Tabletop Miniature War-games:  (TMW) are a specific game type, and are first and foremost games that involve strategy.  In the same way that Chess involves playing pieces, each with different abilities, and a playing board, TMW use playing pieces, miniature representations of troops, vehicles, artillery pieces, and all the rest.  A tank looks like a tank, a unit of power armored Space Marine assault troops equipped with jump packs and plasma pistols looks like…. well you may need to see the figures.  Instead of a square board broken up into smaller squares, a game using tabletop miniatures is usually played on a terrain table.  The idea is that it really looks like, well, whatever.  A blasted cityscape, ruined town or city, crater filled moonscape, or lava spewing volcano.  A simple countryside landscape board is most common, giving you mostly hills and woods to fight over, in, and around.

The games operate utilizing a point-based system of choosing your army.  Unlike chess, in which both players have the exact same pieces, with the same abilities, set up in the same way every time, TMW offer an endless array of possibilities.  Every playing piece in every army is given a point value based upon its effectiveness.  The players agree before the game begins on a specific point value, and then “spend” the points that they have up to but not in excess of this total.  Thus players, even if playing the same army type will have very different force compositions depending upon their personal likes and dislikes, as well as their overall strategy.  Furthermore each game has a number of different scenarios or game situations that dictate army set-up, victory conditions including objectives, game length, and any other special rules that may apply.  The result of using such a flexible system is having a game of near endless variety, one that stays fresh and interesting even after repeated and frequent play.  Add to this, team and multiplayer play, tournaments, and campaigns, and you really do have endless possibilities