One trend or genre I seem to have stumbled upon In recent weeks is that of miniature rules that you can use any 28mm miniatures with. These are rules that you use whatever you have lying around, and don’t rely on you having to buy starter sets, or construct “armies” from only official models, or buy lots of extra specific rules aimed at specific army types.

The first rule set I came across in this genre was via my friend Duncan. He tweeted a link to the rules for Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse. Duncan knew with my liking of Zombicide that it might be of interest to me.

It’s the ideal entry point for me, because I can use my Zombicide stuff. It even got me painting minis (mainly zombies so far) from Zombicide (although I need to get back into the painting mood, not been feeling it since the Summer).

So Last Days is a zombie survival skirmish game. Both players have a squad of survivors that will be fighting it out with the added threat of zombies roaming about on the board.

The rules have about 5 scenarios for you to use as the basis for a skirmish or to string together into a campaign. Plus there is a planned expansion coming out later this year I think with further scenarios in, and whatever else they decide to include.

The game plays on a 3ft by 3ft play area, uses d6 dice, some miniatures, terrain, tokens or something to act as the tokens, and a tape measure.

The latest one to find it’s way to me is the Rangers of Shadow Deep system. This is a fantasy based solo or cooperative rule set. Which as far as I know makes this kind of unique. There aren’t many systems as far as I know that play solo, or are cooperative, if any.

The rules come with 4 missions that have sub scenarios, plus an additional campaign setting. So a lot of play there already, plus you can buy a cheap mini expansion single mission.

For playing this, it differs from Last Days in that it uses d20 dice instead, and is mostly played on a 2.5ft by 2.5ft area. Otherwise you have the same themed requirements.

For me not being a massive miniatures gamer, I’m coming from a zero starting point. Which means I’m having to build up slowly the necessary bits to play with.

For Last Days I’m in a better position than I am for Rangers of Shadow Deep. Last Days allows me to use all the stuff I have for Zombicide. With the Walking Dead miniatures game I can pick up stuff for that to re-use. And that is what I have slowly been gathering bits for.

On the fantasy front I have zero stuff to repurpose. Although stuff like trees (once I have them) can be shared. So when funds allow I’ll slowly build up what is required.

If you are into the miniature based gaming it’s likely that you already have a lot of stuff you can use.

For me I’d like trees, bushes etc, I’ve looked into the cost of buying and boy is that stuff expensive. There are tutorials online for creating my own. But (there is always a but) I don’t have the tools, skills or time. Excuses I know. However I’m struggling to paint as it is at the moment.

One drawback for me, is these games require tokens. Luckily for Last Days I found some pre-made ones. I’m hoping that I can find a kind soul that has also produced some tokens that can be bought for Rangers of Shadow Deep.

I’d love to be playing these games. But I need at least the unpainted stuff to be able to. Last Days is the one I’m closest to being in that position for. So these games are a side project for me, as I slowly build up what is required.

But I think both of these would appeal to the none miniatures gamer because of that lower entry point, of any mini will do. You don’t need lots of minis, these are squad based, so up-to 5 or 6 (depending on squad construction) should be enough for a player. The rules aren’t overly complex in my opinion. Plus the rule books are less than £20 in both cases.