This is an unusual unit for me: I didn’t have any intended use for them, I just wanted them because damme, they are the coolest miniatures out there. They are from the Pulp Figures Weird Menace range.
The figures are sinister and threatening, and would look good even without the jet packs.
They are a scary-looking bunch.
First of all, let me say that this was not an original idea: It came about as the result of a conversation with the Major General himself. He suggested that the GI Joe ‘Cobra Imp’ might make a good Steampunk tank. And so it does.
This vehicle started life as a GI Joe kid’s toy, with four rockets on it’s back and a Cobra crewman sitting in the front. I got lucky on ebay, with a seller apologetically throwing in a second vehicle because it was missing the rockets and launcher.
I covered the open compartment at the back, leaving space for a grille to show the inner workings. (They look a lot like steam turbines) I placed a tall smoke stack just in front of the grille.
I closed the front of the seating compartment and put in a floor suitable for 25mm command crew. I use 20mm bases, so it was the perfect size for two crew.
The hull front received a view slit and a limited-traverse cannon. The vehicle may be big and impressive, but it isn’t particularly effective.
There were platforms at the back with pegs to fit the feet of GI Joe soldiers. I removed the pegs so the platforms can still carry a couple of troops. I suppose carrying an MG and crew would make the beast far more effective..
For very little work I got two impressive-looking steam tanks The Imps can still be found on ebay, and without their rockets they don’t cost much….
The crew in these photos are supplied by my Hinterland Miniatures Trench Raiders: https://gisby.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/hinterland-miniatures-trench-raiders-hun-honeys/
Askaris
This unit is based on a description of Early German Askaris in Foundry’s ‘Small Wars and Skirmishes.’ It’s made of Old Glory Egyptians painted as Africans, with a German flag. It has Egyptian Officers, as the troops hired only understood commands in Turkish, so non-German officers were needed.
The Egyptians and the Sailors below had a few of the ‘Hey Bob!’ poses, with heads looking around at odd angles, but they were easy enough to fix.
Matrosen
A naval landing party. Old Glory again, Austrian sailors from the Boxer Rebellion. If there is a difference in the uniform, it’s lost to me in 25mm.
Schutztruppen
Renegade WW1 Germans in field cap, with a neck curtain added.The uniform might not be 100% correct, but it looks good enough to me. (The caps should have a small visor on the front, but I didn’t bother) They’ll also do for troops serving in Asia.
I also made a MG and crew. The funny little tripod is made from wire and plastic card.
I found the first Captain America movie to be quite inspiring, I wanted to make a Captain America-style scenario, but with a pulpier feel. There were several serials that I liked, and I figured I’d grab elements from a few and throw them together.
The scenario is a simple one: At a secret base, Nazis are meeting with the Dreaded Radon Zombies, who are going to give them Flying Saucer technology that will win the war. The Spy Smashers have to prevent this happening, and either destroy or capture the saucer. Unless otherwise noted, all miniatures are from Pulp Figures.
The Evil Mastermind, Stahlhelm, with his two best operatives. He’s a Master Spy, and she’s a deadly Assassin.
The Glorious leader, with guards, and several officers. Is it really him, or a double? Either way, punch him for extra glory!
Some of the She-Wolves. (There are plenty more) They are ruthless and efficient, and quite merciless.
Right, the Glorious Leader’s girlfriend. A Foundry ‘Street Violence’ figure that just had the perfect look. Centre, Little Freyja, a Teen She-Wolf and SMG enthusiast (from Hinterland) and left, a FlugelJager. (There are a few more of them.) His red eyes got lost in this picture.
Sturm Troop Clones, the backbone of the defense. Big, faceless, and armed with high-tech weapons that they use with a stunning lack of efficiency. (and yes, there are plenty more of them.) These are Wargames Factory plastic Shock Troops. I really had no idea what to do with these figures until this scenario, and then I was happy. They were perfect. They actually were clones of each other, and looked like Comic Book Germans..
Three of the Spy Smashers: A Heroclix miniature, a Pulp Figure, and a Reaper miniature.
My 1914 Germans are from RENEGADE. They are good-looking figures, and really look the part. But their HMG crews are all prone, and I wanted some seated MG crews. I bought these from Irregular Miniatures, and replaced the guns with spares I had in the box.
Kannick’s ‘Uniforms of the World‘ and some photos in the ‘Illustrated War News‘ showed the Maxim on an odd, wheeled version of its sledge, not the same as the Russian wheeled carriage. These were shown in use by the MG Battalions, so I converted the Irregular crew with MG Bn shakoes. The photos were probably from pre-1914 wargames, so the wheels might have been gone by 1914, but it makes for an interesting piece.
My artillery park has several 77mm guns. It was a common gun, but hardly the only gun the Germans used in WW1.
For variety I picked up a Krupp 15cm FH13 (short) from Irregular Miniatures ‘Really Useful Guns’ range, and paired it with a spare RENEGADE gun crew. I filed their helmet spikes to balls, as German artillerymen wore a ball on their helmet rather than a spike. (Aside from the Bavarians, who did wear a spike)
I was worried that the crew might be a bit too big for the gun, but it looks fine. The gun is simple in design, but builds up well and looks the part.The gun shield needs to be curved at the top, (a bit more than I did) but it’s easy enough to do.
Irregular has a large range of guns, with suggestions on who used them, and when. These guns fill in a lot of gaps for smaller armies and conflicts . The guns themselves are good-looking, well cast, and build up well.
I also have several 77mm field guns from various manufacturers. Before RENEGADE added the 77mm to their range I bought an Irregular piece. It looks a bit small beside the RENEGADE infantry, but the artillery isn’t usually up front with them.
I picked up an incorrectly-assembled Foundry 77mm second hand, repaired it, and gave it a crew from Irregular. It’s the same size as the Irregular piece.
And of course when RENEGADE added the gun to their range, I added it to my Artillery Park. It’s a much bigger, sturdier piece than the others, and they don’t look right side-by-side. But all of them are nice pieces in their own right.
Pulp Figures is known for great personality figures and (of course) Pulp Archetypes, but I have always particularly liked their historical troops.
I was very excited when they released their ‘German Colonial’ sets. They are perfect for Colonial warfare, WW1, and the Boxer Rebellion. This uniform could be seen in the Pacific, Africa and Asia.
PGS 15 German Colonial Rifles is well posed for a skirmishing line, and they really look the part: Tough, experienced troops. (The girl in the first picture is from PHP 19 Dangerous Dames 2)
PGS 17 German Colonial Maxim Guns
Again, well-posed and well-sculpted, a pair of efficient weapons teams.
Note: The HMG is not the one that came with the set. I accidentally wrecked mine trying some solder work, so had to replace it with a spare.
I used a RENEGADE 77mm gun with the crews from a set of PGS 17 to give my Colonial Troops some artillery.
I also have a unit of Seebatallion made up from PGS01, 02, 03, and 06. These troops could also be seen in the Pacific, Africa, and Asia,
The officer below comes with binoculars in his hand, but I replaced them with a sword.
Needless to say, I enthusiastically recommend these figures. They are available from Pulp Figures.
For more information on German Colonial Uniforms: http://www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk/
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I am a big fan of the SPACE 1889 rules and setting. They had role-playing rules, tabletop battle rules, plus aerial and naval rules. They combined Victorian and Barsoomian elements well, and deserved to be far more popular than they were. Even now, 20 years later they still have a following.
I’ll admit, in places the rules weren’t great, but in others they were teriffic.
Where they shone, was in background. The rules themselves were followed by a bunch of reasonably priced sourcebooks, each with background material a-plenty and a really crappy scenario.
REALLY crappy. They were interesting, but totally channeled: Nothing the players did could make a difference.
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If they caught all the villains, another villain would blow up the ship.; If they jumped ship before then, they could successfully evade capture for up to 7 days, then they WOULD be captured.
There was always only one route to take, and one solution. But I digress….
‘Soldier’s Companion’ (the battle rules) had great photos of battles between British and German troops, and of course between Europeans and Martians. And of course there were ‘Land Ironclads’ and ‘Walkers’.
This is my attempt at a walker.
The cab is made from Lego blocks, assembled and turned upside down, with a plastic roof added.
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Doors and hatches are also plastic card, with hinges & handles made from wire. The ventilator on the roof is a the head of a 2-part rivet.
Round ports and frames were done with hole punches, and the front window frame was plastic strip from the model shop.
Rivets were punched from plastic with a leather stitching punch, and glued in place one at a time.
NB: Lego are not made from styrene, so model cement does not work on them. All the parts were crazy-glued in place.
The housing below the cab, and on the rear are just different Lego pieces. (so I didn’t have to worry about making anything square) The machine-gun and smoke stack are plastic sprue & wire.
The housing is glued to a sandwich made of several (detestable) slotta-bases. (So I’ve found a use for 3)
The wheels on the side were rolling wheels from a Lindberg snap-together Iosef Stalin III kit. They are on a coat-hanger wire axle, also glued to the underside of the housing. On the right hand side in front of the wheels is the base of a 2-part rivet, just to add interest.
The legs are made from coat-hanger wire, bent at the ‘knee’ and glued into the slotta-base sandwich. The bends, and the joint are disguised by sections of plastic tube, with sprue sticking out of the ends.
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The ‘knee’ actually has a slot in the side, and was forced down onto the bend: The bit sticking up is NOT the leg below..
The ‘feet’ are SPACE 1889 flying bases with rivets added. The peg is rounded at the top, and has plastic disks cut with hole punches covering the join.
I painted it grey, added some lettering & weathering, and put it on a shelf. sigh…..
If we ignore the fact that a three-legged vehicle just doesn’t work, it’s a fearsome piece of German technology.
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