Monday, May 26, 2025

28mm WWII Imperial Japanese Army from Warlord

 All, 

You've seen my Marines, so let me introduce you to their primary antagonists, the Imperial Japanese Army.  I bought the Warlord Games' Island Assault starter set, and then another box of their plastic Japanese infantry.  The metal figures from the starter set are nicely done, as are the extra scenery items, and the plastic infantry are a snap to slap together and paint up.  As is my usual, I painted them up using Contrast paints; probably pretty boring for you to look at, but they were quick and easy to paint up and look fine on the tabletop (at least to my eye).

The whole mess; there's a platoon+ worth of infantry and officer types, a Type 97 Chi-Ha tank, a 70mm Type 92 battalion gun (actually, a howitzer), a 20mm Type 98 anti-aircraft gun, two Type 92 heavy machine guns, an 81mm Type 97 mortar, a flamethrower team, a sniper team, a Forward Observer team, and then a concrete bunker and two 'spider holes.'  The infantry platoon has its normal compliment of Type 96/99 light machine guns, Type 89 Grenade Dischargers ("knee mortars"), and Arisaka rifles, with a few Type 100 submachine guns thrown in just for fun.

A few officer types.

A closeu0 of the first one, firing his Type 14 Nambu pistol.

Reverse.

The next one, ordering some POWs to build a bridge or something...

Reverse.

And the last, charging in with his samurai sword drawn.

Side.

Reverse.

The 70mm battalion gun.

Again.

And one more.

The 20mm AA gun.

Another look.

And once more.

The two Type 92 machine guns.

A closeup.

Another.

And one more.

The mortar team.

Again.

The flamethrower team.

Reverse.

Closeup.

The Forward Observers.  The right guy is metal, the left plastic from the platoon box.

Again.

One more.

The sniper team.

Again.

A couple flags.  Not sure which flag I was supposed to use, but I like this one so that's what I went with ;)

Another look.

And one more.

A couple pole charges, or lunge mines, for close-in anti-tank work.

Another look.

And one more.

A couple riflemen, just chilling.

The Type 96/99 light machine guns (yes, for simplicity and quickness' sake, I built a lot of the Japanese infantry in the same pose and moved out, assembly line fashion, so all the LMGs are this pose).

Nicely sculpted, weapons and gear look great.

Another look.

And one more.

The knee mortars.

Closeup.

Again.

Some NCO-types pointing.

Closeup.

Again.

One more.

Some Type 100 submachine gunners.

Closeup.

Good looking model of a pretty rare weapon.

Some riflemen moving up, muzzle to the dirt.

Closeup.

Again.

Some riflemen sighting in.

Closeup.

Again.

Some riflemen sauntering about, bayonet presented.

Again.

One more.

Some riflemen taking a knee, preparing to throw a hand grenade (just smacked the thing on their helmets to light the fuse; well, except the dude in the cap, must used a nearby rock).

Closeup.

Again.

Some riflemen double-timing it.

Again.

Once more.

Some riflemen charging.

Classic 'banzai!' pose.

Once more.

My Type 97 tank, painted up using Contrast paints as well.

Another look.

Again.

The tank commander.

Some terrain; a concrete bunker and two spider holes.

The bunker.

A spider hole, with Arisaka muzzle protruding.

And the other spider hole, which was just a wood-lined hole in the ground, so I cut down one of the metal figures and threw him in there.

Well, there you go, my IJA, ready to do battle.  I also have a Special Naval Landing Force platoon, but they're not painted, and not sure when they'll get painted as I'm finally to my painting break, time to play some games!

V/R,
Jack

10 comments:

  1. The contrast painting worked out well. It is always good when you can get units painted fast and to a good painting quality.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Peter, and yes, nothing beats the feeling of completing another force! Contrast paints have helped me tremendously on that account.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  2. Those really are lovely figures, what great sculpts. The contracts paints work very well for their khaki uniforms too. I'm amazed you managed to paint a tank with them though. Did you use a white undercoat?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Martin! Yeah, I’ve done a few vehicles now with Contrast paints; I highly recommend the paints for figures, it gets a bit iffy with vehicles and terrain. The vehicles I’ve done look… okay, but certainly not great.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  3. A nice looking army Jack, I’ve never really considered a Japanese army ?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Matt! Yeah, I knew I had to have them to face off against my Marines, but I’ve got other ideas I’d like to jump on with them, such as vs US Army and Australia in New Guinea, vs US Army on Guadalcanal (a la “The Thin Red Line”), vs UK and India in Burma, maybe even early war stuff in Malaya, Philippines, and Wake Island. Lots of uses for them, actually.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  4. Nicely done! Congratulations also on being one of the few gamers to not paint Japanese helmets green.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I appreciate it! Yeah, I was shooting for a brownish color, left some of them too yellow, but not bad overall, I think.

      V/R,
      Jack

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  5. They look fantastic to me. It may be time for me to start WWII in another scale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Brian, thanks a bunch man! Hope all is well!

      And don't do it, it's killing me...

      V/R,
      Jack

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