First World War Germans for A War Transformed

Since it was first announced I've been very excited about A War Transformed (AWT), the Osprey rules for an alternative/magical First World War game.  I've always liked the idea of alternative games based on real history.  

I've had Secrets of the Third Reich (SotR) and AE:WW2 since they were released and although liking parts of these rules (especially AE:WW2 Occult Expansion), I've only played AE and that for a conventional WW2 game.  I didn’t like either figure ranges too much apart from the odd great sculpt, and AE has long since disappeared.  Konflikt '47 did little to inspire me (the cost and being far too "super soldiery" for my liking) and I've been on the look out for a good "weird" war game for a long time.  

From what I've seen so far AWT seems much more up my street.  I had started working on a WW2 game set in Belarus and the Ukraine which would contain a big dose of folk magic.  It'll be interesting to see what's in AWT, both from the original premise of the game and also from whether I can use it for other settings thereby saving me a lot of work!

With the game's release imminent, it encouraged me to dig out the First World War Germans I'd built in 2021 (see here and here).  I'd gone off the idea of doing WW1 in 28mm, mainly due to the thought of building and then the problem of storing trench boards.  I'd been thinking of doing a larger scope, smaller scale game and selling the 28mm figures.  However, I'm glad I didn't because it's given me the main part of a German force for A War Transformed.

The figures as they were

I'd never been too happy with these figures.  I'd finished the bases with just a mud covering (thinking Verdun) and they looked boring.  They were also a bit shiny, I think I was using satin varnish at the time.  The first job was to hit them with a matt varnish.  This improved them no end.  

The inspiration I needed to sort out those dull bases was provided by Frederick Silburn-Slater the author of AWT who put this description on Facebook:

"overgrown trenches, reclaimed by wilderness; wrathful spirits of nature, driven mad by the desecration of their sacred spaces" 

This gave me carte blanch to get out all the tufts, static grass and clump foliage and go to work.  The figures now look finished.


I did think giving them a spooky makeover, but there's not too much out there at the moment about the look of the game.  Rather than go off half-cocked I can always do this later.  And being a pragmatist by leaving them as they are I can use them for regular WW1 and those fascinating resulting conflicts such as the Finnish Civil War, Baltic Wars of Independence, RCW, November Revolution etc.  

I've got another spare sprue which I'm keeping back until I get the rules and an order on the way from NorthStar which will round out my platoon.  Roll on 28th September!

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