Shantytowns, Hoovervilles, Shacktowns ... If you’re going to conduct miniature wargames set in the dark underbelly of civilization, you’re going to need appropriate terrain. Leondus has some advice, pictures and instructions for building realistic looking shacks. These would be useful for a wide variety of games, including moderns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, Necromunda and other post apocalyptic games.
The Warhammer rules have been adapted for every period under the sun -- some more successfully than others. Here's a set of modifications for Warhammer Napoleonics.
Over on the Lord of the Rings Yahoo group, Terry Maltman has posted a review of Warhammer Historicals' new "Legends of the Old West" game. Apparently it is not, as I feared, a 40K variant, but rather a Lord of the Rings variant, with some Mordheim/Necromunda stuff thrown in. You can read the review below.
Lochagos has written Sash and Sabre, which he describes as an attempt to port Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K to the horse and musket period. The site also has army lists for the American War of Independence.
This would be a good way to draw your science fiction gaming buddies into the French and Indian War, Seven Years War, American Revolution, Napoleonics, American Civil War, or any of those Victorian era colonial conflicts.
I've been reading White Dwarf since about issue number 50. Back then, it was a general gaming magazine, with articles on board games, role playing games and more. They even covered non-Games Workshop stuff. (This was back when they admitted that there was something other than the "Games Workshop" hobby.).
Here's an index to the artcles in White Dwarf magazine.
The NuGamers of Kingwood, Texas have these instructions for building a Tyranid Hive Cavern for Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K game. Of course, the same techniques also could be used for any number of dungeon crawl type games.
One of the things that really catches my eye in the pages of White Dwarf are pictures of "themed" space marine armies. A lot of imagination goes into making these unique. Here's some advice on creating a unique army for Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K.
Games Workshop's Warhammer miniatures rules have been adapted to a wide variety of other periods. You can get the Warhammer 'Nam rules by joining the Yahoo Group.
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.
