Alter-Nations - Kingdom of Hawaii Part 3

WHAT FIGURES TO USE

Taking a break from the background story of fictional Hawaii I have begun to give some thought to what sorts of miniatures I might use to represent their army.

For my fictional version of the Kingdom of Hawaii, I wanted to have a military that reflected both European and island traditions in the same uniform. This really is a tough decision because, unless I want to spend an eternity converting little 15mm figs, I am going to have to work with what's out there and last time I checked their wasn't a company catering specifically to my mad imagination. So, with that in mind, I have to think about what is available out there.

There are plenty of naval infantry and marines out there as well as tribal forces from other nations, some of them even island nations. Wide-brimmed hats come to mind, due to the sun and such, but not all armies that fought in hot and sunny environments wore sun helmets or wide-brimmed hat. I suppose I could go with a sun helmet as well.

One thing I have considered is finding some native infantry, askaris or some such that have short pants on or, if I can find them one of those wrap around skirts. that seem to be popular in the more "civilized" Hawaiians. The question is, can I find the right lower wear on a figure with a suitable military style jacket.

I did find some miniatures in the Freikorp line of figures that might work or at least give me something close enough on the table. The figures in question are the following -

PAR03 Paraguayan Infantry, loin cloth
PAR02 Paraguayan Infantry, poncho & kilt
PAR23 Paraguayan Spearmen

There are also command and other support and military elements that go with these gents, including some in more conventional uniforms. These figures appeal for a couple of reasons. First of all, they all wear high peaked shakos that seem to sweep forward and bear a resemblance to traditional Hawaiian headgear. Secondly, the figures in ponchos and kilt might make for a sort of odd Hawaiian uniform that includes the skirt I was looking for as well as something that give a nod back to the traditional cloaks that were worn by islanders. Lastly, the loincloth-wearing soldiers and the spear-wielding ones would make for very interesting provincial militia - ill-equipped and poorly uniformed.

I have ordered a couple packs to take a look and see if they fit the bill and will continue to look around to see if I can find other figures that might work well. If you have any suggestions or even an alternate idea on what they might look like, let me know.

Thanks again,

-Eli