Thursday 3 September 2015

Secrets of the Third Reich: British Army.

After painting the Rogue Trader first releases, I have been in a more Sci-Fi mood. So the other week I submitted a small mail order to West Wind Productions for some of their Secrets of the Third Reich Range.
Their website can be found here:
 http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/

I have wanted to buy some of these for a while. The premise of the game is that World War Two carried on beyond 1945 due to the development of advanced sciences and the use of Occult forces, and fits into the wider genre of 'Weird War Two' that has been gaining in popularity in the last few years. I could be wrong, but I think that West Wind were one of the first companies to pursue this genre.

A lot of the background is based on much of the well documented history written on what the Third Reich were up to with regards to technology, as well some of the more esoteric ideas surronding their Occult interests. I have'nt the space or time to go into everything, but it is fairly well known that the NAZI's were developing some very hi-tech technology, and that the SS had a interest in Volk-ish based Occultism and a pre-occupation with the Spear of Destiny. The Allies had interests in these areas too.  In the UK there was Frank Whittle's Jet engine, enigma de-coding/computing, and in the area Occult with Churchill working with Mediums and Occultists.

Now I don't (yet) intend playing West Winds' game, but I wanted to collect and paint a semi Sci Fi/post apocalypse force along the lines of World War 2. I was'nt keen on collecting the NAZI's, but was drawn to the British and Commonwealth forces. West Wind also produce USA and Russian forces.

The design approach is to base the miniatures in a World War Two aesthetic, but to add more hi-tech elements. For the British this means the infantry dress in late war uniforms, but also with a degree of body armour. The weapons include an assault weapon version of the Bren Gun, an anti-Mech gun, and a magazine loaded mortar. The British infantry are armed with a carbine version of the Lee Enfield. Like some of the other forces, The British, have access to basic Mech Suits, and Occultists, but I have'nt purchased any of these as I just wanted to have the Infantry, and I was'nt too struck on the design of the Mechs.

Sculpting wise, the miniatures are basically World War Two British/Commonwealth miniatures, but with a form of body armour. They are supplied on 30mm lipped bases.  Also, the miniatures come with seperate heads, which for the Secrets of the Third Reich range are gas mask wearing heads and wearing the Brodie (Trench) Helmet.

Price wise they are'nt too expensive, £1.75 per infantry man, and £6.50 to £8.00 per heavy weapon crew. Normal World War Two miniatures will be cheaper, but I liked the slightly different style from the Weird War Two look. If you are on a budget, then West Wind do sell packs of the seperate heads seperately for all the nations, and so could be used to convert up other normal World War Two ranges. Warlord games do plastic British and other nations, although I have no first hand knowlage of the miniatures themselves.

Most of the casting is good quality, although there were one of two miniatures with a few lumps of heavy flash. In addition the helmets on the seperate heads are'nt always crisp casts all the way around, and have a heavy cast line on the top which requires cleaning. In addtion I found the heads a pain to glue on. The heads need to be clipped from the sprues carefully to not destroy the pug needed to fix to the body, and some of the bodies require a little drilling. However, if you are used to basic modelling, there's nothing to worry about.

All in all, I am very pleased with them. They look great, and are fun and easy to paint. I still have about 50 of them to paint.
Enjoy :)
 A little batch of British Infantry. 
I went for the standard World War Two British paint scheme and decided on 1940's, pre concrete cities, urban style bases, with tiny bricks, barbed wire and mud.
 There are four types of basic infantry with Lee-Enfield carbines. 
He are two of them...
 ...and the second two.
All of the infantry have what at first look a little static poses, but with the posing of the heads, they look a lot more dynamic, advancing, and more battlefield aware.
 Infantryman with an Assault Bren. 
The Assault Bren seems to be a Weird War Two invention, a sort of 'sawn off' Bren Gun.
Vickers Heavy Machine Gun. 
 Side view.
 British Mortar.
This is an unusual looking Mortar and is magazine fed. It does'nt look like the Mortar used by the British forces in World War Two, but does look a little like the Italian Brixia Mortar. 
 Rear view, showing the rear of the infantry body armour.
 I had a 'spare' miniature from the Heavy Vickers Machine gun (yes, I know that in reality they had three crew but after years of 40k I thought two crew were enough. And anyway there's still a war on so manpower must be short!).
So, with the addition of a GW Catachan radio pack and using the radioman head from he command pack, I converted up a comm's trooper.
 Close up of the barbed wire. 
I bought two metres of this wire, snipped it to size, curled it around a paint brush handle, and glued them to the base. Then once dry I painted it brown and light drybrushed silver.
 Bricks!
I bought some really tiny bricks, made from actual brick, from a dolls house supplier from e-bay. £9.99 for 250.
Ok, not a Secret of the Third Reich (well, probably not!), but a bit of fun.
I have several spare Rogue Trader 40k Orks, and have painted up this one in German colours, and based him up the same as the British. I have a vague plan to paint up the spare Orks (and, ahem, the few ones I have bought from e-bay recently) to act as a foe to the British. Also, like the solid bases Gnolls/Goblins, I wanted to paint up a few of these miniatures to on a more releastic paint scheme and on an individual basis. 

Next update will be more of The Secrets of the Third Reich British, including a Warlord Games Sherman Firefly I bought yesterday and glued together this afternoon. 
I will be getting back to painting Goblins in about a month or so. 

12 comments:

  1. Hey, those look nice! Lovely batch you got there :) Besides, the Ork addition is simply genius, so much potential! :D

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    1. Thank you Suber,
      I have had fun painting them so far. I thought the Orks would make a great thematic foe for the Weird War British as maybe allies to the NAZI's, perhaps due to some secret space and/or temporal project!?

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  2. Good stuff, I always like seeing WWW2 stuff.. Not that I own any.. well yet heh.

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    1. Thank you Chico.
      It's an interesting genre, and I have always wanted to get some of the miniatures. I like the post apocalyptic aspect to the British miniatures as they also have dash of World War One and early Cold War gone 'Hot' feel to them.

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  3. Strangely the monotone colour on the Orc armour brings out the detail. Love it!

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    1. You're right, it does bring out a lot of the details of the sculpt.
      Like all the RT202 Space Orks in Power Armour they are really detailed and have great depth and layers to them. I can recommend picking up some if you can, they are fun to paint.
      Glad you like him.

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  4. I'd really like to see them against your orks painted in a similar style, that could be an awsome IG Vs orks on a very grim environment !

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    1. I have the idea of Weird War Two British stalking the ruins of a war torn Europe fighting Space Orks working for the Wehrmacht/SS via some sort of space/temporal rift. Almost akin to the Paranoia/40k scenario 'Vulture Warriors from Dimension X meet plenty of Cheerful Orks with Plasma Cannon' but in the 1940's.
      They look quite good on the 30mm bases, I think it gives the power armoured Orks more presence, and gives more more space on the base to add things. :)

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  5. A great looking force! Your machine gun team looks especially tasty I've been keen to do some pulp WW2 for some time, and I've bought a few of Bob Murch's figures. They are mostly inter-war/early war which is the period I think I'll end up pursuing. Still, you make these extended war British look awfully tempting...

    Many, MANY years ago, there was a DRAGON magazine article that worked with the idea of a party of German soldiers on the eastern front tumbling through a wormhole and coming out somewhere in Gygax country where they were swiftly set upon by a chaotic wizard and his minions. I recommend it. I read it when I was a little kid and was always inspired by the idea and wanted to do something like it, but sadly its one of those ideas that has just gathered dust. Still got the idea tucked away in the back of my head, though. Someday...

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    1. Thank you,
      I really like the machine gun as well. It has that mix of World War One and Two about it. I think the barbed wire helps with the overall look too.

      Interwar Pulp is a great Genre, and some of the miniatures are very characterful. Sounds like a great project. You could also use some of the West Wind miniatures for special missions?

      I like the sound of that DRAGON magazine article. There's a lot of fun to be had with the occasional crossover/wormhole clash. I always wanted to pit historical armies against fantasy ones using a mix of Warhamer Fantasy and Historical rules.

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  6. Nice stuff Mr Lee
    I've not seen this line painted up before and I think you've definitely done the line justice.
    I love the magazine fed mortar and I will definitely be using that figure for my mole mortar should I ever reach #8 on my list of things to do! (Imperial guard)
    The subtlety of your ork paintjob is something I hope more people take a few notes from, the neon orks although old school need to stay in the 90's, perhaps the subtle style don't pop as much on the battlefield but I do believe they look much better en masse.
    I'm rambling. Again, great stuff.

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    1. Thank you Mr Cigarettes, glad you like them.

      I had'nt seen any of them painted up before either, other than on the website. I always wanted to give them a try, and I think they paint up well. I thought the mortar looked unusual, never considered using it as a Mole Mortar, good idea.

      I always preferred the more subtle paint schemes for Orks, and was never keen on the bright 1990's stuff. I went for the historical look for this Ork, and it seems to bring out the depth of the Power Armour more.

      You're right in that the more subtle doesn't stand out too much, but I plan that's where the bases and little bits of detailing will help. Contrasting the dull grey with the green (albeit more olive toned) Ork skin will hopefully provide a contrast and focus for the miniature.

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