So back to the question posed. I personally don’t play 9th Age though there is a handful of people that do at the club I belong to. I do play and collect AoS. I also have much of Mantic’s stuff (though I haven’t actually played any games).

The models and the new fluff for AoS attracts me to the system. The potential for a small model count is also attractive. Though it should be pointed out that like 40K the model count can get quite large for a 2000pt game.

9th Age and mass battle games are not attractive to me (at the 28-35mm scale) because it is blocks of soldiers and the actual models don’t really matter or at least that’s how I feel. To me the point of mass battle games is the tactical depth of large armies and how they interact on. the table top. I just feel that if I want that sort of game I should be playing at a different scale like 10mm or even 6mm. At that scale I think it would provide a depth for the movement of units and flanking, etc. At the larger scale and unless you have a truly large table you are very quickly engaged and the tactics of movement are muted.

I could be wrong but that is my impression. In the end I’m all for everyone playing what they want to play. As for the system growing? I very much doubt it will grow beyond the fans that it has.

If my experience at my club at all represents reality than after 40K (and now kill Team) it is a long way to the next game as far as interest level is concerned. Blood Bowl, Guild Ball, Warmahordes, AoS all have similar sized followings at my local club. Boardgames and a few card games also have decent followings. If another game is to make inroads at the club it really needs an advocate. 9th Age has one in our club but so far I don’t think there has been many if any converts.