I got the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs for Christmas and have been spending my (free) time rewatching the trilogy. This, of course, has caused me to restart work on some Lord of the Rings stuff. I think a neat little game could be had in doing a Fellowship versus the Watcher in the Water scenario at the gates to Moria. This site has some instructions for building your own set of tentacles.
The Age of the Kings is a unofficial, free, very high quality supplement for Games Workshop’s Lord of the Rings Battle game. Written by Stewart Gibbs and Alan Harrison, it comes in a pdf format, and can be downloaded here.
The City of Solis website has some good looking, hand drawn banners that you can cut out and use with your Warhammer, Chronopia, or other fantasy armies.
This page has a number of army lists for the Vis Magica rules, organized by the manufacturer of the figures. Useful, if you like to keep your figurs consistent.
From Paperworlds comes this collection of paper Demons and Angels. I've often thougth that a neat scenario would have Demons and Angels battling over the souls of various mortals. Points would be earned for souls saved or damned.
The Blue Mule website has a pictorial record of some of the early figures in fantasy gaming. I'm showing my age, but I remember a lot of these figures from when I was in high school and college.
Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings battlegame boxed sets come with some bits of terrain to get you started. This page has some paper buildings for Rohan and Gondor to keep you moving along.
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.
