Any Turtledove fans?

[Backyardpatrol]

First post here, just wondering if anyone has read any of the alternate WWII books by Harry Turtledove?
I'm planning to do some gaming using GW skinks minus their crests and some tau weapons to represent "The Race".
What I'm stumped on is what to use for the Lizards tanks?
Any ideas?
Eze

[Hammers]

Welcome! Given your interests I am sure you'll like it here. There are several people with a keen interest in WWW II.

I held a Turtledove in my hands several time contemplationg to buy it. Without knowing i it is really true, I get the impression that the man lets his fantasy run away with him. Instead of refining the idea of a divided USA he adds UFOs AND dragons AND timetravel AND anachronistic AK47s. And that's where I think his whole universe gets too sprawly for me.

I like alternate histories with some fantastic elements (Susanne Clarke, Naomi Novik) but a little mur subtle.

[Gallowglass]

Of course, there's also his "Southern Victory" alternative American history series. No dragons, aliens or AK47s in sight.

First book - "How Few Remain"

http://www.amazon.com/How-Few-Remain-Harry-Turtledove/dp/0345406141

Proceeds on through an alternative WW1 (American Front), the Depression and yep, an alternative WW2.

[BaronVonJ]

The way the tanks, etc,. are described in the books they aren't much different from today's Abrams. You could use some modern tanks and add a few bits to supe it up.
-J

[Backyardpatrol]

I'm only on book 3 of 4, so no totally weird stuff (yet).
:Spoilers alert:
Thus far it's a very down to earth struggle between an alien race who thought they'd be fighting us at a tech level in the middle ages only to find we had the tech level of world war two, and were about to become atomic. All the sides in WWII join forces to oust the aliens.
They're at the end of a very long supply line (40 years or so from their world) so every bomb or shell they use eventually becomes precious.
 The story jumps around a bit, with operatic vignettes about a bunch of characters on both sides, and their changing lives brought on by the total war.
There's a comical scene when Otto Skorzeny sneaks into the Lizard camp and steals one of their tanks, all 6'5" trying to fit inside the drivers compartment of the Lizards (under 5') stolen tank.
Anyhow it hasn't gotten too weird, it's turning into a struggle to see who can deploy the first bomb using stolen uranium from the lizards.
:
I've been pricing 28mm armor and it's just too expensive, did mongoose make a BFE Abrams? It would probably be small enough to look like it was meant for alien proportions. New turret might be in order, maybe a Tau hammerhead.

[Cory]

Hammershield, Turledove's done several seperate series of books. http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/series.html is a site that seperates the titles out by series, The Great War books being the only purely historical series I am aware of. It takes a divided US from the 19th century through WWII.

[Will Bailie]

I've read a bunch of Turtledoves's stuff - was a fan for a while, but now his rather turgid writing style has turned me off.  I like the concepts that he works with, but having to wade through the boring stories of minor characters in order to find out what's going on gets tedious after a while.  Each series typically starts out very well, but after the third book or so gets to be unreadable.

For the Race, most of the equipment seems to be based on modern (1990s to 2000s) technology, maybe just a little more advanced, but certainly based on what is possible with our technology.  I'd use a modern MBT for them - an Abrams or a Challenger, or something similar.  Using GW skinks is a great idea - they should be just about right.

Turtledove has done lots of stuff that is "straight" alternate history - that is, where he makes a single change in history and then follows through on potential effects.  A couple of other examples include:  Agent of Byzantium (no rise of Islam, and the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire persists in its struggle with Persia), A Different Flesh (no Siberian land bridge to the Americas, and Neanderthals live on until Columbus crosses the Ocean Blue in 1492)

Looking forward to seeing photos of your project!

W

[Snate56]

Well, I don't know if this would work...

The M7 Fast Attack hovercraft is free, so you can see this guys work.
http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/shop/2003models.php

http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/shop/2005models.php
http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/shop/index.php?section_id=1

SteveN

[Backyardpatrol]

Paper! hmm, the price is sooo right, and they look pretty good. I want a tank thats smallish, I could print them up a few percent smaller, and make a whole army for practically nuthin'! Swap turrets so they're a bit unique. Ebbles has some pretty neat designs.
Anybody have any paper experiences/pros/cons?
It's right up my street, I think.

[Snate56]

Check out the M7 first, as it's free, see if you like it. It's also pretty small and would work for those little guys.
Ebbles also has lots of downloadable instruction sets so you can at least see what the models look like and how hard they are to assemble. Now they use some kind of PVA or paper glue but I use gel type super glue, which is a little harder to use but, well, I gotta have instant gratification.    The models also come with several different color schemes and you can even alter those by using colored cardstock.

SteveN

[fastolfrus]

We looked at the Turtledove World War II series, but using 15mm.
The alien technology sounds like 2000 era stuff, so we looked at modern Russian designs, and there seem to be a lot of tanks and personnel carriers in the book.
Otherwise the Hammers Slammers designs that Old Crow make would look quite neat.
http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/ocproducts.htm

[Bob Hume]

I've read the first four a couple times. Good stuff! Drags occasionally. Once he brings it to the more modern times I lost interest though.
As far as game stuff the technology is right for an Abrams but I would look for something a little more futuristic looking. They are aliens after all.

[Backyardpatrol]

I do like the old crow designs! And the prices aren't so bad either.
I did find academy makes a Merkava in 1/48, at 14 dollars U.S. Plus a Tau Hammerhead turret from the Warstore for another 15 I'm back up to 30 dollars U.S. which is too much for what I want to spend.
Paper right now is looking good, the designs are what makes the deal.
So Turtledove does advance his story to the future? (I'm only on book 3). I take it the world is prepared for the colonization fleet?

[Bob Hume]

Yep the colonization fleet arrives in the 60's and it advances from there. I just couldn't get into it though. You might like it. Don't let me discourage you. We all have different tasts.

[fastolfrus]

I didn't bother with reading the colonisation fleet books to be honest, thought the first book was the most plausible.

As for Old Crow they are very good castings, and some very nice designs.
Quality has always been first class on any pieces we have - some weapon mounts fit together almost without need for glue.