Playing Historical Miniatures
If you are new to the gaming hobby or just new to miniatures,
welcome! There is
something unique and rewarding when you field a unit of miniatures
onto a three dimensional battlefield.
Whether you have the time and artistic talent to paint your
own units, buy pre-painted, or commission the painting of some or
all of your forces when they are lovingly removed from the carry
case and deployed onto the table there is always a sense of Espirit
de corps. If
you’ve been a board or computer gamer in the past you will also
likely welcome the three dimensional “feel” of miniatures that puts
you closer to the action, pulls into your role as battlefield
commander.
Miniatures games by there nature are generally not solitary games.
Few people have the resources to effectively field large
forces, covering both sides, so miniatures gamers tend to be a
social lot. These
groups are often collectives of gamers formed around local clubs who
have interests in specific periods of time.
It is from just such a collective that Cold Steel and
Canister was born.
Many, many, many hours of great fun, head to head battle, cheers of
success and cries of anguish have been heard across the table in
basements in the Kenosha Wisconsin area during the development
playing of CS&C.
If you are not now a miniatures gamer and are interested, seek out a
group in your area.
There are a number of great resources for locating these covens of
historical or other gamers.
The Historical Military Gamers Society (HMGS)
is a one such source.
HMGS is a lose confederation of clubs with many local chapters.
HMGS-East runs three of the largest yearly conventions (Historicon,
Fall In,
and
Cold Wars).
HMGS-Midwest
runs Little Wars in the Chicago area.
Check out the HMGS web site for a chapter and events in your
area. There is also
Origins
and
GenCon,
two very large gaming convention “institutions” that have been
running for decades.
Many retailers host “game days” such as Skip Peterson who has
been doing Legends in the Fall/Spring the last couple of years.
Hobby shops with space, like Games Plus in the NW Chicago
suburbs have game areas and host groups in their store.
These are all great venues for meeting gamers and joining or
forming a gaming group.
So if you are interested, check the Internet for events in your
area, look for postings (or create one!) on your local hobby store
bulletin board, seek out membership from the larger organizations
like HMGS in your area, the opportunities abound for you to find a
group of gamers with like interests to get into miniatures!
If you have a local group, host at a hobby shop, a game day or
mini-convention, or large convention Decker Games would be happy to
provide a link to help spread the word.
Just send a quick note to our
webmaster
with the details!
Mounting your forces is a key decision reflecting the type of games
you intend to play. How
many figures per stand?
Recreating the national capabilities and composition for your
forces. How do I
organize my Divisions, Corps, and Armies?
So you’ve made the leap and are looking to invest in and field a
Napoleonic miniatures force.
Where do you start?
Painting your troops can be a very rewarding experience.
What is the best technique?