AM(Almost)A - Author of A War Transformed - New Weird WW1 game (Osprey)

[Kommando_J]

Would empress german revolution/some interwar stuff be suitable?

The only minis in that range that might not I think would possibly be the uniformed police?

[A_War_Transformed]

Would empress german revolution/some interwar stuff be suitable?

The only minis in that range that might not I think would possibly be the uniformed police?

The vast majority of interwar stuff is absolutely suitable and the German Revolution miniatures from Empress are a particularly good example. I have quite a few for my own Freikorps army.

A lot of stuff for VBCW and the Spanish civil war also works, the only problem being the minis with a Tommie gun, which places them a little too late for the game - for some that will make them unusable, but I am inclined to forgive the occasional anachronism if a mini is cool enough. With a little conversion, it can always be made to look like a different weapon, even something jury rigged, from a distance.

My own feeling is that with a bit of imagination most miniatures representing fighters from the late 19th and early 20th century will fit. In the world of A War Transformed, supply issues mean that new uniforms and equipment are often scrounged from elsewhere - old patterns and civilian gear are mixed in and some of the newly raised regiments and volunteer forces supply their own stuff…

[Ultravanillasmurf]

So does Doggerland look like the Aral Sea or the tide has just gone out a bit further than usual?

Either way, I am definitely looking at Crooked Dice's Marshport wrecked tug and boat wreck.



I have some ideas for scatter terrain - just need to get to get some suitable anchors (draped with netting).

[Metternich]

The Western Front gets surprisingly "international" by 1917-18.  The Germans had four Austro-Hungarian army divisions on that front (sent to show solidarity between German and Austro-Hungary; they took part in the defense of the Meuse-Argonne in 1918).  Of course, by 1917-18 the Portuguese Expeditionary Force had approx. 50,000 men fighting for the Allies in the west.  The Russians had troops on the Western Front (some of whom elected to remain in France and continue fighting even after the 1917 Revolution).  In 1918, at the height of the German offensive, Italy sent 50,000 men to France.  Numerous elements of the French colonial empire could be found on the Western Front, including men from sub-Saharan Africa, Malgasy, North Africa (Morocans, Algerians, Tunisians) (and don't forget the hodgepodge of the French Foreign Legion, in which could be found almost any nationality, including a large number of Czechs).

  Although Finland was an  "Autonomous Grand Duchy" of Imperial Russia, Finns did not participate with the Russian army.  The Finnish Liberation movement sought German support, and the Germans raised the Finnish (27th) Jaeger Battalion (Royal Prussian Jaeger Battalion Nr. 27), and served with the German army on the Eastern Front from 1915 - 1918, returning to Finland to fight in the Finnish Civil War on the side of the Whites.   

[Kommando_J]

The vast majority of interwar stuff is absolutely suitable and the German Revolution miniatures from Empress are a particularly good example. I have quite a few for my own Freikorps army.

A lot of stuff for VBCW and the Spanish civil war also works, the only problem being the minis with a Tommie gun, which places them a little too late for the game - for some that will make them unusable, but I am inclined to forgive the occasional anachronism if a mini is cool enough. With a little conversion, it can always be made to look like a different weapon, even something jury rigged, from a distance.

My own feeling is that with a bit of imagination most miniatures representing fighters from the late 19th and early 20th century will fit. In the world of A War Transformed, supply issues mean that new uniforms and equipment are often scrounged from elsewhere - old patterns and civilian gear are mixed in and some of the newly raised regiments and volunteer forces supply their own stuff…

When is the war now set? As iirc. the thompson saw prototypes being made in 1918, im planning possibly to use old winter geramn sprues i have kicking about for ww2, jst go for the jackboot models and avoid panzerfausts smgs, and assault rifles

[A_War_Transformed]

When is the war now set? As iirc. the thompson saw prototypes being made in 1918, im planning possibly to use old winter geramn sprues i have kicking about for ww2, jst go for the jackboot models and avoid panzerfausts smgs, and assault rifles

Well that is sort of up to you - the canon is that in the last days of 1916 an asteroid collided with the moon, causing the geological and thaumaturgical (?!) shifts which brought both Doggerland the old gods back to the surface. In the unspecified amount of time that followed, the belligerent nations kicked their wounds and got their houses in order before the way kicked off again. There are mentions of specific pieces of equipment which came along in 1918, but that’s the only chronological marker - it could be at least a few years later

I also think that the warlord winter Germans are generic enough to work if armed with more period appropriate weaponry. The great coats issued to German soldiers in WW1 weren’t so dissimilar. I have a few myself, some converted to single breasted coats and others left as stock - with a head swap they work nicely!

[TheWorker]

I like the idea of everything having gone to pot, and the strange esoteric and occultist societies and clubs around Europe becoming powers in their own right - some fighting for their country, some for other things entirely. You can have the completely unhinged proto-Nazis of the Thule Society on one hand, all the way to semi-harmless dodderers like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on the other.

Revolutionary groups, new pagans, old gods demanding fealty in the marshes of Doggerland... the desperate attempts by the states and Imperial Powers to try to cling onto some semblance of the status quo while independence movements given new impetus by the emergence of gods and spirits see groups of colonial soldiers trying to fight their way back home - the more I think about the possibilities the more I love it!

[nicknorthstar]

We've gone through the North Star ranges to find all sorts of suitable figures for AWT. There's too many for a post here or on Social Media, so we'll go through them all in our next Newsletter.

If you aren't a subscriber, join us here: https://us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=addf114e407ae6b960460a70e&id=03fee180e2

[nicknorthstar]

https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=318&page=1

The author has put together some army deals for us. They give you idea of what a small force would consist of.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=318&page=1

The author has put together some army deals for us. They give you idea of what a small force would consist of.

Excellent, thanks, very useful (and the release date - since the twitter feed got X'd, news can be a bit scarce).

[fred]

Yes, very handy to see these example forces.

Is the Tarot deck part of the rules?

[nicknorthstar]

Yes, very handy to see these example forces.

Is the Tarot deck part of the rules?

Yes and no. The Tarot is part of the rules, but you don't need a deck of cards, they just act as useful markers/ reminders. I think they add a bit of early 20th Century theme to the game myself.

[TheWorker]

Essentially this is "Platoon Plus" stuff, right, where the main core is a platoon of about 30-35 miniatures with a little bit of support - a HMG, a wizard, a tank, that sort of thing?

[nicknorthstar]

Yes.
Though the wizard comes free, so you'd be crazy not to have one. They are the means by which you summon folklore creatures and preform rituals (spells)

[A_War_Transformed]

Essentially this is "Platoon Plus" stuff, right, where the main core is a platoon of about 30-35 miniatures with a little bit of support - a HMG, a wizard, a tank, that sort of thing?

Yes, but it is also scalable - the patrols offered on the deal are 10 point forces, but I’ve played games with 30 points a side and it works really well, though you need a bigger table (and therefore a lot of terrain!). Something between 10 and 20 is likely the sweet spot in my opinion as you’ll be able to get some fun stuff on the table without things getting unwieldy.

Points are pretty simple - so looking at the french force, each of the 3 infantry section is 2 points and the FT17 is 4. All of these units are line, so they use the same allocation. Units which fall under either elites or cannonade can only be recruited as a certain proportion of your force, so you can’t just have 8 machine gun crews and call it a day! As an additional factor, the amount of command resources (for orders, rituals and abilities) which you generate each round is tied to your force composition. Things like tanks don’t generate command resources at all, so whilst you could take a vehicle heavy force, there’d be a trade off in terms of your tactical choices. Infantry sections are reliable generators of command resources and so it’s good to load up on them. A secondary recruitment resources pool is upgrade points, which are generated as a total proportion of recruitment points which you would agree with you opponent before hand. Generally this is going to be something like 25% to 50%. These upgrade points are used to modify infantry sections with man portable special weapons like light machine guns. As mentioned above, both the witch and the captain are free recruitment wise and these can also be upgraded in a number of interesting ways.