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.
Stephen Danes has written a set of free wargames rules for the Thirty Years War called Father Tilley. Designed for 6mm to 15mm miniatures, the rules are nicely presented in the pdf format. Here's what the author has to say:
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Break out your sense of humor. Here is a paper model of the Monty Python Trojan Rabbit. It's in 1/72 scale, so it's suitable for miniature wargames. Now if only I could find a scenario to use it in.
It's really hard to find good information on the Moro Rebellion against the United States in the Philippines in the early part of the last century. But I took the plunge into the period anyway when I found Old Glory's line of Moro Rebellion wargaming miniatures. I was nearing completion of my Boxer Rebellion project and thought that the Moros would be a good way to reuse my US in China figures. Swish of the Kris, a history of the Moros by Vic Hurley is long out of print, but you can find the ebook edition here.
Historical miniature gamers can never have enough research material. Here is a huge collection of primary source material on the United States from the Antebellum through Reconstruction. This University of Michigan digital library has 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints. The collection should be of particular interest to Civil War and Mexican American war gamers.
Tanzanica is a set of free wargames rules for Darkest Africa adventures by Brett Abbott. The rules actually are a variant of Games Workshop's Mordheim miniatures rules, which are themselves free at the Games Workshop living rules archive. Mordheim is a neat set of rules for the kind of game where each player controls a small group of characters, with one uber-character and several flunkies.
Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms: Warmachine is a miniatures game with a highly original blend of steampunk, fantasy and science fiction. You can find a reference sheet for playing the game here.
Miniature Wargaming dot Com achieved another milestone yesterday when more than 1,500 hits were logged in a single day.
Thus, another of my goals was achieved. Other goals: 500 postings (I think I'll get there in September), average 1,000 daily hits (well on the way); get to 50,000 total hits (probably September); score 25,000 hits in a month.
Ultimate goal: become the number one stop for useful information for miniature wargamers.
Here's a list of the Origins Award Winners:
Game of the Year: Indy HeroClix -- WizKids
Hall of Fame Inductees:
Ed Greenwood
Larry Bond
Loren Wiseman
Bob Charrette
Hall of Fame Game Inductees:
Squad Leader
Warhammer 40K
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Rudi Geudens has a page with photos of World War One guns and tanks from the Belgian Royal Museum of the Army and Military History in Brussels. Photos such as these are always useful when painting your wargames miniatures.
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.
