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.
Thanks to Chaos In Cairo, and other pulp adventure figure lines, I’ve seen more than a few adventure games set in Egyptian ruins settings. Brian Rollins emailed to let me know that he’s offering a free 1600 sq inch miniature map of “The Temple of Amon-Ra.” It’s in a 1-inch scale for most RPG miniature games.
The Perfect Captain’s games are amazing combinations of form and function, with artwork that really matters to the game. They now have an expansion to their earlier Red Actions! Russian Civil War game that deals with the various nationalities that intervened in the strife. There’s also a new campaign.
Astounding Tales, by Howard Whitehouse, is a set of demo rules for playing film noir, wierd horror, pulp magazine, radio serial and saturday morning matinee skirmish games set in the period "between the 1920s and the end of the black-and-white B Movie era in the 1950s."
There is a lot of flavor in these rules, which are designed to play like a movie. Whitehouse dispenses with typical wargames terms and instead talks about sets, props, the cast, villians and the supporting cast. The rules are simple and straighforward. This version is by no means complete, but they should let you play a good game.
You can get the free version by registering at Amazon miniatures.
Rugged Adventures, by Kurt Hummitzsch & Robert Murch is a set of free wargames rules written to support Murch's line of Pulp Figures miniatures. These rules have a strong cinematic element, and players are expected to "contribute to the story development."
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.
