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Author Topic: A 1930s American Civil War project  (Read 6592 times)

Offline Doc Twilight

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A 1930s American Civil War project
« on: July 02, 2009, 02:17:15 AM »
As some of you know, I've been working on a little American Civil War project set in the 1930s with a few friends, partly inspired by the great new territory being explored by "A Very British Civil War". I've also got a discussion group for this specific topic set up at Yahoo Groups (just search for the group 'ACW2', and feel free to join us.)

The story we went with was heavily influenced by a document called "ACW 1935" by the members of an American Gaming group, lead by Mr. Paul Beck who have been freely distributing the document online. We've made our own changes along the way. If anybody's interested, I believe some of the authors are now members of the ACW2 group.

Here are some of the fruits of my labor. These are all soldiers of the Kentucky Free State; they are constitutionalists who have decided that they are best served by independence, at least for the moment, but who align their interests with the "legitimate government" lead by Harry Truman, rather than the Nationalists, as lead by Douglas MacArthur, Al Smith, etc. They have been dealing with a great deal of conflict in our recent backstory, being so close to Indiana, which is a battleground for the Constitutionalists, who maintain the north part of the state and Indianapolis, versus the Nationalists, who are aligned with KKK militias and other right wing groups in Southern Indiana. In addition, they are under great pressure from Huey Long's "new Confederacy" (the so-called "Americanists") to the South.

The Kentucky Free state is an Anarcho-Socialist Commonwealth, appropriate to the nature of Kentucky's diverse population and various distinct Hollers, Counties, and Towns. The counties are loosely aligned under a central government that maintains executive authority in the event of a national crisis. The legislative body is comprised of various representatives, elected from each county, as well as each of the major trade unions and labor associations existent in Kentucky at the time. (The major heavy industries in Kentucky in the 1930s were Mining and Steel Mills, and Agriculture was still a huge part of the local economy.)
The motto of the nation and its political apparatus are borrowed from Nestor Mahkno of the Ukrainian "Black Army". - "Land to the Farmers. Factories to the Workers."

Because of the nature of the conflict, and as a matter of pure survival, the defense forces (The KFS) are fully integrated racially, and heavily supported by numerous local militias, alarms, etc.

I'm not completely finished with this part of the project (I still have a Schneider donated by France that needs painting), but here are some images of what I've finished so far.

Here, we have an image of some of the members of the 3rd KDF Infantry Regiment. The unit is one of the elite formations in the KDF, and many of its members are veterans of the First World War or were previously part of the large US Army presence in Kentucky centered around Fort Knox. The first image depicts the commander of this particular company, Captain James Morris Brotherton ("The Fighting Cherokee"), along with a standard bearer carrying the KFS national colors - green (symbolizing agriculture), black (symbolizing industry), and crossed yellow mining tools, symbolizing miners and the unions. The figs are both from Brigade's RCW range.



More members of the 3rd in the next two images including a machine gun team. These are a mix of Anglian SCW, and Brigade's Harlem Hellfighter's range. Some conversion was done with the separate heads available from Anglian.




Next up, members of the International Mining, Local #520: Black Mountain Militia, and some supporting armor!

-Doc




« Last Edit: July 02, 2009, 02:20:39 AM by Doc Twilight »

Offline Poctaman

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2009, 04:58:23 AM »
Excellent!  I'm off to join the group and dust off my paints!
Dulce bellum inexpertis.

Offline LeadAsbestos

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2009, 08:43:22 AM »
Excellent! I'm still milling ideas around for a skirmish @ the Canadian border in Niagara Falls between American Silver Shirt Fascists, Canadian Mounties, our local smuggling Italian descended gangsters, and maybe a gang or 2 of Native American Separatists. Yikes!

Offline Doc Twilight

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2009, 09:04:11 AM »
Glad to have you, Pocta!

Asbestos -

A very cool region to do that in. Some great Mounty figs out there, in fact Pulp does Yukon King and his loyal canine companion, if memory serves!

More photos of stuff.

Here we have the members of the Black Mountain Militia (members of the International Mining Union, Local 240.) These are a mix of Anglian and Musketeer miniatures. The Musketeer figs are mostly from the IRA range.

These troops frequently supplement the regular Kentuckian forces, and are of invaluable use in the unique topography of the state, with which they are intimately familiar. They include Native Americans, Miners, former Moonshiners, survivors of the Clay County War, etc.

First, an officer with a flag bearer.



A group shot of ten militiamen.


Another group of ten militiamen.


A detail shot of one of the militiamen, showing his armband. Frankfort has asked that all militias loyal to the state wear these armbands as a means of identifying friendlies in the field. I think they tie the troops nicely together, despite the various colors of their mixed civilian and military gear.



Finally, some armor support for the boys. This comes in the form of the Vezdekhod, produced by my good friend Tobi over at Tobsen77 miniaturen. This was an actual design produced by the Russians prior to the outbreak of the First World War, and funded in at least two prototypes.

In my version of the story, the design was purchased by the desperate Kentuckians, who "modernized it", and used their local supplies of steel, ore, and agricultural machinery to produce a workable vehicle. These aren't perfect, but they provide infantry support where needed. Several vehicles have also been purchased from the French and Spanish Republican governments, but they are still arriving. The tank is locally known as the Mark A Daniel Boone.

These pictures depict No.3 "Henry Clay", a vehicle belonging to the Abe Lincoln Cuirassiers. The core of the unit was raised by funds and personnel from the Lousiville Area moonshining industry... very wisely legalized by the newly established KFS government. It seems that the moonshiners had a taste for speed, and danger, often while carrying highly combustible substances.





More coming, hopefully with pictures of my completed Schneider (still in progress) and some of Jen's beautiful Nationalists! (Including some awesome members of a Kansas AFP unit!)

-Doc

Offline Aaron

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2009, 12:42:18 PM »
I love the background and units! It looks like your sealer fooged up a bit on you. I have had limited success overspraying with a gloss sealer and then hitting them again with dullcoat.

Offline commissarmoody

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2009, 10:51:43 AM »
Hows this project comeing along?
« Last Edit: October 02, 2009, 11:08:30 AM by commissarmoody »
"Peace" is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.

- Anonymous

Offline argsilverson

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2009, 11:33:00 AM »
Very ibteresting!
Nice toys you have.


For your background I would suggest the following book:

The plot against America" by Philip Roth.
You may find some ideas there.

It is a novel about Charles Lindberg winning the elections and establish a pro- german state issueing racial degrees. It is an interesting read. [Sorry I cannot post link or image, it fails under the symbols terms of the forum. ]
argsilverson

Offline Hammers

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Re: A 1930s American Civil War project
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2009, 06:48:41 PM »


The plot against America" by Philip Roth.
You may find some ideas there.

It is a novel about Charles Lindberg winning the elections and establish a pro- german state issueing racial degrees. It is an interesting read. [Sorry I cannot post link or image, it fails under the symbols terms of the forum. ]

I bit of ruddy good, that was. I wonder if he will get the Nobel Prize this year.


 

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