The South is rising again. Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant face each other in combat in Williamsburg. Lee gets the strategic upper hand in a pivotal battle that enables the Confederates to win the war.

Hold on a sec: Lee and Grant never met in Williamsburg. And while some South Carolinians may beg to differ, the South lost.

Well sure, in reality that’s what happened, but a small Williamsburg game shop is rewriting the past. In war games, history doesn’t have to repeat itself. History in Miniature, which opened in May, specializes in history-based role-playing games. Think of the classic board game Risk with a little bit of chess thrown in. The store’s "virtual reality" games are about as far from high-tech gadgets as you can get. The shop is set up to look like an old English study — you can almost see World War II-era collaborators drinking scotch and smoking cigars here. Players stage battles with miniature pewter soldiers on custom-designed sets.

The fact that these games are non-tech and hands-on appeals to lots of folks, says Joe Brimer, owner and co-founder. "We have a lot of parents coming in trying to get their kids away from playing Gameboy," says the Air Force veteran. "We have a lot of young kids that come in that like history. Even if you don’t play, you can collect the figures."

History in Miniature is the U.S. distributor for England-based game developers such as Lancashire Games, Museum Miniatures and Mayhem Miniatures. Brimer projects respectable sales of $350,000 for the firm’s first year.

Brimer met co-founder Scott Bahrke when he and Bahrke, at the time an Army lieutenant, were stationed together in Germany. "We’ve always had this plan," Brimer says. Bahrke knows business, and Brimer helps design scenery for their English manufacturers.

The rules range from simple to complex, Brimer says. The main rule is that you can only use "weapons" or materials that were actually used during the era of the specific war or battle you’re re-enacting. So ixnay on using tanks for Revolutionary War battles. In addition to promoting and selling the games, History in Miniature also sponsors matches about twice a week so customers can play against each other right in the store. "It’s a real social event," Brimer says.