Tom McKeand offers Ancients Battle Cry, a set of free wargames rules in pdf format. Tom writes:
The rules are basically a combination of Avalon Hill’s American Civil War game Battle Cry designed by Richard Borg and One Small Step’s ANCIENTS designed by William L. Blanks, along with ideas of my own and from fans of both of these games. Both games use a hex based terrain system for deployment and movement. Battle Cry offers a combat mechanism that does not require charts or accounting and utilizes attrition. Battle Cry also offered a command and activation system that allows for challenging and unpredictable tactics. ANCIENTS provided an outstanding unit description and some of the best scenario setups I have ever seen. By combining these, I felt I could make a game that dealt with ancient battles that was, all though abstract in nature, challenging and above all, very fun.
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.
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