Landingcraft

Hi, here's a picture a recently assembled 1/76 landingcraft made by Airfix. This model was made without a plan as I lost it when I was moving all my wargame related materials to the attic. The model will be used for my Pacific project as part of the Marine landing units. I hope to build some other landingcraft for the transport of both men and machine. As I have three Marine battalions and one Combat engineer battalion that will need to island hop!

I hope to buy the last units and vehicles that I need for this project at Crisis in Antwerp. Otherwise I will need to buy some kits online which I don't like due to the high postage rates.

Greets,

Japanese Imperial Army officers and pow's

Hi, here are another bunch of pictures of some new additions for my Imperial Japanese Army. This time, the officer corps which will boost the soldiers moral and lead them into battle and the eventual Banzai charges! The first officer is mounted on a horse and represent him leading a fierce charge or leading his troops into the heat of the battle. All miniatures shown in these post are made by "Esci" except for the horse which is made by "Atlantic".

I also managed to finish an officer on foot and two bases of surrendering Japanese soldiers quit a rare sight as they often prefered an attempt to blow themselves up (maybe that can be incorporated in a game when US soldiers must capture Japanese soldiers for intelligence and you must role a D6, 3+ equals success and the Japanese are captured and on 1, 2 or 3 the Japanese had a hidden grenade killed all figures within a 7 cm radius).

I hope I will be able to finish the two infantry battalion before another project turns up!

Greets,

Japanese Imperial Army infantry AT rifles

Hi, here are some new additions ofrmy Japanese Imperial Army! This time in the form of two AT rifle bases, these figures are made by Waterloo 1815 and are excellent quality as they are good sculpts and made out of hard plastic. The weapons are 20mm type 97 AT rifles which were quite effective when they were initially developped in the late 1930's but as the war turned against Japan and the Americans shipped Shermans and other heavier weapons to the Pacific, these weapons weren't able to penetrate them. As they were expensive to make, they still saw service in the Imperial Japanese Army probably just as anti-infantry weapons. Up to the pictures.

The two bases ready to destroy some Stuarts or some Shermans if they are lucky!

A Close up of one of the bases.

Greets,

Japanese Imperial Army infantry support weaponry

Hi, here are the promised infantry support weapons for my Imperial Japanese Army! As I was in a painting spree I managed to paint up three LMG's, three HMG's and three knee mortar teams. These bases will give enough support for at least two Japanese battalions which are currently on the painting desk. Today I've also solo played a small invasion of US marines on a Japanese hold atoll by using the rapid fire rookie ruleset. The US marines existed out of 4 companies of 8 men with 2 HMG's and a 75mm sherman, the Japanese force existed out 5 HMG's, 3 LMG's, one knee mortar and one type 92 support gun which were all heavily entrenched. The result, the marines were totally whiped out as soon as they hit the beaches! All by all a great way to learn the 2 pages of rules. Enough talking up to the miniatures!

Firt of all the three LMG bases, all miniatures were made by "Esci" and were painted using the same method as the artillery crew.

A close up of the LMG base, there are two compositions of bases just to add some variation.

The knee mortar sections, with a modest range of 18 inch in the rapid fire rookie rules.

And last but certainly not least, the HMG teams which will create havoc on the landing beaches.

Greets,

Japanese Imperial Army artillery support!

Hi, I've finally managed to finish my first elements for my Imperial Japanese Army! Normally I start with the ordinary infantry first but now I've started with some artillery support in the form of two type 92 battalion guns which can both be used for direct and indirect fire! The guns and their crews are made by Waterloo 1815 and were a joy to assemble and paint. The box with the guns also comes with other support weaponry such as AT rifles, bomb sticks and grenade rifles, these will be shown in later posts about the project. Now enough talking some pictures!

Both guns in action, as with most of my light guns I only added three crewmembers as it's easier to fit them on the base and easier to finish. For the guns paintjob I only used two paints, humbrol matt 86 (not sure on the number) and the GW wash ogryn flesh. The paintjob looks really good and was done in less than 10 minutes for both guns without the drying time of course. The infantry was painted using the same basecoat but was washed with Devlan Mud, A bit too dark but it doesn't bother me too much.

As I had some miniatures left and some horses I decided to make two tow teams for the guns are they were designed for that purpose. Normally one horse would be able to pull the light gun but in the theatre of war, two or three were mostly used. I went for the one horse tow team as I had only two spare horses from the "Esci" russian set. The tow teams will be attached to the guns when they are moving and so can't fire.

And as the last picture a close up of the battery, ready to counter a marine beach assault or support the Japanese assault on the island of Singapore. The next post will include some infantry support in the form of mortars and machineguns!

Greets,

American Marine Battalions

Hi, I've recently also finished my 2 fullsized marine battalions so they can hopefully be used in a small pacific campaign if I ever finish the Japanese! To finish the Japanese I'm desperatly searching for the Waterloo 1815 70mm gun box saw him last year at crisis but I didn't bought him! Now I can only find the kit too expensive or too far away so I must pay lots of postage.

But back to the 2 marine battalions each battalion exist:

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 4 squads of 4 bases (32 figures)

I also made a moral marker depicting the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima (loosely based on)

Close up of a small part of the 2 battalions.

Close up of the moral marker ( I still need to print and attach the flag)

The 2 fullsized battalions ready to embark upon campaign!

I hope you like the new progress in my 20mm collection.

Greets,

American naval and airforce personnel

Hi, here's a new post about my steadily growing plastic 20mm collection. This time the post is based around an undersized naval or airforce battalion. This battalion is build up with aircraftcarrier crew, pilots and other needed staff. The miniatures are mostly Atlantic seamen and some cheap copies of micro machines miniatures such as the pilot and advancing soldier. The battalion will be probably used in a Pacific setting as part of an airfield defense force or just unarmed personnel you need to protect during a fierce Japanese banzai! However they could also be used as naval personnel on ships, I will not use them for that purpose because of the flocked bases (well, maybe sometimes).

The battalion exist:

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 2 squads of 3 bases (12 figures)

- (additional base per platoon in progress)

The officer (all Atlantic miniatures are actually designed to represent 1960-80 naval personnel but I prefer to use them in a World War 2 setting)

The entire battalion with the exception of the 2 bases which are still under construction.

Greets,

American Marine Battalions

Hi, here's some progress on my marine battalions. They are fully painted but just need a bit of basing. All the miniatures are cheap replicas of the Airfix marines!

My existing US marine force:

A "raise the flag" base (3 figures)

The battalion 1 exist of

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 4 squads of 4 bases (32 figures)

The battalion 2 exist of

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 4 squads of 4 bases (32 figures)

The battalion 3 exist of (the 2 older battalions from another post united in a new battalion)

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 4 squads of 4 bases (32 figures)

- 2 heavy support bases (4 figures)

The "raise the flag" base loosely based on the famous photo on top of mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima.

A close up of the ranks.

Another close up of the ranks.

The 2 new battalions, different paintjob of the older battalion.

Greets,

American Marine Battalions

Hi, here are some pictures of my 2 finished USMC Battalions which will be used in my Okinawa project. The miniatures are manufactured by airfix, I wasn't quit happy with the set because there were 2 sizes of miniatures inside. One kind of soldiers was 1/72 and the others just looked like children but I get them from the "60th D-day anniversary" airfix-kit. Others were purchased secondhand from the online dealer I almost mention in every 1/72 related post.

Battalion 1 exist of

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 2 squads of 4 bases (16 figures)

- 1 supportunit (2 figures "machinegunners")

Battalion 2 exist of

- 1 commander (1 figure)

- 2 squads of 4 bases (16 figures)

- 1 supportunit (2 figures "machinegunners")

So 2 identic battalions with 1 bazooka a squad ready to engage the Japanese!

The marines based and textured, base ready to be painted.

Close up of the unit. The entire unit is painted with gamesworkshop paints:

- Chaos black

- Dwarf flesh

- Catachan green

- Scorched brown

- Dark flesh

- Mithril silver

- Black wash

Another clos up of one of the units.

The 2 finished battalions.

Greets,

American Combat Engineer Battalion in action!

Hi, here are some pictures of my finished A.C.E Battalion. So as said in a previous post the soldiers are manufactured by Italeri and Esci and are 1/72. The figures were bought from someone on a secondhand online site, every manufacturer 4 euros for 50 figures! But the sets weren't complete: mortars, machineguns and other nice figures were missing. But again the seller is a cheap supplier for bulking out battalions!

Back to the miniatures,...

The A.C.E battalion supported with a Sherman 76mm platoon steadily advancing toward a native village on Okinawa.

Close-up of the first infantry platoon of the A.C.E battalion, soldiers with minedetectors are clearing the path.

Close-up of the battalions commander and the fourth infantry platoon.

The second infantry platoon is steadily advancing through a small jungly area.

All the pictures used were set up for propaganda purposes.

Greets,

American Combat Engineer Battalion (15-20mm)

Here are some pictures of my new battalion "American Combat engineers Battalion". They are manufactured by Esci/Italeri named "US soldiers" I think? They are armed with bazookas, mine detectors, rifles, pistols and machineguns, ... really outfitted for their job!

Battalion exist of

- 1 commandbase (1 figure)

- 4 squads of 4 bases (32 figures)

A part of the battalion.

The entire battalion.

Some of the soldiers, ...

Greets,

Jungle terrain (15-28mm)

Here's another post about my jungle terrain! Nothing new, but just some pictures of all my junglestands together.

Greets,

American jeep Battalion (15-20mm)

Here's a picture of one of my most recent buys that I bought on crisis, 3 American jeeps which will be used for the rapid fire rookie rules together with an american marine corps unit (Okinawa) or an airborne unit (Normandy, Europe).

I don't know the manufacturer but what I know that they were very cheap 1.5 euro's for the three! So I bought them immediately on the bring and buy.

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Greets,

American Sherman Battalion (15-20mm)

Here's a picture of some tanks I bought yesterday at crisis' bring and buy! They will serve the United States Marine Corps(usmc) on Okinawa!

This are 3 hasegawa shermans with 76mm canon ready to kick some japanese asses!

Stay tuned for more progress,

Japanese Imperial Army (15-20mm)

Here are some news photo's of my JIA for my Okinawa project, this unit on the photo's is representing the 44th mixed brigade garrisoned on the island during the American invasion. The number of soldiers and bases is based on the rapid fire rookie ruleset.

The unit (battalion ) consist of

- 1 command

- 4 squads of 4 bases (= 32 men)

- 6 heavy weapon bases (3 mortars and 3 machineguns) (= 12 men)

- 1 no retreat marker (just for fun)

Total = 45 men ( 23 bases)

Commanding officer (commandbase) made of a cheap 1/72 plastic cowboyhorse and and esci officer (such as all the soldiers in this unit)

The 6 heavy weapon bases (3 mortars above, 3 machineguncrews below)

The 4 squads

The "no retreat marker" a quit horrible scene but war is horrible!

The entire unit on the parade ground soon (after the project is done and painted) they will crawl in the Okinawa tombs and mud.

I hope you enjoyed the picture,

Japanese Imperial Army (15-20mm)

Here's a single shot of my JIA, I based only 16 of them and now need to base another 134! I decided to base them first and paint them afterwards, If anyone has some good tips on painting 15-20mm figures please let me know!

They are part of my Okinawa-project and are ment to represent the 44th mixed brigade. When this brigade was shipped to Okinawa their transportship was sunk and only 600 of the 5000 soldiers survived this tragedy and reached Okinawa unharmed. Later on the remains of the 44th were strenghted by additional soldiers from another unit, the 15th mixed brigade.

Greets,