Oculus has a set of skirmish rules called Crusader. The authors write:
Crusader is designed to represent small-scale actions during the 11th to 13th Century. It is intended to be simple and fun - any relationship to historical reality is purely co-incidental. These rules are a development of PAX ROMANA which was itself inspired by Chosen Men from which many of the mechanisms are derived.
Figures are individually based; each represents about 1 to 10 men. Better quality units should normally be smaller than the rest. Veteran units can be very powerful under these rules, especially if heavily armoured or bow-armed.
Apart from the figures, players will need an ordinary pack of playing cards, and some method of indicating wounded figures.
A typical game, involving about 50 - 60 figures on each side, will last about two to three hours. A pre-planned scenario, with unequal sides and specific victory conditions will usually give a better game than a straight stand-up fight.
Age of Blood is one of the best set of rules available for free on the internet. Heck, its one of the best available at any price. Designed by Tom Hinshelwood, the second edition rules offer a complete game and campaign system for the age of Vikings. Tom writes:
Age of Blood is a skirmish-level battle game in which players take control of bands of Vikings and lead them on bloody adventures in search of loot and glory. These rules contain all the information you will need to know in order to play either one off games or complete campaigns. The game is designed for use with 25mm or 28mm miniatures, though any individual based model from 15mm to 40mm can be used. Play is possible with any scale but distances and measurements would need to be proportionately reworked. Age of Blood’s focus is on the fantastical aspects of Viking history and as such is more concerned with the legends and heroic sagas then trying to depict a realist view of the era. These rules are loosely set in the 9th Century, though the supernatural is prevalent in many aspects of the game including fate, magic and monsters. If desired though the supernatural elements to the rules can easily be ignored so that the game can be played as a purely historical wargame.
Lords and Levies is another in a series of card driven game rules by Rudi Geudens. This one is for meedieval wargames. Geudens writes:
This is the fourth set in my card driven wargame rules, and although still loosely inspired by the Battle Cry & Memoir ‘44 games by Richard Borg, the gameno longer has a battlefield divided in 3 sections. Battlefield sections are great for ACW and WWII, but medieval battles need a different approach. The left-centre-right wing Battle Cry/Memoir ‘44 principle has here been replaced by colour-coding the units red, green and blue (activated by cards of the same colour) thus enabling the players to concentrate their units anywhere on the battlefield if they wish so. Also, quality of armour plays a prominent role in medieval battles. Therefore the symbols on the dice are no longer representing infantry - cavalry - artillery but rather the quality of the armour of the troops targeted, whereby troops with heavier armour stand less of a chance of being killed than soldiers with lighter or no armour
25mm Skirmish wargaming with Wars of the Roses figures was one of the first Skirmish games I ever played about 20 years ago. To be honest I haven’t played much for quite a while. The rules I used were a bit cumbersome, I’ve upgraded now to a home grown set that owe more to my Pirate rules than anything else. Though there is still a touch of influence from Retinue, the best of the commercial Wars Of The Roses rules.
For a break from your regular miniatures games, try Dueling Nobles, a card game played with an ordinary deck. Designer Jesse Carlucci writes:
Dueling Nobles is a unique and strategic card game that contains far more depth than the standard gambling games typically played with 52 card playing
decks. Jacks, Queens, and Kings are your prized fighters as they challenge your opponent’s nobles to sword duels in an effort to eliminate them from the
game.
From the NeoStalinist Wargames Collective (great name, that) comes Danegeld and Dragonships, a set of free wargames rules for playing miniatures games set in the Dark Ages, with battles between Vikings and Anglo Saxons.
The Dark Ages Infantry slog, by Andy Callan, originally appeared in Miniature Wargames #7, back in 1983. Now they’re available here.
It’s an interesting system. Callan writes:
As for the battle itself, I decided that the armies weren’t going to be capable of much tactical manouvre, so this meant that I would have to find some other focus for the wargamers attention (since tactical manoeuvre is at the heart of most conventional games). I therefore decided that, in keeping with the spirit of the period, it would be LEADERSHIP rather than GENERALSHIP that would be the central factor. The player would have to LEAD his army to victory, rather than just issue orders. Accordingly he would need to be involved in forming up the army, and ‘psyching up’ the warriors for the fight, as well as getting stuck in and setting a good example for his men when it came to the crunch. All this was allowed for by giving each leader a number of ‘Leadership Points’ (LP’s) which he can use, each turn, in various ways.
Each group of warriors carries three separate ratings:
1) AGGRESSION: a measure of their enthusiasm for the fight and blood lust! Ranging from 1 (craven) to 8 (psychopathic).
2) FORMATION: a measure of orderliness and density of the ranks. Ranging from 1 (chaotic mob) to 8 (shield wall).
These first two are capable of adjustment by use of Leadership Points, which is not true of:
3) STRENGTH: an amalgam of numerical strength, physical freshness (yes, I know Vikings didn’t use underarm deodorants!) and military efficiency. The rating established at the start of the game can only decline as the battle progresses.
But the best way to describe these rules is actually to print them in full, together with some explanatory notes. The game mechanisms, which include elements of whist, poker and playground games, are unconventional, but the intention was not to be obscure for obscurity’s sake. Its just that these simple mechanisms seemed to me the best way to create a game which (to quote Ian Greenwood, whose passion for Anglo-Saxon warfare is second to none) ‘wouldn’t offend the sensibilities of Viking or Anglo-Saxon devotees who like their games to look and feel like the real thing ... (and in which) ... the player himself, in the role of leader, could win or lose battles according to his ability to bluff, counter-bluff or pre-empt his opponent’.
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.
