Is ww1 gaming largely limited to collecting UK and Germany?

[Gribb]

And late war at that?
With so many interesting combatants and units participating besides these two nations. Austria-Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Ottoman Empire, France, Belgium..

Point is while many have no qualms about collecting and getting into all sort of obscure armies(particularly napoleonics) and gaming all sort of obscure skirmishes of earlier periods.

But as time passes do you think other nations will be given more attention among new gamers coming into the hobby?

[MartinR]

I'm not sure I agree with original assertion. 1914 seems just as popular if not more so than later war, possibly due to the lack of trenches and wire.

While it is always hard to generalise about holdings of specific figure types, our group boasts British, French, Russian, Austrian, Belgian, Turkish, Indian, Arab and German troops ranging from 1914 to 1919 in scales varying from 6mm to 54mm.

[carlos marighela]

Well given there are dedicated ranges for all the nations you have listed and in some cases multiple manufacturers, there must be someone out there, mustn’t there? You can add Australians, New Zealanders, Indian Army, Americans,  Turks, Italians, Sharifian Arabs, Bulgarians and Greeks to your list.

As wargaming was and remains a largely Anglophone pastime, it’s hardly remarkable that much of the focus lays with the British and the Western Front. Late war attracts interest because of the toys, principally tanks.

Wargaming is a niche hobby and The Great War is a tiny niche within a niche. Do I see a massive upswell of interest in Salonika, Caporetto or Tannenberg? Probably not.

[Sunjester]

That's certainly not the case at my local club, it's early war with Germans and Belgians for 1914.

Not quite WW1, but I also have Greeks and Turks for the 1912 Balkans War.

[Gribb]

Well given there are dedicated ranges for all the nations you have listed and in some cases multiple manufacturers, there must be someone out there, mustn’t there? You can add Australians, New Zealanders, Indian Army, Americans,  Turks, Italians, Sharifian Arabs, Bulgarians and Greeks to your list.

As wargaming was and remains a largely Anglophone pastime, it’s hardly remarkable that much of the focus lays with the British and the Western Front. Late war attracts interest because of the toys, principally tanks.

Wargaming is a niche hobby and The Great War is a tiny niche within a niche. Do I see a massive upswell of interest in Salonika, Caporetto or Tannenberg? Probably not.

They are all represented indeed but far from the extent to that of UK and Germany.  You can find them, but I am talking about the main theme among manufacturers and wargames being held.

This does not hold true for earlier armies and conflicts to the same extent. There are a lot of niche, small wars being given attention in recent years with more information easily available. The same should shed some new light on ww1.
I also suspect its a generation thing that will change. A lot of the media coverage has been on the Western Front and in particular the British. Like with Peter Jacksons upcoming documentary.

Nationality has certainly not prevented Anglo or German gamers from collecting and taking interest in armies and conflicts far away in location and time that they have no true relation to.

[Operator5]

Though I do have decent British and German forces, I also have decent Russian and Turkish forces and have run some scenarios based on their fights around Armenia.

Do most manufacturers focus on Germans and Brits? I don't know. I know the manufacturers that I buy from have slightly more of these lines, but I have not checked every site.

[Will Bailie]

Our hobby of collecting,painting and gaming with toy soldiers is already a niche hobby.  Separate out those who focus on historical subjects, and the group gets smaller.  WWI is less popular than, say, WWII or Napoleonic Wars.

Yet there are still those of us interested in diverse aspects of the Great War.  My own WWI collection includes 1914-15 and 1916-18 Western Front French, Germans, British (painted as Canadians) and Belgians.  But it also includes ANZACS, Indians and Ottomans for Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and Palestine, and KAR and Brits for East Africa.  There are readily available Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Italians, Serbians and more.  The various Russian Civil War and Back of Beyond campaigns that feature strongly here at LAF are arguably extensions of WWI gaming, happening in the aftermath of that conflict and involving so many WWI veterans.  And that's just looking at the war on land!  WWI in the air or at sea opens up further opportunities (I'm not personally interested in air or sea battles, but the big WWI air battles feature regularly at my wargaming club).

When you're looking at a niche within a niche, as WWI gaming is within the wargaming community. But for those interested in getting away from the Western Front, there are no great barriers to building up suitable forces.

[mellis1644]

Peter Pig has a whole set of 15mm figs and rules for all the non UK vs. German fronts. So no not at all.

[Metternich]

And Brigade Games has made a very creditable coverage of the Italian Front with Austro-Hungarians and Italians.

My own collection is primarily 28mm 1916 and on (stahlhelm Germans - who are very versatile, as they can be used on all fronts except the Mideast, and also as Friekorps) and Brigade's Austrians (in caps, but they continued to use those throughout the war as well as the stahlhelm).  Have a few Russian sailors and partisans which I will do something with someday (probably provide opposition to Freikorps post-war

[carlos marighela]

To be honest about the only active participants whose armies aren’t covered in 28mm that I can think of are Japan and Montenegro. Given that Japan was only involved in one battle, the siege of Tsingtao, I think we can forgive the world’s makers of toy soldiers for having overlooked them. Maybe someone makes them in another scale?

Not bad for a niche within a niche. Now try finding mid to late 18thC Spanish.

[armchairgeneral]

I have recently built up a Russian army just for a change from pitting by Brits against my friends Germans. I enjoyed the research and painting etc although there only seems to be high level accounts of the War available.

The Eastern Front does seem more gamable with it being more mobile. There just seems to be a lack of information and maybe awareness of its potential?

[FierceKitty]

I use a few French aircraft as well.

[Will Bailie]

To be honest about the only active participants whose armies aren’t covered in 28mm that I can think of are Japan and Montenegro. Given that Japan was only involved in one battle, the siege of Tsingtao, I think we can forgive the world’s makers of toy soldiers for having overlooked them. Maybe someone makes them in another scale?

Not bad for a niche within a niche. Now try finding mid to late 18thC Spanish.

Looks like Tiger Miniatures does Montenegrin soldiers http://tigerminiatures.co.uk/page10.htm

Of course they are for the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), so not a dedicated WWI offering... 

And did Japanese uniforms change much from 1905?  Because there are certainly Russo-Japanese War troops available!

Can't help you with late 18th C Spaniards, sorry!

[carlos marighela]

Did Japanese uniforms change from the Russo-Japanese War? Yes and noticeably so.

[Gribb]

That's certainly not the case at my local club, it's early war with Germans and Belgians for 1914.

Not quite WW1, but I also have Greeks and Turks for the 1912 Balkans War.

Now thats cool and the curiosity I was looking for. The Belgians did a tremendous effort and certainly have some of the most interesting uniforms of the early war.

I have recently built up a Russian army just for a change from pitting by Brits against my friends Germans. I enjoyed the research and painting etc although there only seems to be high level accounts of the War available.

The Eastern Front does seem more gamable with it being more mobile. There just seems to be a lack of information and maybe awareness of its potential?

That sounds pretty cool and the sort of answer I was hoping for. My interest for the Eastern front has increased and I think it has a great potential. Besides the massive clashes there is plenty of possiblity of mobile warfare. Was it Siberia Miniatures?
I noticed this range a while ago and they look have some pretty nice sculpts going but I don't know how they scale up.

For such a vast conflict with more ready available information I was just curious of the general theme of interest in just two of the combatants. There are, in my opinion, many more interesting fronts and nations to discover like in other eras of warfare.

Well I hold on to the belief that its due to the narrow presentation in documentaries, literature and movies that gives heavy account/interviews to these two combatants. Brits in particular. I am not tryng to discredit the interest in the western front/UK-German battles, only question what I perceived to be a general lack of interest in other theaters and nations of the war.

I already know one can dig up every combatant in some shape of form, but those that bring up that and that its a "niche" hobby (I knew that before entry and still get reminded of it by relatives and friends). I do not question this aspect, I question what I perceived to be the narrow interest in this conflict by many.
And as some have proven, this is not the case for everyone at all.