"How can we get more younger players into the hobby?" Topic

This recent Little Wars convention had me looking around the game event room, and I saw a lot of graybeards.
Very few "under 30 crowd". Some but not many.
So I got to thinking.
"What can we do to attract, get, and keep" younger people into the miniature gaming hobby?
I'm saying this, with a focus more on historicals, than other branches, as I think GW has a great concept of attracting new people to the GW hobby.

So if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, and discuss them. I'd like to see more young people into the historical side of miniature gaming.

We greybeards were raised on war films, to, books, comics and toys – even at school we were often taught history of kings and battles. Such is no longer the case and therefore the younger generation don't have any background in the history being gamed hence are not hooked. But show them gaming that matches their online gaming or streaming of dystopian futures and fantastic worlds and it's a different matter.
In short, I don't have an answer for this one.

Rules that are straight forward and easy to learn. Since younger games are attracted to fantasy and Sci-fiction gaming I have a theory that to peak their interest, put on games that visually resemble those genres. For example I find younger gamers take an interest in my medieval games as it superficially resembles fantasy. Or WW2/moderns for Sci-fi gaming fans. I find the biggest problem with young gamers is keeping them off their cell phones and focused on the game in front of them!

Since this observation has been made for the past 40 years at least I think we're fine. Kids start out in fantasy/sci fi and drift into Historicals as they age.

But to address the OP

Put on games in new places. Library game nights. Run a club at a school.

In short take the games to where kids are

Gaming for "kids today" is on line, or on their "devices".
The first thing you have to do is convince them that games can be played on a table.
Good luck with that.
It's like Country Music. Junior Brown was asked about "real Country Music" going extinct. He shrugged and said that nobody does Ragtime anymore. Heard any good new harpsichord concerti lately?!

"The Last of Us" TV series is derived from an online game. 🤷 Go figure. No miniatures.

My Grandsons have been coming with me to Little Wars since they were 7 years old and playing games. Will is 21 now and in the Marine Corp, so could not make it this year. Maison is 15 years old was there on Saturday this year and signed up for Murphy's Pirate game that was cancelled but instead played the right flank of the Romans in the Hannibal game and later played in a Vietnam Game where he was the ranking Officer, giving out orders, he earned metals at both events. William currently plays 40k on base with friends and Maison plays D&D with a club in High School. So as Extra Crispy says they will migrate into all Historical as they get older. Plus I have willed them my 15mm Napoleonic Armies, 15mm WW2, WW1 Wings of Glory, and my 15mm War of 1812 Naval. forces

I have been hearing about the graying of the hobby since my first convention in 1991. I started historical gaming in 1978 (along with D&D and minimal fantasy gaming). From my experience, I have been able to attract quite a few gamers to our group who already had an interest in history. Some have stayed, some have gone, but in the end, I have influenced is very positive number (some have moved around the country, and they still play in their new areas). From my experience, I have just been welcoming and helped them develop an interest in military history and the periods we were gaming. Some like skirmish types of games, while others dig deeply into Napoleonics with us.

My experience trying to attract gamers from other outside events (like military history shows/events), has not been nearly as positive as have attracting people via friend groups and online gaming group presence.

In the end, I am not convinced that historical gaming conventions are a good measure for gauging the "youth" of the hobby. Most younger folks cannot afford to attend, let alone justify the cost of several day conventions unless they are riding the coat tails of an older gamer. The costs are just too high, and vacation too limited early in one's career. I remember this challenge when I was younger, and I helped offset this by making terrain and eventually creating a business around it.

In my opinion the hobby is healthy, but if each of us can reach out to one or two local folks a year, it sustains our groups and provides interested attendees. Then trying to bring some of the younger folk along at low cost (to them) also helps (younger folks do not mind the floor in a roof compared to us older guys).

I agree with Crispy. When I went to my first conventions in the late 70s and early 80s, me and my friends noticed there were a lot of gray beards. Me and my friends while being in school and largely broke, did the best we could going to local or regional conventions. We did the early HAVOCs and early Historicons. Or was it Cold Wars?
My point is that when young we hand more time and less money. Raising a family and career issues caused a delay before money and time improved as I joined the ranks of gray beards. I recall these discussions years ago. Some are alarmed that the hobby is dying because it's mostly older people at conventions. The model railroading hobby has the same discussions. These discussions or causes of alarms are always recurring. Both hobbies are in great shape. Look at the product availability in both hobbies today as compared to 20, 30, 40 or mores years ago. Golden ages for both hobbies.
John is correct too. Today's youth are attracted to media and games that the grognards are generally not. Some get into D&D. Some find 40k. Some are kids, grandkids, nephews and nieces of the gray beards. Yeah, games at the game stores, libraries, and schools do help attract kids who might not have a Gray Beard in their lives. Awesome that some of you make the effort to get kids to play in games. Not a problem if you don't as well. It is a hobby after all.
I look forward to this discussion continuing in a few years when some of the current family or career folks get back to conventions and game days, and notice that the hobby is overly populated with Gray Beards and unless we bring the hobby to the Youth, the hobby will die

Looks like BTC and I submitted the same overall points at the same time

I don't have an answer as I've raised 2 young men who have polite interest in their dad's hobby but don't participate. If I can't instill the fun in my own kids I'm not going to speak for how to do it for others.

For me the bug started with making models to recall the war movies I had seen (so I agree with BillyNM about the source of our interest). And from there I wanted to play with my models, so I found games, which needed miniatures, and to this day that's what drives me to paint miniatures and make terrain – I can use them in a game.

For some time my brother brought my 2 nephews over (almost same age as my boys) and we all painted figures together. Then they said let's play games and we played D&D with my son joining, for a couple years or so, then one by one they started dropping out. Now they are college age and they sure don't do it any more, but seem to have fond memories. So maybe I planted a seed there.

Granted kids I see at conventions are offspring of attendance, but know at least 1 had a friend with him. Kids will attract others if they like what is going on.

I believe there is always a gap when folks are in the child raising age as between scouts, sports, school activities not to mention peak career building, at least for me, my miniatures hobby went on a decade plus hiatus. Once the kids were teens and more focused on girls and sports, things opened a bit as well as not needing crazy work hours. When I came back it felt like a whole new hobby and I could afford lots more toys.

I also see the best results in recruiting coming from being places where the younger people are playing Magic, D&D etc. where a game with well painted miniatures and great terrain are the best attention getters showcasing ideally easy to grasp rules and welcoming gamers.

As has been said, miniatures have been allegedly on the precipice as long as I've been around the hobby (1975) and in the beginning, nobody could/would bet on a day when GW was one of the better performers on the UK stock exchange.

When you are younger you don't have the money to buy all the figures to really get into wargaming. That comes over time when you finally have a decent paying job and more free time. That is why wargamers are always going to be older. They have been worried about the age of gamers for 40 years or more. Yet, we are still here. No worry about it. There will always be people moving into gaming.

Am I allowed to say that it's not my problem? 🤷

OFM, I think you can definitely make that point. When I helped run a larger group of gamers, I took it on as a responsibility to try and find more gamers. This effort was not as productive and a lot less satisfying.

Later after I moved into a new area, it was about connecting with more of the locals. I then began recruiting others by word of mouth, Facebook, and other means. Most of those folks had an interest in history. I have been successful introducing several folks into the hobby. I actually went as far as to bring a ton of people to shows, partly to help in my booth, but mostly to grow our group. Too many hassles and expenses to make that work long term.

A lot of my current gaming is done 3-4 times a year with a gang of folks from in town and out of town that travel for a weekend session that has proven more fun than anything else.

My personal life and COVID put a damper on some of our more regular gaming, but I hope to restart this soon. In the end, 90% plus of the gamers I know, choose not to attend the conventions, for a variety of reasons (cost, location-moved from VA; and lack of interest in conventions). So, I do not judge the hobby by attendance at conventions.

Extra Crispy:

Kids start out in fantasy/sci fi and drift into Historicals as they age.

I went the opposite direction: mostly historical to mostly science fiction.

John the OFM:

Am I allowed to say that it's not my problem?

I'm with you on that.

Don't worry about growing "the hobby", worry about growing your own circle of comrades in (miniature) arms. Put on games, invite collaboration, encourage participation, do whatever you can to help others over the hurdles in the way. As a community we tend towards solipsism, but the miniatures gaming hobby is ultimately about socializing, and social connections have to be refreshed constantly by shared activities.

John OFM +1

Although having said that, I've been hearing that hobby has been dying for well over 40 years, yet here we still are.

Ive got a good bunch of gaming friends, apparently ever expanding due to the miracles of technogy and I've already 'done my bit' as both my adult children enjoy playing games, albeit boardgames, but that is fine by me.

It's interesting that many Warhammer YouTubers drop comments that they are too young for Historicals or that Napoleonics is coming for us all.

I would say that Bolt Action is a great introduction as would be Oak & Iron. Unfortunately I then hear the grey beards claim these games are not historical [enough]

You are not going to get anyone with a 45 minute pregame explanation and modifiers and charts

Our group believes that the best method of recruiting those who might be interested is a very conscious effort of running our games in a public space. In our case this is predominantly in game stores in our area, where our miniature games and hopefully inviting atmosphere make us both interesting and approachable. We have likewise gone to a nearby museum to hold special events on local history, this month be visiting a local retirement home with a presentation as well. In the past one member has done school presentations on the ACW in a school focused on the events in our state.

These are the things I believe are helpful to growth.
1). Consistently
2). Reliability.
3). An inviting environment.
4). Excellent table displays.
5). Something useful to put in the new persons hand as a take away ( we use our bookmark/rulres)
6). A good game experience. Well thought out scenarios.
7). Gamers having fun. Laughter is just a big a draw as a good looking game table.
8). A means to reach your group. We currently have a website and a Facebook page which are updated regularly.
9). Activity. Our group currently games in a public space three days per week at minimum across our area. We also host two multi game events each month.
All that said, new recruits will come in ones and twos when you get them at all. With all the competition in the lives of everyone on this planet for our time we just make our hobby more inviting to a potential new recruit than their x box or play station.

I'm with Fitz on this (and we're in the same game group here too, so -).

I think it's key to go where the younger players are – in our area in the US, that's still at the hobby shops.

Fifty years ago I organized a monthly wargaming group at one of our local Universities – do students still do that I wonder?

Suggestion No. 7). above is a big one for me – do YOU have fun at your games? News Flash – as Murphy mentioned above – we're not getting any younger (and you ain't lookin' any better either) – so crack a smile on that old mug!

I see pics all over the gaming U-verse, filled full of old mugs who can't seem to put on a smile – even for the camera.

No youngster is going to look at this hobby and say oh yeah, that group is who I want to hang out with, they look like they're a hoot….unless we're having a hoot!

This visual hobby involves Performative Art – and that comes through by someone seeing the flash popping off your game kit, and by your presentation demeanor – so project some ENERGY!

Simple rules. Groups of kids, not just one among the usual graybeards. Stick close to movies or TV shows they know, or historical events they know a little about, if you can find such.

Teach children and grandchildren,and be patient. I taught my son, who pretty much gave it up. But now he's teaching my grandsons.

I agree with the nothing to worry about crowd. Gaming is a big thing if mostly online. Art is a big thing. I can't even keep count of the adults who tell me, " You are into history? I hated it in school but now I am enjoying learning it." Just need to keep it in the public eye somehow and people will find it.

" Maison is 15 years old was there on Saturday this year and signed up for Murphy's Pirate game that was cancelled but instead played the right flank of the Romans in the Hannibal game and later played in a Vietnam Game where he was the ranking Officer, giving out orders, he earned metals at both events"

VonBlucher, I am sorry that I had to cancel. I was heartbroken. Between the neighbors strokes, (I'm the one that takes them to the hospital, stays with them, and makes sure they are taken care of), my wifes medical issue, and the massive plumbing/contracting job in the house, I simply didn't have the time to work on the stuff to get it ready.
I am slated to run these next year though.
See y'all there!

Murphy

Younger folk may not have the means to attend a convention, or may not have an interested parent to take them.
As a kid, that was my lot, so didn't even get to a club until I could go on my own.

Korsun0,

I have often wondered why some guys in my area pride themselves for being 'cheap' on their daily game kit, but certainly must spend hundred$ to travel, lodge, and eat at big gaming conventions.

I also wonder why they never bring me back a souvenir? :)))

Seriously, the souvenir would be something great they've experienced there, and then want to demo at our local level – but this rarely ever happens, so…..

What Extra Crispy said.

I have magazines from the 1970s that raise this question. "The Hobby" isn't greying, it's grey. It has been for decades. There were young men playing miniatures war-games in the first half of the twentieth century, but not in the second half. Someone will take our place when we go.

There will be metamorphosis, of course. More 3D printing, less casting. Rules styles will evolve. Only two things will remain…

Dice.

And our standard arguments. One of which is the greying of the hobby.

You need someone who understands and can communicate with kids.

You need to go where kids are. A 14 year old doesn't just show up at a wargames convention -- it is a destination.

You also need to know where a lot of them are at regarding video gaming experience and TV shows For most, that is going to be some combination of Star Wars, Doom/other sci-fi, zombies, cowboys, planes, tanks, etc.

The rules have to move quickly and keep them engaged.

There should be a low barrier to entry. A young person doesn't want to hear that you've spent $10,000 USD on your Napoleonic collection and that you have been painting French line infantry since before they (or their parents) were born. 1/72 and 1/32 plastics molded in appropriate colors are a great gateway. How many of us started out with them?

A few things I have noticed…

Having a local club that encourages new players helps.
Pre-painted figures helps. Not all games have them.
Being raised on Airfix, war movies and plastic models.
Being raised by a military or Historical study family.

The sad truth is there are so many other hobbies, sports and entertainment venues out there that a person is ether drawn to wargaming or could not care less.

I think the best thing to do is keep an eye out at games you put on. If you see someone interested as they walk by, call them over and explain the game.

Fitzovich also has hit it on the head!

So if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them…

Perhaps HMGS could offer a bounty for every younger gamer brought into the hobby?

As John the OFM says it's not really a true concern— unless you sell product to younger players.

GW has it mastered, rather obviously— relatively low cost of entry (they've got games on the shelves of Target and Barnes & Noble), but high interest (art, setting) with no demands for research or reproducing real world events.

This, too, is where WotC/Hasbro is excelling. Lots of flash, lots of extras. You compete with video games by being snazzier and tangible.

Now, when it comes to historical stuff, the market skews older— young, unmarried adult males who have incomes and low expenses. Flames of War, Battlefront, and GW and Mantic products. Again, flashy things with a heavy emphasis on mechanized warfare and the rule of cool.

So the detailed historicals with focuses on specific periods and conflicts requires a lot of free time to learn about these conflicts, cultures, and methods of warfare. There also becomes an emphasis on the individual soldier and his kit and fellows— the unit as a whole— rather than on large military devices, which either didn't exist or weren't really mobile battlefield devices so much as static siege devices. For these you need older people with higher incomes, a great deal of free time, and lower family expenses— in short, the greys.

No, you won't look over at the GW tables in the local con and see the young men there rushing over to refight the Battle of Lepanto. But that's not their time in life. And you will see some wandering through, admiring the table craft, expressing surprise at the details. Know that one day, they'll be grey, and sitting where you now sit, grumbling about the nonsense on the other side of the convention hall. It will come, or not at all.

As for video games, right now there is a huge resurgence in board games and direct social interaction activities. And that, too, is a reflection of maturity in the gamers. At some point, pushing a button over and over becomes less important than spending time with real friends and real family. So all that will come along, too— if only for the reason that people addicted to online content don't meet suitable, fertile mates and thus have fewer children (if any). So they die out as a cultural influence rather quickly. Nature selects for the sociable.

Perhaps HMGS could offer a bounty for every younger gamer brought into the hobby?

If only!
I could have kept bringing my 10 yo son back, with a different disguise every year. Beard, ball cap, mustache…

How many years in a row was he 10 years old?

For many of us in the UK it was 1/72 Airfix figures sold in Woolworths that enabled and drove wargaming on the cheap as children. In other words, cheap and readily available figures goes a long way to helping attract younger players. And back then there were also lots of wargaming books in every public library!

I believe this is an important topic and discussion. I would urge Bill to consider adding a separate category for the continuation of methods that groups can and do use to grow.

I started with historical gaming when I was 14. Never was interested in the Sci-Fi or Fantasy miniature hobby.

The age issue has been with us since at least the 1980s. I quit worrying about it. If a kid has been playing 40K since he was 10 the chances of him migrating to historical gaming at 16 to 20 is nil. If he is not interested in history then he will never get into historicals nor should he.

I am tired of begging teenagers to join in. Either they will or they won't. They know where to find us. We have a couple of teens that game with us. They have become pretty good ACW and Napoleonic players and they have a genuine interest in the periods they are playing. This is a rare thing.

We also have a thirty something high school history teacher and a twenty something nurse that despite his crazy schedule, occasionally shows up.

Attendance at the big conventions is not a good gauge of Young Peoples interest. They are too far away and too expensive to attend when you consider travel and lodging. Attendance at local conventions is a better indicator.

We have had a few guys who game with us that have a family. They sometimes bring their kids to the games. Which is a great way to get them into the hobby. They treat gaming events like you do sports and other activities They want to share their hobby with their kids. I find wives more of a barrier to participating than kids.

I am tired of begging teenagers to join in. Either they will or they won't.

We had a brief journey at a local gaming store of ill repute. 🙄(Take that as you will.)
Us old farts would run our very interesting (to us, anyway) miniature games.
The store had a full bank of computer games.
Occasionally, one of the teens would sit down to play with us. Then another kid would call out "(his name) you're up!"
And we would be abandoned.

Same thing has happen to me at game conventions when running a game. Right in the middle of the game I hear "your turn" and he is gone. He kept doing that until I said you can't keep doing this, pick one or the other. He picked the other, thank goodness.

Years ago I was at a regional HMGS convention and I signed up for a War of The Roses game. I was up against two experience adult gamers. I had two 16 year olds. It turn out to be one of the best games I was ever in.

I took the two kids aside and said okay we are going to win this game and here is how we are going to do it. They bought into my plan and we destroyed those guys. We high fived each other. So there is some hope.

Great exposition Fitzovitch. I am with you in spirit but no longer have the energy to do those things. Godspeed to all of you who can and will!

We play at at the better game store in town. Usually a skirmish type game right now its Bolt Action. Our figures are nicely painted and guys come over and say how cool our game is and then go back to playing space monkeys. We answer questions about the game and the history behind it. Invite them to play and give them our web address. Been doing that every other week for years and have never recruited a single person.

Bill, given the state of our news agencies, I'd be very concerned about reports that someone had placed a bounty on wargamers. There'd be a bunch of people showing up at the Department of Natural Resources with a bunch of gray thinning scalps no matter where you placed the correction.

This visual hobby involves Performative Art – and that comes through by someone seeing the flash popping off your game kit, and by your presentation demeanor – so project some ENERGY!

This may be true, but even reading it is exhausting to introverts like me. Even after decades of practicing social skills, I still find that opening my mouth is more likely to garner feet than friendships. If our hobby is going to depend on the proselytizations of awkward anti-ambassadors like me, we're doomed.

But seriously, I don't think we're doomed. I keep running games, and sometimes our local gaming groups add members who had a good time. Miniature wargaming is an odd hobby for odd people with odd obsessions, and I think we just need to keep showing up where our ilk can find us and join our ranks.

- Ix

Well as a former introvert……

It came out from the darkness, from the depths and dank of some old room, where such things could only be seen, lest enjoyed.

Today we have noise, in brightly lit venues, beautiful displays with colorful objects to touch – we have proudly done this.

There will be no surrender, and never to go back down underground again. ;)

This has supposedly been an "issue" since I got involved in historical miniatures more than half a century ago. The UK's "Salute" Show provides an instant snapshot of the UK situation – 5000+ gamers conveniently marshalled in a confined space all filing past each other towards the doors. The Hobby seems to have a more varied and younger demographic than I have seen in years; I was part of a very, very small minority of supposed 'greybeards'. Yes, the thrust has swung more towards 'fantasy' in all its many forms but in my experience people 'grow' into 'historical' gaming.