Dragons of War is a Wings of War modification to allow you to fight battles set in the world of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, a fantasy set during the Napoleonic Wars where dragons are used as men-of-war, complete with crews.
Fleet of Battle is a set of free wargames rules for playing out battles between fleets of ancient galleys. Think Ben Hur. There also are several pages of free print-and-play galleys for use in lieu of lead miniatures. The rules require a knowledge of the commercial Field of Battle wargames rules.
Ray Lucas offers Capitana, a set of naval rules specifically for 16th Century galley warfare in the Mediterranean. They were written for the NLWG 2009 convention game.
Hunters on the Shoreline is a set of free wargames rules for playing WWII coastal naval actions using 1/600 miniatures. It’s available from PT Dockyards.
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.