Why is Foruminis so much more popular than here?

@Deaths:

@Azrael:

If you want to get some of the forum mini’s traffic here you need to break the news on a WAS set 7 here  :-D

If there is one, with Rich Baker gone, who knows

yeah thats the point a set 7 is not looking good but us WAS players are so desperate for news knowing that we would flock to where it is.

Dave,

As you can see by the # of my posts, I used to be quite active on these boards a while back.  I was mostly into AAR before they came out with the anniversary edition and, frankly, I lost interest between personal circumstances and not wanting to re-learn the boardgame from scratch.  Coincidentally, about that same time, I became interested in AAM and Mot may remember that he and I played a couple of PBF games right here using Mapview.  It was fun but, frankly (and with apologies to Mot), laborious to play by forum.  I thought posting the maps for AAR was time-consuming, but it was nothing compared with having to post your movement phase, wait for your opponent’s moves, then post your assault phase, wait for DF opportunities, etc.  Frankly, this game was made to play FTF, not by forum.  And as my collection grew along with my FTF opportunities, I became less interested in PBF.

Now to your question about Forumini.  As I stated before, I started out here, but the AAM community here was never large to begin with and by the time I got interested on online support for the game (I took a break from all A&A activity for a while), this AAM site was dead.  Heck, it made WOTC forum look lively by comparison!  So when forumini got started, I, like every other rational homo sapien, went where the action was!  I have downloaded dozens of scenarios from forumini, not to mention making trades, exchanging tactical advice, etc., etc.  For a collectible miniatures game, I think you really need a dedicated site, because the experience is so much more immersive than the boardgame.  For the boardgame, you pull it out, play a few games, you put it away.  You don’t paint your pieces, you don’t design custom scenarios, you don’t design custom units and you don’t trade units.  You do ALL of those things (in my case, except the painting  :lol:) if you are into the AAM collectible miniatures.

So when you ask, how to get AAM players back to A&A.org?  I have no idea.  I don’t really see it happening.  Not hating, mind you.  I’m just being realistic.  (And that’s taking nothing away from the excellent site you have otherwise built here.  If I were still into the boardgame, which I am not, you would see me here all the time.  In fact, I think I’m STILL one of the biggest all-time posters here. :-D)

Because of the forum mini traffic dying down a bit a group formed an initiative called Team Poseidon to release custom card packs you can buy at 12-7 that have units that were unreleased by wotc it drove up traffic and sustained interest in the game.

If this site did something sort of in the same vein perhaps backed by Field marshal games just like 12-7 backed TP you would get traffic.  Since the units are covered perhaps something like card event deck for WAS where you can add factors not included in the games such as landing problems for planes like the condor, seafire, helldiver, corsair etc green late war IJN pilots, fuel shortages, low morale, poor damage control etc it would add alot of historical flavor to the game.

I think what Azrael is saying could work.  The additional problem for any website at this point is the uncertain fate of the next AAM set.  There has not been a new set released since Fall 2010 and there is no word on when (or if) a new set will be released.  Add to that the equally uncertain fate of War at Sea and Angels 20, you see that it is a very difficult time for all three games.  You don’t get the buzz you could generate from sneak peeks of new sets, for example.  On the other hand, there is a lot of angst out there about this, which leads to increased posting speculating, offering alternatives like Team Poseidon and so on.  One cool thing Forum mini has going on right now for AAM is a custom cards thread where posters put up there own custom cards - one-by-one as opposed to by pack like Team Poseidon - but with input from other forum members.  That keeps the flame alive.

The one thing that would drive some traffic here is if you could get some kind of confirmation of the rumor that WOTC is shopping all three mini brands on the street for a possible licensing deal - kind of like the one that led to the re-release of Fortress America.  If THAT rumor has any substance and if you posted some insider scoop on that, you would get traffic here - I guarantee it.

Cool, more mini talk.

There, I just gave updating posts on all the miniature games…hoping to pique interest again!

the main problem is the people over here are for the most part uninterested in the mini’s axis and allies cmg’s so it makes sense for people who are into WAS, A20 and AAM to flock to the communities that focus on those games.

The traffic at the forumini has dropped off huge after the Team Poseidon release so it looks like when they are done with those releases ( they still have another 1 or 2 planned) that largeley interest in those games will disappear for good.

Azrael makes good points.

Something to keep in mind as we move forward is that we’re pretty unclear what the future is on everything.  The best bet for increased traffic flow might be to focus on the Angels20 Set II which will release in February.  We’re likely in a dead time now, but as soon as any possible news can be broken, the best idea is to break it here and try to generate as much discussion on it as possible.  Beyond that, any new set news that gets reported needs its own discussion threads here.  The combination of news and good discussion can only help.  I show up here most of the time and see empty forums with no new posts updates.

I was on this site, as it was the first I found to support the AAM miniatures I bought into and loved.  At the time the AAM traffic held its own with that A&A Board game that doesn’t do it for me.  I don’t remember when I left here as the traffic had died down considerably.  I did hold on longer than many though and eventually went to the Gleemax site from WotC.  It was an awful experience as even there my favorite game was relegated to deep recesses hidden under layers of Magic and other fantasy junk.  I held on again as I didn’t want to be a member of two websites but was eventually convinced to go to Forumini.  It has been a great community as its focus is all miniatures.

I was just poking around here for old times sake.  I’m glad I did as I saw FMG sad announcments.

Indeed, I visit this site at least 4 times a week, even though my limited time only allows me to play miniature AA games.  I love the board games still and I’m looking forward to 1914 but right now for me, the mini’s are the way to go.

Honestly its not really reasonable to expect to match the forumini with all the content,community that has been built there for the miniatures .  A more realistic goal would be ramping up interest in the minis here but even that is a too little too late and would require alot of effort…. I have only been posting since 2011 at the forumini and I have almost more posts then all the miniatures forums here combined…

If you look at both forums with ‘new eyes’ this looks like a forum for the board games with some talk of the miniature games while the forumini is the other way around, if I want to talk board games, I can do it there but the interest is much higher here. There’s nothing wrong with either…just different :)

@Lt_V:

If you look at both forums with ‘new eyes’ this looks like a forum for the board games with some talk of the miniature games while the forumini is the other way around, if I want to talk board games, I can do it there but the interest is much higher here. There’s nothing wrong with either…just different :)

Yes, this just isn’t the minis site. I always come here when I want to post or talk about the board games.

One thing that draws me here for the board games is the articles. I like to read news on the new game, strategies, etc on this site. Perhaps if we had articles on minis, more people would come. Maybe writing articles on strategy or releasing a new scenario every 2 weeks could draw more people here.

how popular is fantasy compared to say 40k in your area.  seems that 40k is more popular, yet fantasy is the better game ; imo.

why do you think this is the case?

i think its too do with ease of painting and start up costs.

a real fantasy army costs more than 40k because you need more models.  fantasy models i think take more time to make them look good not in all cases

Lots of guys play 40K in my area, all the FLGS have tourney’s.