Shhhh, I'm trying to sell something. I don't need your logic and skepticism all up in my rhetoric and misleading numbers. 
I see what you are saying, that it would take time and not attract near enough to cover Battlemaster at its height. But more people can't hurt us (as long as we don't hit a patch of serious griefers). Without throwing money at advertising, you need an efficient (and volunteer in this case) approach to marketing. This is all first-day spit-ball, so I welcome any input.
No, I completely understand that this is exactly the right kind of effort, and that any results is produces are worth it. I just want to make sure you're not getting unrealistic expectations, that's all
Has there been a marketing effort for Battlemaster that attracted players more than posts on the Dwarf Fortress forum? I recall lurking old threads and finding a fair amount of players coming from there (that might be hindsight bias, though). I know the team has put together some really neat stuff for Battlemaster (which all can be used for hype, not to mention 10 year histories), but how much of it has been circulated?
I think that the biggest single bump was when it got a front-page mention on Slashdot, several years ago. Aside from that, I think the influx of Bay12ers was, indeed, the best we've had.
I haven't tried to circulate much of anything, since I don't really much run in the right circles to do so. In fact, BattleMaster is really the main online circle I run in at all. Never really had time for another one
