Blood On The Sand is a game of fantasy gladiatorial combat, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t also use it for other arenas. The game uses lots of six sided dice and some unusual mechanisms.
If the movie 300 has inspired the wargamer in you, but not enough to go out and paint 300 Spartans and a couple of thousand Persians, you might want to head on over to the Junior General’s site. There you will find simple rules and paper figures for refighting the battle of Thermopylae
Phalanx is a set of free wargames rules for army level ancient warfare. It uses a system in which combat is resolved with one die and does not require rebasing (hooray!)
a simple two player card game that is an abstract depiction of two armies facing each other on the battlefield. It can either be played as a simple two player card game, or as a sub-game to a more complex wargame – say a campaign where you wish to resolve minor battles without resorting to setting out model soldiers.
Blades of Bronze is a set of free wargames rules designed for short skirmish 15mm ancient wargames. The rules revolve around the ability of the leaders to give orders to the troops.
Fast’n'Furious is a set of fast play ancient and medieval skirmish rules. The author writes:
FAST’n'FURIOUS! Is a set of 1:1 simple, fast and fun rules for ancient and medieval skirmish scale games using 25-28mm or 1/72 plastic figures, and designed to cover roughly from 3000 BC to 1400 AD. As well as classic field battles these rules also allow for opposed landing actions and ancient siege operations, as even in ancient times many actions included landings and were directed to assault a fortified site! The emphasis is on fast, simple and enjoyable basic mechanics, suitable for games with many players, but which produce accurate results in harmony with actual historical tactics.
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.