How many historical wargamers are there in the UK? This is a question that has been asked before and finding an accurate answer is tricky, to say the least. I’ve often described our community as being a niche within a niche but is it even possible to speculate how many of us there are?
Firstly, very sorry to hear about your cellulitis: best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Secondly, when wondering over how many historical wargamers there are in the UK, I think it would help to categorise a little. I'd split such gamers into hardcore historical table-top miniature gamers, and others. Others would include those, such as some of my friends, who are gamers but don't have miniature collections and only play an historical TTG if someone else arranges that game (such as myself arranging one.) 48-50,000 of the hardcore gamer category might be a bit high - that's just a gut feel - but adding in the others might take it to double the number; but that is just a guess based on my own very limited experience. I would point you to Chestnut Lodge Wargamers (https://milmud.clwg.org/about-clwg/) - I am a former member. They have little to do with miniatures - some nothing at all - but they are dedicated gamers developing games often in an historical context - do they count in your number? How about players of board wargamers ("hex" games)? Does the Great Wargaming Survey provide any further insight?
ReplyDeleteSo, no answers, just some thoughts. I look forward to you keeping up the good work after your swift and full recovery.
I live in Falkirk. My guesstimate is 100 historical games in a population of about 160k which would give a UK number of about 40,000.
ReplyDeleteHowever the number in Falkirk may be as low as 50, which takes us down to 20,000
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