Wednesday 3 December 2014

Weird War II - Pulp Nazis, British and Mantic Ghouls (Secrets of the Third Reich)

I've had both SoTR rules and minis for ages. I got them and AE:WWII simultaneously, and I was originally drawn to the latter rules due to lower miniature count and more "cinematic" action, but like AE: Bounty the rules quickly fell by the wayside.  

British with gasmasks to resist the zombie-creating V-Gas.  The squad has a Boyes anti tank rifle to put down even the most pernacious Nazi werewolf.

Anyway, I dug out the West Wind official SoTR models and painted them a few weeks back, also grabbing out the rules and giving them a quick spin.  I was quite impressed - even with my limited playthrough they were surprisingly solid WW2 rules - though simple, they are arguably more realistic and "deeper" than Bolt Action (which admittedly isn't very hard.)  I also like their "create a vehicle" points system which would allow you to repurpose MaK and DUST vehicles and mechs to fit within the SoTR universe.  (I can more thoroughly review the SoTR rules if anyone is interested)

The Nazis have glowing red gasmask lenses...  ...well, just because it feels right!

The West Wind official SoTR models are quite chunky and many of the poses/proportions are a bit off, but they are charmingly characterful and I found them pleasant to assemble and paint. I'm planning of doing another squad or two of each and adding some Soviets to the mix.

The SoTR rules "scale down" OK and I'm thinking of digging out my Terraclips sewer set and having a Mordhiem-type game through the sewers of 1947 Paris, hunting some occult relics perhaps. 

This inspired me to create some sewer inhabitants.  I dusted off a sprue of Mantic Ghouls (good but limited range of poses, good price, easy to assemble/paint) and gave them a quick dab of paint.  They fit in well with the Weird War vibe and will be handy for fantasy/medieval games. I'm definitely grabbing the Mantic zombie pack too and I have a few ideas for conversions using Perry plastics and Mantic undead body parts. Personally I think the War of the Roses or English Civil War skirmishes could be made even more fun by adding undead.

The photography came out rather badly - the ghouls actually look much better "in the flesh."

These models were to be a "warm up" to get back in the groove after a 6-month painting hiatus.  Next, I am targeting some of the wonderful but rather soul-destroyingly difficult Infinity models.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back mate - we missed you!

    I also did a bit of WWW2 modelling a few years back, focused on Germany but not exclusively (http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/p/weird-ww2.html). After playing about with IHMN (which I really like) I'm thinking a quick mod for that would provide a great WWW2 Skirmish set. I'm really moving toward the quick to pick up, play and put away style games. Might even have a look at 7th Voyage too for some Clash of the Titans style gaming (http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/7th-voyage/).

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  2. Paul I swear we must be related somehow... ...I am currently awaiting an order of Greeks from Warlord Games - hoplites, and slingers, peltasts, peasants etc. For playing a Mordhiem-style campaign with a crew who explore the ancient world. I was planning on using the very-underrated LOTR rules, but I will check out 7th Voyage. Do you have the rules yourself yet?

    For pick-up-and-play, the best rules I've come across is Infinity: The Game. Perfect for 4x4 tables, and they now sell pre-made card terrain (which I plan on getting for Christmas). The sci fi/anime look of the official models is off-putting for some, but the rules are great. Grab the free demo rules and dig out some modern/sci fi models and give it a go. Best free rules you'll ever play or your money back!

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