For Imperial Conquests:
Any of these would nicely augment the Boxer box set and the upcoming WGA Japanese box set. I favor the Guardsman of the Imperial Guardsman as the most "elite" and colorful.
Monthly Themes Suggestions
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For the Great War - Sturmtruppen bodies festooned with grenades and grenade bags for use with the plastic WGA WW1 German arms and heads.
Underarm grenade bags:
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For World Ablaze (WW2) - perhaps Brandenburgers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburgers
The minis could be distinguished from normal German troops by specialized equipment:
Or perhaps could be modeled in Russian uniforms with some German weapons.
https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/58250/02-hundred-hours
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Just occurred to me that another great choice for the World Ablaze elites would be a Jedburgh team.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jedburgh
Would work great along side WGA's plastic French Resistance and SAS.
The "classic" look is British uniforms with American weapons.
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Model some of the Jedburgh minis with this rare arm:
The UD M.'42.
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-ud-m-42-america-s-clandestine-submachine-gun/
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So on the little matrix for theme "Elites" I wrote "Italian Elite Unit" as there are a LOT of choices:
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Theme "Elites" General Accoutrements:
Beret heads.
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Any augmentation/expansion bits for the Panzer Lehr plastics would count for the "Elites" theme as well.
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I think this one is rather clever - monthly theme "Wings":
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"Wings" for Death Fields.
Any expansion/weapons for the bound to be popular Valkyries.
Add on bio wings for plastic Harvesters.
Or perhaps rocket packs/bodies to augment the plastic Raumsjager.
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"Wings" for Classic Fantasy.
Birdmen or Hawkmen or some such.
Merica!!!
Skulls with winged helmets for the plastic WGA Skeleton kit.
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"Wings" for First Empires.
Icarus:
Hermes (maybe in 54mm...he is a god after all):
Lamassu (either as a terrain piece or a monster):
(Both would be nice too ;) )
"Wings" for Decline and Fall:
Aquilifier with Eagle.
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"Wings" for Blood Oaths.
Teutonic Knights with winged helmets.
Include some more historical accurate/common helmets for the kill joys ;)
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Or maybe a Celtic Warrior with perhaps the most famous Celtic helmet:
I actually saw the helmet and photographed it in Bucharest this summer:
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Or "Opera" Vikings:
Or a "Blood Eagle" vignette. I think it would be poor taste, but we already have a guillotine and Aztec human sacrifice vignette so there's precedent.
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"Wings" theme for the Renaissance.
Hungarian Hussars with winged shields:
Or perhaps Polish Winged Hussars:
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I like wings as an idea. General Accoutrements could have just accessory wings - Bat Wings, Bird Wings and maybe butterfly ones.
Any air force types would count. WW1 and WW2 aviators; Balloon corps for Imperial Conquests.
Napoleonic French could have Eagles. Maybe a vignette of one being captured, since every Napoleonic French kit already has them.
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@Mark Dewis
Ah, I was saving the Eagle capture vignette for the theme colors:
Good idea for the General Accoutrements.
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Wings: For Imperial Conquests I was thinking
an entire balloon.
I have an issue of Wargames Illustrated with rules for an observation balloon "floating" around somewhere. I will try and find it.
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Bouncing back to the Renaissance. For "Wings" possibly not-Birdmen of Catrazza.
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"Wings" for WW1...
Downed pilot. Makes a great objective. Got to rescue/capture the pilot out of no man's land.
Posed a bit like this WW2 downed pilot mini perhaps:
(Gray for Now Games).
If a crashed biplane terrain piece STL was included than all the better.
https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/74308/crashed-aircraft-terrain
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"Wings" for WW2:
Perhaps British Glider Pilots?
This probably most famous picture from Arnhem is supposedly British Glider Pilots.
British Glider Pilots were given some Infantry training and expected to fight until link up.
Otherwise one could do American, Common Wealth, or German glider borne Infantry.
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Alternatively one could do Paras. Spoilt for choice here.
But perhaps Italian Paras to compliment the WGA plastic Italian Infantry.
Plus the "Samurai Vests" are baller.
Additionally the carbines would be useful for representing Bersaglieri with the plastics.
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The US Army Air Force provided pilots to serve as Forward Air Controllers with ground formation and direct close air support. Would make a unique mini. I'm sure some of them would have retained their flight jackets.
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"Wings" for General Accoutrements:
Jetpacks and wings.
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@JTam Effectively, at least for some, an italian paras' sprue would be interesting, they'd the only real pre-'43 modern italian uniform, and were intended to attack Malta, but were instead send in NA, and were destroyed at El-Alamein, pratically, contrary to their german/allied counterparts, never had the opportunity to fight in their supposed role.
@JTam A sprue with Teutonics' knights conversion would be welcome, there are a lot of plastic medieval knights that could be used for base, but if I remember there are some boxes of them from Fireforge Games either knights and infantry.
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@Alessio De Carolis
These were mostly ideas for STLs. But of course plastic would be better.
The RSI paratroopers also saw a lot of hard combat.
(Above photo supposedly taken at Monte Cassino fighting).
The only real difference in uniform that I can see between the RIA and RSI Paras (when smock is worn) is the turtleneck.
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@Alessio De Carolis Correct my friend but WA would be more refined "Hey my friend".
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@JTam A true master piece my "Brother" I think you got in just about every thing love the Dogs and the Peggggines. The whole post is just style. I`m sorry to say that I`ve not yet been able to acsess the Huey photos yet on your muesem visits post , either this machines on it`s way out (possible it is 15 years old). Yet it was made particullary for Eileen and myself by a friend john. Or the sites playing up also likely judeing frrrrom the state of my PM`s which one day I can get to the next "It`s Dead Jim". Take care Tam hope you and the family are fine, and "Sweet Girl" is twisting Dad round her little finger . Love Geoff.
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@Geoff Maybury
Thanks Brother!
The family is well. Sweet Girl is indeed the boss :)
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Wanted to post while it's fresh in my brain, but will add more detail after work
Irregulars/Militia/Gangsters.
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His cleaver and blade demand attention. But his hat is ridiculous. It's hard to process.
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@Miyuso
This is an interesting idea for a theme. Where you going to elaborate on it further?
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@Miyuso Well, these hats were on fashion at least until ACW, so they could be useful for alternate history/steampunk/alternate fantasy scenarios, plus Billy the Butcher was really one of the scariest villains in movies' history, so having him as an adversary could be...interesting!
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@JTam I was, got sick, then forgot to come back to this post. I'll try and have more up soon.
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Monthly theme idea "Colors":
Death Fields - Based on social media, the painting and modeling section of this forum, and the release of the second kit the "Rebel Yell" miniatures are popular.
A standard bearer fits the Rebel Yell well.
Would like to see a pose with the colors in one hand and a pistol in the other.
The one handed pistol arm would be a very useful addition to the Rebel Yell line.
The current two handed pistol arms don't really fit the Civil War theme and what's worse the miniatures are doing the dreaded tea cup.
Tea cupping is only permissable if you are a member of Charlie's Angels.
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Classic Fantasy - A standard bearer(s) for the WGA plastic skeleton kit.
Maybe one Greek themed, and maybe one a homage to this absolute CLASSIC!:
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Theme "Colors" for First Empires - Persian Standard Bearers.
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Theme "Colors" for Imperial Conquests.
I've rethought this one.
Probably the best choice is a Boxer standard bearer to augment the existing plastic kit.
After that perhaps standard bearers to augment the upcoming plastic Japanese Infantry or Bavarians.
An outlier choice would be Calvin Pearl Titus:
He'd also make an excellent choice for the April theme of Forlorne Hopes.
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Theme "Colors" for the Napoleonic Wars.
A vignette of an Eagle being captured. One featuring Riflemen would tie in nicely with WGA's plastic Rifleman kit.
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Theme "Colors" for WW2.
Perhaps a resistance member with flag.
I can easily see a resistance member bearing a flag either in celebration or as identification when approaching an Allied column.
Otherwise perhaps a vignette of this famous picture:
WGA can decide how many wrist watches/wrist compasses to give the stabilizing Soldier.
Or a vignette of:
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I think the theme of "Colors" would be a really good one for two reasons at this point.
1. Standard bearers are a super useful addition to almost any army. (A lot of current WGA digital releases right now fall into neat, but only possibly situationally useful to a gamer).
2. This would be a mini or two per category with maybe two vignettes (or less). This would be low hanging fruit and let WGA catch up with the monthly release schedule.
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Here's two different theme ideas with such overlap I'll present them together as either/or:
"FIRST WE DIG 'EM, THEN WE DIE IN 'EM!"
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Theme Subterranean, Death Fields:
Ye Old Mole Mortar.
The Einherjar seem like a prime choice to wield it.
Or perhaps the set could be the weapon system with multiple arms so most of the Death Fields factions could take it.
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Theme Subterranean, Classic Fantasy:
Perhaps Troglodytes
And/or Morlocks
Alternatively, perhaps skeletons emerging from the ground to compliment the WGA plastic skeleton kit.
Alternatively maybe Mole-Men. Why? Why not.
Could be fun -
Or scary -
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With the caveat that I'm not likely to be a regular digital customer, I do enjoy the themes, and think that much of the digital content is wonderfully imaginitive, original, and different! With that in mind, some themes that occured to me, some of them appearing already in the suggestions from others:
- Command and Control - seems like there's usually some concession in the plastic kits for an officer and standard-bearer type, but the digital options seem like a great place to really shine with this sort of thing, with WGA already having some historical generals and the like appearing as digital products... the fantasy and sci-fi sets could enjoy something of this sort, I think - captains, admirals, kings, emperors, and so on. Also, radio operators and other signalmen, messengers, cartographers, and all those other sorts who act as the glue to help hold an army and its battleplan together.
- Legends: Heroes and Superheroes, Villains and Supervillains - Did I ever mention I'm a fan of pulp-style sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and adventure? (Probably every other message....) I think there's hardly a period of history or subgenre of genre fiction that this theme couldn't cover with pulp options alone, and that would certainly be fun, but history also has its legendary heroes (or villains, depending on which side of the battlefield you're on) - the Red Baron or Sergeant York, for just a couple historical ideas. And they need not be any particular historical figure - I think that any tabletop army could find a place for an Unknown Soldier in a particularly dramatic, heroic, or inspiring pose or situation! (Less noble characters might be a harder sell, but no doubt every army has also been home to scalawags and scoundrels ranging from deserters to criminals to Sergeant SNAFU type goof-offs and slackers - delicately handled, these sorts of characters might also add some interesting texture to an otherwise uniform tabletop army....) And then, of course, pulp superheroes and villains for various Wargames Atlantic product lines would naturally also be fun....
- Wunder-Weapons and Weird Weapons of War - Another pulp-friendly option, but no doubt one that could have its fans even among historical gamers: every modern war at least has had its share of weird weapons of war, some of which would go on to play a big part in transforming the face of military tech, and others which were perhaps a little too ambitious and speculative for their own good... even classical history has had its Greek Fire and Archimedes' Mirrors! Almost any big historical army might have its own little one-off experiments that would make the uninitiated pause, double-take, and say "what on earth is THAT?" The American Revolution had its "Turtle" and "Puckle Gun", for example, which never really caught on as any great success, but no doubt looked futuristic for their time, and would in time be ideas that would be implemented in a more practical and successful way once technology, research, development, manufacturing, and materials caught up with them. These sorts of weapons, while hardly historically accurate for arming more than a couple soldiers from boxed historical tabletop armies, would be fun to kitbash onto Deathfields figures!
- Crime and Crimefighters - I ordered in a couple sets of the 3D-printed Victorian policemen, and htey finally arrived a couple weeks ago - they're perfect, and will be a lot of fun to find uses for! I think they'll find themselves into a Weird Western idea first, and probably some gaslight and jazz-age Cthulhu gaming as well. I'd love to see more of that sort of thing for various eras: police and firefighters, military police, guards and security, along with some criminals to oppose - the most obvious use for this sort of thing is in post-apocalyptic gaming, including zombie apocalypse games, but I'm sure that creative gamers can think of other uses, too.
- Man's Best Friend - I know this one was featured in someone else's post above, but just wanted to add that it's a great idea: the doggos in the Dark Age Irish set were a fantastic addition to that set, and the ones in the German sentries kit ought to be fun as well... they might not suit every boxed set as something to include on a sprue, but I doubt there has been any historical war that dogs haven't found themselves a part of in some humble but vital way, and dogs and dog handlers for a monthly theme would be fantastic... not to mention the other animals which have found their way into battles as messengers (such as carrier pigeons), companions, draft animals and beasts of burden, the foundation for cavalry, rescue animals, guard animals, and more. And for the sci-fi and fantasy topics, the possibilities are endless, from robot "mules" and "dogs", to cyborg sidekicks, to weird alien attack beasts, and more.
- Spies, Saboteurs, Snipers, and Specialists - Not a whole lot of explanation needed for this. Snipers in ghillie suits might be a fine subject for a small digital set of 3-5 characters, for example. Mines and mine detectors are a possibility here, and I suspect that history has lots of room for distinctive special forces that would have at least niche interest.
- Chaplains and Corpsmen - Somewhat inspired by the great-looking digital set of nurses and doctors, and also by the cultists theme: I see corpses and casualties as a common enough request, but I don't often see requests for the battlefield medics to try to save them, or the priests to offer their last rites, inspire hope, or offer comfort, though both healers and priests have been a common sight on battlefields since ancient times. Sometimes these characters have distinctive and interesting costumes to model, but even when their uniforms are almost identical to those of rank-and-file soldiers, there's room for some distinctive poses and equipment options. (And, naturally, the sky is the limit for Death Fields and Classic Fantasy!)
I think there were some others I'd meant to include, but that went longer than I expected, so I'll stop here.
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@Yronimos Whateley
I had no knowledge of the Puckle Gun. Thanks for sharing that.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puckle_gun
The Wiki article needs some work. "There may have been as few as only 2 actually built". Later in the article it talks about the 4 surviving authentic Puckle guns you can still see today.
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@Yronimos Whateley
The Chaplains and Corpsmen idea is a good one. Always been healers/surgeons/medics and Priests about when it comes time to make war.
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For the " Seadogs" themed World Ablaze set, since every nation's marines, Japanese SNLF, and Kreigsmariner already have plenty of plastic options, how about a US Navy gun crew with a mounted M2, Oerlikon, or Bofors? A big gun, but not so big as to be unusuable outside its explicit role or a crazy number of parts, plus some crew (who could have a variety of interesting uniform options). It would also be an excuse to include the "Talker" helmet, which a certain internationally famous sci-fi franchise used entirely unmodified except a paint job.
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@Nanashi Anon
Nice idea.
The Oerlikon cannon seems about the right size.
It got around so it could come with a Commonwealth crew as well.
Although to the very best of my knowledge neither Kreigsmarine or Soviet Naval Infantry or Italian Marines have plastic kits.
The plastic Japanese SNLF is a hybrid kit with metal heads and gas mask bits.
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