GWS 2024: Period preferences

By Jonathan Freitag

In what seems to have become a biennial staple of the Great Wargaming Survey (GWS) analysis, the time has come to re-examine the topic of wargaming period (or era) preferences and see if survey respondents' preferences have changed since 2022 when we last visited this question.

Looking back to 2022, the survey allowed, at most, three choices in ranking period preferences, but the rank order was not captured. Respondents simply picked their Top three periods. To investigate the overall popularity of a wargaming period, up to three choices per respondent are aggregated across all responses. The results from the 2022 GWS are shown in Figure 1.

In 2022, the Top 5 periods in rank order when aggregating the Top 3 choices were as follows:

1. World War 2
2. Science Fiction (excl WH40k)
3. Fantasy (excl. WH40k/Age of Sigmar)
4. Warhammer 40k
5. Napoleonics

World War II comes out at the head of pack followed by three non-historical periods with Napoleonics rounding out the top 5.

For the 2024 GWS, the question does accept rank order of choices. Again, only the Top three choices are captured. When these Top three choices are aggregated across all survey responses, do the results change from the results seen in 2022? See Figure 2.

In the 2024 GWS, we find that the Top 5 periods are:

1. World War 2
2. Science Fiction (exc WH40k)
3. Fantasy (exc WH Fantasy)
4. Warhammer 40k
5. Napoleonic Wars

Again, WW2 comes in at the top spot in the 2024 survey with non-historicals dominating ranks 2-4. Even though total response counts were down about 40% from 2022, the Top 5 periods remain the same, and they are in the same rank order. Nothing has changed!

What if only the Top Period is examined and not an aggregation of the Top three choices? Do results change materially? Figure 3 shows that the Top 5 periods remain the same but Fantasy (exc WH Fantasy) falls to fifth place.

Can any useful inferences be made by examining period preference by a few select attributes?

Primary gaming interest separates responses into three distinct categories. These categories are Historical, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, and Mixed. As we might expect, there is a clear demarcation in period preferences between historical and non-historical wargamers. Also as expected, the gamers in the Mixed category are open to gaming most periods. See Figure 4.

As has been reported in other analyses repeatedly, period preference seems to be driven, in large part, by age. Here again (see Figure 5), there is a clear bifurcation between historical and non-historical wargamers. Historical periods tend to see heavier interest by older wargamers (51+) while non-historical periods are more likely to see a concentration of wargamers in younger age cohorts. Notice that wargamers age 51+ comprise about 70% of the interest in 18th Century and Colonial Wars periods. WW2, Ancients, Medievals, and Dark Ages, on the other hand, tend to see interest from all age groups.

When the results are summarized by respondent location, do any tendencies emerge? Yes! From Figure 6, location does seem to influence what wargamers play. Just looking at the relationship between North American and UK / Ireland wargamers, North Americans favor ACW by better than a two-to-one ratio over UK / Ireland while UK / Ireland favors Pike & Shotte by nearly a two-to-one advantage over their North American comrades. North Americans tend to prefer non-historicals more than their UK / Ireland counterparts.

WW2 continues to hold its place at the top of the charts with broad appeal among all survey respondents. Even with a reduction in number of responses in 2024, the results remain stable. For a number of periods, there remains a clear line between primarily historical and non-historical wargamers. The lack of cross-over between these two preferences seems constant.

Next time the GWS analysis returns, I will examine a follow-up question to wargaming period preference using cluster analysis.