1. Thanks, John! Happy to see that you continue finding these data dives of interest. AWI would be aggregated into 18th Century but still this piece is less than ACW.

      Interesting point about BA and GW. Are the game mechanisms in BA similar to GW game engines?

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  20. Yes, in various ways, some good, some not, some change. I have several times been part of a group of like minded wargaming friends, whether a named organization or just an informal group of friends. At other times I've gamed with friends who didn't share any of my particular interests and vice versa so we found compromises, took turns hosting etc.

    Usually it's easier to find opponents with similar interests in well populated areas.

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    1. It is good to find opponents with similar interests. Having opponents that bring something new to the table is good too. Matching demeanor is the critical component.

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  21. Been thinking about this sone more Jon...

    As has been said by quite a few others in replies above (yes I have read them all 😉), there are a few peculiarities for me in the UK view.

    Shops...there aren't many historical ones left so that drop by and chat around wargaming stuff and possibly a quick run through game don't happen much and certainly not for me anymore.

    Clubs are doing reasonably well although there does appear to have been a tail off in historical stuff and and uptick in 40K etc. Interestingly my daughters boyfriend is into 40K and he's 27. Plus a few of his mates are similarly disposed. He is keen to try warhammer fantasy since that is making a comeback/relaunch. It is but a nudge to get him to do historical so maybe not all doom and gloom for us.

    We appear to be time poor but money rich in this day and age although we are slowly going towards a time poor money poor paradigm. Shorter games maybe all people can do apart from the empty nesters and young uns. I certainly can't devote much time to gaming and definitely not a whole day's worth unless I roll 3 6's and make sure everything is covered 2 weeks ahead of the game.

    Distances in the UK aren't too bad but cost features especially if going by train so if its a trip of more than 25miles it's an all in venture

    I could be persuaded to try other periods apart from ancients but I don't have the gaming group to ease me in or interest me. So it's back to the dark ages for me... 😀

    Anywho keep up the good work. Meanwhile back in a darkened room somewhere in Wales, the call of Slingshot beckons

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    1. Superb feedback, Dave! “Time poor, money poor” is a sad state of the World. Thank you!

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  22. Interesting analysis. My experience is that clubs in the UK are stil doing well.

    I play at the Guildford club most weeks and we are currently expanding - having added several new members recently.

    Interestingly we have one new member who had never wargamed or painted anything before but had an interest in ACW. When he retired his wife pointed him in our direction!

    Another new member who came last week has painted figures for nearly 40 years but not gamed since university.

    I also game a couple of times a month with another local friend who shares my love of 54mm gaming - we alternate meeting at each otehr's houses.

    When I first started gaming I met with friends at their houses, then eventually had my own games room.

    I tried clubs over the years but found the couple I tried quite unfriendly to newcomers.

    Guildford was down to 7 people when I joined in 2000, but we now have over 20 regulars and other occasionals. We also ALWAYS stop to tak to visitors, get them into a game and arrange a game for the next week for them.

    I rarely play an all day wargame any more most of the games are evening games so we want rules that finish in 2-3 hours and leave time for a chat in the pub afterwards.

    The only exception is Twilight Imperium the boardgame which 6 of use will play for 12 hours all day to finish a game!

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    1. Thank you, Mike! Terrific insight from your own, personal perspective. The survey suggests UK clubs are doing well, indeed. Too bad that some clubs are not so welcoming to newcomers.

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  23. I've relatively recently found a club near me to play relatively regularly before that it was more occasionally at mine which still goes on , the only shops I know of that you can play in are GW shops, oh and bolt action and 40k share designers, bolt action following on from one of the myriad 40k editions and Warlord includes a large majority of its design/production staff that migrated from GW.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain! I read somewhere else that the only brick & mortar game stores where one can game in the UK are GW-centric. Maybe this declaration was not absolute but a generalization of the situation.

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