Where have all the 40k players gone?

[Commissar von Toussaint]

I can't help but notice that traffic in the 40k department seems...nonexistent.

As someone who stopped being "current" in 40k 15 years ago, I don't expect to see a lot of stuff to comment on, but there's not much doing in general.

Is everyone on holiday? Have we finally succeeded in talking the thing to death? I can't believe that the game's flaws have been fixed and the armies are no so balanced that no one has anything to add. :p

What gives?

[Retrogamer]

When AOS came out and the AOS threads were fairly vacant except for the people actively pushing it, it was accredited to people out playing the game instead of talking about it, OR to them sticking to FB, Instagram, and other social media to engage in discourse. I'm thinking more the second of those two.


Forums may be a thing of the past, and just not officially dead yet.

[dragonbreath]

As someone who has been away for a good while, I can only give anecdotal "evidence". I asked some questions about Ultramarines and got a pile of immediate and helpful answers on Reddit. The folks on this forum seem pretty dedicated to Oldhammer, as it were, so I asked about what folks though of the new Para Bellum game Conquest, The Last Argument of Kings that is working towards going live fairly soon and got...crickets. Over a hundred views and not one reply...haven't looked today. I get not wanting to be flamed for your opinion (that nonsense gets old pretty fast), but when one of the stalwarts of GW pushes a new game forward that has potential to take some of the sting out of the death of the Old World, I thought people might have an opinion. Seems to be a lot of activity on reddit (not all polite) and some people very excited about Conquest on Dakka but you kind of have to dig it out of the forums. Times are changing. They always do, I guess.

[Necrontyr]

Warseer never fully recovered from the hack and reboot. It's a shame, as it was my favorite forum going back to the portent days. There are still active communities on Dakkadakka and other sites though.

[dragonbreath]

Too bad. I didn't know this. I found a lot of help with my Warriors of Chaos here back in the day,

[Commissar von Toussaint]

Warseer never fully recovered from the hack and reboot. It's a shame, as it was my favorite forum going back to the portent days. There are still active communities on Dakkadakka and other sites though.

There is some truth to this, but things seemed to have slowed down from where they were not that long ago.

Back when there was turmoil about banning and fees and stuff, I visited Dakka and also TheWarp and found both of them high-spirited but not particularly thoughtful places. Warseer always seemed to be more cerebral.

Maybe the trick is to get some better discussions going to coax people out of the shadows.

[3 0f 6]

When was this hack?
Something I missed?

[mughi3]

As an old time player who started in 3rd ( I was more of a battletech player in the 80s and 90s..still am, but I branched out). I still like 5th edition the best of all, to me it was the most tactical, I think that some great ideas from second and even 6th or 7th were great-bringing back overwatch, grenade throwing, CCWs having AP values etc... would have been fine additions to the 5th template. however many of the new rules drive me insane-the psyker phases and dice in 6/7th, the total lack of initiative (it makes the game loose some of its fluff, I expect the eldar to be faster but weaker in melee)or terrain interaction in 8th etc... however it does make it easier to play super big games in epic scale.


At my FLGS 6th literally killed the game, 7th only marginally brought it back. I noticed a bit of a resurgence with 8th but nowhere at the level that 5th was at.

Having a good community is always key, also avoiding burn out by diversifying your games helps a bit to. especially when the other systems are cheaper/different.
I myself bring dust tactics, infinity, B5 wars, 40K/epic scale 40K, war machine and some victory at sea stuff with me when I go to my Saturday game night. that way there is a little something for everybody.

Epic scale 40 has been the big thing for the last couple months now that we have found support for the minis from fan companies.

I do feel bad for the WHFB players, even though I understand it wasn't really selling that well anymore, but now AOS is rules wise basically just 40K with a fantasy setting. it doesn't have the midevil style rules set anymore that made it something different.....poor, poor, bretonian players :(

[Commissar von Toussaint]

When was this hack?
Something I missed?

I think it was over a year ago. If you go through the threads there's a long gap in posts. The site got taken down and stayed that way for months. I didn't notice at first because I typically get into gaming and then fall out of it for a few months. So I came to check in and...nothing.

I don't know how traffic figures are, but people don't post much. Maybe the younger folks don't like putting their opinions out there? The span of Warseer and Portent saw me go from one of those young pups into middle age, and the new generation does seem less assertive.

It's a shame because even a spirited argument can be fun.

[Lost Egg]

At my FLGS 6th literally killed the game...

This was the case at my LGC...there was a definite drop off and 40k went from being THE game played to nothing over maybe a year. I don't play anymore, except HeroQuest with my kids, but from what I can tell the LGC is now mostly board games.

The drop on Warseer is a shame as I always liked the chilled sense of community here but I still post...I just don't have as much time to paint anymore so my updates tend to be few and far between; I guess not playing has had an impact on this too.

[Commissar von Toussaint]

This was the case at my LGC...there was a definite drop off and 40k went from being THE game played to nothing over maybe a year. I don't play anymore, except HeroQuest with my kids, but from what I can tell the LGC is now mostly board games.

The drop on Warseer is a shame as I always liked the chilled sense of community here but I still post...I just don't have as much time to paint anymore so my updates tend to be few and far between; I guess not playing has had an impact on this too.

Less games being played would certain cut into commentary. I wonder if we've reached a generational tipping point regarding miniatures and GW.

Time was GW was the gateway to minis, just as D&D was to roleplaying. There are a enough alternatives out there (and enough time has passed) that people get directly into other systems and never deal with GW (or, for that matter, D&D).

Plus, a lot of our regular posters seemed to have moved on. Ah well, all good things...

[carldooley]

Plus, a lot of our regular posters seemed to have moved on. Ah well, all good things...

Seems a good time to butt in, but I'm glad I remembered my login credentials.

I used to play the game regularly, but the transition to 8th as well as the shuttering of the store that I used to play at (at the same time) more or less killed the hobby for me. It also doesn't help that I pared my armies down to one that I thought would age well (Tau), only to lose much of the flavor of the army in the rules changes and how the army is played. Then a local store started a Horus Heresy campaign... ...let us just say that I was feeling salty for a while there.

[mughi3]

Well since the tau were non-existant during the heresy I can see how that could rub. especially with the downgrades their wargear took from the 5th ed codex. it really hampers their fluff high tech suit capabilities.

I've found 8th to be good for large epic/apocalypse games with it's simplification, however for balanced and challenging play I still prefer 5th as a core rule set. in reality editions from 3rd up to 7th are playable with 5th edition with a few minor tweaks.

In fact I challenged a buddy of mine to break out his 5th ed blood angels codex (which is probably one of their best) for a game next week. it's a toss up rather I bring my old raven/deathwing combo or my salamanders.

Sadly most players seem to always want to play the newest version even though nobody is making them...especially when other editions are better (looking at you 4th ed DnD-3.5 for life!) and you can agree with your opponent on what version of the rules to use.

Life happens and people do switch hobbies, in the end it is up to us who are still active to help build and support a gaming community.

[Shadow Lord]

For the first time in years I logged in to Warseer Forum to see what the meta is these days, just to find out that this might not be the right place to check it out. I dropped out of 40K a few years ago (6th...yeah, me too :rolleyes:). As a vivid Chaosplayer I was frustrated for years for the lack of love the old Chaos-dudes got. But I checked out Games Workshop last week and saw some really awesome models for Chaos and thought to myself: mmm... maybe things have changed for the better. I still haven't found it out tho… . I think most of the players just kinda moved on. They got married, had kids, a job, a loan etc... . Still, it's a shame that there isn't more life on Warseer because I've always loved the way the community interacted and discussed the many varied topics related to WH 40K. I hope this forum will recover! :D

[Rogue]

Well since the tau were non-existant during the heresy I can see how that could rub. especially with the downgrades their wargear took from the 5th ed codex. it really hampers their fluff high tech suit capabilities.

I've found 8th to be good for large epic/apocalypse games with it's simplification, however for balanced and challenging play I still prefer 5th as a core rule set. in reality editions from 3rd up to 7th are playable with 5th edition with a few minor tweaks.

In fact I challenged a buddy of mine to break out his 5th ed blood angels codex (which is probably one of their best) for a game next week. it's a toss up rather I bring my old raven/deathwing combo or my salamanders.

Sadly most players seem to always want to play the newest version even though nobody is making them...especially when other editions are better (looking at you 4th ed DnD-3.5 for life!) and you can agree with your opponent on what version of the rules to use.

Life happens and people do switch hobbies, in the end it is up to us who are still active to help build and support a gaming community.

I for one do endorse 40K old hammer play. If you do it again I would like to see a write up on it.

[sigur]

I think the target audience of 40k has built-in an affinity for flashier media. I guess they just spend a lot of time watching youtube videos now or something. That doesn't have to bother us though. :)



I for one do endorse 40K old hammer play. If you do it again I would like to see a write up on it.

I can hear the harrr-umphing in reference to referring to 5th edition 40k as "Oldhammer". :D

[Rogue]

I think the target audience of 40k has built-in an affinity for flashier media. I guess they just spend a lot of time watching youtube videos now or something. That doesn't have to bother us though. :)

I can hear the harrr-umphing in reference to referring to 5th edition 40k as "Oldhammer". :D

Would calling it in the "Middlehammer" range be better on your ears?:cool:

[Captain Brown]

Well this forum is a little hidden, and it takes some clicks to find it. That may change in the future and more traffic would pass through.

CB

[Thingol of Iyaden]

I know the game stores near me, had active tournaments and games up to the whole Covid lockdown. Their websites are pretty dead, but most everyone has a smartphone with a link to their facebook page. Ahh... the march of tech.

[MadHatter]

I'll chime in. I have played since Rogue Trader days when i stumbed upon the coolest minis while getting stuff for the AD&D game from my LGS in the day. When Second edition released I was lost in the lore and the game over took most of my free time till high school. Girl fever. I still played and painted models and even got my Long term Girlfriend (at the time) into it. My favorite edition was second. but I still enjoyed 4th and 5th. But sixth edition took me out of it. the lack of support for the eldar irritated me. And I will say the Marines always getting new models and updates for every edition while many others got egnored or minimal love finally hit too. I will confess to buying the marine models as well.

But when you see marines vs marines all the time. it gets old. No matter which color you paint them. So with other intrest in my life took hold I put my minis up and moved on to other activities. But a month ago I pulled those long forgotten beloved minis out. I will not deny that the whole 8th and 9th edition changes have me more then slightly confused. espesically since i did not buy the 8th edition core rule book.

But here is what if found when i returned to the gaming world. Most young people rather play video games. My own son is not interested in playing anymore. rather play digital games. Warseer is harder to navigate and when i tried to access it on my phone it had issues. maybe thats just my phone being a S8 and not one of the new fancy ones. but that limits my own response. the local community in the fort lauderdale area in florida mostly uses face book to communicate. And the LGS i have chossen to make my gaming home at uses discord. And requires an invite from the owner of the store. So I mainly used Discord and my local group. infact this is the first time in weeks i logged on.

And within the community I am in, most of the players are in ther mid to late twenties with a older group in the mid thirties and fourties. the few younger players have small armies of Primus marines, coustodes or the like. because of the cost. I have to admit that has thrown me a bit to. a hundred bucks for a raider in any configuration is a lot of money. Even as a parent on the christmas and birthday holidays I would be sketch on dropping that kind of money.

[Rogue]

We all go through a period of burn out with this hobby from time to time, so welcome back. Honestly I think that table top war gaming was always a niche hobby, that was big with veterans, re-enacters, and history buffs. Before I knew about GW, I saw people advertising miniatures in magazines for military history aficionado's, but no where else really. Not many people were in it before GW, and perhaps they made it a little more mainstream, but no comparison to something to a video game even back in their hey day. This hobby was always more expensive and required more dedication than my strategy games from back in the 90's that I played on the computer. Now the competition is a lot more involved, but table top war games are probably back at the same popularity to before computers were created. My dad was an avid player of High Command, a strategy computer game based around WWII Europe, but I doubt that he would spend hours getting an army put together for FOW or Bolt Action, nor did he ever really express any interest in this hobby. He never played a war game with miniatures his whole life that I know of, if you discount the standard army men that most kids played with long ago. I think that his experience was more common than not.

[MadHatter]

thanks.

I agree the hobby is very niche and even though it is more popular then ever. but i would not think more then one in a thousand play. I have personally found it a way to meet people and make friends. Something I have always enjoyed.

[Gen.Steiner]

Waves hand

I play 40K and have returned to Warseer! :)

[Rogue]

Great to see you back on here Gen. Steiner!

[Gen.Steiner]

Thank you! :) Been a long time.

[Commissar von Toussaint]

Waves hand

I play 40K and have returned to Warseer! :)

Welcome back!