The Weird WWII Miniatures Showcase

While there are no Weird War miniatures being made at the present for the Japanese Empire, this showcase aims to offer some suggestions on miniatures that can be added to historical WW2 Japanese to make the transition into Alternative WW2. This could be chemically enhanced or drugged supertroopers, special ninja operatives (what is more pulp than that after all), geisha spies, enchanted samurai armour or ritually summoned Oni (demons).

The Sumatori from the Urban War range look like gasmask wearing, enhanced supersoldiers that, with the right paintjob, fit in just as well in a Pacific-based Weird War II setting.

Ninja make great spies/assassins/special agents for a pulp setting. You can use them as is, or convert them using TAG's WWII Japanese weapon packs to add bits of equipment to tie them in with your regular infantry (sniper rifles, grenades, etc...). To give an example, my own collection has the third guy from the right throwing a TAG grenade, with a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder, while the second one from the right is now holding a Japanese pistol. You can also paint them in Japanese uniform colours for evengreater effect.

As with the above figures, Black Hat's Samurai range hassome ninja's that can be drafted into your Weird WW2 Japan forces.

Sculpted to a high standard by Kev White, the Hasslefree range includes a line of Martial artists that can provide some non-uniformed characters for your Weird Japan games.

Slim 28mm figures sculpted by Bob Charvette , Parroom Station has a "Heroes of Nippon" line that naturally includes some more ninja.

Amazon's Martial Arts range has male and female ninja and several Sumo Mek Robots (so some real "pulp" after all). With the proper paintscheme, the kendo warriors might make a fine alternative to the ninja's, the kendo armour being more modern than traditional samurai armour. There are some oriental demons as well in the "Samurai Demon" range.

- A Sumo Mek Robot with assistant:

- Kendo swordsmen:

OOP for some time now, we are still waiting for Magnificent Egos to make good on their promise to re-release the figures. The Oni (demon) figures would be particularly useful for Weird Japan games. Pictures were taken from this excellent resource on the Clan War range: http://www.plansofmice.co.uk/clanwar/figures.htm.

The US manufacturer of dozens of ranges. The Samurai range naturally has some Ninja's. The Samurai range is one of the better looking Old Glory ranges:

The above suggestions are just a few ideas to get you going. The various samurai-themed ranges can yield more models for you to use or convert. A quick list here:

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

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Naturally, any free samples you might provide would greatly aid us to form a documented opinion.