15mm WWII Japanese Forces

 All,

So here they are, I did it, knocked out the Japanese forces for WWII in the Pacific.  In record time, I might add ;)  Nothing special, but they look pretty good I think.  Like the US Marines, and in contrast to all my 15mm forces for Europe/North Africa/Mediterranean, these weren't built in accordance with Rapid Fire.  Hell, they weren't really built around any particular set of rules as I'm still trying to figure out what rules I'm going to use them with.  I keep looking at a modified version of 'Fistful of Lead,' which is the latest set of rules I've fallen in love with despite not actually having played them yet ;)

Here they are, the whole mess, all in 15mm.  The troops are all from Battlefront and Eureka, while the lone Type 95 tank is from Peter Pig and the five Type 97 tanks and two A6M Zeros are plastic or resin, manufacturer unknown.  I painted everything except the five Type 97s and the Zeros, which I picked up on Ebay (from the same guy who sold me the landing craft for the Marines).

The Japanese riflemen, four units (probably platoons) of three stands (probably squads) and a leader.  I can't really see doing it for the Pacific, but I've been looking at other rules to play higher echelons, where one of these rifle stands would represent a platoon, or even a company.

Yes, those are flags, and yes, they are poorly made by yours truly from some printer paper with a red Sharpie and some Elmers' glue.

So let's start by taking a look at the Japanese platoon command stands, each with a national ensign.  I have two stands where the sword-wielding wild man has a helmet (pictured), and two where he's wearing a soft cap.

Another look.

The soft cap.  His sword-holding hand is kinda big, but not bad otherwise.  All the troops on these stands are from Eureka.

A closeup.

A look at one of the rifle stands, where you can see the second guy at left is advancing with his rifle slung, carrying a "knee mortar," AKA Type 89 Grenade Discharger, in his left hand.  The rest carry the standard Arisaka rifle.

Another rifle stand.  I really love the dynamic pose of the guy furthest right, lunging with his bayonet, and I love how Eureka sculpted most of the helmet-wearing guys with their soft cap on underneath it, with the cloth hanging down to shade their necks.  

Another rifle stand, this time showing a 'knee mortar' in use.

Another rifle stand, showing a soldier wielding a Type 96 light machine gun, replete with bayonet (foreground, nearest camera).

A look at these guys from behind, showing their light gear and how I marked the bases for unit recognition.

The heavy weapons.  A platoon of four machine gun teams from Battlefront, a pair of 81mm mortars from Eureka, a pair of 70mm howitzers from Eureka, and two Type 98 20mm anti-aircraft guns from Battlefront.

Four Type 92 heavy machine guns from Battlefront.  I'm really a big fan of Eureka, but their MGs don't look right to me, the Battlefront figures look much better to me.  The only issue was that I had to add plinths to each to get the gun high enough to meet the gunners' hands, but I don't think you can really tell.

A closer look at the 'woodpeckers,' so nicknamed for the distinctive 'bonk-bonk-bonk' sound they made due to their extraordinarily slow rate of fire.  US Marines apparently often simply referred to them as 'Nambus,' as well.

Reverse.

And from behind.

Another team, this time with the gun set at center (whereas the previous team's gun was set on the right).  I really like how you can see the assistant/loader (far right) standing by with the next strip of rounds.

Another look.

And one more.

A pair of mortars from Eureka.  The tubes pictured are actually US Marine 81mm mortars, and the ones that came with the Japanese were really short.  Since I wanted the US Marines to have 60mm mortars, I simply swapped them with the Japanese tubes, and ya didn't even notice ;)

A closer look.  I really like the Japanese command figure (far left) with field glasses, sword in hand, resting on the ground.

So let's have a closer look.  Not sure what I did, but the colors sure got washed out in this photo.

Another look, from behind.

A pair of Type 92 70mm Infantry Guns.

A closer look.

Reverse.

A pair of Type 98 20mm AA guns, from Battlefront.  In all fairness, these were originally painted and based by my buddy AJ, but I totally re-did everything but the guns themselves in order to make them fit with the rest of the force.

A closeup.

Reverse.

And one more.

Japanese support, in the form of some engineers with pole charges (I see they called them 'lunge charges,' they are hollow charges for anti-tank work) and flamethrowers, and three stands of snipers, all from Eureka.

A stand of lunge charges.

Again.

And one of the flamethrowers.  Uncharacteristically, I painted them in rather subdued grays and browns.  You have no idea how bad I wanted to paint those tanks red ;)

Reverse.

And from behind.

One of the Japanese sniper stands.  I'm sure three stands seems like a lot of snipers, but with all the times you read about Marines running into light resistance, fight through rear guards, or having to mop up stragglers and stay behinds, I'm sure I'll need them.  

Reverse.  I really like the camo on these guys.

And one more.

Japanese command (excluding the Platoon Commanders previously shown, of course).  The overall force commander is at left (the three figure stand), while the three smaller two-man stands at right are designed for one of them to be a Forward Observer and the other two can simply serve as additional platoon commanders, as needed.  The two stands at top center are from Eureka, while the left and far right stands are from Battlefront.  Again, my buddy AJ did the left command stand originally, but I had to re-do them to make them fit in (not his fault, it was mine, I had bought them from him before I decided on how I wanted to do these guys).

A closer look at the Commanding Officer stand.

Again.

And once more.

The other Battlefront command stand, with grass sticking all over the damn place...

Reverse.

And a look at one of the FO stands, with command figure and radioman.

Another look.

Again.

Other side.

And once more.

A group of five Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks, bought off Ebay.

Not beautiful, but good enough for me ;)

And somewhere along the way I picked up a single Type 95 Ha-Go tank from Peter Pig.  Much smaller than the Type 97s.

A closeer look.

And lastly we've got a pair of Zeros.

It's actually kinda funny, because they're kinda photogenic, despite looking pretty damned ugly up close and in person.

Well, there they are, finished and ready to hit the table.  Well, almost.  I still need to do up casualty figures for the Japanese and Marines, and I need some air support for my Marines, as well as some more Amtracs, and probably another M-1 37mm anti-tank gun and 75mm pack howitzer...

So, let me know what you think, and with baseball finally winding down I'll see if I can actually get some games in soon.

V/R,
Jack