An Embarassment of Niches
Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Playing games is a niche interest with a niche market in the vast universe of pasttimes and entertainments. And boardgamers are just a niche of that niche. And within that niche, itself, there are niches within niches. Some of us are in a single niche, spending nearly all of our time playing a single kind of game, or sometimes a single game. Gary Kasparov is atop the chessplayer niche. Most of the people in BGG are in several niches at once. To illustrate, let's look at Wargamer55's niches:
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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First of all, I'm a boardgamer. As widely popular as Monopoly is, there are an awful lot of people who have never played it. Sitting around a table playing a boardgame is an uncommon hobby, as compared to, for example, Golf, videogames, watching movies or crochet.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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And even in the boardgame hobby, I'm in the niche of people who like to play challenging strategy games. For most BGGers those are "euros." I've dabbled with some, but I'm just getting started with some of the standards such as E&T now.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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As my screen name indicates, I'm primarily a wargamer. Most of my collection is wargames of one sort or another and the majority of my gaming is spent wargaming. But wargaming is a niche of niches.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Not only am I a wargamer, but I'm a "blockhead," which is the name we players of Columbia-style block wargames call ourselves. A sign of a niche gamer is a collection that's very heavily weighted with certain kinds of games. I own all the Columbia block games ever published, for example.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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I'm also a Bonaparte at Marengo player. While not published by Columbia, Simmons Games' BaM is similar in design philosophy, using wooden blocks for fog of war and some non-traditional wargame mechanics. Unlike Columbia's block games, BaM has virtually no luck element, however. It's an extremely elegant and intriguing design, that becomes more so as you play it.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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I'm not just a block gamer. Far from it. My first love was naval wargaming, as a matter of fact. I got into the hobby in 1969 out of an interest in naval wargames sparked by an advertisement in Boy's Life.
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7.
Board Game: Midway
[Average Rating:6.51 Overall Rank:1442]
Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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That ad was for a naval miniatures manufacturer called Alnavco (still in business, by the way). I couldn't afford the neat model ships, but I could afford to buy Midway, my first wargame. I have a soft spot for the battle, with a half-dozen games about the battle.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Later I was able to afford some ships, and I've been a naval miniatures gamer for decades. Few can afford vast fleets, however, so most specialize to some extent, creating niches within the niche. Most of my naval collection is modern warships, for which I generally use Harpoon4.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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One niche within a niche of my niches is a special interest in the naval aspects of the Spanish-American War. One aspect of the hobby's nicheness is wargames devoted to such obscure topics. Amazingly, Avalanche Press' 1898 even has mounted maps, a great stroke of luck for a fan of such an obscure topic. Usually people interested in such a small niche market have to settle for components that are less than first-rate.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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1898 is also part of another niche, people who are fans of a particular line of games, in this case AP's Great War at Sea series of Naval games.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Another series I've gotten into is the Tactical Combat Series (TCS) late of The Gamers, now published by Multi-Man Publishing. I was fortunate to get in on the ground floor of this series, so I have all 15.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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I've also stayed current with the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series, late of AH, now also published by MMP. I have all seven plus the two issues of the Skirmisher.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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The GCACW ties into another niche of interst, in this case the American Civil War. I have a few dozen games related to that war, making it my second largest topic, aside from the Second World War.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Within that war I have a special interest in the Battle of Gettysburg, with more than a dozen games on that battle alone. Being a Gettysburg wargamer is clearly a niche within niches.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Sometimes a niche revolves around a single game. ASL players are nearly a hobby unto themselves. While some of us play many games, not a few stick to ASL alone. It's hard to be a top-flight ASL player if you allow yourself to be distracted by playing many other games.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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One small niche within wargaming is players interested in speculative and what-if wargames. Most wargamers prefer to play re-enactments of historical encounters. A few of us like to consider battles that never were or could be. I have quite a few of these.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Even more expensive than buying model warships is buying large armies of military miniatures. I kept my expenses down by sticking to one small war (The American Revolution) but I'll happily play with other people's minis. It's hard to get a group together for a good miniatures game, but it's one of the better gaming experiences when you can.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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The hardest thing about niche gaming is finding someone who shares your interest. Just about any family gathering will bring together enough people for Monopoly and finding players for Puerto Rico isn't too difficult. But wargamers are fairly rare, and the niches within wargaming can be so narrow that it's not uncommon to have to cross several state lines just to play a game. It's also common to have no opponents available at all. While almost any 2-player wargame can be played alone, there are some that are designed that way. Another niche well-represented in my collection.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Another solution to finding opponents is using the Internet to snag some. I've gotten to play several hundred games this year (by far a record) by joining Hexwar.com and using other online playing services.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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A few "wargames" stand alone as virtual hobbies within themselves. I mentioned ASL before, but probably the most venerable example is Diplomacy, which has always been considered a branch of wargaming somewhat apart from the rest. In the 1960s it was common to divide the hobby into three groups: "Avalon Hill" games (which included some non-AH titles), miniatures and Diplomacy. The advent of RPGs, CCGs, LARPs, etc. displaced Diplomacy as the hobby's third wheel, but not its place as one the true classic games of the last hundred years. It still has its own hobby press, its own conventions and its own devoted international following. While I'm not a big Diplomacy player, I don't think a year has gome by in the last three decades when I didn't play it at least once.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Diplomacy is a very, very intense game, and not for the faint of heart. Sometimes you want something lighter. Sometimes something even downright silly. Almost as old as Diplomacy, and semi-diplomatic in theme, Nuclear War is flaky, fun and absolutely not to be taken seriously. (Afrer all, it's a game everyone can lose) Every decade or so a new expansion has come out with new cards, new rules, and references to the current bogeymen of the day. I have NW, Nuclear Escalation, Nuclear Proliferation and WMD too.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Nuclear War brings up another niche within a niche. I like silly card games. There's no better example of that genre than the rabbit-like Munchkin series. Yeah, I have 'em all. Yeah, they're pretty stupid. Yeah, there's this and that flaw in the gameplay. Yeah, they're overpriced. Yeah, I enjoy them.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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As much as Munchkin can be a black hole for the wallet, collectible card games and collectible miniatures games can be worse. One has to draw the line somewhere unless you're Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, so I haven't gotten into this too much. But I do have some Magic cards and pick up a booster now and then and I have indulged in a couple of the CMGs, namely HeroClix and LOTR:TMG. I'll probably start buying A&A minis, too. I like the sculpts for LOTR, which is mostly why I buy them. I'll probably drop HeroClix in favor of the A&A mins now, though.
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Seth Owen
United States
Norwich
Connecticut
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Neat miniatures brings us full circle. While Heroscape is not 'collectible" it is expandable, and could be a smallish black hole. And it's sort of a wargame, with Massachusetts Militiamen, Airborne Soldiers, Samurai, Vikings and Roman Legionaires to play with. Of couse it's also got robots, dragons, dinosaurs, orcs and werewolves. So it's a niche-crossing game and, while I don't expect it to be another 'Monopoly,' it'll be a lot easier to find fellow Heroscape players than someone who wants to refight the 1898 naval Battle of Santiago.
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Mike Bruington
United States
California
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The niche of people who play miniatures wargames using Games Workshop figures but not Games Workshop rules. The most vocal component seems to be people who play using Warhammer 40,000 figures but Stargrunt II rules. There is another bunch who play with Battlefleet Gothic figures but Full Thrust rules also from Ground Zero Games.
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Granite Falls
Washington
Excellent list!
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Virginia
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