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Greetings all,

This is a topic that has been near and dear to my heart for some time. My personal gaming history has evolved in rural spaces, in small-communities, and without local FLGS support in the US. This involves trying to build gaming communities in places that are not typically associated with wargaming. Therefore, I have some insight I would like to share, but also would like to hear other people's stories.

1. The first thing to know is if you are going to try to build a wargaming community, it will take a lot of work. There is no easy button, and in order to build a community of like-minded folks; you are going to have to be the one to do it. No one else is going to do it for you. If you want it, go build it.

2. You need to network with your local community to find a safe-space to gather that has the room you need. In my past, I have done this a number of ways but it often just includes putting feet to the street and finding out where you can find spaces big enough for wargaming tables. In my experience, here are a few places that can help you:

- Local Fraternal organizations such as Elks, Eagles, Rotary Club etc. They often have halls that you can get space from. This space is also often free if you are members of the organization.

- Veteran's groups like the VFW and American Legion. Like Fraternal organizations, they often have a side-gig of doing weddings and events. Therefore, they have space and tables. Typically, if you are a member you can get access to them for free. Often, you can be a member even if you were not in the service, but have relatives that were.

The two options above also give you access to a larger community of people, a commercial kitchen, and frequently a bar as well. Sometimes, you can even get storage space support if you are a member.

- Local stores (Not gaming related) can be helpful. I have used Coffee shops, Art stores, Bakeries, Banks, Book Stores, and similar places that have large area and need to attract people to their location. As an added benefit, you can often access their networks for advertising support and to attract eyeballs and foot traffic.

- Community Spaces such as Town Halls, Government Buildings, and Libraries are another good resource for spaces. Often times they have low costs for members of the community. It helps to know the people involved in the local politics such as the town council, mayor, librarians, etc. The easiest way to do that is to go to a few council meetings as an observer and then eventually ask them for some help after-hours.

- Religious Organizations can often be a good place to find a location. They commonly have a Fellowship hall that has plenty of table space and sometimes other amenities, such as access to restrooms, kitchens, etc. Often times, if you are not a member of the congregation there is a nominal fee and contract.

The point is, there are a lot of places with space big enough to host a wargame or two. However, to get access to them you will have to talk to people and ask. Previous relationships always help with this.

3. Your first event, you will have to host it yourself. That means setting up the scenario, knowing the rules, painting both sides, and organizing the terrain. You will have to do it all yourself and be ready to help other people play the game. Have space for 1-6 people to play at a time. Simpler is better, and it is great if you can tap into local history or familiar tropes everyone kind of knows. The more obscure the less likely you are to attract eyeballs.

4. You will have to advertise. Sometimes, your partner locations can help you with this. The goal is to get eyeballs to the location at the day of the event. Some great ways to do that are:

- Create an Online space for people to get details about your evet. This can be a simple Facebook Events page, but the bigger and nicer the better.

- Social Media. Often, your partner groups will have their own so tap into those. Make them some fun things to post about the event or share on their own pages. You will want to make use of @ and # in order to deliver your message to local folks. Geo-Posting can also be a good idea, but that costs $$$ and I am assuming you don't have any!

- Paper fliers. You will want to make a nice, eye-catching, bright colored poster that you can hang-up in your partner locations. However, that won't be enough. You will also want to get them up in store windows in your local downtown, public notice boards in public spaces, and generally any public space people gather. Most communities have community centers, Senior centers, schools, libraries, town halls, etc. where such notices can be placed.

- Partner Organizations. If there are other organizations in your community where cross-over may exist, make sure they know about the event. Give them an e-version or physical version of your flyer. That includes youth sports, board game groups, book clubs, etc. Again, that is much easier if you all ready know folks in these groups.

- Local News. Create a Press Release and get it in the hands of the local media. They are always looking for something to write about, and the more of the story you have pre-written for them the more likely you are to get covered. If possible, this coverage could be before the event, but could also be after. Any coverage is good to get your name on the map. Often if you know a local reporter, it is a lot easier to get coverage. If you have money, buying an ad is not out of the question.

- Local Businesses. Often times they will have their own newsletters, electronic signs, events pages, etc. Connecting with other businesses in the area about your event is a great way to get it in front or more eyeballs.

- Signage. On the day of the event, make sure it is clear to all where it is, when it will start, and what is going on with great signage at the location.

5. Sign-ups and Follow-ups. You will want to have a "Registration" section where people sign-up at the event. From there, you can build a "Contact List" that you can use to invite folks to future events. This could also include door prizes for attending. If you get people coming to more than one event, then you are starting to build a community.

6. Make it fun! You have to make wargaming look fun for those who are observing, and fun for the people playing. Therefore, you will want to be outgoing, friendly, smiling, and laughing a lot. People having fun are more likely to come again.

If you do this right, you can start having "events" on a regular quarterly basis. You will start to gather a core of people, and then you can start to convert from these one-off events to something more regularly. Your first events will have small attendance, but the more you do the more your audience grows, and eventually the more people become willing to help. Eventually, you will have enough people to start an informal club where you can host social painting, army building workshops, game nights, Tournaments, and other spectacle events.

I have successfully built local gaming communities at least 3 times in my gaming life, but probably more. Some times were easier than others, but they all followed the same basic, organic growth. This has worked in towns of 6K up to 35K in aging agricultural communities and Ex-burbs.

As this process evolves don't be surprised by the following:

1. It will take on a life of its own. Your community will eventually break from your direction and take on its own life as other people start stepping up and taking the reins. Most of my communities started with Historical game demos, but ended up as Warhammer 40K communities as their biggest component eventually. That is okay, because there are enough games to go around.

2. Someone will open a store or start making money off the community you built. Almost every place I started this had no FLGS. Within a few years, one was established or wargames became integrated in an existing partner store. For my most recent example, the town was 8K people with the closest FLGS 90 minutes away. After three years we have 2 game stores and 1 Art Store that sells mini related stuff.

3. Eventually, you will leave and the community will go on without you, and no one will notice what you did for them. That is good.

That is my experience. Hopefully, it will be helpful to you. I am now interested in hearing what your experience has been with building a community and what your best practices or learnings were?

Lots of good ideas here.

My main concern with building and maintaining a group has always been finding members. A venue has never been a problem as I prefer to keep things small'ish so my basement or an FLGS is always an option here in Chicago.

Discords, groups, forums, etc for your favorite game can be a great way to find members. Chicago Skirmish Wargames started as 3 people who met on the Song of Blades Yahoo group. More recently I've connected with people through OPR games and at convention games that I run.

As a kid I was the ringleader of our little group and I set up the tables and made all the terrain. We mostly played at my house and it was a lot of fun.

When I went to University I started the Wargaming club there and got a decent bunch of members. We had difficulty with boards - we actually played a fair few games on the floor, as we didn't have access to a lot of tables. I used to lug the boards and terrain and "house armies" down to the uni in an old shopping trolley, or on my back. We built a great community and eventually another fella took over and made it even better. It grew into a little club of graduates that played at the local game shop and put teams into tournaments and so on.

Scenery was always a problem. I made most of it myself and we had some donations from other members, but very few people were enthusiastic about making terrain and my attempts to make it a fun social event fell flat. In the end, you've gotta do the hard graft yourself is what I learned, unless you've got deep pockets.

Now I'm starting again in middle age, and I only have one guy in my "community" so far, but I'm open to other cool people joining in. I am actually pretty happy with total newbies because there's a lot less baggage involved then and you can really establish a positive culture of play. I've got enough scenery for 4 decent boards right now with stuff in the queue to make maybe 2 more. I've also got 4 fully painted decent sized 40k armies and 4 fantasy armies ready to go, and am working on 2 historical armies. Eventually I'll have more armies for sci fi and fantasy, the pile of shame is quite large, but I'm happy to make steady progress in that. I'd love to be able to run a games day for newbies from just my stuff, that's my eventual goal but I'm not in a hurry.

I think the hobby stuff is not the issue for us older gamers, it's finding like minded people to play with a lot of the time. A lot of the cool other gamers are happy in their own clubs by now.

The biggest thing I've seen with groups that either kills them or slows their growth - dedication.


If you're starting the group be prepared to keep the ball rolling.

a) Run the club every week even if no one turns up - yes this means you might well spend the first year paying for the venue out of your own pocket for the most part. Be prepared for that.

b) Be prepared to run a lot of demo games and spend less time gaming yourself, esp in the early days

c) Make sure you're always welcoming, orientating and engaging with new people at the start AND end of the night (or when they leave). That personal touch and making sure they really are ok and just having a casual chat for 5 mins can really make a person feel welcome and more likely to come again.

d) Keep the advertising going. The killer for most groups is that they grow and then stop recruiting. NEVER stop. Even as things get pretty good always be on a recruiting/advertising drive. Freshen up the ads on boards; run more demo events; etc.... Basically keep the ball rolling even when the times are good. Because it doesn't take many people to step away here and there before the group dwindles.

e) If you have any online spaces (and you should) keep them updated. LOADS of people use Facebook and other sites now to find new clubs and if all they find is a 5 year old page with not a single update in ages - yeah they won't look any further and assume your group is dead. A regular news post/update is a great way to keep the group active in the online world.

f) Delegate and Monitor. As you grow you'll get new people and that lets you delegate. Someone else runs the internet; someone else runs demo games now and then etc.... This is all about taking pressure off you and letting others step up. It means you can take a week off and have people make sure it all runs smooth; it means you can get more games for yourself etc.... But be sure to keep an eye on things, don't assume, make sure.

g) Make sure you're getting games. Yeah I said at the start be prepared in the early days for more work but MAKE SURE you still get your game and hobby time. Otherwise you won't be reaping the reward from all the work you put in.

I am curious what percentage of people (who do not own a store) actually engage in community building beyond simply showing up?

I am thinking it is less than 5%.

 Easy E wrote:
I am curious what percentage of people (who do not own a store) actually engage in community building beyond simply showing up?

I am thinking it is less than 5%.

That could be correct. What is included in community building though? Would a member of a home club count if they also invited someone from time to time, or contributed terrain, or .......

I'm the organizer and host of our tiny local club, but we have two guys who take care of our discord, one who does the blog, two guys who regularly bring snacks. Do they all count, or just me?

Good question. I would say anything that has the possibility of reaching folks outside of your group.

Therefore, the Blog for sure as it is public and anyone could read it and get recruited by it. Discord are usually invite only so, maybe; but do you get a lot of folks who are not part of the community there? I don't know.

Honestly, host might not even count as a stan-alone unless you are inviting new people to join in.

Food-bringers, I would say no. Not that what they do is not important; because it is. However, that is more keeping the lights on type maintenance and not community building.

 Easy E wrote:
Good question. I would say anything that has the possibility of reaching folks outside of your group.

Therefore, the Blog for sure as it is public and anyone could read it and get recruited by it. Discord are usually invite only so, maybe; but do you get a lot of folks who are not part of the community there? I don't know.

Honestly, host might not even count as a stan-alone unless you are inviting new people to join in.

Food-bringers, I would say no. Not that what they do is not important; because it is. However, that is more keeping the lights on type maintenance and not community building.

Those are all fair points. I guess another question might be are you building "THE community" or building "A community"?

If the club is big enough to fill the venue (whatever size it is) and everyone is having fun, is there a necessity to keep putting allot of effort into "building"?

Consider my club. 4-7 attendees twice a month and meets in my basement. Between my frequent references to the club in various places, the blog and my convention games, we bring in enough new members to maintain numbers vs attrition. I've got room for a few more per night, and would love to have them but what's the point in growing beyond that? Outgrowing my basement would bring a whole bucket of new work to do and everything runs pretty smooth now.

I think it's a point worth considering for anyone building a community. Is the goal some nebulous, ever expanding group of gamers? A small tight group to game with? Something in between? Things may change over time, but having a goal at first is probably wise.

All this to say, I think as regards to my group I'm seeing as much value in the snack, blog, discord, etc providers who maintain the group as in whatever outreach I do.

Good points about the goals and the size. Ultimately, I think the goal is to get together a group of like-minded players that allow you to engage in the hobby on terms you enjoy.

In my experience, you often need a group of 10 to find the 1 that aligns with my views of the hobby.

Therefore, I am looking to expand "the community" all the time so I can get my personal gaming group to the size of 4-7 consistently.

 Easy E wrote:
Good points about the goals and the size. Ultimately, I think the goal is to get together a group of like-minded players that allow you to engage in the hobby on terms you enjoy.

In my experience, you often need a group of 10 to find the 1 that aligns with my views of the hobby.

Therefore, I am looking to expand "the community" all the time so I can get my personal gaming group to the size of 4-7 consistently.

Interesting. I very much respect your desire to build an large inclusive community of a variety of wargamers.

However, I just don't see alot of value in building a community of 70 just to find the 7 folks that want to game with me. That's way too much work and I've got other responsibilities and hobbies outside of this hobby.

Instead, I'm specially targeting the folks that have similar interests as our crew:
-Miniature agnostic
-Rules Light games
-Indie games and miniatures
-The importance of painted minis and great terrain.

Maybe it's selfish, but I've got zero interest in gathering 9 other hobbyists that aren't into my style of gaming just to find one that is. The fact that our gamers tend to find us via our blog, things I post and the games I run at conventions means it's much more likely that folks who we find (or who find us) are already interested in the kind of gaming we're doing.

This may feel a bit sectarian, but I feel pretty ok with it. If someone wants to play semi-competitive 40k with unpainted minis on mirrored terrain there's plenty of FLGS's in the area that will cater to that. I'm by no means the only game in town, it's just that my "game" is something a bit different and more specific.

Yeah, I get that. Your experience comes from the Chicago area, which has more people than my entire state. You can cater to people attracted to your niche, because they will exist.

For me, before I can find people to deep read Jane Austen novels, I have to get them bought into the idea of reading for fun first.

For me, I have to get people to want to wargame before I can get them interested in my style of wargaming. There is no existing group of wargamers where I am just finding the people who like my style. Usually, I am their first introduction to wargaming as a hobby. Before, they had no/very little knowledge that it was a thing people did.

Therefore, the value to me is three fold:
1. 7 like-minded people is way better than where I started. That was 0 like-minded people.
2. Creating a community of 70 gives someone in the area a reason to start supporting wargaming commercially.
3. There is now a visible and public representation of wargaming in the community, which allows for others to build off of in the future.

Honestly, it is a numbers game. I talk to 10 people to get 1 wargamer, and than of those 10 wargamers; 1 might want to play games the way I do. Often times, they have to go through some "phases" as a wargamer and one of those phases is almost always semi-comp 40K all the time. Which is funny to me, because that is rarely where I start them. If they get out the other side of that, than I am more likely to find a gamer like you are talking about. Some make it through the 40K phase and some do not. Very rarely do I start them at model-agnostic, rules-lite fantasy or Historical game and that is where they stay.

No doubt it is an exhausting process, but my starting point is typically; no one in the area is (publicly) into wargaming. Any change to that is an improvement.

That'd be close to my own experience in rural Ireland or a small university town there.

But I didn't have very developed tastes at that time in my life - any kind of gaming was great and we put up with a really wide variance in model painting vs unpainted and crappy scenery vs nice boards.

Now because my free time away from home is so much more limited and my tastes have become more specific I'm much more after the everything-is-painted, rules I like for models I like and nice scenery experience and wouldn't bother with anything else because it would honestly feel like a waste of my time.

I'm also aware that the popular games like 40K don't need anyone working that hard to build for them, there are likely lively communities for them if you go looking. So I'm building what I want, rather selfishly, but not expecting anyone else to do any work. I just provide everything.

My approach with Roleplaying Games is a lot more like your approach to Wargames Easy E, because I find it's a much lower investment sort of hobby. So I'll happily get a group together for the current version of D&D even though my tastes are quite far from that.

 Easy E wrote:

For me, I have to get people to want to wargame before I can get them interested in my style of wargaming. There is no existing group of wargamers where I am just finding the people who like my style. Usually, I am their first introduction to wargaming as a hobby. Before, they had no/very little knowledge that it was a thing people did.

You're doing the lord's work, but I just don't have that kind of time or interest. I don't generally present people with the "Wide and Wonderful World of Wargaming". Rather I introduce folks (new or old) to my kind of wargaming in my basement. If they're into it, that's great. If not, that's ok too, but I don't have the bandwidth to shepherd them through their own unique wargaming journey from 40k to indie gaming.

Maybe I'm being shortsighted in not cultivating them all the way through, but I figure if they instead get into 40k and eventually want to come back my way, the door is open to them.

Put another way, maybe some folks need a buffet, but alot of folks will eat what's presented to them it looks good. I present them a delicious meal of nice people, easy to play Sci-fi and fantasy games and -if I may toot my own horn- fantastic terrain setups. If that's not to their taste that's ok, but my table is set.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Da Boss wrote:

Now because my free time away from home is so much more limited and my tastes have become more specific I'm much more after the everything-is-painted, rules I like for models I like and nice scenery experience and wouldn't bother with anything else because it would honestly feel like a waste of my time.

100%

I would add also that while almost everyone wants to play their own figures, I always let folks know that I've already got extra armies/forces painted up and ready to play, so while my interests and standards are a bit narrow, the gate is wide open.