We have completely outdone ourselves this time! What if I told you this was a campaign game that takes maybe 30 minutes to create from scratch, with limitless scenarios, a different map each and every time, and has counters representing the following armies and their equipment: Reds (All over Russia), Whites (Kolchak, Deniken, Wrangel, Yudenich, Komuch, Kappelites etc), Greens (Mahknovists), Estonians, Latvians, Finns, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Poles, Armenians, Turks, French, Greeks, Japanese, American, British Empire (Including Canadians, Australians, and Indians), and Freikorps.
Red Army White Guards is a set of free wargames rules for playing battles set in the Russian Civil War. Its played on an offset grid and is apparently designed for 15mm figures; the rules call for three figures on a 30x30 mm base.
“When Technology Meets Tradition” is a set of rules for wargaming early modern warfare conflicts, roughly from 1895-1915. The emphasis of the author is on early World War I (1914-1915) but other period wars are also of interest, such as the Russo-Japanese War or the Boer wars. The rules are fast-play and focus on the problems faced by military tacticians during early modern warfare: when outdated linear tactics and love of the offensive ran head-on into lethal, accurate, and rapid firing weaponry.
First let me say, I love the Rez rules. I have been and always been luke warm on the figures/setting. My current love has been Pulp. Thus I have tried to blend the two into a fun quick paced playable game.
For those who are unfamiliar with Pulp, it is the genre of literature that takes place between the end of WWI and the start of WWII. If you have seen movies like the Rocketeer, or Indiana Jones, or Sky Captain you have seen Pulp.
The following modifications allow you to use the Rez rules to play a Strapping Hero and his Dangerous Dame against a sinister villian and his horde of mooks. There realy are no point value for characters and the creation rules are pretty free form so you could have a Villian who uses his mental powers to twart the heroes while sacrificing minions to prevent damage or a martail arts using hero with a heavy gun toting sidekick.
These rules allow for 3-10 models per player and you can have free for alls. All rules are as presented in the rulebook.
The Chaco War is a set of free wargames rules based on PHil Barker’s DBA. It’s designed to let players fight out the 1932 - 1935 Chaco War, which was fought over control of great part of the Gran Chaco region of South America, which was incorrectly thought to be rich in oil.
Mike Fischer offers a set of miniature rules called To A Pulp (nice pun). He writes
Pulp gaming, in which each player controls a character or faction from a 1930’s pulp thriller, is growing in popularity. Such games combine the visual appeal of miniatures gaming with aspects of role-playing games, allowing the players to control the actions of tough private eyes, seemingly-helpless dames, brave explorers, and all the rest. I wrote these rules mostly for my own amusement.
The rules are made for simplicity and fast play. The game is meant for use with miniatures, but you can download a set of paper minis for free (see Section XI). All you have to provide is a few six-sided (d6) and ten-sided (d10) dice. The game is meant for two or more players, but it can be used for solo gaming as well.
The Perfect Captain’s Battle Finder is a set of 64 cards—done in the usual high quality graphics—that you use to generate terrain for your miniature wargames battles. There also are rules for using the cards to create linear campaigns, and maneuver campaigns using the downloadable force counters, order and control markers. There are even revenue and siege rules.
Truly innovative stuff, and something that I’m going to use almost immediately.
The rules are based on “De Bellis Navalis” by Colin Standish, published in Wargames Illustrated #143 August 1999. “De Bellis Navalis” were themselves based on “De Bellis Antiquitatis” Ancients rules, published by Wargames Research Group. I have made quite a lot of changes to the rules as published in Wargames Illustrated, so they are in effect a new set. However, credit and thanks goes to Colin for the original idea.
Mike also has a nice set of ship counters for the war for you to download, print, cut out and play with.
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.
