The computer game “Worms” has been around for quite some time. First released in 1995 for the PC, it has made its way to palm pilots and cell phones. The premise of Worms is simple: heavily armed annelida attempt to blow each other to segments.
Now the classic computer game has made its way to the tabletop. Dragonshoard offers a line of worms figures, and a set of free rules to use with them.
These rules are an adaptation of the Warhammer English Civil War rules for the French
and Indian War (FIW). This set seems ideal for the FIW because the Warhammer game
mechanics are, in effect, made for a large-scale skirmish game. It remains merely to
adapt the man-to-figure ratio, ground scale, and weapon characteristics. It is also safe
to assume that someday Warhammer Historical Wargames Ltd. will produce an “official”
set for this period, and you will already have your units painted up and ready to go!
I think that the Franco-Prussian War is a fascinating period. The uniforms are cool; the mix of technologies and tactics, interesting.
Martin Tomczak maintains a very good site on the Franco Prussian war. You’ll find articles, original documents, photographs and more on everything from Prussian Artillery Doctrine, to the North German Navy, lists of officers held as prisoners, a facsimile of the Surrender Note sent by Napoleon III, to French and Swiss newspaper reports .
Frank Chadwick’s Space: 1889 is one of my all time favorite role playing games. I bought it when it first came out and could hardly wait for the next product to show at my friendly neighborhood game store.
Full Thrust is one of my favorite spaceship combat games. It’s elegant and simple.
There are a lot of superhero miniatures rules out there—both free and commercial. So if you want to try one without going to all the trouble to paint some minis, you could try some of the paper figures on this page.
25mm Skirmish wargaming with Wars of the Roses figures was one of the first Skirmish games I ever played about 20 years ago. To be honest I haven’t played much for quite a while. The rules I used were a bit cumbersome, I’ve upgraded now to a home grown set that owe more to my Pirate rules than anything else. Though there is still a touch of influence from Retinue, the best of the commercial Wars Of The Roses rules.
If you want to try a medieval game that’s a little different, you can shift your theatre of operations from western to eastern Europe. I’ve got a couple of 15mm Polish and German armies that occasionally are brought out to fight. Here’s a good article on Polish heraldry.
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.
