My British pen pal and fellow supers-enthusiast Carrion Crow graciously invited me to take part in his annual “Forgotten Heroes” challenge. At first I didn’t see a way I could participate this year (too much real life), but the thought of not taking part in a challenge so ideally suited to me kept me up at night. I was too late to the party last year, and I missed out on the fun.

Fun is something that’s in short supply these days, so I begged and pleaded with the Crow to allow me into his challenge, even though I missed the start by some 5 days or so. In response, he asked me to pledge him my loyalty. I didn’t feel that was appropriate, and told him so. He seemed irritated, but he graciously allowed me to join the challenge anyway.

(Perhaps it didn’t happen exactly like that. Perhaps.)

The rules are simple:

1. The character you create must not yet have had an official or unofficial miniature made for it.
2. The figure must be in 28mm scale.
3. The figure must be completed during the month of June.
4. In your first post, you should provide a bit of detail on the character you’ve chosen and why.

I decided I could do that. But forget one character. Carrion Crow has inspired me to do a whole freakin’ team! From the battlefields of WWII, I bring you THE LIBERTY LEGION!!!!

Clockwise from the top in the picture above, I present: Miss America! The Patriot! Jack Frost! Blue Diamond! Bucky (not an official member)! Red Raven! The Whizzer ( weak bladder, apparently)! and finally, Thin Man!

I first became aware of the Liberty Legion through an (surprisingly good) adventure for TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes, published in Dragon Magazine #104. At the time, I read their statistics and thought, “Man, these guys SUCK!” And they sure do. They are all pretty low-powered, especially by modern standards. I’ll go into their powers and provide my Super Mission Force builds for them later in the month.

I have a fondness for WWII comics, especially ones featuring supers. The Liberty Legion fought the stinkin’ Ratzis alongside the Invaders and other Allied heroes like Union Jack. They were formed by Bucky to rescue the Invaders from the Red Skull. (Side note: I love the Invaders. Keep your eyes open. They’re soon to be shown here, too!).

Now, before all you naysayers inform me that there are Liberty Legion miniatures out there already, let me say “Yes, but not ALL the members have miniatures yet!” Currently, Miss America, Thin Man,  and Whizzer have Heroclix releases. All the rest don’t…which means they will require a conversion  of some kind or a complete repaint of another miniature in order to pass muster. And if you think I would convert and paint up half the team without at least repainting the awful factory jobs on the ones they DID release, well then you, sir (or madam), are clearly visiting Dead Dick’s Tavern for the first time!!!

I would love to adapt the TSR adventure for Super Mission Force, but I’m having some trouble. I doubt Heroclix will release the villains “Master Man and Warrior Woman”.  Master Man is a big, dumb Aryan poster boy with super strength; while Warrior Woman is a crazed Nazi dominatrix, also with super strength (and a whip).  Both have too many swastikas for commercial release. But perhaps I could work something out with the Red Skull and Baron Blood instead…hmmm…

Anyway, watch this space for the end results of my repainting/conversion efforts! Perhaps some special guests not mentioned may make an appearance by the end, too!