'Sakura Taisen' in HOTT

This list was originally written for The stronghold by Kent McClure. I have applied my usual deft editorial hand.

'Sakura Taisen' takes place on a steam dominated Earth in the early 1920's. World War 1 never happened. Instead, there was the Great Demon War, in which mankind emerged victorious. But the demons did not go completely away and the humans knew it was only a matter of time before they return. To prepare for that eventuality, a special unit of steam-powered mechas (called ubas or spirit-armor) was formed and based in Tokyo. (In fact, they are specifically tasked to defend Tokyo above all else.) This unit is the elite Imperial Floral Assault Unit. The ubas are crewed/directed by the spirit energy of their pilots, and, apparently, this sprirt energy is strongest in young women. Currently, there are only 7 ubas in existence - each uniquely coloured - and all but the commander's is crewed by women. Now on to the list.

Stronghold: The Imperial Theatre (Okay, at least the front of the theatre. And yes, that is their HQ in the show)

1 Knight General @ 2AP	Ichiro Ohgami's Uba (white)
6 Knights @ 2AP	Ubas piloted by Sakura Shinguji (pink) Maria Tachibana (black or very dark blue) Sumire Kanzaki (bluish purple) Iris Chateaubriand (golden yellow) Ri Kohren (green) and Kanna Kirishima (red)
1 Airboat @ 3AP	The armored airship Shogei Maru
3 Shooters @ 2AP	Regular Japanese infantry (1920's style uniforms)

Options: The Aerial Battleship Mikasa (Airboat @ 3AP), the armored Bullet Train Goraigo (Behemoth @ 4AP), very large steam powered cannon (Artillery @ 3AP), additional Japanese infantry (Shooters @ 2AP), Japanese infantry in steam powered trucks (Riders @ 2AP).

Note: The ubas should be based 1 figure per base.

Figure availability: The easiest figures are the Japanese infantry. Use figures from the Boxer Rebellion period or the Russo-Japanese War. The trucks could be WW1 vintage trucks converted to steam power by just adding tall exhaust stacks. The aerial battleship, armored airship, armored Bullet Train, and the steam cannon could be scratchbuilt, although some gashapon ranges may provide suitable proxies.

Finally, the ubas themselves. Small, hard plastic ones are available on the ends of keychains in anime shops, so that would be the first place to look. Otherwise they would also have to be sctachbuilt. At a small scale - 15mm or less, this should not present too much of a problem, as the suits are fairly crude and clunky.