Giant Spiders From Outer Space is a set of free wargames rules for reliving your favorite 1950s sci fi movies:
This is game is inspired by those Science Fiction movies of the 1950’-1970’s that we all love. A metorite hits the countryside somewhere and reveals to be the egg of a giant Spider. You are in command of an Army unit with a vital mission: kill it…. and save the Earth!
Matakishi’s Tea House has a tutorial on making scouring pad pine trees. I ran across it while looking for instructions on building scouring pad hedgerows. No luck there yet.
Fudge is a free — and free to adapt — rules-light RPG that has been ported to a great many settings. At the link below, you’ll find FUDGE (Freeform Universal Donated Gaming Engine) Fantasy rules.
Massive Voodoo has a nice essay on keeping your brushes clean.
Here’s a nice photo essay on painting WWII Russians, complete with uniform history and rank and insignia guides.