"A Japanese platoon in 20mm" Topic

I've been putting together a Japanese force with Chain of Command in mind. I've already played the excellent Malaya 1942 campaign and now with a Far East Handbook in the offing I've been wanting to make sure I have all the elements I need to cover the actions of most of the theatre. I've condensed all I've done into a single blog post for those that are interested in seeing more and you can find that here A Japanese platoon in 20mm

You don't seem to mention FAA Miniatures or Grubby Tanks' Kelly's Heroes figures and equipment. Both are fairly inconsistent in quality but some of them look OK. Also Australians? A lot of my Normandy figures are FAA and I think they're OK but I don't know how to post photos on this site.

Looking forward to a Burma CoC Campaign set of AARs, any chance?

Great looking figures.

BTW the Rikugun volumes are available for Kindle at just over a tenner each on Amazon. You can also get the books but they're quite pricey.

You don't seem to mention FAA Miniatures or Grubby Tanks' Kelly's Heroes figures and equipment. Both are fairly inconsistent in quality but some of them look OK.

Looked at those but didn't like the look of them, particularly thinking how they'd match up with the Eureka figures.

Also Australians?

As they mostly wore British style uniforms I've been able to use the AB western desert range for early war and their Mediterranean range for later, plus I have a lot of the Eureka Australians in slouch hates to go with them. I'll do a separate post about my commonwealth forces.

Looking forward to a Burma CoC Campaign set of AARs, any chance?

Definitely something I want to do. There has been talk of a Kohima.campaign.

Great paint job.

Those Early War look better than some of their other ranges

Fantastic work and a comprehensive post for platoon structure and add-ons!

Helion have republished the Rikugun volumes in paper- and hardback.

Robert

I could send some photos of my FAA figures, not as well painted as yours but…

Im doing a similar setup in 20mm … Man your stuff looks sooooo good

I could send some photos of my FAA figures, not as well painted as yours but…

If you want to post pictures here you need to have the image hosted somewhere on the net and then post the link here. This is the case for other forums too. I use Imageshack for this, but there are lots of other hosting sites like Flickr or Photobucket (although I would advise against Photobucket). Some are free, but you get what you pay for.

Great write up.

I've been putting together a Japanese force with Chain of Command in mind. I've already played the excellent Malaya 1942 campaign and now with a Far East Handbook in the offing I've been wanting to make sure I have all the elements I need to cover the actions of most of the theatre.

How would you kit out an island defense IJA to fare against USMC in the island hopping campaigns? I realize the Japanese were on the defensive so they would have some great hard cover to start, but would it be a similar platoon load out? I would think more artillery's and MGs… Just wondering on your thoughts as I have seen for CoC is the 42 list

I haven't done a lot of reading on those campaigns so would need to research unit structure. My understanding is the SNLF units that captured the islands were then expected to garrison them. Ironically this meant each unit was unable to develop what it had learned from experience and use it for a second landing.

I've have also given some thought to those campaigns, particularly the later defensive battles. The problem from a game perspective is that no one really wants to play the Japanese as there is not much to do once the defence is constructed other than fight to the death. In that sense it strikes me that someone needs to create rules for solo or cooperative USMC play where the Japanese side is controlled using some sort of programmed rules. The USMC player/s must essentially search and destroy. The Japanese will, rather predictably, stand and fight to be bitter end.

The problem from a game perspective is that no one really wants to play the Japanese as there is not much to do once the defense is constructed other than fight to the death.

I would counter that holding a position would be an honor and a hell of a fight…
" Hold to the last. To the last what? Exercise in rhetoric. Last shell… last man… last foot of ground… last breath… " Joshua Chamberlain from the move Gettysburg
To the point, with a proper objective it could be a fun fight. Hold the position for x rounds. We both realize that in the end, they will be defeated but the fight could be fun. I always fight for the draw, not for the win until the opportunity arises. :/
Thank you for the response. Love your blog.

I don't disagree but sales of figures and levels of interest in playing the theatre would indicate it doesn't capture the gaming imagination like the Eastern Front or Normandy. I think that's partly down to the perception that playing the Japanese isn't anywhere near as appealing as playing the USMC. Perhaps the lack of armour plays a part too, whatever it is the theatre appears to be the poor cousin in the gaming community.

Beautifully painted figures. Wonderful blog post and very informative. I have thought about 20mm Japanese in Malaya and this helps a bunch.