The Japanese Infantry Division in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules

Most of these models were inside the cabinets with figures hidden in card boxes and glued to thin card for many years by now. Recently the Pacific bug bit me and this one had to come out, particularly after reading books and seeing films and videos about Guadalcanal. So I painted the last few boxes of Japanese infantry on the stash and mixed them with the old ones already made. For artillery I found Assymetric Wargames in Italy, which makes in 3d printed resin everything you may need for Japanese guns (including prime movers), together with the possibility of getting quickly the great Simon´s Soldiers figures. Regarding tanks and SPs I simply cleaned some dust out of them as they were made for a long time.

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 8) 6th Japanese infantry battalion and 150mm and 70mm artillery

Asymmetric Wargames from Italy is a great place for you to get Japanese WW2 stuff both 3d resin printed and Simon´s Soldiers figures. They also have plenty other stuff for many wargaming periods and scales.  While the Simon´s (Japanese) Soldiers don´t arrive I added one more infantry battalion and six 15cm artillery pieces. 

This infantry battalion is made around the shirt order Matchbox infantry, with officers from Atlantic and a few Esci and Airfix mixed-in and my home made Juki HMGs. 

The firing Type 96 150mm Howitzer from Asymmetric wargames is a beauty that comes in two slightly different gun tube positions. The artillerymen are converted Atlantic. The dying figures got new arms and a shell and the heavy load and pain is visible in his bent neck. The snipers covered in leaves had these carefully cut out (Atlantic placed leaves only in the exterior parts of the uniform for you to cut it out if necessary) and the arms were repositioned in order to hold shells. 

A third variant of the Type 96 is this one ready to be towed. 

Some prime movers are also on order to tow these ones. With some pity I found that no horse towed artillery was used in the pacific by the Japanese. They would have made a hell of a sight. 

These Type 4 150mm howitzer were also printed by Asymmetric. 

The last group of Asymmetric artillery is the Type92 battalion gun. The figures are converted Airfix with the converted binoculars and loading figures coming from an old and not particularly beautiful hard plastic set from Fujimi. 

Next: more Japanese

Guadalcanal 1942 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! rules - (Part 2) The Japanese tanks

 

This group was initially planned for the whatever tank encounter of the Pacific from Khalkin Gol to  Saipan or even the last few Battles with the Soviets in 1945. In fact the tank duels in the Pacific, or even a large armored assault by the Japanese, was not a very common sight, specially compared with the Western theaters. In the meantime, Guadalcanal entered as a solid project, and upon reading on the issue, the two main Japanese tank assaults of this campaign (Tenaru and in one of the several actions on the Matanikau) only had between 6 to 10 tanks (Ha-Go and Chi-Ha models) each as the Japanese on the Island(s) were an infantry force with just a few tanks. 

So, besides Guadalcanal, this force allows for pretty much everything you need in terms of Japanese tank actions. 

This Type 89 Chi-Ro is a 3d PLA print from MiniGeneral. This is the type of early tanks used in relatively large numbers which makes a few more necessary.

This one is my most recent Japanese tank with all others made already years ago. As this Chi-Ro is an early version I changed it into a later version with a turret that can be opened and a metal crewman (CP models , I think). 

 

This Type 93 Kokusan by Skytrex was also an early reconnaissance vehicle and, up to now its the only one I have. Maybe Wargaming China can send me few of his Japanese unique and fabulous armored cars? After all that would strenghten the commercial relation between the two neighbors, Portugal and Australia. 

The early mediums Type 97 Chi-Ha with the smaller turret with short 37mm gun. The two to the left are Fujimi and the ones to the right are Airfix. The command version is the Type 97 Shi-Ki with a coaxial long 37mm from Frontline Wargaming.

The Type 97 Chi-Ha with the new turret housing a 47mm gun. The ones closer are Fujimi and the two on the left are Skytrex. On the back are two Altaya die-cast models. 

Again from Fujimi you have here two Type 1 Ho-Ni with 75mm gun and a Type 4 Ho-Ro with  15cm gun from Frontline Wargaming with Fujimi crew. 

The Type 95 Ha-Go is an essential both for Guadalcanal and Tarawa, the two Pacific settings I´m nowadays around. The Ha-go with crewman is Skytrex and the others are Frontline Wargaming. 

The tankette Type 97 Te-Ke and the Type 98 Ke-Ni (sucessor of the Ha-Go) are both Frontline Wargaming. 

The only Japanese artillery I have up to the moment are these two Emhar 75mm model 38 improved (in late war green and not  Artillery Brown as they were originally painted after seeing "Flags of Our Fathers" a late war story) towed by two Frontline Wargaming Isuzu. The crews are conversions from Fujimi and Airfix. 

Next: Whether a video on the Confederates at Gettysburg or the Japanese infantry of WW2. 

The Japanese IJA and IJN aircraft in WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20...

The Japanese airforce of WW2 is an old pleasure of mine and, together with a Tarawa wargames table and a few Japanese tanks and US Amtracks, its the only few things I have for the Pacific. The models are Hasegawa, Fujimi (most of them from the good old days of cheap Japanese models), Airfix, Matchbox, Italeri and Altaya. If you want a detailed post on how I built the Ryujo Aircraft Carrier go to https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com

The British 1st/6th Airborne Division in 20mm size for Rapid Fire! rules

Another big unit made along many years. The figures are mostly Esci, Revell and Airfix, the last ones particularly useful for support weapons. The gliders are scratchbuilt or Italeri. The many jeeps are Airfix, Matchbox, Fujimi or Hasegawa. Artillery is Matchbox for the 17pdr guns and SHQ for the M1 75mm howitzers. The 6pdr are all scratchbuilt. The cute little Tetrarchs are Assymetrical Wargaming in 3d printed resin. As usual there are plenty of conversions specially in the mortar and MMG crews.

Next: More Slovaks.

Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 6: The Kettenkrads, side-cars and the last containers

This is the last post for the Germans as I´m leaving Crete for now but will come back for the Tavronitis river bed, Greek infantry and other details. The Kettenkrads are S-models from China via Aliexpress that arrived with the houses at the end of the post and the side-cars are very old Fujimi. The containers are the last 14 necessary for the biggest scenario which totals 23. 

The Kettenkrad were used to pull the 75mmGeb.G 36 as you can see in this picture. 

The guns, and probably the tractors, were also camouflaged (mud or paint?). 

These two will go for the Carentan booklet scenarios. The beautiful cart is a resin 3d print that comes with the kit. 

All FJ for the Carentan scenarios are made too. 

These are for Crete and you also need one of each.

In fact only the BMW is necessary for the scenarios in the Crete booklet but a Kettenkrad is a nice addition for the artillery. 

The crews are conversions from Airfix and Revell, some with GreenStuff legs and reattached plastic feet. 

I always tend to place some Hulk kind of arms in the figures... 

The Fujimi side-car figures got Airfix heads. 

After taking the previous pictures I noticed the blue scarfs were missing but now they are done. 

I found the last Revell container after a lot of search in many boxes. I had 5 boxes of Revell FJ with a total of 10 containers so this last one had to be somewhere. The other containers are scratchbuilt and copied from the Revell in terms of size but closed as it makes its build much easier. 

The containers are made from pieces of wood from a Chinese shop, both cylindrical and cuboid shaped. The pegs are small pieces of broomstick plastic. 

The wooden 3d printed houses are two beauties of between 6 to 8 euros. The bigger house can go to Northern europe while the smallest is another addition to my Russian village. The painting is made mostly with diluted acrylics and drybrush so the nice printed detail can be seen. 

They can be open and that roof is crying to be used by Frost men at Arnhem...

These are incredible nice 1/72 models and very cheap. I only had a Dutch bridge from this Fisherman brand and I´ll surely add more to my different periods.

Next: Mid-war German infantry  

Rapid Fire!/Able Archer rules - The battle of Cuito Cuanavale 1987-88 in 20mm - Part 1: What I´ve amassed up to now

 

The battle of Cuito Cuanavale is part of my youth through TV and magazines together with Iran-Iraq war and Lebanon 82 and it sparks plenty of vivid memories from those dangerous and deadly conflicts of the Cold War. I also had relatives in South Africa and even one that fought at this precise campaign a fact which fueled even more my interest to the Angolan conflict with FAPLA and Cubans facing UNITA and the SADF. For some reason I still could not find the 14 years long Portuguese colonial war (Angola, Moçambique and Guiné Bissau) interesting enough for me to model it. Maybe because it still brings lots of pain to many that are still around, from both sides, and close to me. 

Most of the planes, exceptuating the Mig-23 were made years ago together with most of the infantry. The vehicles, on the contrary are brand new and came mostly from 4D models (yes, I know their Sdkfz 251 is around 1/56 and the first batch of small boxes with tanks were toys but after these the brand made very nice and cheap models and continues to do so at a very fast rate). 

For now I have an almost finished Angolan Brigade with the reconnaissance vehicles and most of the artillery still missing. 

The simple green painting of the vehicles without any crew will allow for its use in other armies of the Cold War period and even after. 

I built 4x T-55 from 4D, enough for the full complement of an Angolan brigade tank battalion (16 tanks instead of the Soviet 30 tanks). The model is a very easy build labeled T-59, the Chinese version of the T-54/55 but, as its an early copy it becomes virtually the T-55. Later the T-59 got many extras which could be seen abundantly in the Iraqi army, for instance. 

 One of the three battalions of infantry in each Angolan brigade was equipped with BMP-1. These three are Eaglemoss die-cast simply repainted and with added rear unditching log and antenna. 

I finished all my BTR-60 - the ones that should be here - and had to use these BTR-80 instead. In fact Angola has 11 of these BTR-80 but they arrived much time later  Cuito Cuanavale. Even so the logic of a simple paint scheme continues for its usage elsewhere. 

The Ural 260 is another non-existent machine in the Angolan army but its not much different from other Soviet models, simply larger and very useful for other scenarios. 

There is a battery of six  BM-21 in each Angolan Brigade. This 4D model is very recent and one of their best. 

The three FAPLA battalions are made from bodies of Esci´s Spetnaz and Vietcongs with all types of field caps I could find (USAAF and even some DAK Esci with the cap´s peak cut). 

Some of the command stands got the brown beret. The 120mm mortar is Valiant Miniatures. 

The typical FAPLA battalion organized for Able Archer with three companies of six figures each and support. 

The Angolan Airforce (FAPA on those days, now FANA) has a number of French and Soviet helicopters like this MIL-MI 24 (Esci?). 

The MIL-MI 8 (SMER) is the most numerous Angolan helicopters. 

The Gazelle (Heller) got anti-tank missiles made of EverGreen plastics. 

I painted blue all canopies of the Angolan fighters and fighter-bombers. This MIG-21 is Fujimi. 

This one couldn´t fit the first family picture and its shown now, a MIG-21 from Matchbox, a much older and not as good model as the Fujimi one. 

This elegant SU-7 is a SMER model. 

The SU-22 (Plastyk)  was the most potent Angolan bomber at Cuito Cuanavale. 

Many MIG-23 (Academy) were piloted by Cubans and they scored several victories over the SAAF Mirages without losses something that  was only recognized years later by South Africa. 

Next: one more stand of Ottoman Sipahis for Mohacs 1526.