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)