Black Skies is a set of starfighter combat rules designed to offer fast and furious action. The author writes:
A while back I was looking for something new to play and decided I’d like to try a star fighter combat game. I checked out a variety of rule sets and found nothing that I really liked. In fact, the most popular set seemed to be unnecessarily complex and slow, not something I expected from a set of star fighter rules. What I expected fighter combat to be was FAST. Complex and slow just didn’t work. So I set out to create my own (with plenty of help from the guys at my local war gaming club). I tried and liked an unfinished set by Shaun Austin which had several good ideas, but I thought the turn sequence could be streamlined. Using the basic card movement idea, and a simple combat system I tried to make these rules feel more like the fast deadly action I imagine star fighter combat should be.
Outland Games presents “Fast Play Mech Rules.” As with a roleplaying game, you begin by rolling up a mech. The entire set of rules occupies just one page.
Dark Future was a Mad-Max apocalyptic future game put out by Games Workshop back in the 1980s. Like every one of their games outside the core 40K and Warhammer Fantasy, they cancelled it far too quickly. The rules, however, are still available for downloading at the Specialist Games Site.
For fans of Games Workshop’s Epic 6mm game set in the Warhammer Universe, there’s Epic: Raiders, a fan supplement designed to fill in gaps in the system.
ToyMallet 40 cents is both a set of fairly well-done generic science fiction rules and a brilliant parody of the Warhammer 40K franchise. Written by Jennifer Reitz, it allows you to use any toys you happen to have, instead of spending many hundreds on “official figures.” The photos of the Hello Kittau Neko-Wai Meowarriors are a scream.
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.
