I provide marketing assistance to Nuts! Publishing, a French boardgame publisher looking to expand awareness of its wargames in English-speaking markets.
One of the most effective and most economical ways to raise awareness of wargames is via 'influencers' and reviewers; either sending them complimentary copies of new games in the hope they cover them, or in some cases coming to a commercial agreement that guarantees a game will be discussed.
While the wargaming community is fairly niche, there's still a plethora of social media channels out there. So - given Nuts! only has a limited number of complimentary games to send out - who to approach?
I agreed with Nuts! that the first thing we should do is to survey the community to enable some evidence-based decision-making in this regard.
I opened an account with Survey Monkey and built a survey that first established how wargamers learnt about new releases, before then moving on to who they watch, read, and listen to for more insight.
I was particularly interested in this first point as based on my own personal habits I viewed Boardgame Geek (BGG) as being incredibly important. Yet many wargame publishers make very little effort with their BGG pages, so maybe they knew something I didn't? With the help of some 'influencers' and the offer of a free copy of a game from Nuts!, the survey went out and got over 400 responses - a lot more than I anticipated, and certainly large enough to give me some statistical confidence about the findings.
Before delving into the findings I would like to make some caveats:
The survey refers to "wargames" throughout, without ever defining what a wargame is. General consensus is that agreeing on such a definition is beyond the capabilities of mankind.
The questions generally relate to 'frequency' of viewing a medium or channel. The survey makes no attempt to establish the importance of the much more subjective question of 'quality'. It is unavoidable that a reviewer publishing 5 new blogs a week is more likely to be regularly read than one publishing once every three months. This says nothing about which reviewer is producing the better quality output.
All the influencers and reviewers covered in this survey spend countless hours of their own time, for little or normally no financial return, to share their views and teach you about games. And all of them are essential to the hobby's eco-system and success. I deliberated about even publishing the results of the survey, as undoubtedly some will be disappointed. But ultimately I think it's helpful to the community as a whole. And who knows, maybe as a result of the survey they will pick up some more viewers/readers/listeners, previously unaware of their work.
Now, on to the results, and a little bit of commentary from me.
Where does the Community get its news about new wargames from?
408 answers
Results:
BGG, followed by publishers' emails and then YouTube are where the community learns about new games. Twitter/X ranks less highly than I expected. I suspect it's influence is greater than the headline number though; many YouTube influencers will learn about or discuss games on Twitter, and then cascade it.
Publishers should clearly spend time on their monthly newsletters. Try to get people to sign up to mailing lists whenever you can. Its cheaper and more reliable than hoping BGG will pick you up.
2. Where does the Community go to find out more about a game they’ve just heard of?
408 answers
Results:
So you've heard about a new game from somewhere, where do you go to find out more information? The answer: BGG. By a massive, massive margin. The publisher's website is also important. And it looks like ConsimWorld's best days are behind it.
A key take away for publishers is that they absolutely must get their BGG pages right. This isn't just descriptive text. It's uploading images, being responsive to questions, making rulebooks and supporting files available, linking how to play and review videos to the page. The good news is, it's easy to do.
3) Which is the Community’s favourite podcast?
285 answers
Before considering the numbers below please note that while the intention was participants could vote on multiple options, a technical Snafu meant that they could only select one. The general trend still stands though.
Results:
Podcasts were less popular than I expected. This question had the fewest responses in the survey, and a large proportion of the Other responses were respondents saying they didn't listen to podcasts. It's a shame, as there are some really good ones, and what else are you going to listen to on long car journeys? Of those who did respond, Homo Ludens came out on top. I should add that I had forgotten about this podcast and it only got added after about 100 responses were already received, so its percentage should be a bit higher.
4) Which YouTube channels do the Community regularly watch?
353 answers
Results:
The Players Aid are by some margin the most regularly watched channel in the wargaming community. As noted in the caveats above, prolific posting will naturally drive being watched more regularly, and that will be a factor driving TPA's success here. But it's not only that; they combine productivity with a positive attitude and openness to trying all different types of games, and are top for a reason.
What the survey doesn't tell us is if participants focus on different channels for different types of games or experiences. If you are anything like me you will be tuning into Wise Guy History or Ardwulf for hardcore hex and counter stuff, Homo Ludens for designer playthroughs, Zilla Blitz and TPA for previews or shorter overviews.
5) Which wargaming blogs do the Community regularly read?
316 answers
Results:
Again the caveat of quantity of output applies, but nonetheless it's another top spot for TPA. The same could also be said for SpaceBiff, but to counter-balance that it must be noted that few of his many reviews are actually of wargames, by even the broadest definition of the term, so he's doing pretty well to place second here.
It remains a shame that there's no online wargame magazine of note. My magazine Punched has been retired since I moved into the industry proper as a developer. Conflicts of Interest, after a very strong start, has moved away from its magazine-style due to the untimely passing of its founding editor Bobby Nunes. I remain convinced there is strong demand for such an online / downloadable magazine, though I know through personal experience how much work is required.
Who responded?
The survey was focused on the English-language market but this being a global community it garnered responses from far and wide.
There we have it. I may run the survey again next year to see how habits have changed. Thanks to all those who responded, to Alex, Fred, Brant and others for re-sharing the survey across various social media channels, and especially to Nuts! Publishing for the gift of the complimentary copy of Port Arthur to one participant.
Finally - publication of this blog coincides with the launch of Sapper Studio, my new tabletop game design and development company. So feel free to have a look around the site and keep me in mind should you be in need of any of the Services that Sapper Studio can provide.
Jul 30
5 min read
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