Weird WWI American HOTT Army

[Terry37]

My Weird WWI American HOTT army is finished. It's based on the books by Joseph Nassise  "The Great Undead War" series, so some of the figures are aimed at representing characters in the story. It was a fun army to do, and I am pleased with how it turned out. All of the figures are Peter Pig British, painted to be Americans, except the Shooter element. Oh, and one is a converted Peter Pig cowboy figure. The Behemoth and the Beast elements are from Pendraken, both with some modifications, and the Flier is an old Sktrex 1:300 SPAD I got back in the '80s.


Here's Burke himself leading his men on their critical mission. At this angle you can't see Burkes mechanical steel left hand or Sgt. Moore's Thompson SMG, both as described in the story. Dr. Graves is a fellow scientist under Tesla, and his un-camouflaged helmet exemplifies is lack of time in the field. I know few American helmets were camouflaged during the war, most being done in 1919 after the armistice, but since this story takes place in 1921, I felt camouflaged helmets were quite appropriate.


The Queen of Battle – the Doughboy, the Foot Slogger or the Grunt, they all say the same thing – these are the guys who bore the brunt of the battle. My army has two elements of them. The first is Captain Burke's Regiment, the 316th, part of the 81st  "Wildcat" Division, and the second is a unit I have for a long time been anxious to paint up – the 369th of the 93rd Division – The Harlem Hellfighters. True in that time the Americans did not want black soldiers fighting with them, so they sent them overseas to fight with the French. The French were more than happy about that, and as was their way, accepted them as any other soldier. However, again it is 1921 and the war has dragged on for 7 years now, so the Americans have long since given up on being so biased and has welcomed them back into their ranks. As a foot note, the men of all the regiments of the 93rd Division, had a remarkable fighting record in the war.


Again, going from the book, the element of British Shooters is right out of the story. However, it does not indentify the Regiment or Division, so I picked a favorite of mine – the King's Royal Rifle Corps, who were part of the British 8th Division, as indicated by the red square on the shoulders and helmets. My plan was to paint these as an Australian unit, in honor of a friends great-grandfather who was KIA, but had not heard back with the details in time to do so – but I plan to do a second element that will be his great-grandfathers (the difference being the shoulder and helmet insignia). The Lurker is another of Burkes men, Pvt. Jones, who was an excellent shot, so representing him as a sniper seemed appropriate. His helmet is the only camouflaged one that was probably done during the war. (note: all the helmets are modeled after photos of real helmets or ones I've seen in person).


Sorry for the blurry photo – my camera focused on the dirt around the shell crater instead of the gun.  This is the "Suitcase" gun created based on the fairly good description in the story.


The heavy hitters of the army – the Packard MkI Walker (Behemoth) and the French built FT17 Tank (Beast). I really had fun doing these two, and am more than please with how they turned out. You can see the FT17 is breaking through the German wire!


Major "Jack" Freeman in his SPAD XIII flying low over the lines so the troops in the trenches can see the Jack of Spades on the underside of his wigs. This was another really fun element to do, first with the official  US 1920/21 camouflage scheme, but also in creating the shattered terrain and farm on the base.


I've not done the Stronghold yet, but can give you an idea of the plan for it. I am starting on it now and will update this thread when it's done.

I'll close saying that painting the British WWI fellows as Americans worked out fine, and although some of the web gear is different at 15 MM scale it isn't that big of a deal. I also loved working with the Pendraken models as they are perfect for a 15 MM HOTT army in that they fit the bases so nicely, and are still large enough to work from a visual perspective. Not to mention the excellent detail I think they have. Lastly,  I also have to mention the great custom decals made by Kevin Hammond of Miscellaneous Miniatures. These really added the special touch look to the models.

Now it's on to the Germans to oppose these guys and then let the slugfest begin!

Terry

[fred.]

Cool army Terry, really like the way you have worked in so many details into them and their back story

[Womble67]

Very nice indeed

Take care

Andy

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Top work and ideas

[lowlylowlycook]

Yeah, lots of love went into these little guys.  Very cool.

[d_Guy]

Very entertaining, Terry. It's great to see a HOTT army assembled element by element and how the backstory puts it all together. Seeing the walker and the tank (from the other threads) in context is great. Wonderful basing. Look forward to the Germans.

[Techno]

Great stuff, Terry !

Cheers - Phil.