Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

A thought just occurred to me: You've all heard how GW's target audience are kids (ideally with deep-pocketed parents). If you've been on Dakka for more than a year, you've likely noticed a huge influx of (occasionally very) young gamers and hobbyists, as well. On the other hand, you've also likely heard from players who started well over two decades ago. I've yet to hear (doesn't mean it hasn't happened, of course), though, of someone picking up the hobby in their, say, 40s, leading me to believe that there's likely an effective cap on the age of Dakka-bound wargamers, due to the age of the game systems we all paint and play (and, you know, those gosh-darned internets).

So, out of curiosity, how old is the oldest wargamer you know (or, for that matter, the oldest board member, here or on a similarly focused, but obviously inferior site)? Any over the hill gamers pick up the hobby late in life? Ever find yourself playing against kids the age of your own? Are Napoleonics and model trains the tabletop retirement home the internet would lead me to believe, or are there some geriatric sci-fi/fantasy fans hiding out there? Inquiring minds (yes, I pluralized that - there has to be at least one other curious person, even if I couldn't find a similar topic posted before) want to know...

Theres a guy that frequents our shop that I am pretty sure is in his late 80's

He plays flames of war though.

I think Frazzled is around 90, does that count?

Well, my uncle prides himself on having a full battalion of British infantry, with artillery and cavalry to add on. He is 65, but doesnt really wargame. I have to say the oldest wargamer I know is about 55 who goes to my local GW, it's funny because he is really short, less than my chest height, so ALWAYS plays dwarfs

Perhaps I should have left "historicals" as the tabletop retirement home, instead of specifying Napoleonics...

And no, Perkustin, that doesn't count unless you have confirmation. If you could judge a person's age by how immature or curmudgeonly he appears on the internet [edit: (not to imply, of course, that Frazzled is either )], 95% of the web-enabled population would be under 12 or over 90.

I heard that frazzled is eleventy billion years old. The wiener dogs are the secret to immortality.

Didn't Christopher Lee get listed as a gamer? He's how old these days?

Your mom

We have a player that's 48.

The oldest 40k player I know is 56

Me?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Perkustin wrote:I think Frazzled is around 90, does that count?

1890 baby.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

sharkticon wrote:I heard that frazzled is eleventy billion years old. The wiener dogs are the secret to immortality.

Och who told you! Weiner legions we have a leak! All your ankles are belong to us!

Its interesting when you have minis that are substantially older than people playing around you or your opponent. Yes, I've literally slammed down a mini and emoted "Son, this sucker was made when your pappy was a teenager."

At my FLGS, most of the Fantasy battle players are in their 50's and 60'. Half of these guys have long hair and heavy-metal band t-shirts. Kinda' freaky.

_Tim?

Skinnereal wrote:Didn't Christopher Lee get listed as a gamer? He's how old these days?

Interesting. As for his current age, I'd guess it's somewhere between "older than dirt" and "not as old as Frazzled, apparently."

Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:At my FLGS, most of the Fantasy battle players are in their 50's and 60'. Half of these guys have long hair and heavy-metal band t-shirts. Kinda' freaky.

Ah, the aging metalhead. Always an ambivalent figure. On the one hand, I think "Still going at your age? Awesome. I hope I can find a way to keep my hair and beard while maintaining a job that allows sufficient disposable income to support my hobbies." One the other, I think "Still going at your age? That's kind of sad. I think my buddy had the same patches on an identical ripped denim vest back in high school. I can only assume you scraped by doing manual labor. Or IT. They're pretty much expected to look weird." Reminds me of the time my friends played a show with Symphony X (power metal, the most middle aged of all the subgenres). I've never seen more leather jackets and fewer motorcycles in the same place. Aside from that one weird kid with the backpack (isn't there always one?), every single one of them seemed to be awkwardly (and drunkenly) clinging to the glory days, which were apparently in the mid-80s.

Frazzled wrote:Its interesting when you have minis that are substantially older than people playing around you or your opponent. Yes, I've literally slammed down a mini and emoted "Son, this sucker was made when your pappy was a teenager."

Never been able to play regularly at a store, myself, so I have no experience in the matter, but I just can't imagine being particularly comfortable playing against some random middle schooler, even a reasonably mature and well-behaved one. Sliding scale, and all that - the gap between me, at 23, and a 33 year old feels miles shorter than between me and a 13 year old, though the age difference is the same. I wonder if it's more a matter of personality or habituation. Anyone experienced in gaming with players of vastly different ages, please feel free to weigh in on the matter.


Well it seems my initial assumption wasn't far off - just a splash of anecdotal evidence, of course, but there seems to be some stratification of the average age, by game: 40K < WFB < Historicals.

ShivanAngel wrote:Theres a guy that frequents our shop that I am pretty sure is in his late 80's

He plays flames of war though.

wow

I have several minis that are older than my opponents.
and
Whats wrong with historicals?

snurl wrote:Whats wrong with historicals?

Um... nothing? Unless you consider a much older player base, on average, to be problematic.

My brother, most of the people at the FLGS are around my age.

There's a fellow in our club who games with us occasionally who's probably around 50.

I've met plenty of elder gamers, but almost all of them are historical gamers. In the Historical arena it's the exact opposite of Dakka, the oldsters far outnumber the youngsters, of whom there are very, very few.

My club (mostly SciFi and Fantasy players) put on a game at Little Wars, a Chicago area wargame convention focused on Historicals. There were plenty of folks there in the 70 and up age group. The game we ran was Song of Blades and Heroes, and we had players aged from 8 to nealry 80!
http://rpgdiehard.blogspot.com/2011/04/song-of-blades-heroes-play-report-from.html

I expect the older historical players are from a more TV-free era, by the way they seek their enjoyment.
Less in the way of fast entertainment, there's a feeling of a good solid game, with a bit of associated background to it. This is compared to fictional fantasy and SciFi-type stuff us PP/WHFB/40k gamers go for these days.

Oldest wargamer I know? Me.

Solar_lion and I are the oldest 40k players I know, though he's got a year on me.

Played a guy in the team tournament at Adepticon that I bet was in his late 50s or early 60s.