Chronofus has written a set of free miniature wargames rules called Piracy, and also an amazing amount of supplemental and source material on pirate captains, pirate history, pirate flags, nations of the Caribbean, slavery, clothing, weapons, currency, towns and more!
The Rochambeau Map Collection contains cartographic items used by Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807), when he was commander in chief of the French expeditionary army (1780-82) during the American Revolution. The maps were from Rochambeau’s personal collection, cover much of eastern North America, and date from 1717 to 1795. The maps show Revolutionary-era military actions, some of which were published in England and France, and early state maps from the 1790s. Many of the items in this extraordinary group of maps show the importance of cartographic materials in the campaigns of the American Revolution as well as Rochambeau’s continuing interest in the new United States.
The collection consists of 40 manuscript and 26 printed maps, and a manuscript atlas, the originals of which are in the Library of Congress’ Geography and Map Division.
The Flags of the Reichsarmee page has a nice collection of flags from the Seven Years War. They are all in jpg format, so you could save them, resize them and print them for your figures.
There are some nice color plates on this site showing the uniforms of the German states in the 1700s. I don’t know German, but by looking at the plates, I think that they’re all from the Seven Years War. The first page is definitely Frederick the Great and his generals. Someone with more epertise in either the period or in German will have to provide more detail.
Wargames-Etc. has an excellent page with color plates of Seven Years War Uniforms. There are uniform plates from Austria, France, Britain, Russia, Prussia and the minor German States.
Eric Veitl has an excellent site on the Seven Years War with lots of pictures and unit information. The thing is a virtual painting guide for fans of the period.
Here’s an online gallery with some very good images of pirates, and related documents and maps. I know that the pirate gaming craze has largely subsided, but its one of htose things that I’ve always wanted to to.
The Northern Wars website offers gamers information on the northern European wars in the second half of the 17th Century and the beginning of the 18th Century. The site includes information on campaigns and battles, the uniforms, as well as the colors and standards of the armies of Sweden, Denmark-Norway, Saxony, Russia, Poland, Brandenburg-Prussia and Holstein-Gottorp.
And perhaps most important for miniature war gamers, there are dozens of plates of uniforms that can be used as painting guides.
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.
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.