The Weird WWII Miniatures Showcase: Amazing Weapons

West Wind's latest range is a line of WWII Mecha's and superweapons, entitled ''Secrets of the Third Reich''. The idea is take WWII a step further, and add in some SuperScience. Aside from the mechs there are other secret weapons like the Volkskrad or some fictional tanks. West Wind's SOTTR is thé most rapidly growing 28mm Weird WW2 range, with monthly new releases and a dedicated ruleset scheduled for release in 2008. Visit the SOTTR forums for more info, including previews of unreleased models and inspiring conversions.

American Walker (Painted by Agis Neugebauer) and converted British walker by Jim Bailey:

Check out the SOTTR forums for many more awesome paintjobs and conversions on these, most notably Jim Bailey's (who insisted that I put these on here) :

A new pre-painted plastic range using the AT-43 rules and format. Two previews of some upcoming German and US walker models were shown for this prepainted Weird WWII game.

A pre-cursor to the prepainted range, this DUST German walker Gunther is actually a 1/35 scale kit, but as this is Weird War II, the scale doesn't mean all that much and it works well enough as a large 28mm walker:

For an idea on scale, check out Pappa Midnight's buildup. Many more pictures of the finished (painted) item and other WWW2 models on his excellent site:

Rackham's new scifi-game AT-43 has a wide range of prepainted plastic miniatures. While the infantry figures are a bit too sf, the Red Blok faction (Russians) offers some really nice walkers with a blocky, retro feel that would work. Especially the Spetsnatz Kollossus with twin flamethrowers (or the Strielitz version with a flamethrower and a gun) can easily be imagined as a zombie clean-up unit.

While mainly making a great range of 1/56th "regular" WW2 wargaming models, Brent is currently working on a 28mm Stuart Walker model. Some WIP shots of this model can be seen on the Lead Adventure Forum, though some work remains to be done. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

This Japanese toy company released a range of fit to the box prepainted plastic Amazing Weapons of WW2 (or just after WW2), which includes a 1/50 scale version of the VZ-1 Flying Platform developped by Hiller. The prototype wasn't built until after the war, but the concept was developped in the late 40's, so it's not much of a stress to add this to an alternative WW2 setting. Takara is gone, but there are plenty of these to be found on ebay for cheap (or for not so cheap, but you should really go for the cheap ones, it only makes sense).

A quick and blurry scale comparison with 28mm here. I made a test fit with BTD, BAM, Pulp figures, Artizan and West Wind figures on the platform and they all fit (provided of course they're not standing widespread or holding a big gun):

Huma Modell is a German model manufacturer who made a 1/48 plastic kit of the German Flettner Kolibri, a small German helicopter that will look right at ease in a WWW2 setting.

You can see a picture here of a what can be achieved with this model and a few appropriate 28mm figures: an excellent conversion by Jim Bailey using West Wind's mechgrenadier vehicle crew figures. More pictures here on the Secrets Of The Third Reich forums.

Technically, this one's Anime-based scifi, but the retro look of the Crab gunner (also called "dromedin") and Tequila gunner models make them suitable as a titanic walker for the Weird WW2. Make sure you get the 1/48 scale version and not the smaller 1/72 (although given the size, it would probably work too if you replaced the turret). The difference between both models is that the Tequila Gunner has an additional platform on the sides to put troops on.

Credit for realising this model's potential as a WWW2 walker goes to Pappa Midnight (visit his site for a look at some stunning WWW2 models). He also supplied this scale comparison of the assembled crab gunner and a 28mm figure:

Another popular item with Weird WW2 gamers are the 1/35th scale armoured suits from the MA.K range. They seem a bit large to me, but I've seen other people make them work, so I include them here. OOP of course, like most of those Asian toys by the time wargamers realise their potential.

Don't forget to visit the WWII Showcase for even more WWII miniatures and the Pulp Era Showcase for some generic pulp miniatures.

If you want to share your comments or feel that I left out a company that should be listed or if you represent a company that was left out or whose products didn't get the credit and appreciation they deserve, feel free to contact me on the FU-UK! Froth Forums or directly by clicking here.
Naturally, any free samples you might provide would greatly aid us to form a documented opinion.