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I think many of us can agree that the uniforms and militaristic appearance of Nazi Germany were very aesthetically appealing. I want to pursue a regiment that utilizes aesthetics based on Germany's Wehrmacht and/or SS Divisions during WWII, with the absence of Nazi imagery, of course. If possible, I'd like to really capture the totalitarian, martial feel of the Imperium and I think Germany's aesthetics work best.

For the uniforms, I can look up camo patterns easily enough. Precise GW or Vajello colors would be helpful. Mostly, I'm looking for advice on how I can model my miniatures and especially vehicles to get a German look. FW is a last-resort option, as I'd rather not spend the extra money, and the Death Korps are WWI anyway, so they're exactly not what I'm looking for. I want to keep the tech and vehicles looking like Imperial constructs, but I'd like some variation. For example, you'll be able to tell a Leman Russ from a Chimera, but they'll be a tad different from all the other Leman Russ tanks, Chimeras, etc.

I'd also like some suggestions regarding imagery. I'm going to refrain from using direct Nazi insignia; I think that goes without saying. But I want to evoke the same martial feel through Imperial and original symbolism. If you take a look at the Swastika and the SS runes, they stand out - they're very bold, angular and grab your attention. I want to do the same, without political affiliation.

Darker Grey or Autum Shades , With models having units being lightly armed ( not carrying masssive packs ) if your giong for that Mech look , Giving them something like a Rocket tube from models to signify a Panzerfaust would work very well if you have enough about 2 per squad was the Standard in the Waffen SS in world war 2 -- As for Armor , i would say you should look into having all of your Russ's as a Standard Design ( mainly LRBT's with plasma sponsons OR LRBT's with heavy bolters ) as well you can get Rebreather units very Cheap on Ebay or a third model company , these would allow you to give them assualt mask on their belts . As for Models i would say to try and use Cadians givin they seem to fill the role well in ideaology as well as in combat style ( from the way i use my German Themed Army ) if you want more info , such as camo Schemes, Suggested Army list and that sort just PM me

Steel Legion, a metal IG regiment that GW sells, have uniforms based on German paratrooper uniforms. Their fluff is that of a mechanized infantry corps, which could either be done as mechvets or as mechanized platoons. Germany used a lot of mechanized infantry in World War II, so this is probably a good bet. You could base the color scheme itself on German uniforms, and paint the tanks like German tanks. Just find painting tutorials for historical miniatures of the era.

The Iron Cross may evoke what you're looking for without being a strictly Nazi symbol.The Imperial Aquila is also a very strong image, as is something as generic as a sharp, angular lightning bolt. That would also evoke the SS insignia without being quite so blatant.

As for how to customize your vehicles, you may want to look at how German armor crews customized theirs. Think lots of stowage, camo netting, extra tracks, sandbags, or anything else you think would look good packed up there. I just finished my Red Army-themed IG (using Valhallans, obviously) and I went to town with stuff like that!

As long as you're smart about it, this army could look good. Expect frowns and raised eyebrows here and there, but as long as you stay on target and stay away from blatantly evil imagery you should be okay.

Or you could just do it the easy way and play dust to scratch that itch. The Germans walkers look very awesome!
If you must do it the hard way I recommend getting the axis decal sets from dust models, plenty of iron crosses and skulls!

Germany was also very into tanks.
If you are up for midification you can change around leman Russ tanks to give them Panzer style attributes.

one idea is to use the stand off armor employed by the Panzer 4 on some Russes


Zimmerit (I think thats how its spelled) which was a coating that was employed to defeat magnetic mines (which as far as im aware were never used by the allies anyways) which has a unqiue texture. You can put that on your tanks as well. The Germans were the only ones to employ this coating (That i know of)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmerit

If you want a Super Heavy. the Maus or E-100 (German Super Heavy tanks) can be purchased at 1/35th scale on various sites. I found one for $30 once... i have 2 of them. 1 assembled and 1 in its box still. the hull is as long as a Baneblade and the whole thing is slightly taller, its not as wide as a baneblade but adding sponsons will fix this.

APC wise. Im sure with some tinkering you could make some halftracks to go along with the german theme. Like the Hanomag halftrack, just give it a turret for the chimeras main gun and a bolter or something in the passenger side.

a German themes army would be cool. just avoid the "obvious" symbols and people will (hopefully) be cool about it.

Thanks for the replies! I've looked at the Steel Legion before; they have Fallschirmjäger-like helmets, however I'm not a fan of the metal models and would rather make my own regiment. I'm considering using Cadians as a base, as it retains the Imperial Guard feel, but swapping the heads for German helmets and using WWII tech here and there. It'll still be Imperial, but with German aesthetic. I'll be using a color scheme similar to this:


The Imperial Eagle will be the main attention-grabbing iconography; I'm toying with the idea of making it look more German. Otherwise, I'll try and work with the Imperium's usual skull-fetish. As well, I'd like to try and devise a common icon for the regiment, perhaps using some sort of bolt or rune pattern alluding to, but not directly supporting or being those used by the SS.

I like your ideas for tanks, Engine. Do they have packages of material you can use to coat hulls and represent Zimmerit, or do you have to DIY? I've also never worked with plasticard before, which it seems would be most viable for the stand-off armor.

Id check out the "sci fi troops" of wargames factory for greatcoats, or Max Minis selection of heads for some awesome German helmets. I'm brainstorming something similar to you, except a bit more WW1 focused. (The Freikorps of Krieg, Pre Heresy Imperial Army)

Might want to look at the upcoming infantry from Dreamforge. their kickstarter with pics is here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamforge-games/something-wicked-this-way-comes-crusader-plastic-m

They have opened the Pledge Manager to new backers:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/2100/469751.page

"We are opening up the Kickstarter pledge manager to new customers.
For customers that missed the Kickstarter or were unable to pledges due to the credit card restrictions of Amazon Payments, we are opening up the pledge manager to accept new backers.
You can find the pledge manager here: https://www.wargamesfactory.net/
We are accepting two payment formats, each has specific instructions below. Please note: The pledge manager will not be available after November 1st. "

For the Zimmerit look. I once saw sheets of plasticard which was ment to represent something like roofing or whatever for houses. is has the same wavy look to Zimmerit.
Otherwise im sure with some digging Zimmerit style material could be located for model use. I did a quick google and there seems to be a few kits for it. ("Model Tank Zimmerit" brings up tons of things)

Plasticard for stand off armor is perfect. using some sprue or other peices to make the supports and sheets of plasticard works to make Stand off armor. With some scissors, measuring and other things you can shape plasticard. it comes in all thicknesses. Stand-off armor should be reletivly thin. which in terms of plasticard should be easy to cut. just becareful!!

There should also be kits for Panzer 4 stand off armor as well out there somewhere.

For pic of the Super heavys. my gallary has both the E-100 and the Maus, both play as the venerable Baneblade.

a freind of mine. SkaerKrow has some good Tiger tank conversions to Leman Russ tanks.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/368718.page
His blog contains these conversions and they are very good. (though his theme is more a fusion of Killzone and WW2 german army, but the tanks fit your concept too)


Super Heavys. (these are early conversion. the sponsons and added guns are not that great.)

Maus


E-100


Note: this kit of E-100 is out of production (as far as im aware)
Many 1/35th scale E-100s use the Maus Turret. There is currently a E-100 model in a Tank Destroyer configuration (think super sized Jagdpanther) that could be used as a Shadowsword should you choose.

Use modern US troops. They wear a high tech upgrade of the Nazi gear - perfect for 40k.

Eh, not as interesting, for me at least. I'm going to concentrate heavily on the Imperial (Roman) Eagle and throw in many references to the Roman Empire in my banners and insignia. Not to dabble in Nazi ideology, but Nazi Germany saw itself as a continuation of the (Holy) Roman Empire. 40k's Imperium borrows Roman themes, combining them with a totalitarian, sci-fi regime, which I feel is a perfect setting to explore with the careful borrowing of 3rd Reich-era German aesthetic.

Some examples of contemporary Roman Eagle motifs:
http://www.findamug.com/designimg.php?id=17303702&size=350
http://www.solarbooks.org/solar%20images/roman%20eagle.jpg
http://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/pages/0085-Roman-Eagle/0085-Roman-Eagle-q75-480x320.jpg
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae218/AbsolutCharlie/the_imperial_eagle_by_adigitalsm1ley-d36jw84Nosigil.png - and of course Germany's take on the Eagle

So, lots of eagle motifs with the lightning bolt/arrow designs seen on some Roman standards and shields are going to be used.

I recommend you check out Warlord Games Bolt action range. I made my German themed army by using there plastic german infantry models and cadian lasgun arms.

Came out like this.

I'd try making your chimeras half-tracks, that would be a good way to differentiate them from the russes. (I think the German's used half-tracks, not sure)

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk

sells ww2 heads for germans, us army, british and russian

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=3_130_178

also has stuff like this they call weird ww2 just bunch of heads with gas masks

I'm going to shy away form the gas mask/greatcoat cliche. I'm planning on using German-style helmeted heads without masks. I've got a rough idea of the camo I want to use. I like the look of the bottom-right or the center most.



Halftrack Chimeras would be neat, but I've never done much customization with GW's vehicles before. I may just kitbash Chimera hulls with the treads of similar-scale halftrack models.

If you want to avoid the controversy, paint a black guy in the army; trust me that worked for mutant chronicles

Try toying with the Aquila to make it look more angular; another icon you might use is the Imperial Guard icon used in the current codex' Allies table.

You can check it out here:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKt_zCnOlBE/T-ptMm0tgII/AAAAAAAAAkY/teUQmLikjfg/s1600/pGu40.jpg

As vehicles a range of Battletanks, Halftracks, StuG and Bikes instead of cavalry ( even when horses were still in common use in WW2 ) maybe? Autocannon as PaK ? Self propelled artillery?

A few hints on the type of Guard you aim for could help here.

Pak guns as autocannons would be a great idea. I think I'll just take the standard Russ and Chimera chassis and put German turrets, guns and extras on them. I want the German influences in my army, but I still want it to look like it belongs in 40k's Imperium.

Basically, I want my infantry to look something like this, but retaining the flak armor and basic look of the plastic Cadians:
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae218/AbsolutCharlie/Ardennen1944mitPeiperundSkorzeny13.jpg
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae218/AbsolutCharlie/Ardennen1944mitPeiperundSkorzeny11.jpg
http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae218/AbsolutCharlie/Ardennen1944mitPeiperundSkorzeny12.jpg

Much of the recognition will be based on the camo scheme and German helmets in place of Cadian ones. Not sure if I want to do a lot of tinkering with the lasguns; I just might paint the stock like wood so it represents the StG 44. Heavy bolters or at least stubbers might get replaced by the MG42.

EDIT: Found this picture - the scheme is pretty spot-on to my liking.

That is a very good rendition of the oak leaf, fall side SS camo pattern. I would tone the orange down just a tiny bit. The orange is pretty bright, but not quite that bright.
Just for the record, there were never any camouflaged greatcoats as this fig is wearing. Yes, I know its just a fantasy...

 Aristocrap wrote:


EDIT: Found this picture - the scheme is pretty spot-on to my liking.

For flavour keep an eye out on Ebay for the old GW WW2 dwarfs in German uniforms. They occasionally pop up. I have a unit currently under contract to my Chaos Dwarf army....

Consider investing in these:

http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/world-war-2/wwii-german-infantry-platoon


They'll provide you with headswaps, accessories and you could maybe 'Germanify' your IG's equipment by swapping bits with stuff out of here; for e.g. you could find a way to merge a lasgun and an STG-44.

Thank you for the replies! Henners, those figs look great, thanks for the link. I can see some great conversions with those bits!
However, I've got a slight change of plans; the army is going to be a company of the Blood Pact instead of the Guard. However, as the Blood Pact wear the same German helmets, I'm going to keep this theme. The Pact have specialized Death Brigades, which are tasked with particular missions and I can use that to justify the camo, rather than the standard red Pact fatigues. I already know what heads I'll be using: http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=54

My friend will be doing the Sons of Sek, so I figure the Blood Pact will be fitting rivals. Not much will be changed, asides from Imperial insignia replaced by Khornate motifs. Cadians will still be my base. A bit of fluff: Rather than tear down the whole Imperium, the commander of the Ghourra 5th Death Brigade would rather replace the worship of the Emperor to that of Chaos, forming a new Khornate Imperium. So I could potentially use a German eagle with the Khorne rune. I think this route would be a bit easier to explore, and a bit more flavorful.

I still really want to use German-looking tanks, or rather self-propelled artillery. I'm a fan of the Medusa, and with a Nashorn gun/compartment, it'd look pretty neat. What scale of models should I look for to be compatible with 40k's vehicles? I don't see myself using any super-heavies at the moment; just self-propelled artillery and/or Russes.

1/72 is too small.
1/35 can be too big (not for ork conversions though).

1/48 is good.....try Tamiya
1/56 is also good but limited in supplier

What about "Warlord games bolt action german army" for your vehicles?
Exemple:


I don't find any informations on the scale of the vehicles compared to Leman Russ or chimera.

Excuse me for advance for my grammar, my english isn't perfect at all.

i think DKoK models painted with vallejo model air german grey... little greenstuff on the models (model an band over the arm wich can be painted red after) and add german vehicle iconology on your vehicles