by Brant Guillory, 12 January 2026
As we continue with the results of our 2025 year-in-wargaming survey, we take the time this week to look into our respondents’ gameplay and conventions. As always, this isn’t about “this is projecting the behavior of all wargamers” but rather “here’s what the survey respondents told us.”
First up, we’ve got a variety of tables breaking down comparisons between our respondents most common types of games, and some of their gameplay in 2025.
The comparison between most common type and location of play is interesting in that playing at a house (yours or a friend’s) is obviously the dominant answer, but online play continues to have lot of support as well. We were waiting for someone who plays procedural solo games to tell us they play most often at conventions, but alas, no one was what much of a smart-ass.
| Where are you usually playing? ➡️
⬇️ The most common type of wargame I play is… |
At my house | At a friend’s house | At a game store or other cafe | At a convention or other scheduled gathering | At a local club | At school | Online using tools like VASSAL or TTS | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Traditional” Hex & Counter | 98 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 47 | 175 |
| “Traditional” minis wargames (w/ scaled terrain) | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 28 | |||
| Area-Impulse Wargames | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Big-Box Map-&-Minis games | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Block Wargames | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||||
| Card-Assisted Wargames (that are *not* ops/event-style games) | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 15 | |||
| COIN / ICS series wargames | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 21 | |
| Ops/Event-style CDGs | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 22 | |
| Other | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Procedural solo wargames | 16 | 2 | 18 | |||||
| Solo point-to-point or ‘tower defense’ style games | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| Grand Total | 163 | 28 | 9 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 65 | 297 |
Based on the most common type of game you play, how did your number of different titles compare from 2024 to 2025?
Most folks played about the same number of different titles, but this year, folks trended a bit more on the side of more titles.
| different titles played in 2025 ➡️
⬇️ The most common type of wargame I play is… |
A lot more | More, but not a lot | About the same | Less, but only somewhat | Much fewer | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Traditional” Hex & Counter | 26 | 51 | 75 | 15 | 8 | 175 |
| “Traditional” minis wargames (w/ scaled terrain) | 3 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 28 | |
| Area-Impulse Wargames | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Big-Box Map-&-Minis games | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Block Wargames | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Card-Assisted Wargames (that are *not* ops/event-style games) | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 15 | |
| COIN / ICS series wargames | 4 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| Ops/Event-style CDGs | 2 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 22 | |
| Other | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Procedural solo wargames | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Solo point-to-point or ‘tower defense’ style games | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Grand Total | 46 | 87 | 122 | 27 | 15 | 297 |
Based on the most common type of game you play, how did your total number of hours played compare from 2024 to 2025?
Similar to the above chart, folks tended to play more total hours in 2025 compared to the previous year.
| number of hours played in 2025 ➡️
⬇️ The most common type of wargame I play is… |
A lot more | More, but not a lot | About the same | Less, but only somewhat | Much fewer | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Traditional” Hex & Counter | 33 | 57 | 56 | 23 | 6 | 175 |
| “Traditional” minis wargames (w/ scaled terrain) | 5 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| Area-Impulse Wargames | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Big-Box Map-&-Minis games | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Block Wargames | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Card-Assisted Wargames (that are *not* ops/event-style games) | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | ||
| COIN / ICS series wargames | 2 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 21 |
| Ops/Event-style CDGs | 2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 22 |
| Other | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Procedural solo wargames | 4 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 18 |
| Solo point-to-point or ‘tower defense’ style games | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Grand Total | 54 | 92 | 97 | 39 | 15 | 297 |
We’ve got a couple of charts comparing how long you’ve been playing wargames with some of our other questions.
As noted above, the vast majority of gamers are still playing at their houses, or those of their friends.
Among our respondents, the wargaming rookies aren’t playing at conventions, or online, as frequently as the other groups.
| How long have you been wargaming? ➡️
⬇️ Where are you usually playing? |
0-3y | 3-10y | 10-25y | 25-40y | 40+ y | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At a convention or other scheduled gathering | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | |
| At a friend’s house | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 28 |
| At a game store or other cafe | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| At a local club | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 | ||
| At my house | 12 | 21 | 15 | 36 | 79 | 163 |
| At school | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Online using tools like VASSAL or TTS | 4 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 36 | 65 |
| Grand Total | 21 | 40 | 30 | 57 | 149 | 297 |
Comparing our respondents’ “veterancy” in wargaming to how many different titles they played in 2025 compared to 2024 is also interesting.
Are our old folks stuck in their ways? Are the rookies playing more under the theory of “nowhere to go but up?” Well, as we saw above, a whole lot of people across all categories tended to play more titles last year.
| How long have you been wargaming? ➡️
⬇️ different titles played in 2025 |
0-3y | 3-10y | 10-25y | 25-40y | 40+y | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A lot more | 7 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 19 | 46 |
| More, but not a lot | 8 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 47 | 87 |
| About the same | 6 | 17 | 8 | 28 | 63 | 122 |
| Less, but only somewhat | 5 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 27 | |
| Much fewer | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 15 | |
| Grand Total | 21 | 40 | 30 | 57 | 149 | 297 |
Comparing our respondents’ “veterancy” in wargaming with their change in number of opponents does also yield some overall upward trends that wargamers are finding different people to play with, and yes, even the old curmudgeons.
| How long have you been wargaming? ➡️
⬇️ number of opponents in 2025 |
0-3y | 3-10y | 10-25y | 25-40y | 40+y | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A lot more | 1 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 25 | |
| More, but not a lot | 7 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 28 | 61 |
| About the same | 10 | 26 | 17 | 32 | 83 | 168 |
| Less, but only somewhat | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 26 |
| Much fewer | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 17 |
| Grand Total | 21 | 40 | 30 | 57 | 149 | 297 |
Convention attendance overall was split almost 50-50 across all respondents, and it was the rookies that had the lowest percentage of convention attendees. Are they unsure of how game conventions “work”? Do they just not know about local conventions?1
| How long have you been wargaming? ➡️
⬇️ Did you attend any game conventions this year? |
0-3y | 3-10y | 10-25y | 25-40y | 40+y | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | 14 | 19 | 17 | 26 | 74 | 150 |
| Yes | 7 | 21 | 13 | 31 | 75 | 147 |
| Grand Total | 21 | 40 | 30 | 57 | 149 | 297 |
Conventions
We asked our usual questions about why you attend the conventions you do, as well as your convention budgets.
Which Conventions?
Which cons did our respondents attend this year? Not a big surprise that Origins is a common response; ditto the Fall Assembly. The communities that attend SDHIst and Circle DC overlap a bit, and our survey was well-shared through those channels, as well as those for PunchedCon and BottosCon, which might account for a higher-than-expected number of responses from those groups.
Conventions with a smaller attendance among our respondents
- 3 Attendees: CondoCon, DunDraCon, GenCon, KublaCon, Niagara Board Game Weekend, Pacificon, Pax Unplugged, Stack Academie, Trumpeter Salute
- 2 Attendees: Adepticon, CanCon, Eboracon, Essenspiel, GCACW @ the Battlefield, Huzzah, Nashcon, Next War Con, Play Bologna, Terminal City Tabletop Convention (TCTC), Tre Kronor, UKGE, UnThirl Your Banners, Victorious 25, World Boardgaming Championships
- Lone rangers! ASLOK, Attack Devizes, Auckcon, Batalladores, Beachhead, Birds of Prey, Bologna Play, BottosCon Spring, Bottoscon, Broadsides, CapCon, Carronade, CastleCon, Claymore, Colours, Combat Commander Con, Czech Consim Con, Dallas Protcon, Dice Tower East, Fall In, Fiasco, Friendly Fire Deluxe, Friendly Fire deluxe, GMT East, Geekway to the West, Havoc, Hexacon, HotLead, Hothead, Kanata Con, Kansas City ASL Tournament, Kegscon, Les Grands Stratèges, LinCon, Mayhem, MidCon, Milano wargames, Millennium Con, MoreCon, Multiple ASL events of three days or more, NukeCon, Partizan, Protocon 2, Pyrowar, Riacon, Rock-Con, Rocket City Game Fest, Rome, Siege of Augusta, SnapCon, StableCon, Stack Acadamie, Tennessee Board Game Days, Texas ASL Tournament, TotalCon, U Con, Unfurl your Banners, Unpub Festival, VianaCon, WeekEnd NUTS!, Wellycon, York Wargames Club
Next week we’ll look at media consumption, pre-order behavior, and some purchasing decision factors.
2025 YEAR-END WARGAMING SURVEY
THE 2025 SURVEY ~ OVERALL STATS & 2025 OVERVIEW ~ CONVENTIONS & GAMEPLAY ~ PRE-ORDERS / MEDIA / INFORMATION ~ BIGGEST STORIES ~ FORUM THREAD
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Footnotes
- may we suggest checking out our convention calendar page?
