WOTW US Army, National Guard, and Militia Troops

I am working on a major 1/72nd scale figure sorting and conversion project.

My plan is to have American Regular Army, State Militia, National Guard, and local militias for War of the World invasions.  They will be separate units for every 20 years starting in 1898, 1918, 1938 and 1958.  The first three are the primary focus on this project for now.  I am planning on about a regiment of each but the regiments will mostly be small from those days.

Here is some of my artillery.  The French 75 was used from 1917 to about 1945 by various US Army units.  By the end of WWII they were likely all gone by then.  This is 24 of them with the original wooden spoked wheels for World War One, and 24 others that have rubber tires and they will work for the 1938 time period.  24 is enough to support two battalions of infantry.  All 48 can be in use for the 1938 period.

I am sorting figures on my table, in units of about 50 or so troops.  Prior to WWII most units in the Regular Army, National Guard, Reserves, and militias were way understrength much of the time with companies having as few as 50 men.  I am also working on American police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP for the same period.  It's a big project and just the research has taken years, but it is all starting to come together.  It will likely take me another year or so to finish but it has been going on now for at least 10 years so far.
 

Boer War Artillery

Here is the Boer War crew for the Strelets Cresout Long Tom gun.

Back side.  I intend to use the gun as a US 5 inch siege gun model 1890.  I will likely make a US crew from an ACW crew or a British colonial crew.

The crew in action.

Note the little stand for the crewman to stand on to take a sighting.

Close up.

These figures are very well detailed.

And they have a lot of character.

People checking the maps for long range fire.
 

Cresout Gun

This gun is very similar to a 5 inch gun that was in US service at the same time.

I tried to find out if the US gun was a license built version of this gun because they look so much alike.

But I could not find anything about it.

5-inch Siege Gun 1890, 70 were made and although mobilized for combat in the Spanish American War none actually made it into combat.

 Several were later taken to the Philippines and Hawaii but were disposed of in the 1920s as obsolete.  A battery of these cannons was four guns towed by eight horses each.

Unusual Troop Types

One of my favorite books is the Military Uniforms in America, The Modern Era From 1868, from the Series Produced by The Company of Military Historians. Presidio Press, 1988.  It is one of a series of books that describe and paint the uniforms of North America, primarily the United States, in various time periods.  I am now using this book to try and recreate some of these uniforms in miniature.  These are four units I am hoping to create.

My intention is to take soft plastic figures that are similar to these and with head swaps, and other plastic surgery, as needed, and maybe even a little paint, to create these units.  At least good enough quality to pass the arm's reach test.  That is, they look good enough from arm's reach.

My plan is to give me soldiers that will work for 1898, 1918, and 1938 periods.  I am trying to develop US Army troops for each of those time periods to fight invaders into the Continental United States.  Those invaders could be Indians, Mexicans, Spanish, English, Canadians, Germans, or of course, Martians.

My intention is to use regular troops in standard uniforms, but to add a few of these troops to create a headquarters unit that will be in the dress uniform.  These troops will be a squad of a dozen, or perhaps two squads.  Depending on the difficulty of the conversion needed, I may create as many as a full platoon, maybe to include a few mounted troops.

I like to include unusual troop types in my units.  Often I give them special abilities, perhaps better morale, or better marksmanship, or sometimes worse abilities than the norm, just mix things up a bit.  If you have any suggestions for soft plastic figures that can be easily converted into any of these troops, please note them in the comments.