I would suggest adding more information on the title page of the site. Now it is mostly (if not only) information about contests, voting and winners. In my opinion that is not enough.
I remember when I first stumbled upon the site after reading the title page, I got the feeling that it was a very closed community. Because it was all the same names and information all over the place. Not to mention that I had hard time registering, and had to apply to one of the moderators directly. Was it you, Admiral?
So I would suggest adding pictures from blogs or showcase threads. Also information and pictures from various manufacturers can be added. Advertising for them and attraction of attention to CD for us. Plus any other interesting information, art, etc.
The site has a lot of awesome stuff to offer, but we need to advertise it properly from the start. :hat off
Hoy there from the UnderEmpire (see, I do read your threads there, Admiral! )
Although should any of you grace the tunnels you will find it mostly dead and empty. The forums themselves had been on the decline since Storm of Chaos, but the greatest falls came around the time of AoS, the botched forum reformations and direction, the increased move to FB groups, and a final nail being the photobucket crisis. At the time of AoS the Council of Thirteen were divided over which direction the forums should take. Do we continue to wave the banner of the world that once was? Do we support AoS? Do we support 9th age? KoW? In the end it was a mix of the lot with nothing to my mind truly gelling together right. If anything i’d say it caused more divisions and a sense of apathy.
There was some work behind the background to try and rescue things with a large campaign, but the plans for that stalled as the forum activity took a nose dive. Could more of been done to save the forums? Maybe. But I can’t really see the UE recovering from its decline.
If you are going to consolidate, make sure it is concise and not too watered down. Best of luck.
Oh yes, I can see declines in every forum group that I used to frequent that involve Warhammer. I’ll admit too that I am guilty of being a part of the decline of visits.
Here is what I think basically happened to me. It happened to a good chunk of everyone else, too I think.
I used to frequent the Bretonnia Round Table forum board daily when I was playing with my Bretonnians. Then Age of Sigmar hit. Played a few times with my Bretonnians and as many of you may agree with - AoS simply isn’t what Warhammer Fantasy was. And that was it and warhammer became history for me. There were a few of us who planned to keep playing in the last edition as well as try out the ninth age, but they all made the switch to AoS, or like me, quit the world of Gamesworkshop all together since the majority of gamers were simply no longer interested. I went and found other games that held more interest, and sort of got out of the world of fantasy wargaming. Many others migrated to games like Kings of war, or the Ninth age, or stopped playing all together!
Warhammer was the game that held a lot of players together, as it was the biggest, one of the first, and probably the main game that everyone played or tried to play first.
Then it all died and became the AoS as we all know. No longer being a connective game, a lot of people felt displaced, disappointed, and straight out ripped off. You get all sorts of people doing different things depending on what the nature of their surroundings or their opinions are. Some people love AoS - but it is simply not what Warhammer was!
Now as a small company owner and designer, I have returned to a few of these forums since I make model terrain but it is more so to make announcements or gather ideas and talk to customers. I do not frequent them as I used to! But before this company existed I jumped right into Historicals. Here I could still find great rank and file battles, and they’ve become the main focus for modelling and gaming for me. I find that without the company and interest in what fantasy players are into I probably wouldn’t bother visiting many forums like this one.
It was also mentioned in this forum here that a lot of younger fellows do not tend to visit forums - this I will agree on. But lots of younger gamers I know don’t even have experience in Warhammer, let alone Age of Sigmar! They’re 40K fans for the most part!
I hope Age of Sigmar can at least revive some new factions by bringing back some of the old ones. Seeing new Chaos Dwarf based armies in AoS would bring back some traffic - though I am not sure if you’d have the name “Chaos Dwarves” anymore. That mention of the chaos Zharr Vyxa… well it makes me think Orruks were once Orcs… perhaps you’ll all become “Twisted Duardin” or “Fallen Duardin” or something else cliche in name and can be copyrighted.
Oh yes, I can see declines in every forum group that I used to frequent that involve Warhammer. I'll admit too that I am guilty of being a part of the decline of visits.
Here is what I think basically happened to me. It happened to a good chunk of everyone else, too I think.
I used to frequent the Bretonnia Round Table forum board daily when I was playing with my Bretonnians. Then Age of Sigmar hit. Played a few times with my Bretonnians and as many of you may agree with - AoS simply isn't what Warhammer Fantasy was. And that was it and warhammer became history for me. There were a few of us who planned to keep playing in the last edition as well as try out the ninth age, but they all made the switch to AoS, or like me, quit the world of Gamesworkshop all together since the majority of gamers were simply no longer interested. I went and found other games that held more interest, and sort of got out of the world of fantasy wargaming. Many others migrated to games like Kings of war, or the Ninth age, or stopped playing all together!
Warhammer was the game that held a lot of players together, as it was the biggest, one of the first, and probably the main game that everyone played or tried to play first.
Then it all died and became the AoS as we all know. No longer being a connective game, a lot of people felt displaced, disappointed, and straight out ripped off. You get all sorts of people doing different things depending on what the nature of their surroundings or their opinions are. Some people love AoS - but it is simply not what Warhammer was!
Now as a small company owner and designer, I have returned to a few of these forums since I make model terrain but it is more so to make announcements or gather ideas and talk to customers. I do not frequent them as I used to! But before this company existed I jumped right into Historicals. Here I could still find great rank and file battles, and they've become the main focus for modelling and gaming for me. I find that without the company and interest in what fantasy players are into I probably wouldn't bother visiting many forums like this one.
It was also mentioned in this forum here that a lot of younger fellows do not tend to visit forums - this I will agree on. But lots of younger gamers I know don't even have experience in Warhammer, let alone Age of Sigmar! They're 40K fans for the most part!
I hope Age of Sigmar can at least revive some new factions by bringing back some of the old ones. Seeing new Chaos Dwarf based armies in AoS would bring back some traffic - though I am not sure if you'd have the name "Chaos Dwarves" anymore. That mention of the chaos Zharr Vyxa.. well it makes me think Orruks were once Orcs... perhaps you'll all become "Twisted Duardin" or "Fallen Duardin" or something else cliche in name and can be copyrighted.
Wiegraf
They call us Dawi Zharr. That is the keyword on the warscrolls.
It seems that every Fantasy forum (even non-pure Fantasy forums like Warseer) have seen dramatic declines in numbers. Some of this is due to “new” social media. All the ranked Fantasy style forums no doubt got nailed by WFB getting canned. Lots of people outright quit, some moved on, others don’t want to play non-current games and once their gaming groups begin diminishing few have the appetite to plough on with something as niche as a non supported game.
I would guess that Chaos Dwarfs are going to get some sort of release in AoS which may result in increased traffic, also when Warhammer Total War 3 hits I would imagine there will be a spike since it seems a LOT of people who play this game are interested in the background/lore of the factions they are playing - judging by reddit/TW forums.
I think cross pollinating in other forums is an excellent idea too. I have tended to be most active in the Eighth Edition For Life Forums (8th edition based funnily enough…) and we would certainly be grateful for the LoA tactica stuff if you are going to ditch it! I see Admiral has already been posting odd bits and bobs from here over there. It is perhaps worth pointing some of the Chaos Dwarf players from there this way too (there are a few). Likewise, if any of you lot are into 8th edition Fantasy you should head over there, it’s a good group
I think cross pollinating in other forums is an excellent idea too. I have tended to be most active in the Eighth Edition For Life Forums (8th edition based funnily enough…) and we would certainly be grateful for the LoA tactica stuff if you are going to ditch it!
Horace
Cheers! I agree, cross-pollination is the way forward, between relevants forums, Facebook groups and whatever else exists out there. Also I promise we won’t mix the LoA tactica subforum with anything else before the ongoing EEFL salvage is complete. Better consolidate in steps if need be, so as to not accidentally destroy a resource before it has been saved elsewhere.
Bloody FB just gets into error mode when I try to register there… Would like to reach out to AoS and KoW groups besides 8th edition and 9th Age ones whenever new evil dwarf news are to be announced.
Also I half-by-half wonder if we should state that the proposed Stories, Background & Art is for our own community creations, and discussions revolving around these? That’s basically what the background section has run like for years on end. Most background discussion revolving around purely official GW/FW background has usually taken place in the CD General Discussion, often because fluff is integral to the rest of the hobby. Thoughts here for going forward?
"Dont be sad that its over, smile that it happened."
As I get older this becomes more and more true. The forums are not reverting back to a place of prominence that once were but will endure none-the-less.
"Dont be sad that its over, smile that it happened."
As I get older this becomes more and more true. The forums are not reverting back to a place of prominence that once were but will endure none-the-less.
I look forward to hear how we’ll consolidate the forum. As long as the community-created background stories and tutorials can remain in their own resource caches I’m fine with whatever.
As to big threads for all things Chaos Dwarfs in T9A, AoS and KoW (for the sake of long-term Google search yields) shall we set up such, and shall they be made sticky threads to always float on top?
I threw out these asking for background, but non-fluff contributions made me realize perhaps we could edit the first posts and use them for main wargame threads in CD general discussion?
I certainly think the only thing that would significantly push up numbers here is GW releasing a new range of relevant figures.
If that does happen, even if they are not “Chaos Dwarfs”, this website would need to fully jump on to attract membership.
Otherwise it’s likely, sadly, we will maintain our current numbers going forwards.
I guess a significant number of our membership, like myself were just dealt a heavy blow by the death of WHFB.
Something that does cross my mind however, people are not investing into Chaos Dwarfs because they don’t see they have any place in AoS. Officially or otherwise, they don’t even know to search for them probably. Even using them as “counts as” dwarfs is hard when they aren’t even relevant these days.
So that is something I’d suggest needs to be a focal point here now and going forwards. Re develop the site to be as AoS friendly (for want of a better word) as possible. Quite how that is done is up for discussion.
One thing that might be worth to keep in mind is to not tailor the site to any one specific system to such a large extent that it goes to the exclusion of the other big ones. KoW & T9A are both large as well, and sports goings-on in the evil dwarf department (we’re main armies in both systems). The scene is split and the evil dwarf archetype developed by GW and CDO has passed on alive and well and relevant into all three big systems out there.
Legacy Warhammer (eg. 3rd and 8th editions) exist as well, albeit small enough and with plenty of inherited material around here that we don’t need to push WHFB specifically: They’ll probably steam on by themselves sporadically.
Now that we’ve finally got something to go by for Dawi Zharr in Age of Sigmar (Zharr Vyxa) you’ll start to see contest themes centered around new CD concepts in AoS starting next year (this year was fully scheduled and promised beforehand, earmarked). The same will also be true for new Infernal Dwarf and Abyssal Dwarf concepts, of which there are already many.
Other forums have multiplied their forums by setting up separate sections for AoS, T9A, KoW and sometimes old WHFB. This has however led to ghost town bloating and making it hard to navigate.
So at the moment proposals cluster around one big thread each for CDs in T9A, AoS & KoW respectively; advertising CDO contests and special member creations (stories, rules, conversions) outside CDO on FB and the like to all three groups respectively to pull them in and keep CDO in the community’s consciousness; and forum consolidation.
Any more ideas? Thanks for all input and help!
__________
Scribe’s Contest will also explicitly be open to evil dwarf stories in any setting going forward, even though it was originally created for fleshing out WHFB CD lore: Soon time to wrap up the CD culture project with some big epics, prophecies and an illustrated PDF?
Personally I’d keep one section for all systems combined. As I really don’t think we have the numbers to warrant one for each.
This Zharr Vyxa, what’s that an official term now?
Also, just as a case in point, only by knowing exactly what to search for was I able to just now know to look for Imgur (through the old photobucket thread).
Anything like this that is possibly preventing anyone from sharing their work needs to be absolutely obvious across every section of the painting sections imo.
I’m new and didn’t post much on this forum. I didn’t saw the Old Days of Wonders of this forum.
But i think that true CDs fans will stay one way or another. The problem isn’t the need of a new range, a revamp of Dawi Zharr or anything else. Chaos Dwarfs always been a minority in Warhammer ecosystem and always will be. Maybe some new plastic will get us (as faction) some new players but certanly will not push numbers here.
Here is about ALL things Chaos Dwarfs related and i doubt newcomers will search for old iterations. I kn ow, running a place is also about considering how to get audience but, in THIS case, i do not see the need or the way to follow.
I’ve finded this forum searching for a place to find 4th Ed CDs and fell in love with all your majestic work through the years put together to expand a forgotten army. But i doubt most of the newbies (as i am) will follow the same path.
There are many technical things that will help forums/ sites. But the one thing that attracted me and will keep me is that this sites staff and members are so accepting and friendly. With this the site will continue as long as people find us.
Speaking of making things great again, I know some of our members also read and contribute on other Chaos Star-affiliated forums (Herostone, Chamber of the Everchosen, etc). Anyone in touch with the admins on any of them? I see the Chamber has some prescription drug spam that�?Ts not been cleaned up and Daemonic Legion has been giving redirects every once in a while to spam sites (lotto winnings, or my ISP has identified my IP as a winner, etc). Daemonic legion may have some infestation problems, but in either case these things signal larger problems and usually dissuade casual viewers from browsing.
Unfortunately the Chamber of the Everchosen was a fairly nasty place even during its hayday so I don’t expect it will ever make a return. I know the three elf factions have combined their efforts/boards but those are all but empty. Dogs of War is a ghost town too. I’m not sure how the rest are doing but I expect equally poorly. I actually think CDO is doing the best out of all of them (thanks to the efforts of you long-time users!!). I’m all for pumping up the numbers though! If I can assist, I’m happy to do so :yar
@Nicodemus: I’ve been contacted by a mod over on the Daemonic Legions previously (discovered EEFL that way), so it should be possible to reach out there. I’ll send them a message. Chamber of the Everchosen seems a drifting ghost ship, while Beast Herds is under lockdown.
@TrudiFurioso: new art is always more than welcome! It’s the heart and soul of any polished creative endeavour.
@Grimbold Blackhammer: Lustria Online is also doing well, and Warhammer Empire seems fairly active. We’d be grateful if you could feed us all noteworthy T9A ID goings-ons you come across, including 9th Scroll fluff snippets. I keep half an eye on it, but am too busy to invest properly. You’re also more than welcome to spread news around of e.g. CDO contests among ID collectors on T9A. The same goes for anyone else who can help us out on KoW & AoS fronts.
Also, just as a case in point, only by knowing exactly what to search for was I able to just now know to look for Imgur (through the old photobucket thread).
Anything like this that is possibly preventing anyone from sharing their work needs to be absolutely obvious across every section of the painting sections imo.
Grimstonefire
This is a very good point, and feeds back into The_Penguin’s advice. (This kind of go-back-to-a-beginner’s-eyes thing is not something I’ve ever been good at; it’s just dive in, dive deeper, explore obscure niches - so it’s much a blind spot.)
As part of the upcoming forum restructuring, please share here all manner of ideas about things that should go in CDO Information, basic necessities of info that should be pinned in this or that forum section, and so on: This part of the forum has not been properly tended to in many years (we’ve pinned some resources like CD runes & image salvage while I’ve helped out Staff, but nothing substantial or providing for basics).
Most of the structure of the site is old, and not just speaking of software. There’s a lot of catching up that could be done, and we might as well do it thoroughly in the close future. :hat off
I think we�?Tre on the right track here. Thanks everyone for putting in your two cents and offering perspective and suggestions. I think taking some time to re-evaluate and get a broader perspective on the hobby is a good idea for many reasons.
One thing that drew me to the site in the beginning was Xander�?Ts Battle for Skull Pass conversion tutorials (which included videos). We really haven�?Tt done anything on that level since. When I signed on there was still heavy interest in the BFSP set and different ideas for conversions. It was nice that we had a set to focus our energies around and it kind of created a cohort of members that were all on the same page, so-to-speak with where the community was at. Maybe going back and reviewing LoA units in a detailed tutorial or looking at the current GW Duardin models and how to make conversions from them is a good step forward to draw in new members who stumble on us looking for such info?
)