Miniature wargaming is a recreational hobby where players simulate a battle, which is played out using small figurines to represent the land, sea and/or air units involved.
Games are played on a floor or tabletop, with terrain represented by miniature scenery (hills, forests, roads, fences, etc.).
Movement of the miniatures is regulated using a tape measure. However, like boardgames, miniature games can also be played using gridded terrain (demarcated into squares or hexagons) or even gameboards.
One of the main reasons for playing miniature wargames, in both these respects, is because it offers players more freedom of play and a more aesthetically pleasing tactical element over traditional or computer games. Additionally, many wargamers enjoy the challenge of researching, painting miniatures and constructing scenery.
The miniatures and scenery used vary greatly in scale, from 2mm figures up to 54mm or larger (90 mm for example) although typically 15mm is the preferred size. The miniature figures are typically metal and are often sold unpainted. Scenery is commercially available but often home-made, and figures are painted by the players, who will sometimes even `convert` shop-bought figures to better represent the units they are trying to depict.
There are any number of sets of miniature wargaming rules, some of which are available without charge on the Internet. Scenarios may depict actual historical situations and battles, or they may be hypothetical `what if?` situations. There are also fantasy and science fiction games with attendant wizards, spacecraft and other genres. Rules also vary in the scale they depict: one figure to one soldier is the most common for fantasy and some historical rules, but many historical systems presume that one figure represents (from smallest to largest) a squad, platoon, company, artillery battery, battalion, regiment, brigade, division or army.
Generally, these games are turn based strategy, like chess, and depending on teh game can be played over a couple of hours, days or weeks (if your wife lets you have the space).
Newbury meetings are from 7.30pm on Mondays at Fir Tree Primary School, Fir Tree Lane, Newbury, RG14 2RA
Reading meetings are from 7pm on Thursdays at the Post Office Social Club, 6 Richfield Avenue, Reading
we also have open days, held at hermitage village hall and two shows each year. Reading in February and Newbury in Spetember.
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