Miniatures & miniature battles
I am involved in both historical and unhistorical miniature wargaming. The historical rulesets I play are DBA and Panzerfaust: Iron Fist. Unhistorically, I play HOTT (Hordes of the Things!) .
I have German and Russian forces for Panzerfaust: Armored Fist. I am concentrating on developing quite a varied yet interesting German force, to cover everything from Operation Barbarossa through to the fall of Berlin.
You can see a completed infantry company below:
My HOTT army is fantasy Samurai, an
ongoing project - they are currently at about 56 AP, I want to go to 72 AP
capability.
Here's a photo...
For the Nunawading Wargames Association Open Day 2006,
I planned, painted and based a matched pair of demonstration armies: the Golden
Kingdom (High Medieval Humans) versus the Blackstone Hordes (a mixed army of Orcs, Undead
and abominations). Here are links to my favourite and most useful wargaming sites: Miniature wargaming groups in Australia
Wargaming groups elsewhere or online
Hordes of the Things! - fantasy & sci-fi quickplay wargaming World War Two wargaming in 1:72 / 20mm scale Terrain, diorama, scenery and display-making
Nunawading Wargames Association My home club. Lots of resources,
photos and links for a huge range of games and periods.
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.
Fanaticus
"A virtual community for DBA enthusiasts". Some Nunawading Wargames
Association members have published articles here. 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.
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.
"Why play Hordes of the Things?" - an explanation by me as to why I play and
others should.
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.
PANZERFAUST - ARMORED
FIST: World War 2 Platoon/Company Level Miniatures Wargame Rules A rules
system by fellow NWA members Scott Nicholas & Peter Stone. Download the 4th edition (revised) for free!
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.
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 Why spend a fortune on metal miniatures for historical armies, if there
is a company who makes excellent plastic ones? This site has written reviews and product photographs of many ranges of plastic miniatures, letting you
REALLY see what you are buying! Since much WW2 gaming can be done using plastic miniatures, this site can save you plenty.
Military Miniatures Magazine: A German hobby site (in English) with good articles for modelling and other resources. I use it for its WW2 materials.
Eastern Funker’s blog: a blogger who's working on the WW2 Eastern Front.
World War 2 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, modeling, 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!
Other history resources
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.
Terragenesis, when you want
to make your terrain / scenery from scratch. Plenty of useful scenery links
and photos.
War Factory, by
Aidan. Not updated since late 2005, but in the same vein as
Terragenesis.
Nifty terrain and scenery building guides.
Woodland Scenics(Manufacturer)
Busch (Manufacturer)
Model Expo An annual event in Australia - go exhibit what you make there, and see what others do.
Searching the Internet for wargaming information - going beyond Google A series of articles/tutorials explaining
and demonstrating different Internet searching techniques to find wargaming and
miniatures information (by me).
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).
Comics
Larry Leadhead A comic about wargamers / miniatures players. Eerily accurate!
Turn signals on a Land Raider by
Stephen A. Campbell. Meta-comic about wargaming in the
dark-future and zany present...
Scale Modelling clubs
International Plastic Model Society - Australian arm. Great
model kit swap-n-sell days, and also find scale modelling clubs near you (in Australia).
Manufacturers, Retailers and galleries
Metro Hobbies(Retailer - Australia) Victorian model kit retailer in the eastern suburbs.
Hobby HQ(Retailer - Australia) Victorian (and online) model kit retailer in the northern suburbs.
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.
Reaper miniatures
(Manufacturer - Overseas)
Terrific range of 25/28 mm fantasy miniatures, great for Hordes of the Things!
And speaking of great fantasy miniatures in 25/28mm, there's also the mighty
RAFM
(Manufacturer - Overseas).
Games Workshop
(Australian site)
(Manufacturer & Retailer around the world)
Back to All about Nick! - or see the photo below...
Above: my fantasy Samurai ally, the Celestial Dragon, descends from Heaven to fight the Grim Reaper...
Page last updated: 24 August 2008