World War Alpha

Having fun today as I finally start a new side project, World War Alpha. The idea being that the Martian invasion (war of the world's) has been and gone, leaving mankind with advanced technology.

When the First world war starts, all armies have access to enhanced forces with upcycled Martian tech. So basically it's WWI but with a slight twist. The idea being I can have fun modelling Steampunk type vehicles and infantry types.

These old 90's sculpts from Alternative Armies were bought before I came up with the WWA idea. Looking at them, they do look quite German with their armour. The tubes and pipes do make them look quite low tech, the idea for them to be Elite infantry in Xenos Rampant came to mind.

So with some sprues arriving from eBay I started to kit bash some ideas. The body is a Grognards one from Wargames Atlantic with a German head from their WWI German box.

The idea for game is that most guns still fire ballistics but with a few heat based weapons sprinkled in.

These Sci-Fi French bodies come with nice weapons that still look like slug throwers, so tie in nicely.

I found a few extra heads and this German Officer head is a good fit. These are being created to play games of Xenos Rampant. These will be Light infantry and in enlarged units of 10 men. The force will have a walker in and maybe another vehicle of some kind too.

Once the basic figure was put together, I started to add some greebies. These were bits off of the WWI German sprues and gut up sprue. The sprue looks like canisters of some kind.

The straps from the gasmask canister were cut off and stuck onto the support weapon. Just adds to the Steampunky detail.

This guy is another figure from Wargames Atlantic but with a head swop again. These guys are meant to be German paratroopers from the future so already look very German. A simple head swop and a few bits and a NCO steps forward with an automatic weapon to lead the company.

Again, a piece of sprue makes for a good canister. Maybe an air tank of some kind.

The NCO leads the squad forward through some recently destroyed buildings.

I will go over these with Green stuff and tidy a few gaps up etc. I'd like to put a blanket over the top of the packs to mirror the WWI packs.

 Walkers and Mechs are also around in this era, I was quite surprised to see the amount of usable models available.

UPDATE: so I've managed to create seven German trenchers. There was a couple of spare rifle arms on the French sprue and these were used with the German paratroopers to create more men. Almost an entire squad, just three short. However, we have an Officer, a heavy weapon, an NCO and a flamethrower.
 

The Paratrooper torsos also make great troopers and seem to stand a little taller than those of the French.

For this character I used a Paratrooper helmet for variety. I cut up a sprue and gave him a bigger mask breather. This is to keep with the early look of the equipment.