Miniatures & wargaming

I am involved in both historical and unhistorical miniature wargaming. The ancient and medieval rulesets I play are Warhammer Ancients, (occasionally) DBA . For WWII, I play Panzerfaust - Armored Fist and WWII Book of Armaments. Unhistorically, I play HOTT (Hordes of the Things!) .

I have German and Russian forces for WWII wargaming; Rus, Vikings and allies for Warhammer Ancients and DBA, Later Samurai and Alexandrian Macedonian for DBA.

Here are links to my favourite and most useful wargaming sites:

Miniature wargaming groups in Australia
Nunawading Wargames Association  My home club. Lots of resources, photos and links for a huge range of games and periods. Panzerfaust - Armored Fist andWWII Book of Armaments were both written by NWA members.
Western Suburbs Wargames Association  Fellow wargames club here in Melbourne.
Southern Battlegamers  Wargames club in Sydney.
Group North Historical Wargames Society South Australian wargames club.
BADGA  Bendigo and Districts Gamers Association.
Bairnsdale BADGaming  Wargamers out in Eastern Gippsland - go team!
Eureka Wargames Association (EWA)  Wargamers in the Victorian Highlands...
Geelong Gamers Guild  Wargamers down the freeway in Geelong.
G.R.O.T.S.  Wargaming in Greensborough.
Hampton Games Club  Wargaming in Hampton.
Knights of the Square Table  Wargaming in Fairfield.
Monday Knights  Auburn Bowls Club.
Phoenix Gaming Association  A club over in East Malvern.
Ringwood Wargames
Shepparton Miniature Gamers  A club in the north of Victoria's Highlands.
The League of Ancients  -a long-running Melbourne wargaming club.
Little Wars Melbourne - Melbourne's Annual Wargames Participation Event  Not technically a club but it brings Melbourne wargamers together...

Wargaming groups elsewhere or online
Fanaticus  "A virtual community for DBA enthusiasts". Plenty of general hobby advice too, such as how to paint, how to make, historical notes etc.
Society of Ancients  The international society for historical wargamers, covering approximately 3000 BCE to 1500 CE. Also recommended for historians interested in the same periods, as the links will be tremendously useful.

Hordes of the Things! - fantasy & sci-fi quickplay wargaming
The (Hordes of the Things) Stronghold  All about Hordes of the Things!  ...the wargame that lets you fight out fantasy, sci-fi and historical battles - sometimes all occurring during the same battle! Semi-official rulings and clarifications, photos, army lists, discussion of elements and lots more. Indispensable.
What is HOTT? An Nunawading Wargames Association (see above) guide to HOTT.
A Hordes (of the Things!) campaign, run by Ian Edwards from Abingdon Wargames Club (UK) over a number of years and reported here on this site.

World War Two wargaming in 1:72 / 20mm scale
Panzerfaust - Armoured Fist A WWII platoon & company level wargame by Scott Nicholas & Peter Stone. Follow the link to get the ruleset for free. Currently there is no free ruleset download for WWII Book of Armaments...

Henk of Holland: a website for military modelling in the small scale. Fantastic research for WW2 gaming with lots of links to museums, sources of history as well as the hobby itself.
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When I want to compare one 1/72 or 1/76 scale AFV (or other) kit to another, I go to the very helpful website because it discusses what modellers and wargamers want to know about kits.
I am also careful to go and see what fellow hobbyists are saying, over at the missing-lynx.com Braille scale (1/72) discussion group.
Plastic soldier review This site has written reviews and product photographs of many ranges of plastic miniatures, letting you REALLY see what you are buying! Since much WWII gaming can be done using plastic miniatures, this site can save you plenty.
Eastern Funker’s 'Panzerfaust - Armoured fist' blog: a blog about wargaming the WWII Eastern Front, using the rules available above.
Military Miniatures Magazine: A German hobby site (in English) with good articles for modelling and other resources. I use it for its WW2 materials.

History resources
World War II Vehicles Intended for use with the tactical boardgame Advanced Squad Leader but also an excellent historical resource independent of ASL.
World War Two Reference Guide, by David J. Bertuca "Resources with emphasis on gaming, modelling, painting... This is for non-biased study and simulation of the military aspects of the war".
Lone Sentry Photographs, Documents, and Research on World War II - including valuable primary materials.
The Australian War Memorial 'Nuff said!
The picture archives of the Federal Archives of Germany. The Federal Archives keeps approx. 11 million still pictures, aerial photographs and posters from modern German history.
History of War Online Excellent directory to other pages. Be warned, has not been updated for a while so a good number of links will fail
Juggernauts of the Second World War A repository of photos. Mostly German AFVs, but a Hungarian Toldi II gets a guernsey!
Boris Feldblyum Collection - Historic images For WW1, Russian Civil War and WW2 photos.
BBC History British Broadcasting Corporation website for History.
The costume museum, Kyoto "The rebirth of the Tale of Genji". Extensive gallery of models wearing clothing and costumes from the Genji period in Japan through to end of the Meiji. Great for early and later samurai periods.

Terrain, display-making and painting
Lloydian Aspects - modelling tips by Nikolas Lloyd. Good 1:72/1:76 and smaller scale terrain advice for most rulesets.
Terragenesis,  when you want to make your terrain / scenery from scratch. Plenty of useful scenery links and photos. Mostly intended for 25/28mm scale, but you can always adjust to smaller scales.
War Factory, by Aidan. Not updated since late 2005, but in the same vein as Terragenesis. Nifty terrain and scenery building guides.
All about scales  Don't understand what all the different sizes are when looking at miniatures, scale models and model railways? This handy reference by The Miniatures Page will help - includes pictures showing differences.
Dr. Faust's Painting Clinic Painting and modelling techniques and advice from a very seasoned campaigner. Covering most scales (including 25/28mm, 15mm, etc).

Wargaming comics
Larry Leadhead  A comic about wargamers / miniatures players. Eerily accurate!
Turn signals on a Land Raider by Stephen A. Campbell. A completed meta-comic about wargaming in the dark-future and zany present.

Scale Modelling clubs and events
Eastern Suburbs Scale Modelling Club - coming at you from Box Hill.
International Plastic Model Society - Australian arm. Great model kit swap-n-sell days, and also find scale modelling clubs near you (in Australia).
Model Expo An annual event in Australia - go exhibit what you make there, and see what others do.

Publishers, Manufacturers, Retailers and more
Warhammer Historical Wargames  "Recreate crucial battles from a huge range of historical settings with Warhammer Historical's awesome range of rulebooks and supplements."
Woodland Scenics (Manufacturer)
Busch (Manufacturer)
Heki (Manufacturer)
Metro Hobbies (Retailer - Australia) Victorian model kit retailer in the eastern suburbs.
Hobby HQ (Retailer - Australia) Online (but Victorian) model kit retailer. Great prices, goiod range and friendly service.
Hobby Terra (Retailer - Overseas) Fantastic for World War 2 Eastern Front and also lots of lesser known manufacturers of Soviet military kits.
Always Model (Retailer - Overseas) Quick and reliable vendor of plastic miniature toy soldier figures and also a select set of plastic model kits.
Olympian Games  (Retailer - Australia) A.C.T. supplier of excellent ranges of miniatures and wargaming accessories.
Eureka Miniatures (Manufacturer & Retailer - Australia) Huge range of miniatures in a number of scales and based in the inner Southern suburbs of Melbourne.
Military Simulations (Retailer - Australia) Been there since blot...general purveyor but solid supporter of the scene. Based in the inner Southern suburbs of Melbourne. Miniatures, rules, tertain etc.
Hall of Ancient Warriors (Manufacturer & Retailer - Australia) Miniatures supply, painting service and more. Based in the North/Western suburbs of Melbourne.
Mike’s Miniatures: Battle Field Accessories  (Manufacturer - Australia) Wargames Scenery items in 15-20mm.
Games Workshop (Australian site)  (Manufacturer & Retailer around the world)

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Page last updated: 10 January, 2010