How would you do weird war II poles?

[syr8766]

So I'm looking at Black Tree's WWII Poles and seriously considering them, but I'd like to use them for Weird War II rather than historical gaming (insert justifications based on double standards etc. here).

So...what would you have for Weird War II Poles?

I'm thinking it would be more along the lines of magic/horror than weird tech. Witches, Jewish partisans from Warsaw with a golem, Spectral Hussars, etc. Otherwise, they'd be perhaps using captured German or Lend Lease US tech, or be backing up Brits. That's all I can come up with. Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance...

[Weird WWII]

The Poles would look like Brits and be equipped and be armed as such too.  I'd use Jewish religious and folklore stuff like Gollums.  Might even have vengeful spirits.

Brian

[pixelgeek]

The Poles would look like Brits and be equipped and be armed as such too.  I'd use Jewish religious and folklore stuff like Gollums.

I think it would be quite ahistorical to associate Poles necessarily with Judiasm like that.

I think if you want to do a Jewish Partisan group then you could add Golems but pre-WWII Poland wasn't exactly a mecca for Jewish populations.

I'm not really all that familiar with Polish folklore and what sort of elements you could bring from that to create a Weird Polish force but I suspect that Google could be quite fruitful in that regard.

[Jakar Nilson]

The Poles were the ones who broke the Enigma code. They also had a lot of tanks, tankettes, armoured cars and, as Battlefront reminds us with their previews for the Early War Flames of War, armoured trains. And don't forget cavalry armed with the latest anti-tank rifles.

Years ago, I'd actually built a Polish walker, basing the look on the TK & TKS tankettes. It was meant to be a prototype, and the bulky hull was overarmoured so it could simulate future armaments. It was meant to go into production in late 1940, but the Germans invaded. Now, it's only good for rooting out partisans...

[Weird WWII]

Where was one the the largest uprisings against Nazis rule then Zac?  Warsaw maybe?  They fought hard only to have the Russians sit on their thumbs and let them die.

I chose the Jews of Poland as a proud and defiant people who in a fictional manner could resort to mystical means to kick the Nazi boot from their throat in desperation and then possibly retaliate against both German and Russian depending on what time your gaming is.

Brian

[pixelgeek]

Where was one the the largest uprisings against Nazis rule then Zac?  Warsaw maybe?

You seem to be conflating the Warsaw Ghetto with the entirety of the Polish nation.

And I did also specifically mention the creating a Jewish Partisan force if someone wanted to use Jewish mythology in a force.

But the original question was about WWII Polish minis and not about the Warsaw Uprising.

You might also want to do some research about WWII Polish attitudes to the Jews before you blithely assume that a Polish force would have Jewish elements in it or that Jews in general would necessarily want to have anything to do with Poles at the time.

I chose the Jews of Poland as a proud and defiant people who in a fictional manner could resort to mystical means to kick the Nazi boot from their throat in desperation and then possibly retaliate against both German and Russian depending on what time your gaming is.

You're free to do whatever you want as much as other people are allowed to point out the ahistorical nature of that.

My understanding is that while there wasn't a lot of active collaboration with the Nazis, and one would assume that the Poles wouldn't, that there also wasn't a lot of sympathy with the Jews either.

I'm trying to be cautious with how I approach this subject since I don't want to offend any Polish members of the forum but I would really suggest that you do some reading online about the subject before you treat be Jewish and Polish populations of WWII Poland as some homogenous whole

[pixelgeek]

So I'm looking at Black Tree's WWII Poles and seriously considering them, but I'd like to use them for Weird War II rather than historical gaming (insert justifications based on double standards etc. here).

So...what would you have for Weird War II Poles?

Are you looking at doing Blitzkreig era Poles or post-invasion Poles? The Lend-lease comment seems that you're looking at a later era for Polish troops.

Some interesting things I dragged up on a Google search

King Boleslaw and his Knights
http://anglik.net/polish_legends_boleslaw.htm

The Wawel Dragon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_Dragon

Various versions of the story of the White Eagle
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/StStanislas/whiteeagle.html
http://www.krykiet.com/polish_eagle.htm

The Trumpeter of Krakow
http://www.kresy.co.uk/hejnal.html

Rusalka the Polish Tree Spirit
http://www.anglik.net/polish_legends_rusalka.htm

I like the Spectral Hussar idea (maybe it is the Sleeping Knights?) and I was also thinking of cavalry armed with some sort of high-tech lances to take out tanks as well as cav on flying horses.

I think that the Trumpeter and the Wawel Dragon have some interesting potential for units including perhaps someone that can inspire troops and a character infused with the spirit of the Dragon who can use fire based abilities or magic.

You could also grab some of the Lord of the Rings Army of the Dead minis and have them be the Knights and troops from the Battle of Grunwald (for example) come back to help Poland in her hour of need.

[Jakar Nilson]

You could also grab some of the Lord of the Rings Army of the Dead minis and have them be the Knights and troops from the Battle of Grunwald (for example) come back to help Poland in her hour of need.

Or grab some Kislev minis, which is the Warhammer Fantasy version of the Poles. Winged Hussars, hurrah!

[pixelgeek]

Or grab some Kislev minis, which is the Warhammer Fantasy version of the Poles. Winged Hussars, hurrah!

Sadly GW doesn't appear to sell them anymore.

[Daeothar]

Reading the title, I was very inclined to suggest 'still covered in thick ice', but then read the post and realised you were referring to the Polish...

As my home city was liberated by a Polish brigade in the real WW2, Polish WW forces are strongly tied to Allied imagery to me; Shermans, British style uniforms and a penchant for manouvering warfare.

For local Polish flavour, I'd also suggest looking into Polish folklore and try to adopt-adapt-improve some of that, for a true national Polish flavour.

Truth be told though, since Poland has seen its borders wax and wane and shift dramatically in all directions since late medieval times, a lot of Russian, German, Slovakian, Chech, Hungarian, Estonian, Latvian and Lituanian mythology and imagery will probably be integrated into Polish folklore as well. So it might be a case of mix and match there. Still; I'm no expert on Poland by far, so what do I know...

[Jakar Nilson]

Sadly GW doesn't appear to sell them anymore.

And a quick scan on eBay shows an average price of $14 per Hussar.

There are manufacturers who do historical winged hussars, but I can't remember which ones...

[pixelgeek]

Truth be told though, since Poland has seen its borders wax and wane and shift dramatically in all directions since late medieval times, a lot of Russian, German, Slovakian, Chech, Hungarian, Estonian, Latvian and Lituanian mythology and imagery will probably be integrated into Polish folklore as well. So it might be a case of mix and match there. Still; I'm no expert on Poland by far, so what do I know...

I was wondering the same thing. The borders of the country have shifted over the years and there are all sorts of different national influences in the area. My German teacher in high-school was from an area of Prussia that was now Polish

[pixelgeek]

And a quick scan on eBay shows an average price of $14 per Hussar.

I was a post on Warseer about that when I went looking for pictures

There are manufacturers who do historical winged hussars, but I can't remember which ones...

TAG sells some

[pixelgeek]

You could also grab some of the Lord of the Rings Army of the Dead minis and have them be the Knights and troops from the Battle of Grunwald (for example) come back to help Poland in her hour of need.

I liked this idea so much I went downstairs and started assembling some of elastics to do this for my own AE-WWII forces. What is nice is that you can use this for almost any European army

[syr8766]

Sorry, didn't mean to start something political. I know Jews and Poles did not get along so great (e.g. when Jewish refugees tried to repatriate to Poland after WWII, etc.), but Poland also had the largest population of Jews in Europe (Poland having been part of the "Pale of Settlement" when under Russian control), so I kinda went there.

I wasn't thinking a particular period; it could be between wars, early or late. The whole history seems pretty compelling to me.

I saw the Rusalka idea online as well and like the idea of tree/water spirits. The Trumpeter as well. Lots of food for thought here...

Are Kislevites OOP again? Darn; will have to check out a couple of local shops to see if they still have any. I use the infantry for Khador Woodsmen for Warmachine, and like the figures tremendously...