2019 GWS - “Take my money!” and other preferences

So far, we've only looked at the age of the responding wargamers, bulging boomers or otherwise. Let's look at some preferences now.

Hobby spending

We've asked how much you plan to spend on your hobby per year in miniatures, hobby supplies, terrain, and other related materials five times now, though the question was slightly different in 2014. In the four times the question was since 2014, the average planned spend varied some, but it dropped quite a bit between 2017 and 2019 (question absent in 2018) from a normalised spend per capita of $1206 to $1099 according to Miles Reidy's calculation. Interestingly it appears that especially older historical wargamers spend less. Perhaps they already have all the toys?

And where do we spend that money? Independent retailers online and with a brick and mortar store are frequented steadily and consistently year on year. Some 60% of respondents indicated one, the other or both on this multiple choice question. Ebay and Bring-and-Buys are relatively much less popular, with a fluctuating share (some 25%) for buys from retailers and manufacturers at shows. The only steady change is the manufacturers' share - it increases year on year, steadily albeit slowly.

Kickstarter and 3D printing, neither of those being options, were mentioned quite often in the 'other' column as a means to get new toys for the tabletop. Though an awful lot of wargamers just seem to buy 'anything anywhere' whenever the opportunity arises.