"Making a forum" Topic

Wasn't sure where to put this so I figured Wargaming in General would work. I know there's people here that have experience that have experience with setting up forums and websites. I was considering setting up a simple forum myself so that people interested in Armies of Arcana had somewhere to go to discuss the game and maybe get answers to their questions about it. I don't have any experience with running a forum or a lot of spare time nowadays. But I miss having a place to discuss things about the game. I know that TMP is always a good place to go but was looking to set up something more like the old AoA forum Raj ran.

So my questions are
What options are available for a free forum? I'm on a very limited budget lately and prefer to use my cash on more important things like buying more toys. Also looking for something with a relatively simple user interface and ease of set up.

How long do you think it would take to set up? I don't envision anything fancy. Just a place to chat and share all the information I've saved about the game.

It's a pretty subjective question but do you think there would be enough interest for it to be worth the time and effort to set up? I still love AoA and would like to keep some interest in it going. I still have my pet projects on the back burner (although it's been way to long since I did anything with them) and like to hear what others are doing or are interested in doing.

Our local group uses freeforums.org
They have been pretty stable for the past few years.

BBPhp is free but you'll need your own webspace to install it.

The biggest issue with single game forums is that they look empty and thus dead unless there is a daily stream of traffic from multiple persons.

Your best bet is to set up a blog where visitors don't expect it to be updated so frequently or even better use after action reports and such to build enough of a following on a larger forum to justify a sub board for the rules. That way you draw the attention of those who are not already following the game.

Thanks for the info people. coryfromMissoula, you make a good point. The reason I've never really gone for a blog is the way my hobby time goes for me. Months of nothing because of work/family commitments and then a brief spurt of frantic activity on whatever project interests me the most at the time. The older I get the longer the no gaming periods and the shorter the full speed gaming periods get. Anybody trying to follow a blog from me might die of old age in between updates. With a forum I could chat about other people's ideas as well as my own.

On an unrelated note Missoula isn't that far from me on a global scale. I live just north of the Montana border straight north of Glasgow. Not exactly gaming central in a small prairie town.