I’m going to step away from the 3mm stuff for a little while and continue to make a mockery of my title. Like many a wargamer I play a number of systems (too many if I’m honest). So we’re going to use this as an excuse to take a bit of a diversion (apologies if you’re just into the tiny stuff – it will return).

One genre I enjoy particularly is Weird World War 2 (WWWII for short). This genre imagines that WWII didn’t end in 1945 and instead kept going (typically Kursk, D-Day and/or Midway go against history) usually indefinitely with no sign of a result any time soon. Now, the weird comes in that each of the sides have uncovered any number of scientific, occult, alien or monstrous new technologies that are rushed to the battle field. As such you’ve got things like Zombies, Werewolves, lasers, giant robots, homocidal apes, helicopters and guys in armoured suits running around with your more standard WW2 tanks and infantry. The theme of these games invites a healthy Pulp element with impossibly evil Nazi scientists conducting experiments on Allied PoWs while Captain America style heroes come in and save the day, or die horribly. Wonderfully silly stuff.

The tone of the games range from relatively light and whimsical to dark and grim (although there is always a dark undertone, after-all imagine the Nazis getting hold of mystical powers). On the light and whimsical side you have Incursion by Grindhouse Games which is a miniature board game not a thousand miles from the Doom or Space Hulk gameplay style. On the darker side you have AE-WWII by Blackball Games (formerly by Darkson Designs). AE-WWII is a skirmish scale (~15 models per side) game which has quite a dark and sinister tone with all sides having unleashed dark, occult forces over which their control is questionable. In the middle you have the other two contenders: Dust now distributed by Gale Force Nine and Secrets of the Third Reich by Westwind. These are both in the middle, with Dust on the lighter side of things. Both of these are traditional small scale miniature games with around 20-50 miniatures per side.

I’ve got all four to varying degrees, so this genre might be somewhat of an obsession for me. However, today’s focus is Dust. Dust is Paolo Parente’s brain child. A former clothing designer this game has some spectacular art and an over the top tone. The men are impossibly toned and heroic, while the women fight in plunging neck-lines and just as well as the men. The awkward history is avoided by having Hitler killed and the Nazis disbanded; this change to the history lightens things somewhat and wipes out the genocidal tone you’ve got sitting behind WW2. So you have a real Pulp and Super Hero tone going on.

Now, I’ve probably bored everyone to tears so let’s talk about the intended topic of this post. Winter Child is one of the Soviet Socialist Union’s (SSU) heroes. He’s super strong as a result of a failed nuclear experiment. As such he wears a heavily armoured suit (to protect his Comrades from his radiation), can shoot radiation from his hands (of course) and can fly in his suit (why not?). As you can see – ever so slightly – over the top.

As you can see from the following shot he comes in quite a dynamic pose: in flight and shooting at some – no doubt – Fascist or Capitalist swine. I might not have mentioned, but the Allies split with the Communists (Russia & China) going one way and the Capitalists (Britain & USA) going the other.

However, given the over-the-top feel of Dust I wanted to raise it a couple of notches. After all – where is the smoke coming from his jet pack, or the bolt of radiation coming from his hand? Fortunately there is a little comany called Armorcast that makes little pieces to help these sorts of things come to life. Below I’ve used their large energy blast (ACFX017) for the radiation beam and small smoke plumes (ACFX053) for the jetpack.

I think he pops a little more now, I’ll be painting him soon and probably adding some lightin effects around his hand and helmet to make that beam of radiation look a little more at home.