Imperial Japanese Army...the beginning.

As someone once said.... "This in not the end of the beginning, but it is the beginning of the end" or some such nonsense.

Anyway, this is the 'beginning' of my Bolt Action WW2  Imperial Japanese Army.
The figures are by Warlord Games and right aggressive looking 'Sons of Bushido' they are.

Lovely box art.

I still have to varnish them and base them in a suitably jungle like manner but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of them in their transitional state for a change. Apologies for the 'unmanly' pink bottle tops.... hopefully this experience hasn't dampened the little mens warlike ardour?

I like to give my figures a dry brush with a light colour, in this case Vallejo Khaki, to bring out the detail before commencing the serious business of 'dressing' the figures.

Ayee!!...pink for Crisake

The next batch

How's that for a pose?

Or this

As you can see, the detail and posing of these figures is superb. I've selected 11 figures from the Standard Army figures to see how they turn out. I'll have a crack at the Jungle Fighters once Ive completed all the standard Army figs.

I painted the figures exclusively with Vallejo paints and washes....does anyone use anything else now?
I stuck pretty much to the Warlord Games Painting Guide which is available to download on their website. I found the 'Dark Yellow wash' was just right for bringing out the folds and creases in the trousers and tunics and used the 'Umber wash' on the puttees, leather accoutrements and such like.
I found Vallego 'Buff' was just right for highlighting canvas, webbing, and shirts but must be applied sparingly. I also used the Panzer Aces 'Flesh Base' and mixed Standard flesh with the Panzer Aces 'Flesh Highlight' to bring out the cheek bones, nose, lips and chin.

Anyway here they are.

And dont forget to order shrimp balls with the chop suey!!

Corporal Miyagi shows off his new tank top

Banzai!

Give em a taste of the Arisaka

And the prize for most useless thing to stick on a machine gun goes to....

If I could just get the *##@en top of this Saki flask!

"Say one more smartass thing about my bayonet and I swear......"

I found these figures an absolute delight to paint and was pleasantly surprised how quickly they came together...two nights of painting, excluding assembly and under-coating.
I think the banners look rather spiffing too but they're a bugger to attach if you've got 'dexterily challenged' fingers like mine!

Look out for upcoming 'Jungle Fighters'

Goodbye to some old friends

I've been doing a bit of rationalising of my wargames arsenal lately and the time has come to have a clear out of stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for a looong time.
I've made a decision to concentrate solely on 28mm or bigger figures, mainly because of the vast range and ease of painting compared to their more diminutive cousins. As I get older those 15 and 20mm figures just seem to get smaller.
Sadly I've had to part with some old friends in the form of my 1/72nd scale WW2 odds 'n' ends.
It's a pretty random mix of whatever kits or figures took my fancy at the time and is loosely based for gaming Rapid Fire. At the time we were rather taken with these rules and my Shermans and Churchills and their 'P.B.I' mates bore the brunt of many a fierce encounter in all sorts of engagements from Beach landings, break-outs, bocage busting and cat & mouse tussles with the Wehrmacht's Panzer's in countless bombed out villages.

The rules are fairly straight forward and the games were always great fun and hark back to the nostalgic days of Charles Grant's 'Battlegames'. The new 'Bolt Action' rules appeal to me now because the games can be fought on a dinner table and the out-lay in figures is relatively small plus the games look superb in 28mm.

However I couldn't let my battle seasoned 20mm veterans pass into oblivion without sharing a few pics of some of their heroic exploits. Exit to the inspiring strains of Vera Lynn singing "We'll meet again....."

In no particular order: