"Eureka Minis 15mm US Marines for Early WWII" Topic

All,

Switching gears, I haven't forgotten about WWII, and continue to add to that collection as well. I've been working on US and Japanese troops for a campaign (actually, a series of campaigns) in the Pacific. I had planned on beginning the 'war' at Guadalcanal in August 1942, but when I found myself over on the Eureka Miniatures website looking at Modern Australians I stumbled into something else: US Marines for early war. They're actually titled "Wake Island," but that doesn't work for me as I plan on following a platoon of Gyrenes through the entire war, and many of the early war battles were battles of annihilation, all US troops being captured or killed. So I'm not quite sure where I'll start, probably make up some scenario for the Philippines where Marines are involved on the Bataan Penninsula but end up being ordered out or otherwise escaping to live and fight another day.

In any case, that is for the future; for now, let's look at these magnificent little sculpts.

The whole force, 17 troops from several different packs. I bought a pack of two leaders, two BAR men, a two-man M-1917 water-cooled machine gun, a pack of three Marines with Thompson submachine guns, and a pack of eight riflemen armed with the venerable '03 Springfield. I painted them up in early war khaki, with sand leggings and load bearing gear, and dark green 'pie plate' helmets. Did grassy bases for the jungle.

First men up is the leader pack. I painted them up as an officer (left) and a senior NCO (right). You can see a 'stache and rank insignia on the officer's helmet, and I tried to paint stripes on the NCOs sleeves. To see a bunch more photos, please check the blog at:
link

So, there they are, my next latest force for 15mm skirmish gaming. Dammit, I can't wait to get these guys on the table, I just don't have time to do all the stuff I want to do!!! I'm sure this is the eternal lament of the wargamer, but it's killing me nonetheless. I highly recommend these troops for some early war US action, they're absolutely fantastic. Meanwhile, I need to get back to my Cuba Libre stuff in the Middle East, coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

There were US Marines on Bataan most were attached to the US Navy who formed a battalion of Sailors. There was also a large radio unit that got stuck fighting with the Army briefly.

IM,

Yeah man, what I mean was there were a few stragglers (small units and individuals) caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, but 4th Marines was held on Corregidor and 'went down with the ship' when Corregidor fell.

So I've thinking of having my platoon get caught while training on Luzon and take part in the fighting opposing the initial Japanese landings, but then get evacuated before the withdrawal into Bataan (which essentially sealed US forces in).

I also thought about having them down south, on Mindanao, but the fighting there was mostly after US units disbanded and took to guerrilla warfare or sought their own way to Australia.

I'm even thinking about having them somehow flee with Admiral Glassford to the Dutch East Indies to support War Plan Orange, but again I run into 'how do they escape the sinking ship'? Sure some ships made it, but the vast majority ended up getting sunk by Japanese air and surface forces.

I'll probably go with Luzon, though I'm certainly open to new and interesting ideas.

V/R,
Jack

There was some talk for a while about forming commando units from the 4th Marines and using them to raid Japanese positions through out the Manila Bay region. It was an interesting idea and the equipment was there to make it happen. The US had a number of minelayers, gunboats, MTBs, and assorted supporting craft. This book could give you a lot of ideas:

link

It was suggested by some mid-ranking officers in the 4th Marines (see page 313).

I'm planning on doing something similar. Cooler still, there were a number of sailors who bailed out of the Philippines and made their way south. Easy enough to see a group of Marine raiders taking their war south to break out to Australia. Perhaps in time to be incorporated into Edison's Raiders to fight on the 'Canal.

There is this great picture in Osprey's Fall of the Philippines showing Marines hitting the beach during the Battle of the Points. Great stuff.

I have these guys too, but use them for US Army!

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You might like this link. It covers the USMC in the Philippines.

PDF link

This one too…

PDF link

Splendid!

Great paint work and those Eureka figures are fantastic.

Oh, I meant to ask: what paints did you use? Your khaki looks better than mine.

Lt Teigner ;) I didn't know about the proposed raising force concept, that's interesting. I'm not sure what to do though, I kind of want more traditional, desperate defense type stuff, like the movie 'Bataan.'

I'd seen the PDFs, but not that big, I'll see if I can get it on my list. You need to post some batreps! Or more batreps!

I'm a tightwad, so I just use Testors enamels from my local Hobbytown USA. I get that color by priming with Wal-Mart Khaki, then painting with Testors US desert yellow. It works for me.

And of course it's heresy using real men as Doggies ;)

Thanks Jeff and Wargamer Blue! Eureka has Ben great, some really great troops. I've got modern Russians, Chechens, and Aussies, and WWII Early war USMC and Japanese. I really want to dig into their French IndoChina stuff and their Aussies and Italians for Bardia.

V/R,
Jack

Yeah, Eureka has some of my favorite minis. I'm also a big fan of their Early US Cavalry and Filipino troops.

I use to use them in Axis and Allies games with my own cards. They are great figs, if a bit expensive.

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This was an action between the 26th Cavalry Regiment and the Japanese 18th Recon Regiment. Short and bloody. Many of the grunts in the pictures are the early Marines while the rest are US Army cavalry from Eureka.

link

Bataan was a great movie, but the real history is better. If you want a fun action then read about the Battle of the Points. In that action the Japanese tried to slip around the main battle position and block the coastal road The area that they landed on was defended by the naval battalion which was supported and led by the Marines. There were a lot of scattered and confusing skirmishes between the opposing forces.
Too bad I had such a crummy camera at the time.

Tgunner,

I'm either going to use these in PI during the initial landings, and have them escape before the full withdrawal into the Bataan Peninsula (sorry man, I've read up on The Points, it just doesn't capture my imagination, it's pretty limited, and It's late enough that US troops aren't really getting out of PI at that point), or go to the East Indies.

I'm becoming more and more intrigued by the East Indies actually; total fiction, but a string of desperate defeats and escapes. Sounds fun!

Of course, on Bataan the Army (and Nat'l Guard) really fought its ass off; my problem is the scattered, ragtag (support units thrown together) Marine units didn't see much action prior to withdrawal to Corregidor. The Points was mostly it, and wasn't much of a fight, more about the Japanese having overwhelming force but being disorganized due to arrogance, and the Marine/Navy patrols being totally out of their league (regarding training, weapons, and equipment). The beach wasn't defended, the Marine/Navy patrols go down, drive off a few Japanese, get into a confused fight, take a few casualties, run into each other, and fall back. They dig in, then get orders to pull out.

But I will admit I'm missing something, which could lead to something cool (if you have any info if love to hear it): what I'm confused about is mention of 2/4 moving up to support the defense (at The Points). But I can't find anything else about 2/4s involvement! And maybe this is what you're talking about, maybe this is where the fight gets cool for Marines.

Are you still playing games using Axis and Allies? I can recall at first writing these off as weak, but then I actually read them and became intrigued. I put some stats together and looked to play, but never did. I also need to give their naval stuff (War at Sea) a look.

V/R,
Jack

IIRC, it was a couple of weapons platoons that were moved up to support the Naval Battalion. Like a two tube mortar platoon and a four gun machine-gun platoon. They got a lot of use.

Some of the Mickey Mouse battleships carried Marines on-board and they did get to hit the beach at the points while launching a counterattack. Osprey has a brilliant painting covering this action. It inspired me to collect some minis to do some what-if Marine raider actions in the Philippines. Too bad no one has posted a copy of it on-line.

As for getting out, one of the largest parties to escape from the Philippines was the crew of the USS Quail. 17 men hopped on a 36' launch and bailed out just before Corregidor surrendered. They managed to reach Darwin some weeks later.

I could see one of these with a crew and some Marines bailing out, after say fighting on Corregidor, in one of these 44' launches.

It could give you an excuse to field these guys!

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Here's what could have been. Too bad these guys are Air Force ground crews and ground staff.

I wonder what a platoon of fully trained marines could have done?

Thanks for the word on 2/4, I hadn't been able to find anything. And I like those Sailors, but I'd rather they were in helmets. Just like the boy in Bataan ;) Pretty cool nonetheless, as is that painting.

I still dunno, lotta thinking and planning to do.

V/R,
Jack

A head switch would work for the sailors. I'm not that crafty though and those Eureka figures are pretty expensive to be conversion fodder.

And sadly I was mistaken. That picture was the one I was thinking about, but it was some AAF flyboys. But yeah, a seriously cool picture!

Oh, catch the Lewis gunner in the picture above. It's awesome that Eureka tossed in those figures.

I'm with you, not too keen on head swaps.

I see the Lewis gunner, and take a look at the two Tommy gunners, both with drums, the longer barrel, and the wooden foregrip.

V/R,
Jack

"Are you still playing games using Axis and Allies? I can recall at first writing these off as weak, but then I actually read them and became intrigued. I put some stats together and looked to play, but never did. I also need to give their naval stuff (War at Sea) a look."

Yes, and they are nice rules. Very simple to learn and play. They have some meat on the bones if you get the advanced rules. Maps are a bit annoying, but they work fine. It's simple enough to give stats to units that don't have cards. I have some on an old blogspot I set up years ago to support some 1942 gaming I did back in the day.