Partisans / Vatican Operatives - Don Camillo, résistance fighter

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INTELLIGENCE FILE

Code name: Don Camillo

Birth name: Camillo Tarocci

Nationality: Italian

Affiliation: Resistance, Vatican

Known special skills: marksman, brawler, talks with Christ a lot

Current whereabouts: Northern Italy

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Don Camillo is the hotheaded priest of Brescello, a small town in the Po valley in northern Italy. A big man, tall and strong with hard fists, he enjoys a reputation as somewhat of a brawler. Seemingly at odds with communist partisan fighter Giuseppe Bottazzi, better known as Peppone, the two men share a mutual respect and friendship, despite their public feud. As such, Camillo braved German patrols in order to reach Peppone and his fellow Communists in the mountains and administer Mass to them under field conditions. Through the crucifix in the town church he hears the voice of Christ, which often has to gently reprimand the priest for his impatience. Being an excellent marksman himself, Don Camillo doesn't shy back from picking up his rifle and assist the partisan movement against the fascists.

With the emergence of unholy creatures on AXIS side, especially Germany, he has fully joined the fight as a hardy resistance fighter and sometimes operative of the Vatican. As such, he has been called upon to assist the Crimson Nun on more than one occasion.

The model is based on the 1/35 MiniArt French priest, with the addition of a pair of arms from a Tamiya wehrmacht set for a more militant look. The MiniArt model seems deliberately modelled after Don Camillo as played by Fernandel and I did my best to bring out the likeness in the sculpt. The head is resin, with the body being plastic. Paintingwise, this one seems to have reverted the most to my "old" painting style, which I was trying to avoid with these. I'll have to be more vigilant when continuing with the next models. Still, the face is decent.

Halting the advance of some zombies. None shall pass! 

Switched to greyscale to compare to the classic movie representation (played by Fernandel):

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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: MiniArt (head and body) - Tamiya (arms and rifle)
Figure reference: French civilians 30s-40s - 38037
Material: Plastic + Resin
Conversions: arms
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Inspiration: Don Camillo movies

Occult Germany - Intelligence Report - The Ahnenerbe

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INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Identification: Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V.
Nationality: Occult Germany
Location: Berlin (HQ)
Nature of the organisation: occult archaeological institute
Number of personnel: unknown
Known affiliations: Thule Society
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July 1, 1935

Under influence of the Thule Society, the Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V., commonly referred to as the Ahnenerbe, is created to support the idea that the modern Germans descended from an ancient Aryan race. The group comprises scholars and scientists from a broad range of academic disciplines, who would spread across the globe on many expeditions in search of artefacts and texts supporting their Aryan beliefs.

Ahnenerbe scholars interpret evidence to fit Hitler's beliefs, and some consciously fabricate evidence to do so. The organisation sends out various expeditions to other parts of the world, intent on finding evidence of ancient Aryan expansion.

The German government used the Ahnenerbe's research to justify many of their policies. For instance, their claim that archaeological evidence indicated that the ancient Aryans lived across eastern Europe was cited in justification of German military expansion into that region. In 1937 the Ahnenerbe undertaking was renamed the Research and Teaching Community of the Ancestral Heritage (Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft des Ahnenerbe). 

A.E. expedition to an undisclosed site

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NOTABLE EXPEDITIONS
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EGYPT
Year: 1936
Mission: recovery of the Ark of the Covenant, which Adolf Hitler believes will make his army invincible
Travels: Nepal, Cairo, Tanis
Operatives: Colonel Herman Dietrich (A.E.), Major Arnold Toht (Gestapo), Major Gobler (A.E.), René Belloq (French archeaologist for hire)
Rival operatives: Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. (US archeaologist), Marion Ravenwood (US relic hunter)
Mission Summary: after the Ahnenerbe is sent to Tanis for excavation, in search of the Ark, the US Army Intelligence recruits archaeologist Indiana Jones to recover the Ark first. Gestapo officer Arnold Toht is sent to Nepal to recover a medallion which is part of the staff of Ra, in order to locate the Well of Souls, the Ark's resting place. Despite Jones and Ravenwood's attempts, the A.E. are successful in retrieving the Ark. However, all contact with the expedition is lost shortly after the scheduled opening of the Ark.
Current status: the Ark is presumed to be in American hands

Colonel Dietrich and Major Toht, in a picture sent to HQ shortly before contact was lost.

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IRAN
Year: 1938
Mission: study of the Behistun Inscription
Travels: Iran
Operatives: Walther Wüst (A.E. president), Mrs. Wüst.
Rival operatives: /
Mission Summary: an expedition comprising Wüst and his wife, an amanuensis, an Iranian student, a photographer, and an experienced mountaineer travels to Iran to study the Behistun Inscription, which had been created by order of the Achaemenid Shah Darius I, who had declared himself to have been of Aryan origin in his inscriptions. The inscriptions were recorded atop steep cliffs using scaffolding that was removed after the inscriptions were made. Unable to afford the cost of erecting new scaffolds, the expedition employed a balloon-mounted camera to take detailed pictures of the inscriptions.

Current status: the photographs are being studied in the A.E. headquarters.

One of the many pictures taken during the expedition.

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TURKEY
Year: 1938
Mission: recovery of the holy Grail, which Adolf Hitler believes will be the key to his immortality
Travels: Venice (Italy), Castle Brunwald (Austria), Berlin (Germany), Hatay (Turkey)
Operatives: Colonel Ernst Vogel (A.E.), Dr. Elsa Schneider (A.E.)
Rival operatives: Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. (US archaeologist), Henry Jones Sr. (US archaeologist)
Mission Summary: the American archaeology professor Henry Jones Sr. is kidnapped by Colonel Vogel and his Austrian colleague Dr. Elsa Schneider, while searching for the Holy Grail. After rescuing his father from his imprisonment by Colonel Ernst Vogel in the Austrian Castle Brunwald, Indiana Jones travels to Berlin to retrieve his father's diary which contains valuable clues to survive the booby traps guarding the Grail's location. Disguised as a German Army colonel, Jones recovers the diary from Elsa. They catch up with the A.E expedition in Hatay, where it found the temple in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon where the Holy Grail is kept. Indiana Jones is coerced to help them, allowing them to reach the Grail's chamber, where the true Grail is hidden among dozens of false grails. Vogel dies after drinking from a false grail. When Elsa Schneider tries to take the real Grail with her, this causes the temple to collapse around them when she crosses the Great Seal set in the floor at the entrance. 
Current status: the Grail is presumed to be lost. Hitler is looking at other avenues to gain immortality, including experiments on lower vampires.

Vogel with the Grail. Background: Schneider and Jones; unidentified knightly figure.

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TIBET
Year: 1943
Mission: recovery of a mysterious scroll that will grant great powers to the reader
Travels: Tibet
Operatives: Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, Blitzkrieg Squad
Rival operatives: /
Mission Summary: the Ahnenerbe tasks Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his Blitzkrieg Squad to travel to Tibet in search of a scroll that contains knowledge that will make its reader powerful, young, and immune to injury. They arrive shortly after a young Tibetan monk is entrusted with guarding the scroll and becomes the new bearer of its powers, forgoing his name. Granted its powers, the monk learns he will need to find his own successor to pass on the scroll in his future, but the German soldiers attack the temple shortly after, and the nameless monk escapes with the scroll after his master is killed.

Current status: current whereabouts of the "Bulletproof Monk" are unknown, though he has appeared in various places and assisted in the fight against AXIS troops.

Only known picture of the Bulletproof Monk, taken by an A.E. photographer in Tibet.

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Inspiration source: Historical references / Raiders of the Lost Ark (movie) / Indian Jones and the Last Crusade (movie) / Bulletproof Monk (movie)

Occult Germany - Übersoldat - Doomtrooper

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INTELLIGENCE FILE
Code name: Übersoldat
Troop type: jacked up supersoldier
Nationality: Occult Germany
Affiliation: Thule Society
Characteristics: Indifferent to pain, relentless, merciless, superstrength
Vulnerabilities: heavy artillery
Deployment zone: Western Front, Eastern Front, North Afrika
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The result of one of Germany's many superhero programs, the juiced up, jacked up Übersoldat, or Doomtrooper as he is sometimes referred to, is a powerhouse indeed. This hulk of a man can charge through a brick well, bring down enemy light walkers and tear enemy soldiers limb from limb if need be. Standing several heads taller than any ordinary man, the sickly colour of their skintone, combined with the total lack of speech and proneness to berserk type rage, make one wonder how much humanity remains behind the blue lenses of their gasmaks, that seem like a parody of the blue-eyed ideal propagated by some circles within the German high command.

The German superhero program encountered some successes and a whole lot more failures. This may partly be due enlisting the help of not only mad geniuses but, in some case, plain madmen and monsters. The Übersoldat is the work of one such madman, the scientist Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, member of the infamous Thule Society. 

The Red Widow is trying to hold off an Übersoldat. The bullets from her pistol hardly seem to penetrate its skin.

The base of the model is a conversion of a cheap plastic Hulk figure made by Monogram International, shown below, with the head replaced with a 28mm gasmask head (molemask from Ramshackle Games) that I've had for years, a Tamiya 1/35 helmet and some greenstuff to bulk up the head and blend it into the body. All in all, pretty effective for a cheap toy.

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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: Marvel / Monogram International
Figure reference: Hulk 

Material: Plastic
Conversions: headswap (Tamiya helmet + Ramshackle Games molemask head + greenstuff)
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Inspiration source: SS Doomtrooper movie

Occult Germany - Intelligence Report- Wiederbelebung Truppen

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INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Code name: Wiederbelebung Truppen
Troop type: Zombies
Nationality: Occult Germany
Affiliation: Thule Society, Doctor Mengele
Characteristics: Indifferent to pain, relentless, merciless, mindless
Vulnerabilities: Decapitation, severe head trauma, fire (not immediately), bodies of water (sinking)
Deployment zone: Western Front, Eastern Front, North Afrika
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It all started in 1943. The Thule Society and Ahnenerbe's repeated failures in attaining the quest for Immortality lead to Hitler sanctioning ever more dangerous experiments by scientists, occultists,  madmen and monsters. One such monster was Brigadeführer Josef Götz. He experimented on fallen soldiers, in an attempt to bring them back to life. 

Doctor Josef Götz, early photograph

Underground facility where the initial experiments took place.

His experiments were a success, of sorts, though not the kind the Führer had been hoping for. The reanimated soldiers were violent mindless creatures, seemingly suffering from an all consuming hunger. While walking around in a shambling way, they were, as individuals, still pretty much dead for all intent and purposes. The decay of their flesh seemed slowed down by the reanimation proces, but not halted, only adding to their gruesome appearances. Their resilience and immunity to pain nonetheless caught the high command's attention. It seemed only severe head trauma, destroying what is left of their brain activity, or total annihilation through fire seemed to stop them. Götz managed to convince the Thule Society to support putting the Wiederbelebung Truppen, as he called them, in the field.

Brigadeführer Götz and his Wiederbelebung Truppen

Initially, only enemy soldiers were reanimated in such a fashion. All memory of their past life was erased anyway and it was believed the German soldiers would consider it a desecration of their fallen friends bodies if they were treated in such a way. The added horror for the enemy soldiers seeing their fallen comrades march back onto them was considered a boon. The initial deployments took place in the Eastern Front and were met with some reasonable success, enough to greenlight the expansion of the program.

Some formerly Russian Wiederbelbung Truppen advancing on a Russian operative

As the war went on though, civilians and, in the end Wehrmacht and Waffen SS troops were reanimated in the same fashion. The Allied Forces would refer to them as Nazi Zombies, regardless of whatever uniform remains are on their back.

Image references: Dead Snow (movie), The Outpost (movie), Call of Duty: WWII Nazi Zombie game mode (game)

 

Occult Germany - Wiederbelebung Truppen - Zombies

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INTELLIGENCE FILE
Code name: Wiederbelebung Truppen
Troop type: Reanimated corpses, Zombies
Nationality: Occult Germany
Affiliation: Thule Society
Characteristics: Indifferent to pain, relentless, merciless, mindless
Vulnerabilities: Decapitation, severe head trauma, fire (not immediately), bodies of water (sinking)
Deployment zone: Western Front, Eastern Front, North Afrika
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Hitler had always been obsessed with the quest for immortality and the Thule Society fed that obsession, exploring different avenues towards attaining that goal. One such experiment resulted in the reanimation of fallen soldiers. As a quest for immortality, it was an abject failure. The subjects were mindless, shambling corpses and the process of decay was slowed, but not halted. While not working out as intended, the Thule Society saw an opportunity here and oversaw the creation of more of these Wiederbelebung Truppen, or Nazi zombies as they were dubbed by the Allies. 

Initially, the program only used enemy soldier's corpses, mostly Russians. The zombies are a disquieting enough sight without further shocking the German troops with the desecration of their fallen friends. However, as the war raged on and the Wehrmacht got accustomed to the sight of zombies over time, such delicate considerations were abandoned... 

A former Red Army nurse, now another gruesome tool in the German warmachine.

A couple (former) Russian zombies to kick off the zombie horde. The models are a couple of resin 1/35 figures produced by WAR (Weird Armies Reign). There was no need to convert them as they were already perfect as is. I used 32mm clear acrylic bases on them again, to match the others.

The Red Widow trying to fend off some former comrades, now mindless enemies

A couple of zombies advancing through the twilight hour, passing by an abandoned civilian vehicle.

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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: Weird Armies Reign (WAR)

Figure reference: Soviet "Recycled" Troops '46 - WM003/WM004
Material: Resin
Conversions: /
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Still early days, but I took the opportunity to take this groupshot of the project's advancement to keep me motivated:

Soviet Russia - Winter Guard - Lady Death of the Red Army

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INTELLIGENCE FILE

Code name: Lady Death
Birth name: Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko
Nationality: Soviet Union

Affiliation: Winter Guard, Red Army
Known special skills: exceptional marksman, sniper
Current whereabouts: Eastern Front
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Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, (Russian: Людми́ла Миха́йловна Павличе́нко) was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army at the start of World War II, who was credited with 309 confirmed kills, making her the most successful female sniper in recorded history.

Pavlichenko was nicknamed "Lady Death" for her incredible ability with the sniper rifle. She served in the Red Army during the siege of Odessa and the siege of Sevastopol, during the early stages of the fighting on the Eastern Front.

After she was injured in battle by a mortar shell, she was evacuated to Moscow, where it was decided she was too valuable to the war effort be crippled and was administered an experimental drug to ensure a full recovery. Thanks to this, Pavlichenko made a full recovery and, being somewhat of a national hero, was assigned to the Winter Guard, where she continues her fight to this day.

The model is another resin, stock model without conversions. She comes with two options for her right hand, a gasmask, as pictured, and a chain attached to a cross, which seemed altogether too fiddly to bother with. Even with going with the easier build, there is still plenty of detail to work with. The figure is a wonderful little sculpt, with intricate detail and for me, somewhat above my paygrade paintingwise. Still, I like how she came out in the end, so that's all that matters. 32mm clear acrylic base to work on any table.

Lady Death and the Red Widow

Not always seeing eye to eye...

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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: Mauser Earth (Smartmax Miniatures/Blackbird Miniatures)
Figure reference: Chapochka
Material: Resin
Conversions: /
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Soviet Russia - Winter Guard - Red Widow

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INTELLIGENCE FILE

Code name: Red Widow

Birth name: Yelena Romanoff

Nationality: Soviet Union

Affiliation: Winter Guard, Red Room Academy

Known special skills: marksman, unarmed combat, superhuman strength, fast healing, superior agility and athletics, fluent in 13 languages, ballet, infiltration, assassination

Current whereabouts: unknown

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The Red Widow is one of Soviet Russia's elite operatives and a prime member of the (in)famous Winter Guard, Russia's own supersoldier team. A skilled spy and assassin, she has been endowed with strength, endurance, agility and healing beyond that of a regular human. Little is know about her past, as she was one of many orphans who were sent to the Red Room Academy at a young age and one of the few to come out of that hellish training place. Her mastery of at least a dozen language besides her Russian mother tongue, makes her a master of infiltration and she has conducted more than one clandestine mission resulting in the theft of secret files or the assassination of key politicians or military personnel. 

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MODEL INFORMATION
Scale: 1/35
Brand: Dust-Models
Figure reference: D85005 - Koshka Rudinova
Material: Resin
Conversions: /
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The model is a stock model from the small range of 1/35 Dust-Models kits, with no conversions. She is pinned and glued to a 35mmx2mm clear acrylic base, so she can look in place with any terrain. This was my first finished model in this scale in over 25 years and I tried to use some different painting techniques than the more standard wargaming ones I usually use on 28/30mm and 60/65mm scale. While I did not manage to break free completely from those habits, I am relatively satisfied.  

Soviet Russia - Intelligence Report - Red Room Academy

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INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Identification: Red Room Academy
Nationality: Soviet Russia
Location: Belarus, exact location unknown
Nature of the site: superspy training facility
Number of personnel: unknown
Known affiliations: Red Widow
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The Red Room Academy is a Soviet-Russian training facility posing as a boarding school, presumably located in the Maryina Horka Forest in Belarus. It is home to the Red Room Program, aimed at training and conditioning child assassins and superspies, while medically enhancing their natural skills to superhuman levels. 

All of the pupils are orphans, with the majority of them being girls. Each morning they are indoctrinated and brainwashed through films they are forced to watch and learn by heart. The films serve a double purpose, as they show the behaviour one should display to not raise any suspicions, as well as brainwash the children through subliminal messages embedded in the movies. They are trained in hand-to-hand combat from a young age, as well as in the use of a variety of close range and ranged weapons. 

Fatal "accidents" are not uncommon during that training period and only a fraction of those who enter the Red Room Academy will come out, as deadly weapons for Mother Russia to aim towards its enemies. One such graduate is the infamous Red Widow.

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Inspiration source: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Agent Carter/Black Widow)