Paul Galley offers “You’ll Have Someone’s Eye Out With That,” a set of skirmish rules for the ancients through renaissance periods. The combat system uses 2d6 with a base chance of 7+ to hit at combat range. I like 2d6 systems because they offer an average base chance, with the possibiilty of out-of-the-ordinary results.
GMT Games offers a free download of a Battle of Agincourt game. If you’re familiar with their commercial board war games, you’ll know that they have wonderful graphics and gameplay, both of which are on display here.
Ed Mueller offers a fast play medieval card game called Chevauchee. The game is well-designed, with good lookign cards and extensive rules. You need to join the Yahoo group to download.
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.
Heimskringla – Viking Naval Warfare in the Age of the Sagas is a set of free wargames rules from the Red Guard Wargames Collective. This is an interesting set of rules in that I don’t think its a subject that has ever been done before. Turns consist of archery, movement and boarding action phases. There’s also a good explanation of Viking warfare based on the sagas.
Dark Age is an rpg set in 6th century Britain. Not entirely historical, it provides a nice infusion of myth. The author, Jon, writes that
The Dark Ages world is a distorted version of our own historical dark age Britain and Europe. The game is set in 610AD but things are not quite as they were in the real historical world. Major differences include:
• More towns & cities survived the departure of Rome, so there are many urban areas.
• Magic is much closer to the surface.
• The power balance between celts, picts & Saxons is much more balanced, no single power has a significant ascendancy.
• There is growing pressure from the continent, the Byzantine empire is not content to maintain itself but is beginning to develop an expansionist bent.
• The Romano-British do not rule, but their great houses occupy positions of influence within British society.
• Atlantis & Lemuria/Mu were real places. Atlantis and Mu were both magically powerful cultures who fought a great war. The magical remnants of this clash, tens of thousands of years ago, still reverberate through the known world.
• Mechanisms are far more advanced than the real-world of 610AD, much roman and greek technology has been maintained and developed, partly with the assistance of lemurian and atlantean lore.
I personally really like games set in a mythic historical time. And I actually think that sometimes, mythic elements actually make a game MORE historical. After all, the people of ancient times believed in magic—and behaved as though it had an influence on their lives. If an army believed that toting out the relic of an ancestor made them more powerful, why not include that in the game?
Richard Denning has s site dedicated to his play by mail Dark Ages campaign. There are rules, maps and game utilities, all of which would make it easy for you to start your own
Aegir’s Fire is a set of rules for a Viking campaign. Author Jim Wallman writes:
In this game, you are a minor Viking village leader (think up a suitable name). You have managed to stretch the village’s resources to the point of building a longship, to the latest and most fashionable design. You will be able to equip and man the ship from your village initially, and dependent upon success or otherwise in your first voyages, you will be able to recruit more experienced fighters from outside the village. Success is measured in two ways, status and treasure.
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.
