Old Glory Meiji IJA Infantry - And Merry Christmas!

 Finished up the two bags of Old Glory Meiji IJA infantry - along with two Crusader commands.

The flag poles are topped  with "chrysanthemum" disks made out of Green Stuff.

They're grouped in units of 12-figures which can be used for The Men Who Would Be Kings, or other skirmish rules, Bolt Action included.

They were painted to match the infantry painted over 10 years ago. The older figures are the ones on the far right in the picture below. Also, the rest of the IJA force mustered behind them. These should be enough for an assault on Russian strongholds in and around the Yalu.

In other news, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Old Glory Meiji IJA Creusot Gun And Crews

Here are a few more Old Glory Meiji figures for the RJA project. These were given to me as a Christmas gift from my buddy who had sold me the Russian figures a while ago. He also included a few infantry figures too - and those will be painted up along with the two bags of Old Glory figures that should be arriving today in the mail.

The crews are painted up as Imprial Guard troops - with their red uniform distinctions, along with the yellow shoulder straps for artillery troops. The two figures on separate bases will be used to beef up the Tsuba Hotchkiss machine gun teams. The Tsuba kits come with 3 figures, and both The Men Who Would Be Kings and Rebels and Patriots usually have 4 figures to support crewed weapons.

I tried to match the color of the earlier Creusot guns painted over 10 years ago - https://wabcorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/old-glory-boxer-rising-japanese.html Used a mixture of blue, black, and white, and the result looks pretty close.

The Meiji IJA now have 4 Creusot guns - 2 each Imperial Guard and Line; as well as a pair of Gatling guns. Although Gatlin guns weren't used in the RJW, they were used against Captain Nathan Algren in Dances With Samurai - https://wabcorner.blogspot.com/2015/04/dances-with-samurai-meiji-era-warfare.html

The Old Glory figures size up pretty nicely with the Tsuba figures. Not sure how the standing figures look as I only have these seated/kneeling Tsuba figures. Actually, the Old Glory figures look a little chunkier.

Plan to start on the additional Old Glory IJA infantry as soon as they arrive, but also plan to be at the monthly Saga game day this week. I haven't done Saga in so long, it'll be like learning the rules again. Thanks again for stopping by, and wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Yes, it's almost that time of year again!

Tosa Clan - Boshin War

Pardon my indulgence, but just a little goofing around with a pair of matching swords - katana and wakizashi, and a $6.00 synthetic "Tina Turner" wig standing in for a red yak haired Shaguma wig.

Haven't picked up a paint brush in a long time, but do plan on hosting a game soon. I may give Poseidon's Warriors a try - but need to find a couple of play-testers. I plan to just GM (i.e. read off the rules while they're being played by others). Anyway, here are a couple more shots of the Tosa guy.

The repro blades are unsharpened and can be used for practice, or for chasing Trick or Treaters away.

The painting below shows shaguma-wearing Tosa samurai at the Battle of Ueno Temple during the Boshin War.

A Boshin War period samurai with a yak hair wig - can't tell what color the hair is, but the Tosa's were red, the Chosu's white and the Satsuma's black.

And everyone's favorite samurai wearing one.

So much for now - apologies again for nothing new on the painting front.

Edit: added shot showing the katana and wakizashi - along with a tanto, tachi and bokken.

Also, an extremely rare Shaguma dog.

Last Samurai - Meiji Era Warfare Using Bolt Action

Played out a scenario loosely based on the last battle in the movie "The Last Samurai." Slightly modified Bolt Action was used for the game with very good results, in my opinion. It played out fast and felt fairly balanced - even though the rebel Samurai forces were without modern weapons. Indeed, the only missile weapons they had were bows with 18" range versus the Imperial troops 24" rifle ranges. The Imperial troops also had two cannon with 36" range and two Gatling guns with 30" range. As the latter weapons were on a bluff they could fire over their own troops most of time.

Rebel Samurai forces at the start of the game. All the figures are Old Glory except for two Bac Ninh command figures manning the guard towers and the Perry foot Samurai.

Imperial troops in skirmish line with infantry in the center, cavalry on the flanks and supported by artillery and Gatling guns on an overlooking bluff. All of the figures are Old Glory, with the two Gatling guns made by Black Tree Design.

The end of Turn 1 had most of the troops using Run to close in on each other - all missile troops, including artillery being still out of range. This was only found out after the first Imperial cannon discovered this fact after choosing to Fire. The rest chose Ambush when their die came up.

Turn 2 had some Imperial troops able to fire on the rebels. Not causing too much casualties, but giving them Pins to deal with.

A mounted Samurai unit being decimated by carbine and rifle fire after impetuously trying to close in on the enemy. For their part, ashigaru bowmen were pretty effective even with a more limited range.

Finally able to reach the enemy, the Samurai cavalry forgot the Imperial cavalry also had two attacks each in Close Combat.

A large ashigaru unit overpowering another Imperial cavalry unit which has been reduced by ashigaru bow fire.

The rebel left flank moving up in good order, and still out of Imperial artillery range.

A foot Samurai unit, also with two attacks each engages Imperial infantry, while a mounted Samurai unit takes on another Imperial unit to their left. It was wasn't as lopsided as expected, as the Imperial infantry had some good die rolls.

More infantry combat with both units having sustained earlier missile fire. The skulls are casualty counters, and the die represent Pins. Although it may look grim for the Imperial troops, the Samurai need 6 ' to hit with 3 Pins accumulated. 

The center of the battle at the bottom of Turn 4. Quite a few of the Imperial forces having been wiped out - only the artillery and Gatling guns atop the bluff remain unscathed so far.

Turn 5 had the remaining Samurai cavalry unit making a charge on a cannon - they fell short and became targets of opportunity for the intended victim. The cannon used its Ambush setting to opportunity fire, but only caused one casualty. The next die went to the Gatling gun next to the cannon, which caused several more casualties - leaving only a pair of Samurai left in the unit.

The battlefield at the end of Turn 5. The few Imperial troops still engaged in combat will likely be destroyed in the next turn. One of the artillery crew actually fell victim to ashigaru bowmanship - they rolled 6 twice for the hit - having Advanced and having two Pins and being long range!

The game was called before starting Turn 6 - which would likely go to the rebels since they had most of their units still intact - including several bow units. Although there was also the chance the Imperial guns could've inflicted enough casualties to prevent this. Again, I was very pleased with the way Bolt Action's core rules adapted very nicely to this scenario with "Natives" lacking firearms. The previous blog post has a copy of the draft rules which were used.

Dances with Samurai - Set Up

Fielded the troops for this scenario based loosely on the final battle scene from "The Last Samurai Movie With Tom Cruise." The Imperial troops have somehow surprised the "rebel" samurai at their fortified village. The samurai (and ashigaru) are in the process of reacting to this by streaming out of the village in clusters. Sparse woods provide a little cover for the samurai from the artillery and Gatling guns atop a small bluff overlooking the village.

These are, of course, staged shots, prior to the actual play test, but I find it useful to see how the troops and terrain can work together prior to the game. I plan to try it out with modified Bolt Action rules. As mentioned in a previous post, it should also work with Black Powder or Hail Caesar modified.

Although there are less Imperial troops than samurai, their fire power, notably the artillery and Gatling guns should balance the game. The only missile weapons the samurai have are bows, but their spear armed brethren have two attacks each in close combat. They are also harder to wound (or Damage in Bolt Action terminology) due to their skill and armor.

The samurai units are larger to hopefully buffer the expected casualties suffered from Imperial rifle fire prior to engaging in hand to hand combat.

Hopefully the Imperial artillery and Gatling guns will be effective prior to the infantry and cavalry contacting the samurai.

An update after the play test will follow. Until then, I've added the draft Bolt Action and Black Powder QRS's (both modified & simplified).

Last Samurai Gatling Guns

A couple of Gatling Guns for a Last Samurai scenario. The guns are from Black Tree Design's Zulu War range. The sitting figures have their heads replaced with those from Old Glory's Boxer Rebellion range. The rest of the figures are also from Old Glory - spares from the Artillery Crew set.

The magazines on top of the gun are the Broadwell Drum type introduced in 1872. However, the type shown in the movie are vertical box magazines.

Hollywood" accuracy" aside, these BTD guns were 25% off, so I couldn't pass them up. They arrived surprisingly fast too - only about 3 days after I ordered them from Texas.

Perry makes some nice Gatling Guns too, but they are a bit more expensive, and I wasn't too stuck on high-quality as the OG figures are a bit crude anyway. They were painted up very quickly and given a Minwax stain, followed by a finish of Testors Dullcote.

Although Black Powder would work very well for this period, I don't have too many figures, so plan on trying Bolt Action for it. There will be about 12 units per side - which is how many dice I have for each side. More to follow on this.

Interestingly, two Gatling Guns were used by Tokugawa forces against Imperial troops at the Battle of Hokuetsu in 1868. The guns had been purchased from Prussian businessmen by the Daimyo of Nagaoka, Makino Tadakuni. These can also be used against my Choson Korean guys for the Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894-95.

Boshin War Command - Bac Ninh Miniatures Painted

Painted these guys up today - and thanks to good weather, the Minwax Tudor Satin stain dried in record time. Testors Dullcote was sprayed over the finish. The research by Jose A. and sculpting by Mr. Hicks are commendable.

These are identifiable as Imperial troops by the red strips of cloth on their upper left arms. The two on the left represent officers of the Choshu and Tosa clans.

The excellent sculpting by Mr. Paul Hicks facilitated painting. Over a black basecoat, successive layers of blues (dark to light) were dry-brushed for the Western-styled uniforms.

Here they are stained, prior to the Dullcote finish.

Some images of Boshin War and Early-Meiji era troops:

Below - elite Denshutai troops of the Shogunate - including lancers!