Keith Pogue has written an article on making "basic bases" for your wargaming miniatures. Now, these are probably more than your average historical wargamer is likely to do. Still, there are some valuable tips to pick up here.
Weight of Fire, from Wes Rogers, is a set of free wargames rules for 18th century miniatures battles. Written for a 1:20 scale, they use a fire points and chart system for determining casualties. Wes writes:
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Tom Hinshelwood follows up on his 5.56mm miniatures rules with 1945. These free wargames rules are 1:1 scale, with cards used to activate individual characters. Success or failure in various actions is determined by rolling a d6 against various target numbers. There also are rules for vehicles.
This is from the stellar Wargames Journal site.
Famed science fiction writer HG Wells also is widely acknowledged as the first to write a commercially published set of miniature wargames rules. Published in 1913, "Little Wars", has long been out of print -- and existing copies are rare and expensive.
However, because the copyright has expired on Little Wars, it can now be freely distributed. So, here on Miniature Wargaming dot Com, is the full text of Wells' classic wargames rules (no pictures, unfortunately.)They will be published over the next six weeks -- one chapter each Saturday morning. And the best part is: Little Wars is free.
Here, then, is Part III
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John Martin has written a set of free wargames rules for the American Civil War based on Games Workshop's Warmaster. I think that things have come full circle here, because Warmaster obviously took much of its inspiration from the seminal ACW rules set, "Fire and Fury." Not that GW would ever admit that. After all, according to the Evil Empire, miniature wargaming is the "Games Workshop Hobby", which precludes the acknowledgement of any other rules set or miniatures.
Dark Age is a miniature wargame based on the artwork of the acclaimed artist Brom. Set in a dark science-fantasy world (now there's an original thought), the game features some really interesting-looking miniatures. In a smart marketing move, the rules are available free for the downloading.
Pirates anyone? Pieces of Eight is a set of free wargames rules from Andy Watkins portraying Hollywood pirate skirmishes. They are a relatively simple set of rules -- but that's a good thing! Who wants complications when you're playing pirates.
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is a fantastic resource for miniature wargamers. I've had this one in my bookmarks for several years and haven't even begun to plumb its depths. The section on the Crusades is particularly useful.
Alan Saunders has a set of free wargames rules for gladiators. Munera Sine Missione uses an action point system, and plays on a hex grid. The best thing about this is that creating a gladiator game wouldn't require a huge investment in either time or money. At a minimum, you would need one gladiator per player, and you could rotate throughout the night, until everyone had had a chance to play the different types.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
