Ersatz Japanese Infantry

 I think I mentioned earlier the imbalance in numbers between the Russians and Japanese forces.  I have now reorganised all of the Japanese and ideally, I could do with another two or three battalions.  Finding 20mm Japanese for 1905 is near impossible and so I turned to converting some plastic figures.  Here I have paint converted some Airfix and Emhar WW1 figures:

I think that they will look OK from a few feet away!

More Jungle Fighters

 A few more Airfix 1/32 scale figures. At last I have acquired a Bren gunner figure, who is supported by two riflemen:

In addition I have a Japanese officer and another kneeling firing soldier:

All painted with speed paints in about four hours.

More 54mm Japanese..........

 Last night I finished the remaining Japanese infantry, mainly heavy weapons.  There is a light mortar and light machine gun, both by Airfix; also a heavy machine gun.  Two more Airfix charging infantry finish off this batch.

I am not too sure where the heavy machine gun came from, possibly BMC, but I may be wrong.

I have now emptied my toy box of Airfix Japanese and Australians.  I would like to do a few more, so keeping my eye open for some bargains on line.

Experimenting with Speed Paints

 Most of my painting using Speed paints has been on figures of a more colourful nature.  I thought it might be fun to try the techniques on some WW2 figures.

Choosing the right colours was an interesting exercise, as the paints seem to be tailored towards the fantasy world, with 'Goblin Skin', 'Slaughter Red' and 'Palid Bone' being examples.  However, it is possible to mix the paints and to thin them down to make lighter tones.

As an experiment, I primed and based some 54mm Airfix Japanese and a single Britains 8th Army figure. Here are the results:

I am going to paint some more Japanese and some Airfix Australians.  I have in mind a Jungle based skirmish game.

The Assault on Sage Island

 1943, and Sage Island is is a small, jungle covered isle in the Pacific that has been occupied by the Japanese army.  It is relatively small, but large enough to accommodate an airfield and a small anchorage. The 21st US Marines have been tasked with securing a beachhead, to permit a drive inland to capture the airfield.  

The immediate objective is to capture a line of low hills that dominate the beach and the Marines have been ordered to secure three that  guard two exits from the landing area.  Here is a view of the area of operations:

The three hills have dug in positions and there are two bunkers, each containing 47mm anti-tank guns.  In addition there are a couple of machine gun nests, mortars and some artillery to the rear of the hills. The Japanese also have an infantry company in reserve. The hills themselves are heavily wooded with palms trees and are no-go to vehicles.

It is early morning and the Japanese infantry wake to see a line of US amphibious vehicles coming from the sea.  At the same time a supporting US cruiser bombards the Japanese positions, but despite a lot of noise does very little damage:

The first wave of US marines arrives in LVTs which engage the shore with their 37mm guns and cannon.

The Japanese response is swift and two LVTs are quickly taken out by the anti-tank bunkers.

The second wave of US Marines, in a fleet of DUKW move onto the beach behind the cover of the LVTs.  The number of US troops on the beach begins to increase.

However, casualties from machine gun and rifle fire inflict heavy casualties amongst the marines on the open beach and the Japanese anti-tank guns destroy more LVTs.

After a stiff fire fight a platoon of Marines is able to flank the right hand anti-tank bunker.

And, despite heavy casualties eventually they are able to take out the Japanese gun.

Here is the situation on the cluttered beach.  In the background the first of the heavy landing craft  (LCTs) edges towards the shore. A fourth LVT has now been destroyed.

The first two M3 tanks are disgorged onto the sand

Having taken out the bunker the marines are able to work their way onto the hill and begin to engage the trenches.  It is a costly move and the battle for the hilltop swings back and forth.

So far the marines are unable to dislodge the Japanese who continue to fight despite mounting casualties.

Then the Japanese artillery zeros in on the beach and causes yet more casualties amongst the exposed US infantry.

The marines finally manage to clear the right hand hill, but they have insufficient strength to hold it as the Japanese commander commits his reserve company.

Some good news for the Americans as one of the M3s finally eliminates the second  anti-tank bunker.

On the beach Japanese shells continue to fall amongst the exposed marines.

More troops flood ashore, bringing in the marines' heavy weapons.

But, both the centre and right hills have been reinforced and the trenches are reoccupied by Japanese infantry.

This is the situation as the landing is all but completed.  The US now have four tanks on the beach and the Japanese have little to counter them as the 75mm tank guns begin to blast the hill tops.

However, the Japanese artillery is still fully in action pouring shells onto the beach.

After more desperate fighting the marines once again clear the right hand hill.

Shortly after, with fire from the tanks in support the marines work their way onto the central hill.

It looks like the Japanese are all but defeated, but not before one of the field guns brings direct fire onto the flank of an M3, destroying it.

At last, having suffered severe casualties and losing a fair bit of their armour,  the objectives are taken by the marines.  The first action to secure Sage Island is complete and is a costly American victory.

Most of the figures used are from my Airfix collection, with a mix of Airfix and diecast armour.  For rules I used an adaptation of Memoir'44 rules.  Overall, an enjoyable game, which swung back and forth but the weight of US equipment eventually overwhelmed the defenders.

Airfix WW2 Japanese

 The wet and windy weather gave me an opportunity to work on some more of my Airfix Japanese infantry, with some crew served weapons and artillery.  I have had a long held desire to play a WW2 Pacific action involving Japanese and US Marines.  I am just about ready to do so:

Because the Japanese are likely to be doing a lot of defending I have created several trenches, again using Airfix figures.  I posted a piece earlier on this blog showing how this was done.

Machine Guns and Bunkers

 As part of the Japanese defending force for my Pacific mini campaign I needed some bunkers to support th the trench works already completed.  I have created two based upon a log and earth type structure.

First off the machine guns, Airfix do not have any heavy weapons in the Japanese set, just a light machine gun, so I had to convert some figures.  I used Esci guns cut from the Japanese set figures:

While in the conversion mood I also created some Bedouin Arab gunners using the Airfix Arab and 8th Army sets. These will go off to engage in colonial battles:

The Japanese machine gun nest was made from bamboo kebab sticks:

A roof came from an MDF base:

The machine gun tested for size before the crew are added:

Filler is used to build up the earth walls and roof:

Sprayed brown all over:

And finally grass and foliage is added to complete the bunkers:

Japanese Defenders - Airfix WW2

 To give my recently painted US Marines an opposition I have started to paint some Airfix Japanese infantry.  To begin with I thought some dug in infantry would be required and rather than just stick the figures behind some sandbags or similar I thought I would try and make some trenches.

This is the result:

I constructed the trenches by first building a framework out of matchsticks:

Added some detail:

Cut some figures at the waist:

Stuck them in the trench:

Built up the earth using filler:

Sprayed the trenches overall brown:

Then finished off by painting the figures, shading and adding some flock, resulting in instant defensive positions:

I might have a go at a couple of machinegun nests next