Minimal Melee Combat is a set of free wargames rules for ancient and fantasy man-to-man combat. The author writes:
From Gladiorial contests to Medieval knights duking it out, man-to-man combat with swords and shields had been the primary form of combat for a thousand years. The advent of fantasy role playing games and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) has made it popular in the gaming hobby.
Minimal Melee Combat is a simple game designed to create a feeling for combat between to combatants armed with swords. It is not designed to be an accurate simulation and make no attempts at this. It is a quick and easy game of simple hack ‘n slash.
Put your armor on, pick up your sword and shield, and enter the fray.
Familia Gladiatoria is a set of rules and a campaign for playing the ancient gladiatorial games of Rome. The rules are here, and the action cards here.
Hoplon 3 is a nicely done set of ancients rules for large scale battles. Once commercially published, these now are available for free. The authors write:
The HOPLON rule system was designed from the start to use many of the troop types, mechanisms and army composition lists of DBM, while re-introducing those aspects of ancient warfare that have been lost through the pursuit of championship competitiveness. This allows players who wish to wargame utilizing realistic tactics, without having to sacrifice their competition-designed armies, to do so. HOPLON is by no means a DBM derivative in that it significantly differs in a number of crucial areas:
opponents move and fight ‘simultaneously’ and can do so either organized into units or as unformed elements; various troop types may evade or break-off, all may flee or pursue, making the battlefield far more fluid and, at times, less predictable; shooting has received special attention and all troops that could do so may use this to their advantage, but purely missile troops may be limited in hand-to-hand combat; elite troops are truly capable when compared to untrained levies and can be devastating if
handled properly, and, although the PiP system is retained, better commanders have the ability to influence the mobility of their troops beyond the roll of a single die –at a price.
Previously a commercially published set of wargames rules, Ancient Empires now is available in a new edition as a free download.
From the Yahoo Site:
Originally published in 1990, significant changes have been made in almost every aspect of Ancient Empires. Popular basing for figures is now utilized, and the game now includes a point system and a conversion matrix for those familiar with the ‘DBM’ style of gaming.
If you have tired of the traditional “beer and pretzels” ancient games so common in the market place and you want more, take a look at Ancient Empires 2nd edition. With Ancient Empires 2nd edition you can get together for a small two to three hour battle using one of multiple figure scale options.
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.
