I think one way to keep people active on this forum would be to include a table top forum. Eternal Crusade will undoubtedly spur a lot of interest in the source game and I believe we have a lot of veterans of the TT who could give feedback and advice to potentially new players. I know someone said they had plans for integrating parts of the forum with other fansites but until that time comes, I think a TT forum, if only temporary, would be a good feature.
I would love this. Personally I think that interest, and overall investment, in the tabetop has declined severely dropped over the past few years, which is an immense shame to me as it's a fantastic hobby and wonderful outlet. People interested in starting in the TT could visit certain threads to learn how to build a list, what tactics work for what style of gameplay, and, of course, the hobby section (painting, basing, and conversions).
Dont get me wrong, Im a tabletop wargamer myselft but I dot agree with that idea. First of all internet is a vast space and with the proper search anyone whos willing to get into the hobby of playing/modelling/etc, etc can find the proper places to do so. Dont even mention the wargamers who are already familiar with these websites/ forums. Second as this is a hobby both in modelling as well as the playing part it will require a lot of space and will probably distract players from discussing the game as a game and not the generall idea and I dont think the devs would want something like that. Plz excuse my bad english, not my native language...
Two years is a long time to wait. The forum is active now because it just opened but once things settle down, activity will slow to a crawl and interest will fade. Having a TT sub-forum will keep interest alive over the long haul. I'm not saying it should act as a replacement for other hobby sites. On the contrary, I think having a TT sub-forum would act as a stepping stone to those sites. Veteran TT players could give tips/their feelings on the metagame/what armies and units are worth buying/etc and once newcomers get a feel for the current game, they could easily move on to more advanced sites, with veteran TT players also being able to plug their own sites.