From Fabio Zanicotti comes Mindless Violence, a set of free miniatures skirmish rules. Zanicotti writes:
MINDLESS VIOLENCE (or MV) is a set of skirmish miniature wargaming rules; it was created to play small scale fights between two or more factions, each composed by a limited number of combatants, using miniature figures on a gaming table that represents the actual scenario in which these small battles are supposed to take place.
The rules were conceived to be general-purpose: they are not specifically bound to a specific historical setting or fantastic background; the intention was to create a sort of meta-rules that could be easily adapted for any kind of combat situations.
The rules are written for 25-35 mm miniatures, but can be easily converted to any other scale.
MV uses no reference tables: a single roll of a D12 dice pool to resolve hits, to determine damage, and to take in account the eventuality of “criticals” and “fumbles”.
Model actions are regulated by a card-driven initiative mechanism, which comprises special effects, called “Boosters” that can be used to enhance a model’s characteristics, or to alter its normal behaviour.
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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