The relative strength of the hobby is difficult to gauge, that is to say the actual numbers of active wargamers in Australia and New Zealand seems to vary. The club memberships for several of the larger clubs (NWA, CGS, Western Suburbs [both Vic & NSW], Adelaide Wargaming Assoc., Brisbane Wargamers etc,) seem to have been either relatively static or only slightly increasing. There is also a modest increase in the number of active groups or societies with the establishment of small but active groups like the Canberra Kriegspielers. The attendance at the various cons this year has also fluctuated - the Olympics certainly kept numbers down for MOAB but BRISCON and earlier CANCON reported even greater crowd numbers and competitors, so interest in the hobby still seems to be there. The number of active, organised wargamers could be anywhere from 2 to 5,000 here in Australia and perhaps another 2,000 or so in New Zealand - my guess would be about 3,500 - 4,000 all told with maybe as many as twice that number who are occasional club gamers, solo, or social wargamers. Whatever the true number, there appears to have been enough (pre-GST) to support several sizable full-time businesses (and dozens of smaller part-time ones) in nearly every state and NZ. Post GST intro the expert opinion is that about 20-30% of small businesses will ‘go under’ and wargaming businesses would be no exception to this. If you doubt it just look at the fortunes of Games Workshop in Australia at the moment - from a very rapid proliferation of shops across the country only a few years ago, there has been an equally rapid ‘shrinkage’ of GW shopfronts, particularly in regional areas. Whether the current wargamer numbers can sustain viable businesses is moot - the huge growth in interest of a even a year or two ago seems to have slowed considerably and this cannot fail to have an effect on business. Interest has to be fostered in different ways in order to keep this surge in momentum in wargaming of recent years. A combination of e-commerce and active promotion at conventions may provide part of the answer. Another part may be Australian businesses using tools such as the Internet to break new ground in overseas markets. Whatever the solution is - it is worth gamers remembering that charity begins at home. If we are serious about the ‘health’ of the hobby here - we should support our home-grown businesses (such as - dare I say it - “Kriegspieler”?). The businesses you see advertising in this magazine have put their money where their mouth is - wargamers (both club and otherwise) should do the same by supporting local wargaming enterprises if they truly want to foster the hobby. Back to Table of Contents -- Kriegspieler #10 To Kriegspieler List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Kriegspieler Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com