I am a huge fan of the old Metagaming series “The Fantasy Trip”, which included Melee and Wizard. I remember first seeing them in a hobby shop in Fort Collins, Colorado, and still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I get out my little plastic bags.
Sentimentality aside, they’re also great games. I’ve used them for both role playing, and miniatures skirmish games. Sadly, they are long out of print. Metagaming folded and inventor Steve Jackson went on to found Steve Jackson Games. You can find .pdf files of the games in various plaes on the internet, but I am sure that they are in violation of copyright. I’d love to host copies here on MiniatureWargaming, but have no idea who does hold the copyright.
Until then, there is a legal and FREE alternative: Dark City Games’ Legends RPG. It uses the same mechanics and has the same light tactical feel.
The Edgar Rice Burroughs Atlas is a collection of maps—taken from books, magazines and comics—of Tarzan’s africa, Barsoom, Pellucidar, and other lands of ERB’s creation.
This link leads to a jpg file of a dark ages barn for you to print out and construct for your miniatures wargames. There’s also a lean-to to go with it.
Here’s an interesting concept: Truetype and Type1 Fonts that are sets of wargaming and roleplaying figures instead of letters. Because they are, like all fonts, scalable, you can print them at whatever size you prefer.
Among the font sets are superheroes, pulp adventures, space opera, Ironclaw roleplaying figures, treasure, scenery and starships.
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.
