WW2 airsoft has been in the mag more than twice. WW2 airsoft has had extensive coverage in AI magazine too for a long while. You have Gadge to thank for both. Strangely, no massive influx of new people as a result. I think in the case of reenacting mag the regular readers just look at the pix and see iffy kit and in the case of AI their target readership is the youth who are very transient. The core of WW2 airsofters (those who actually go to events, not those that just have the kit) are people who are mobile, have disposable income and a sense of commitment or real interest in the subject - which just doesn't include youngsters, by and large.
Publicity on reenacting forums doesn't seem to garner much interest either. Word of mouth does work though but it is a drip, drip effect. The hard thing to get across to conventional reenactors is that it isn't anything like paintball nor sitting behind a rope admiring your kit collection - it's about the hunt and the chase of battle, the personal emotions. It's what is going on in your head. Photos or videos don't tell the whole story by any means.
Still, one can take the view that any exposure to a wider audience is a good thing and the more people that are aware, the better.
"Photos or videos don't tell the whole story by any means. "
No, I've often thought that 'action shots' of Airsoft of whatever variety are somewhat underwhelming, just a few scattered people hiding behing trees. It just isn't very photogenic (in the sense of capturing what is going on).
A bit like Fell Running, really, just a few nutters running up the side of mountains 
I enjoyed the article about British tank suits. Not a very practical loadout perhaps.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
Yes getting re-enactors to their first event is like blood out of a stone.
The fact they have to pay does not help matters, they prefer the public to pay for them.
I try to explain that they will find it far more immersive than having a load of public in anoraks watching them.
Free speech is expensive these days!
You have to think to yourselves sometimes which is the best way to get new faces in, is it through re enactment or better to push for the younger generation of airsofters first. That's why I am waiting to see if AI get there WW2 tour of duty game set up as that seemed to explode the Vietnam airsoft scene.
Oh well as it is said only time will tell.
I dont know ...
I met two people at the Nijmegan battle who said they'd got into WWII through the AI articles and the last PBI game had about 10 per cent of the players from the re-enactment scene, many of whom had never done airsoft before (Gary, Karl and Simon to name a few off the top of my head).
So it's probably working to a degree but agreed there is no massive deluge.
While I always try to put web links to Gunman, CIA, PBI et al at the end of articles or within the text its probably only fair to bear in mind that many people play in the battles but use other websites to find out about them or go along with a mate who is on said forum.
And numerous times I've ran into someone in world war two kit at an open day who wasnt even aware there was a WWII airsoft 'scene'.
Anyway, expect to see regular articles on WWIIre-enacting magazine in the future (health permitting they'll be by me but I'm sure Stuart will welcome editorial from anyone keen to report on a battle) as it's something the Magazine is keen to promotes (as are other forward thinking elements ofthe traditional re-en crowd like the guys at AFRA). You won't see owt from me in AI anymore as I've parted company with Pauls mag but I think they have some chap in the US looking at WWII stuff these days so they probably still cover WWII to a degree.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
That said, I got the ww2 stuff (i'm only 15) because I liked the ppsh, and so got the russian gear afterwards. It is true though for most, my local 'open' site as you would call it is full of kids in multicam with magpull'd m4s 
To be honest one of the draws for me is the almost complete lack of cool camo and fancy gadgets like radios (wireless). One of the reasons I like early war stuff even more than late war!
It's back to basics airsofting, with plenty of roleplay and no bullshit.
If that's not what people want then WW2 airsoft isn't for them and to be honest I'm happy for them to continue to play their modern stuff.
Just my opinion... 
To be honest one of the draws for me is the almost complete lack of cool camo and fancy gadgets like radios (wireless). One of the reasons I like early war stuff even more than late war!
It's back to basics airsofting, with plenty of roleplay and no bullshit.
If that's not what people want then WW2 airsoft isn't for them and to be honest I'm happy for them to continue to play their modern stuff.
Just my opinion...
And pretty much mine.
I think, as I just think out load from reading through, that there is a kind problem with this 'need' to attract "the young and the new". Of course a hobby will need new blood, and numbers at the moment are low (but stable) looking at games/events, but we do have new blood coming into the hobby. The danger lies in focusing too much on attracting 'the above mentioned', and then them not changing when they get here - then we are all screwed. 
Anyway even within this particular niche there are at least two divergent strands of games, and thus kind of two hobbies. Numbers for one does not translate as numbers for the other, and even participating in one does not translate as participating in the other, however they are both marketed as WWII airsoft and lumped together.
I don't think 'potential recruits' to these variants are the same, but I think it can be damaging to either gaining these players to paint the whole WW2AirSoft scene with one huge brush that 'needs' something.
