An extensive reference guide to the exciting hobby, for beginners as well as longtime players. Wargaming is a fascinating, engrossing, and exciting pastime that encompasses a wide range of different talents. The average wargamer uses the skills of artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, historian, librarian, researcher, mathematician, and creative writer, as well as the more obvious ones of general, admiral, or air marshal for large games, or perhaps lieutenant, commodore, or squadron leader for skirmishes. Aside from calling upon many skills, wargaming also covers many aspects of combat, spanning the history of Earth. With science fiction gaming, we plunge into imagined worlds many thousands of years into the future, and a fantasy gamer, of course, deals with eons of imagined history, as anyone who has read The Lord of the Rings will know. A wargamer may find themselves recreating an encounter between a handful of adversaries one day, or a massed battle involving perhaps hundreds of miniature troops the next. Moreover, it is possible to play wargames that recreate warfare on land, on sea, in the air, or even in outer space. This book demonstrates the wonderfully varied hobby of wargaming with miniatures, looking at the broad scope of what it has to offer as well as detailed explanations of how to get involved, including comprehensive rules for gladiator combat, Wild West skirmishes, and the horse and musket era, as well as lots of advice for anyone new to wargaming. Whether you’re a complete newcomer to the hobby, or a veteran of many years, you’ll find plenty in The Wargaming Compendium to entertain and inspire you.

This book is packed with rules, painting advice and ideas for making great-looking terrain. It will appeal to anyone interested in playing games such as exploration in Darkest Africa, fighting for survival and glory in Rome's gladiatorial arenas and plundering the West African coast with your band of cutthroat pirates. Over the past twenty years or so, Foundry has published many articles on different subjects in many different magazines, some of which you may have seen but most of which I am sure you haven't. Our guest Editor, Paul Sawyer, has sifted through those articles and has pulled a selection of them together in a nicely balanced book, themed to concentrate on Pirates and Darkest Africa, but covering other historical periods too; Aztecs, Gladiators, Greeks and Romans. So, if you want some simple fun rules to play, some ideas on terrain making and painting then this book is for you. Enjoy.