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Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: former user on 07 March 2010, 06:11:45 PM

Title: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 07 March 2010, 06:11:45 PM
Hi
so, I found the Pulp Zeppelin Troopen with Gasmask
(http://www.pulpfigures.com/catalog/pgs23.jpg)
(http://www.pulpfigures.com/catalog/pgs24.jpg)
and the Artizan Nachtjager
(http://www.artizandesigns.com/images/img1613.jpg)
(http://www.artizandesigns.com/images/plp031.jpg)(http://www.artizandesigns.com/images/plp036.jpg)(http://www.artizandesigns.com/images/plp037.jpg)
to fit together quite well, so I bought them

OK, the weapons are a few Years apart, but never mind
However, I lack a bit of inspiration how to paint them.
I've seen Agis' Version,
(http://www.agisn.de/assets/images/NJ_Group2.jpg)
 but I am looking for something else

any ideas, pics or other inspiration please?
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: answer_is_42 on 07 March 2010, 08:02:10 PM
Do you have a Zeppelin to drop them from?

Is there any evidence of German (or anyone else, for that matter) troops attacking from airships? Was the idea ever brought up?
'twould be interesting to know.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Westfalia Chris on 07 March 2010, 08:21:17 PM
Is there any evidence of German (or anyone else, for that matter) troops attacking from airships? Was the idea ever brought up?
'twould be interesting to know.

Not historically AFAIK, but the 1971 movie "Zeppelin" is based on that premise.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 07 March 2010, 09:19:12 PM
OK, so
didn't know that one - "Zeppelin"
there are Drop troops in "Rocketeer", but with Gebirgsjäger uniform.

I never intended this to be historical in any way, they will not be "Germans" but anarchist Freikorps from Germany.

I have to Zeppelin Bodies that will be made into Blimps, and I intend to build a 84 cm long battlecruiser with attachable underside to make it an Aeroneff, for which I already have the revell flower class corvette kit in 1/72.

so, any inspiration for the uniforms?
I also have the other Zeppelin troopres from Pulp Figures, but these will be "regulars"
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Plynkes on 07 March 2010, 09:28:48 PM
Black with red bits (cuffs, gloves, piping, etc.) if they are Anarchists.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 07 March 2010, 09:51:06 PM
well, this would be obvious of course, and I thought about that, but, well, not really a war-uniform

maybe black facings and red piping?

I've seen a version of regulars without helmets and gasmasks, with a glossy shiny blackish overall and brownish equipment, but this would be to "raygun gothic" although they looked quite nice.
Also, I need to consider some two-part uniform because of the helmets and the trench armour and knee-pads.

maybe WWI camouflage on the armour and anthracite-grey for the jumpsuit?
there was french camouflage in WWI too, but I've never seen any pictures

I will also replace the bases with removable ones of wood planking for the deck, the original ones are too thick.
I also thought of replacing the jetpacks with a hook to suspend them on dropropes for "abseiling"
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Red Orc on 07 March 2010, 11:19:28 PM
...

I never intended this to be historical in any way, they will not be "Germans" but anarchist Freikorps from Germany.

...

Not trying to be deliberately obtuse here, and I see that you have put "never intended this to be historical in any way" and I understand what that means, honest, but... what on earth could "Anarchist Freikorps" mean?

The Freikorps were demobbed soldiers who fought the Bolsheviks in the Baltic States before coming back to Germany and helping the Socialists put down the workers' uprisings in Berlin and Munich; they had very right wing sympathies, and I believe were an influence on the Nazis, who adopted the Swastika from them.

Anarchists supported the Russian Revolution and the German workers' risings, and mostly were shot by the very same Freikorps that massacred the Communists. How can some people - 'Anarchist Freikorps' - be both a group, and another group implacably opposed to themselves?

Even if you just mean 'Anarchist mercenaries' that doesn't really work either, as Anarchists tend to favour neither money, nor war...

I'm sorry former user, I really don't understand.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Westfalia Chris on 08 March 2010, 12:59:56 AM
"Anarchist Freikorps"! My, they will be at each other's throats faster than the Judaean Popular Front! lol

Anarchist Zeppelin Militia. Now that might be one way to set them up.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Wirelizard on 08 March 2010, 04:07:33 AM
"Anarchist Freikorps"! My, they will be at each other's throats faster than the Judaean Popular Front! lol

Anarchist Zeppelin Militia. Now that might be one way to set them up.

Organized anarchists. In uniforms, yet! Very pulpy, I like it!  :)

The PF Zepptruppen are awesome figures; a friend bought the whole line when we got into pulp a few years back. They've appeared in a number of our games, frequently facing off with my PF Gyro Raiders and other flyers!

I like the thought of black uniforms with red trim & piping, and perhaps some late-WW1 style German camo accents. Regardless of what the faction winds up being called, that sounds like an awesome uniform.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Mr.Dodo on 08 March 2010, 09:34:35 AM
Red uniforms put me in mind of the old Cobra action figures for G.I Joe!
 I love these figures, and have painted them pretty much as WW1 troops. By coincidence I found a copy of Zeppelin! this weekend for 50p. Indeed, they are basically used as paras and even use gas masks as they gas a secret complex beneath a ruined Scottish castle. The Pulp figures are actually a lot cooler and have more smg's, which the guys in the film frankly could have done with! As Zeppelins are notoriously difficult to use I'm planning to use mine on a flying sky base, attacked by rocket troops.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Red Orc on 08 March 2010, 09:43:53 AM
"Anarchist Freikorps"! My, they will be at each other's throats faster than the Judaean Popular Front! lol...

"I thought we were the Popular Front."

"People's Front!"... "Splitter!"

etc.


Anarchist Zeppelin Militia. Now that might be one way to set them up.

Yeah, I understand that... these words make sense (well, a bit of sense!) when you put them together... even Anarchist Zeppelin Commandos or something. I can grasp the notion of a crack Anarchist assault team using a Zeppelin. Probably shouldn't worry too much about uniforms though!
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Poliorketes on 08 March 2010, 10:57:14 AM
Zeppelin Assault would be the craziest kind of suicide imaginable - the germans had no access to Helium (the US being the only nation up to WW2) and used Hydrogenium instead - Zeppellins being flying bombs. Remember the Hindenburg?

But as this is pulp us germans for sure found some way to produce synthetic Helium :D
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Red Orc on 08 March 2010, 11:34:45 AM
Perhaps the Anarchist Scientists of the May 1st People's Airship Factory managed to find it?

Or being crazy anarchists, maybe they don't care that they're in a giant bomb!

Maybe that's what makes them such good shocktroopers? "I know it's dangerous out there sibling-comrade, but not as dangerous as it is in here..."
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 08 March 2010, 02:32:55 PM
Even if you just mean 'Anarchist mercenaries' that doesn't really work either, as Anarchists tend to favour neither money, nor war...
I'm sorry former user, I really don't understand.

OK, so the problem here seems to be the word "Freikorps"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps
well, I stated "Anarchist" Freikorps, in order to set it apart from the other ones (socialist, reightwing etc.). The basic idea for me would be veterans, disbanded soldiers, disillusioned and revolutionary, and available for money. If You now add the interwar Anarchist movements, from Machno to SCW, You have organised troops.
Now comes the fictional element - the "Anarchist International", that is behind the "Anarchistic" movements, and that Supports Anarchism Worldwide, anti-faschist, anti-communist, anti-totalitarian  (anti-hierarchy, not disorganization is for me the essence of anarchism)
Notable leaders of the Anarchist International were Machno, Captain Nemo, Robur the Conqueror, Eric Blair   ;) ;) :D...

and finally, the fact that some of the Freikorps did contribute to the rise of faschism in Germany and were partly absorbed into Reichswehr and SA does not make them all right-wing in retrospective.....
What about the socialists who fought the SA in the streets?

The interwar period was very anarchic, many newly organised movements struggled for concepts and many were simply misused for others' agendas.
Does the fact that british faschists dragged many women of the "Suffragette" Movement into their organisation make the women liberation faschist as such?

No intention to start a political controversy here, I only wanted to explain the "alternative history twist" ....   ;)

I hope this makes a bit sense, and otherwise, the humoristic twist caught up by the others is intended too  ;)

I am a bit bored of researching a suitable interwar fraction without political connotation so I bent the facts a bit and invented one of my own, that can turn up in any context.
And, btw, the Anarchist International doeas have access to Helium....
or unobtainium, liftwood, aether or whatever...

As to the miniatures
well, there will also be a submarine, boats and an aeroneff.
So how about the uniforms now?

black with red piping or tunics, sandals and stones?
and otter noses, yes....  ;) ;)
I must say that the black jumpsuits, brown gear, and camo helmet and trench armour does ring a bell here....
maybe the WWI camo style but with different colours? streetfight camo?
how about the french WWI camo?

Fat cigars are a must!

My other army, colonists of african ancestry for a desert planet for 40K rules include many smoking figures, but all smokes are painted white and have a conical shape  ;)
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: joroas on 08 March 2010, 02:59:50 PM
The idea of camouflaged German helmets in WWI seems to be apocryphal.  I think latest research is inclined to disagree.  I even came across a reference recently to someone who painted German helmets with camouflage to raise the price he could sell them at to souveneir hunters.
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Red Orc on 08 March 2010, 03:03:51 PM
Absolutely, it's the use of 'Freikorps' with 'Anarchist' I can't get my head round. 'Demobbed soldiers who've gone Anarchist' I can get my head round, even in some weird way 'Anarchist Mercenaries', though to be honest most mercenaries are kinda a-political. What do you do if the guy paying the money has different beliefs? Do you continue fighting for the 'wrong' side? Then what makes you an 'Anarchist' mercenary as opposed to a non-political one? Or do you stop fighting? Then you're not a mercenary...

But 'Anarchist International Shock-Troopers from the Floating People's Collective of Everywhere', now that I can believe in!
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 08 March 2010, 03:26:44 PM
OK
can live with that

maybe it's also because "Freikorps" is tagged historically in other languages but not 100% in german, where it can also mean "free-corps", a free body of troops.
maybe the  full meaning would be

demobbed german WWI soldiers of anarchist allegiance, employed by the Anarchist International, similar to the historical Freikorps' of different allegiance  ....
damn, I just liked the lead dolls and there is no other place I can put them but Germany  ;)
OH, now that I think about it:
black uniforms does raise a faschist connotation.....
imagine a Zeppelin in black with red bits :  "oh, You left out the swastika for PC..."

Well, I'll have to try it out.
Inspirations still welcome
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 08 March 2010, 03:41:18 PM
ah, found something

1915, by  Louis Guingot
(http://www.ec-lorraine.com/ginguot/camouf/camoufl.jpg)
(http://latrentequatrefnso.unblog.fr/files/2009/02/cyclope.jpg)
(http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/-a01/ar5.jpg)
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: Red Orc on 08 March 2010, 03:58:32 PM
Were German Anarchists using the red-and-black flag in the 1920s? My understanding (which could be wrong, I'm no expert) is that it's associated with the Anarcho-Syndicalists in France and especially Spain in the 1930s. I would think that German Anarchists would more likely have used black and white.

Just looked it up on Anarchist.net and found this link - http://anarchism.ws/faq/append2.html#redblack - which claims that the 'red and black' was invented in Spain in 1931, for the Anarcho-Syndicalists. Most Anarchist groups used the Black Flag, and some Anarchists such as Kropotkin preferred the Red Flag as they considered it the the traditional flag of the workers' movement (wiki article on Kropotkin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin)).

I get the point about the non-specific nature of 'Freikorps' in German - in English, 'free companies' were medieval bands of soldiers that wandered Europe as mercenaries, around the time of the Hundred Years War. I think the German term 'Freikorps' could possibly be used for the same thing; but in English, the use of the German term means pretty much only mercenary or volunteer units of anti-revolutionary soldiers between 1918-1922 or thereabouts.

I didn't know about the anti-Napoleonic 'Freikorps' of the early C19th until I just looked it up on Wiki. Learn something every day!
Title: Re: Question: German Zeppelin Droptroops
Post by: former user on 08 March 2010, 04:53:31 PM
I think You are correct about the black/red flag, but everyone would recognize it for Anarchist

black white could mean everything, even pro Kaiser
well anyway, there won't be drop troop flags or black/red zeps
Nemo and Robur both have black flags, and although Verne does not name the anarchists, the spirit is pretty much the same.
I think the I'll include the Phantom too  :D

Maybe I'll try a virtual painting in anthracite and french camo with leather brown gear and red effects first and see how it turns out