Miniatures Games

It’s a small world

These games, as you may guess, probably have little miniature figures.  Now, tons of games have miniature figures. Chess, for example. But I will define here that a miniatures game is defined by a free form positioning system for pieces to be places.  Technically, if it has a gridded board, I’d classify it as a wargame rather than a miniatures game. Even though Warhammer Underworlds has astoundingly excellent miniatures, it’s more properly classified to me as a wargame.  And one of the best, I might add, and it does indeed have some of the highest quality minis you can find.

There’s some outlying exceptions.  Heroscape. The game has a gridded map.  But the literal position of a miniature in the hex and the shape of the miniature matter.  I put it straddling both miniatures game and wargame. DiskWars. Position on the table is your units and there’s no grid, but also…. No miniatures.  It’s the best example I can think of for something that plays like a minis game but isn’t. Oh, and it’s also really freakin cool.

But usually, of course, miniatures games have minis.  And their physical location on a non-gridded board matters.

TLDR: No grid, and miniatures.