Looking for a fight on a smaller scale

Rich Baier's empire of choice during the Punic War period is the Ptolemaic Kingdom (275 B.C. to 146 B.C.).

And he has the armies to prove it.

Baier, who lives in McCandless, is better known as "Diceman." He has competed in miniature historical gaming for 40 years.

He is among a small legion of dedicated players who compete in a centuries-old hobby that is similar to chess but played with figurines standing at least six millimeters tall on re-created battlefields that range from woodlands to deserts to fantasy sites. The figurines comprise armies in historically accurate garb.

A blend of military strategy and a roll of the dice determines the supremacy of an army.

"Picture the miniature train display at the Carnegie Science Center, and put soldiers on it. It's gorgeous," Baier says.

An upcoming regional convention in Lancaster and a new store, Legions Hobbies and Games in McCandless, have attracted the attention of local players who normally are sequestered in friends' homes or forced to leave town for competitions.

Baier has been gaming with the same college friends he played with during the 1970s at the University of Pittsburgh. With the regularity of poker night, the thoroughness of a graduate history class and the glee of a kegger, these men meet every Friday night to "game."

"There are not many things that you can say that you do with the same guys for 35 years," Baier says.

After he graduated with a biology degree in 1975, Baier continued to play with classmates who would become doctors, attorneys, teachers and an army colonel.

"It's a head game," Baier says of the hobby. "It's kind of like chess, but the moves are variable."

And because dice are rolled to affect the fate of an army, when these men play "Gettysburg," for example, there's no guarantee the Union will prevail.

The strategy, brinkmanship and creativity attracts a wide range of participants, according to George Nafziger of Cincinnati, secretary of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, Eastern Chapter.

Like the diversity of the historical figures themselves, several regional conferences annually draw between 2,000 and 3,000 players of all ages, Nafziger says.

Nafziger and others consider historical miniatures gaming "the great leveler."

It would not be unheard of for a 10-year-old to game against a 65-year-old at a regional tournament, Nafziger says.

"We treat everyone equal."

And, according to Rob Pernell, owner of Legions Hobbies and Games, "It's not unusual to see a sanitation engineer going up against a surgeon."

Re-creating history

Baier builds his own armies with figurines, many ranging from 6 millimeters to 28 millimeters, depicting any given foot soldier in uniform with armaments.

"If you have a light calvary, they can move up to five inches per turn," he said of the miniature historical game DBA. The popular one-on-one tournament game is played on a 2-foot by 2-foot terrain board on which each player has 12 stands (one model to eight figures each) and takes about an hour to complete.

The detail, depth and historical intricacies continue to make the game fresh. There are thousands of rule books for different war games.

Equally voluminous are the books in the personal libraries of gamers. Nafziger's personal library holdings include 3,000 history books -- of which 13 he authored.

"There are many people for whom history is a passion," he says.

Players such as Nafziger and Baier relish the research involved in crafting the soldiers and executing the battles. For instance, Baier's miniature figure of Alexander the Great is atop a steed and adorned in a purple cape.

"We know what the correct colors are from their tombs," Baier says.

Miniatures players strive for accuracy with their figurines.

"When you are painting knights for the Battle of Agincourt (between England and France in the 15th century), you have historical records of what their armor looked like," Baier says.

"You paint your Romans to look like Romans do, and people take great pride in doing that. It's an aesthetic thing," Baier says.

Baier sends his soldiers to Sri Lanka for painting because his eyesight no longer is up to the task.

Legions Hobbies also offers figurine-painting services.

Gaming in Pittsburgh

Baier and other gamers are taking the action to Legions Hobbies, in the cavernous environs of the former Record Rama in McCandless.

With 16,000 square feet, Pernell opened the space in November to sell game sets, figurines, rule books and the accessories.

Outfitted with turf tops ready for action, the 16 tables in the parlor section evoke an unlikely vibe -- part pool hall, part library, where kids and middle-aged men stage miniature battles with dragons and Napoleon armies.

There is fantasy gaming, as well, with the younger crowd riffing off the J.R.R. Tolkien blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" and other themes.

The store hosts a fantasy league on Thursday nights, when orcs and dwarves duel.

"It's helpful for people to have one central place to play," Pernell says. "It's much like a video game online -- you can always find an opponent here."

He stocks thousands of lines of historical and fantasy gaming sets and figures.

"But then it's small scale, so a lot fits on a shelf," he says.

Despite the poor economic climate, there's hasn't been much of a decline in sales and people coming to play, Pernell says.

That's because gamers always are looking for an opportunity, Baier says.

"I can go to any major city in the United States and come up with a player. It's like a fraternity of war gamers."