We're Going Back to the Future!

OK so you're probably wondering what direction this blog is going to take now I've sold my 15mm Sci Fi collection. Well I still plan to finish my Oldhammer Dark Elves and possibly some supporting Chaos Allies, but that won't be the sole focus of the blog. I love 15mm, and sci fi too much. So... *drum roll* my next project will be two smallish, Soviet and German, late World War Two forces based for use in rule sets such a Battlegroup Panzer-Grenadier, Crossfire and Battlefront WW2.

To supplement these (historically accurate!) forces I plan to paint up some 15mm Weird World War 2 add-ons including Soviet and German golden age super heroes, "what if" 1946 tanks and armoured vehicles, pulpy "super science" walkers, weapons and armoured infantry and maybe even some occult stuff such as zombies and werewolves, etc. although I'm less interested in the latter.

Here's the start of a 15mm Weird World War 2 manufacturers directory which I'll update periodically:

• Peter Pig produces the Maus, Kugelblitz, Panther F and Panther G + Infra Red as well as some excellent late war infantry. Martin's sculpting has got better and better over the years. His new late war Germans are excellent and I really hope he finds time to update and expand his WW2 Soviets. Until then I'll be using Battlefront / Flames of War Soviets purchased on ebay.
• Skytrex don't have anything particularly Weird War 2 but do produce the nice range of  Command Decision metal vehicles, equipment and miniatures in the UK (this range is produced by Old Glory in the USA).
• Battlefront / Flames of War. Some of the sculpting and quality control is decidedly ropey, but they do some infantry (Soviet, German, etc) which is ideal for late WW2 and WWW2. Particularly nice are the Soviets with camo suits and body armour.  They also produced some (now out of production) "Mid-War Monster" 'funnies' which wouldn't look out of place in WWW2.
• Gear Kreig by Dream Pod 9. 15mm World War 2 'Super Science' with stompy mechs with the destructive power of a light tank or scout car. The rules use a DP9 system developed for Heavy Gear. I'm going to develop my own rules or use them as proxies for something else. The range hasn't had much love from Dream Pod 9 but the talented Agis Neugebauer has been developing rules for his system and painting some very nice gears.  Gear Kreig is set in the early to mid war period but there's no reason why gear couldn't be used in the later war period or with the appropriate paint job. See Agis stuff here.
• Eureka Miniatures have some nice Sci Fi Germans. These almost certainly saw the light of day due to the tireless enthusiasm of TMPer and fellow Blogger Eli. These will definitely find their way into my WWW2 project at some point.
• Khurasan Miniatures is producing a range of "KarkPanzers" such as the Karkwagon and forthcoming WW2-inspired Karkpanzers.
• Clock Work Goblin Minis are new company with computer-designed WWW2 vehicles and figures. I especially like the look of their US armoured infantry (I can see them being used in my WWW2 project as Soviets). They also have some nice looking German zombies. I'm not so keen on some of their German walkers - I feel they lack a certain "German WW2 design aesthetic" which the Gear Krieg stuff does capture. They've previewed lots of pictures on various forums but only a few things have appeared for sale on their website to date.
• Heer 46 by blogger and nice guy Denis has some lovely computer designed "paper panzers" such as the E series vehicles in metal and resin. I definitely plan to get myself some of these!
• Old Glory US produce some nice 15mm "Golded Age" Supers for the Goal System-based Supersystem. These are perfect for super heroes fighting in WWW2!
• Rebel Minis also have some nice 15mm Supers sculpted by the very talented PF but most of these look a little too more "modern" for my purposes. Rebel Minis also has some WWW2 nazi zombies and whilst I don't currently plan to make the undead a major part of my WWW2 project, I may buy a small number of these.
• Forged in Battle produce a range of 1946 vehicles such as the Katzchen, E50, Coelion, E100, Maus, T44, Uralmarsh and, of course the totally insane, Pz1000 Ratte!

There are, of course, various 1-to-1 scale skirmish rule sets covering WW2 but none covering larger scale (company to a battalion) sized engagements. The rule sets available include: Incursion, Secrets of the Third Reich, AE-WW2, NUTS - War With Out End and Dust Tactics by Fantasy Flight Games.

In addition it's worth checking out some of Mark's early Dropship Horizon posts with WWW2 and Weird WW2 tags for some ideas.