Vaporoare is a role playing game, but as is the case with such, it’s full of ideas for skirmish type miniatures games. The author writes:
Vaporoare is a role-playing game of weird science and mad magi in Victorian-era Europe. It imagines a world where Jules Verne wrote technical manuals for ether machines instead of fiction; Mary Shelley penned the autobiography of Dr. Frankenstein, and H. P. Lovecraft didn’t know what he was getting into. It is the world described by Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany and J. R. R. Tolkien. Europe is alive with races of fiction: elves dwarves and gnomes. These people have lived together since the beginning of time, and now they face their greatest challenge: the Industrial Revolution. Magick is dying, and technology is on the rampage.
For those of you looking for a different setting (indeed, a different world) for your steampunk games, you could take a look at Steamworld Daleth. The author writes:
Steamworld Daleth is a gothic world on an alien planet. Call it an imaginary country, a geofiction or a follie. During the many years I have worked on Daleth (now over 20 years) the world has become what she is now: a steampunk/gothic world where the echo of the Victorian Age still sounds, but where many odd things are yet to be discovered. It’s a mix of fantasy and reality, a dreamscape of my imagination. Daleth can be used as a setting for the role playing game Intrigue & Illusions, but is not developed as such. Daleth is much more than a mere setting for a RPG. It’s a world with its own dynamics.
The Cut N Paste SF site has a paper model of a martian tripod for you to download, print and assemble. The model is quite large, and will look pretty good next to a figure as large as 25mm 28mm.
Patrick Crusiau, whose work I greatly admire, has created a page of Victorian Science Fiction Figures. They go well with the paper martians here. Now it will be easy to try out those battle son Mars that you weren’t sure that you wanted to spend all the time and effort buying and painting figures for.
GASLIGHT is probably the most played set of Victorian Science Fiction miniatures rules available today. The Rivets and Steam site has a page of houserules for the set.
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.
