I think the Japanese force I have is the ONLY World War Two force that I didn't have any armour for... and... Honestly, I probably didn't NEED any... The Japanese did not have PILES of armour - I think there were a total of four armoured divisions and a handful of independent brigades, but MOST of those were employed in mainland China...? For my purposes I didn't feel I needed any since my initial plan was just to use them in jungle battles in Burma against my Chindits...
Since starting up again with World War Two gaming again and making use of the Japanese against my friend Orions American forces, I got it in my head I should pick up a tank to support them from time to time... (since Orions force of Americans has an M10 tank destroyer!?). So I picked up a Type 97 Chi-Ha tank from Warlord Games (for the M10 to blow up!)
Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank
This is only the second 28mm plastic tank kit I've built. I've built other plastic tank kits in 1/35 or 1/72... but for the most part, all of my other WW2 vehicles have been mostly resin and metal kits. This had a LOT of little fiddley bits that really wanted to stick to my fingers and not the model!
In the end I persevered and got it all together...
The Japanese force, so far...
well... the stuff that can be worked into a Bolt Action army... or at least a first and second edition Bolt Action army... I have no idea what has changed with the new edition, but there are totally new army books coming out for all factions, so I'm guessing SOMETHING had changed in terms of army building?!
(and then I realized there are two men what should be with the Platoon Commander that are missing from the photo!? GAH!?)
I also have these odd extras... Three more light mortars (one with a loader), 2 light machine-gun teams, FIVE officers (Seriously, how did I end up with SO MANY?!), and one spare anti-tank suicide bomber? (or maybe he's just an engineer bringing up some mines... Honestly, I'd like to replace the mines with some carrying case for light mortar bombs, so he - and the other one - could be no.2 for a pair of the light Mortars!?)
I also have a few still to paint. Though, the only Japanese models I still have to paint for this collection are a group of a dozen cyclists and two snipers!
I'm not sure I NEED anything else for this... I guess I could add an anti-tank gun of some sort... or maybe an infantry gun... Possibly an anti-tank rifle team (to replace the suicide bomber)? Additional/different options for tanks and other support vehicles....?
I know there's a NEW EDITION of Bolt Action out, and with it the army lists and point values have likely all changed... but for the previous editions (the ones that I HAVE) this could be... 1075 to 1460 points in first or second edition (depending on troop quality), which is LOTS! I think the basic army was built around 1000 points.
(Once I finish up the bicycle squad and snipers that would make the force between 1195 and 1626 point - if all was fielded (the lower number being regulars and inexperienced, the higher number if they were all veterans!)
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Hi. In our group, we use the "Xenos Rampant" rules for our WWII games (Osprey adaptation from the Rampant family). The experience is GREAT. What you have there is more than enough for an army. I ALWAYS enjoy your posts.
ReplyDeleteAh, yeah, I'd kind of forgotten about that... I have Xenos Rampant - and ALL the rampant type games (Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, The Pikeman's Lament, Men Who Would Be Kings, Xenos Rampant) and have greatly enjoyed all that I'd played previously... So much so that ALL of my pre-20th century collections have been reorganized into units of 6 and 12 to be used in THOSE GAMES (except for the Dark Ages stuff which is still based and organized for De Bellis Antiquitatis!?)!
DeleteI did try Xenos Rampant when it first came out, but wasn't immediately taken by it - as I was with the others. I'll have to give it another try! Thanks!
On the "plus side", I guess I'll now have a use for ALL THOSE BONUS JAPANESE OFFICERS!?
DeleteGreat looking tank and Japanese collection!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal!
DeleteLovely looking tank, I've got the third edition of Bolt action, first and second we're based about a reinforced platoon but third has a different structure which I guess is a bit more accurate, I'd have happily carried on with a mix of 1st and 2nd edition but Des got the third edition so I figured I should too, if you're happy with first or second and so is your opponent I'd just carry on , tge points value has gone down a bit and specialist close combat units have been made a bit less effective.
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain! Seems like Orion had connected with some other local players that are using third edition, so she'll probably pick up third edition... so I'LL probably end up playing third edition... uggghhh... I found an article on Warlord Games website that explains the differences in army composition (which included the pages showing Infantry Platoons, Recce Infantry Platoons, Armoured Platoons, Artillery Platoons, Engineer Platoons, and Heavy Weapons Platoons (I'm guessing there has to at least be an armoured or mechanized Recce Platoon..?) and the lists for a few of the forces that must not be in the book (France and Italy)... after reading it their claim that "vast majority of collections could still be fielded with minimal modification" seems like BS... but I'll rant about that in the next post!
Deletere-reading the article this morning, those are the only six options - armoured reconnaissance vehicles go in the armoured platoon...
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