Have you ever wanted to write up an article about a battle you have played? How did you make the map? Unless you have a specialized tool such as GameMapr or CyberBoard, you probably made a sketch map of the game table and either scanned it in or just included it as-is with your article text. Let’s be honest: Maps like that don’t really look all that good.
But what if you could re-draw your sketch map using standardized symbols, then save it off as an image file? What if you could easily move the symbols on the map around, saving each phase of the game to a new image file. It would suddenly be a lot easier to write your article, don’t you think?
That is the purpose behind “Gbgen”. I am hoping that gamers will use it to create good-looking, maybe even professional-looking maps of their battles, then include them in articles or campaign diaries.
If you’re into gaming the Mexican American war, or if you just have an interest in things Texas in general, you’ll find this map archives useful. There are a number of historical maps for you to view online:
Dennis Barrett has announced the opening of his new wargames hobby site, The Foxhole. Take a look, especially if you’re a fan of the “We Can Be Heroes” rules set.
The problem with play by mail games and campaigns has always been verifying dice rolls. You had to trust the person you were playing with to correctly report the result, or rely on a neutral solution, like stock market numbers. This site has a clever solution: it generates numbers and then emails the results to your opponent.
The Alternative History Wars Yahoo group "is meant for alternative history gamers. We deal with wargaming paths not taken during various battles in history. This means it can be related to fantasy or actual historical armies that have never met in the real world. This group is more likely to revolve around the late 1800's to WW1, but it is open to any time period."
The Eyewitness To History site has hundreds of first-hand accounts of major events in history. There is a lot here for games creating wargames scenarios. For example, here is an eyewitness account of the Battle Of Antietam, from David Thompson, a member of the 9th NY Volunteers.
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.