I’ve got some photos up from our Plains War batttle last night. The Cavalry was charged with relieving a homestead from a group of attacking Indians. The figures in the photos are all from Wargames Foundry.
We used the Warhammer Historicals Legends of the Old West rules for the game. It was our first time playing them, and I thought that they were a lot of fun. Very simple to learn, and they had the right feel.
Think you know how to be a victorian? Then try this interactive game in which you try to negotiate your way through the tricky world of Victorian manners. Its wierdly fun.
I would never have made it in the Victorian world.
The Soldiers of the Queen site is a great resource for anyone who games with Victorian Era miniature soldiers. The site is stuffed full of photographs from the era. A must see.
John Snow is the father of modern epidemiology, having tracked the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1855, thanks to some good old fashioned detective work. It’s a story worth reading, but I won’t go into it here.
At any rate, the UCLA Department of Epidemiology has an interactive online map of London in 1859. You can zoom in on the map down to an amazing level.
I actually have a copy of the map (framed for posterity) that I acquired when I was in my victorian role playing phase. It was hard to find then. Fortunately, you don’t have to conduct the smae long search that I did. You can just look at it online.
The Historical Designs website has a section with pictures of Victorian houses and floorplans for you to peruse. You could take some of these floorplans, print them to scale and then use them as playing maps, or to construct your own 3d models.
Ok. So its not miniature wargaming. And it may not even be VSF, but I’m including this link anyway because some of us are old enough to remember when choose your adventure books were all the rage. The Underdogs site has copies of a series of Sherlock Holmes mysteries done by Iron Crown Enterprises.
The Triple Alliance War is one of the most controversial and less known event of Latin America History. The war was a conflict that pitted the Argentine Confederation, the Republic of Uruguay and The Brazilian Empire against the Republic of Paraguay. The war raged for 5 years (1864-1870) and was marked by some of the fiercest military campaigns of Latin America History. Large armies were involved during the conflict and, in Paraguay’s case, the entire population was engaged in supporting the war efforts.
This was a very bitter war that few know about. Some estimates are that Paraguay lost as much as 20% of its population—including 50% of its male population.
I did see a 15mm manufacturer a few years ago who made figures for this war, but for the life of me, I can’t remember the name of the company now.
I can’t read German, so I don’t really know what it’s about, but this page has some excellent antique plates of european uniforms from the late 1700s and early 1800s. (The dates actually range from 1697 to 1867). It’s worth a look if your doing wars of that period. There are quite a few Napoleonic period plates in here.
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 .
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.
