The Dick Tracy RPG brings the classic comic book detective to life. When I was a kid, my dentist had a couple of books with Chester Gould’s complete Dick Tracy strips, and I used to look forward to going to the dentist twice a year so I could read them.
In this RPG system you create characters eight attributes, skills and advantages / disadvantages. Action is resolved with a 2d6+attribute+skill versus difficulty system. Tasks are rated according to a five point difficulty level. The system also has stats for characters such as BB Eyes, Breathless Mahoney, Flattop, and of course, Dick Tracy.
I’ve often thought that these wonderful characters would make great miniatures.
Simon Washbourne offers a free role playing game called 1940: England Invaded. The rules use a system where you use a d20 to roll under a characteristic score. The game has many, many pages of background which do an incredible job of creating the world of Nazi occupied England. I can see an incredible number of miniature wargaming opportunities here.
Washbourne writes of the game:
1940 - England Invaded has a fictional setting that is based upon events that could have been, had the Germans invaded England during the autumn of 1940 as they had planned. Essentially, the game poses the question “What if…?” The characters will all be from, or based, in a village in the south of England shortly after the Germans and. A small German force is posted to the village and the characters must live under enemy rule whilst all the time seeking ways to disrupt the Nazi plans.
Mortal Konquest is a set of role playing and miniatures rules for games set in the Mortal Kombat universe. The emphasis is, of course, on furious fighting action.
Phobos is an RPG of the “Wonders and Terrors of Technology and Magic.” There doesn’t appear to be any real background, but the system is geared toward a modern setting with magic. It uses an open-ended d20 system (in which you roll again if you score a 20).
Zu Warriors is Simon Washbourne’s role playing game of fantasy martial arts. The game has all of the fantastic trappings of the genre, incluidng Ki powers, Karma and bizarre mystic artifacts. The game uses a system of opposed rolls. Washbourne also includes an extensive list of monsters, demons an other opponents. There are some recent miniatures lines that would work very well with this.
Vaporoare is a role playing game, but as is the case with such, it’s full of ideas for skirmish type miniatures games. The author writes:
Vaporoare is a role-playing game of weird science and mad magi in Victorian-era Europe. It imagines a world where Jules Verne wrote technical manuals for ether machines instead of fiction; Mary Shelley penned the autobiography of Dr. Frankenstein, and H. P. Lovecraft didn’t know what he was getting into. It is the world described by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany and J. R. R. Tolkien. Europe is alive with races of fiction: elves dwarves and gnomes. These people have lived together since the beginning of time, and now they face their greatest challenge: the Industrial Revolution. Magick is dying, and technology is on the rampage.
For those of you looking for a different setting (indeed, a different world) for your steampunk games, you could take a look at Steamworld Daleth. The author writes:
Steamworld Daleth is a gothic world on an alien planet. Call it an imaginary country, a geofiction or a follie. During the many years I have worked on Daleth (now over 20 years) the world has become what she is now: a steampunk/gothic world where the echo of the Victorian Age still sounds, but where many odd things are yet to be discovered. It’s a mix of fantasy and reality, a dreamscape of my imagination. Daleth can be used as a setting for the role playing game Intrigue & Illusions, but is not developed as such. Daleth is much more than a mere setting for a RPG. It’s a world with its own dynamics.
Here’s another RPG that you can use for miniatures wargaming. It’s called Tales of Adventure, and is free for the downloading. The authors describe it as old school role playing, which we of course know was derived from miniatures games like Chainmail. So the whole thing has come full circle.
As I’ve noted before, a lot of miniatures gamers are moving toward skirmish games that are more role playing oriented. Some of the best games I’ve played at conventions in recent years have been essentially RPGs.
SAVAGE (Survival and Victory After Global Extinction) is a free RPG that you could easily convert to using miniatures. It’s a very well-done, 90 page tome from Sacrosant Games. Sacrosant also sells a full version with additional materials.
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.
