Reply To: The end times are nigh – or are they?

[Roger Calderbank]

I wonder if the current trend of skirmish games isn’t helping here. Mike, you do ‘15mm desert fantasy skirmish’. If I buy enough to play a few games, am I likely to buy more to expand, or am I equally likely to go for ‘28mm jungle Mayan skirmish’ or whatever looks interesting at the time? Since I don’t need many figures/terrain pieces/etc. for a game, it is easy to switch to something entirely different. If, on the other hand, I’ve put together lots of figures for a large Napoleonic (or whatever) game, I’m probably more likely to want to expand what I’ve got, rather than change to something new. Of course, I can get new figures from another manufacturer, but I’m less likely to do that if I’m planning to use the new figures with the old, rather than playing a completely different game.

I fully understand (it has been discussed here in several threads) the reasons why skirmish games are more popular – time, space, cost, variety. I agree that the hobby is evolving, which can look like dying out only if you aren’t evolving with it. However, the easier it is for someone to switch the type of games they play, the harder it is for a small trader to establish a loyal customer base.

I don’t have any solutions. I suspect I’m one of those being left behind by the changes, but that doesn’t worry me whilst I can still play the games I like. As I get older, I’m being left behind more and more anyway. It just seems desperately hard for a trader to maintain a business when there is so much to tempt people to move rapidly from one thing to another.

RogerC