I think Fire and Fury is the finest set of miniatures rules ever written. It has elegantly simple mechanics, fun gameplay and set the standard for high-quality rules presentation.
Now the Fire and Fury people are at work on a version for America’s other “horse and musket” wars: The Revolution, War of 1812, and Mexican War. You can find the playtest versions of Fire and Fury: Americas Wars here.
Lochagos has written Sash and Sabre, which he describes as an attempt to port Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K to the horse and musket period. The site also has army lists for the American War of Independence.
This would be a good way to draw your science fiction gaming buddies into the French and Indian War, Seven Years War, American Revolution, Napoleonics, American Civil War, or any of those Victorian era colonial conflicts.
I have to admit that I'm feeling nostalgic for the WRG rules. There was something magical about going into the Alcove Hobby store in Detroit, and seeing racks of little booklets, with their typed, mimeographed pages. Each set of rules promised to open up all the possibilities of a new period, if only I had the time to paint all of those figures.
Here is the online version of the Wargames Research Group's 1750 - 1850 rules.
Ty Beard's Fistfull of Tripods is a set of free wargames rules for fighting battles from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. It is a tactical level game, where one stand is a platoon. I'ts designed for 1/300 (6mm) scale figures.
NOTE: This is an updated URL. The old one was no longer working.
Fire and Fury Francese, from Nick Dorrell, is a variant of my all time favorite wargaming rules set, Fire and Fury. Whereas Fire and Fury is designed for the American Civil War, F&F-F is for playing miniatures games set in the European wars of the mid 19th century, such as the Crimea and the Franco Prussian.
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.
