USMC Satellite Patrol in Afghanistan

It's been a couple of months since I posted.  With the move, good weather, and the need to get a bunch of woodworking done before it got too cold in the garage, painting took a back seat for a while.  When the weather got cold I stared painting again but most of my projects are gifts for Christmas so no posts until they were presented.  The first of those gifts has been presented and so I can post the final display.

The Marines on patrol are from the set I picked up at Historicon 2016 from Eureka Miniatures USA.

The Mujaheddin are also from Eureka Miniatures USA and come in a 15 man pack for $32.

The Afghan house is made of cork board and bass wood, while the base is 1/4 birch plywood I had leftover from a woodworking project.  I painted the structure and base with Rust-Oleum Multicolor Textured spray paint in Desert Bisque and then dry brushed with Army Painter paints and added their Summer Grass to the base of the building.

THE MARINES

  

As I said before, the Marines are from the 14 figure set I picked up at Historicon 2016.  I was incorrect about one being a radio operator though, once I had the figures out I saw the Marine was really carrying a THOR man-pack ECM device.  Other than that the Fire Team satellite patrol is fairly standard:  Fire Team Leader with M203 attached to his M16-A4, M249 SAW Gunner, Rifleman (with the THOR) and M16-A4, and the A-Gunner with his M16-A4 walking point.  The two riflemen have AN/PEC-4s and all Marines have Trijicon ACOG scopes on their weapons.

THE MUJAHEDDIN 

The Mujaheddin are all pretty standard: all are armed with AK-47s, two have chest rigs for extra ammo and the too far forward point man has a bandoleer.  Dress us fairly common throughout the area.  The rest of the figures are all different poses with two RPGs, a Stinger SAM, a light machine-gun and a medium machine-gun.

HISTORICON 2016

Well it's been about a month and a half since the last post, this is largely due to the fact I am still waiting on a new house and living in my friend's basement does not leave me with a lot of space to paint.  However, this weekend was HISTORICON 2016 in Fredricksburg, VA, only about 10 mile from here so I made the trek down to check out the U.S.A.'s largest historical wargaming convention.

The convention was held at the Fredricksburg Expo and Conference Center.  The event, running from Thursday through Sunday, featured over 60 vendors, 71 open gaming tables, a tournament area 25 tables, a Flames of War tournament area with another 18 tables, and 9 ball/meeting rooms with 49 club gaming tables.  In addition they had a seminar room that was busy throughout with various presentations, Hobby University with six classes going on at a time, and a flea-market in the back.  Below are some of the better presented tables (or ones with games that interest me) throughout the day.  Remember to click on the pictures to see larger versions!

This gorgeous table was in the Open/General Gaming Hall and was used to play Bolt Action all day long.  I saw at least three separate games throughout the day.

This was a display table in the General Gaming Hall showing the Charge Of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854.  This epitomized the theme of the convention: Cavalry.  Speaking of which, my free gift was a Warlord Games exclusive figure: George McDonald Fraser's Sir Harry Paget Flashman.

Another table in one of the club rooms focusing on the theme of the event was the one below on the Italian Wars of 1536 to 1564.

The next club table was a medieval battle with cavalry on one side of the town and foot on the other.

Another nice club table was this one featuring a First Nation (American Indian) skirmish game.  I wish I could remember the name of the rules as it looked interesting.

The next club table featured the now discontinued Lord of the Rings game from Games Workshop.  This particular game was the Battle of Pelargir.  The table ran two to three games a day, each focused on a different battle.

 This last club table was a huge battlefield featuring a war between Celts.

I was able to participate in one Hobby University class, Advanced Beginner's Painting taught by Tanya Brewer out of Fredrick, Maryland.  The course taught shading and highlighting using shades and the feather technique vice using a wash and line.  This was added some additional tricks to use when I am not just pushing through trying to get an army ready for the table.  I also learned how to use gloss finish to obscure pits and fine casting lines in hard to reach places on metal miniatures.  I got to keep the miniature which is barbarian woman from Reaper Miniatures.

The last major event of the day was catching a seminar on Miniature Wargaming the Movie with Joseph Piddington.  This was a nice back story on the documentary that is now in post production and on its second Kickstarter to cover the additional expenses of licences and film festival application fees.  This is going to be a great documentary, geared for non-wargamers, and I highly recommend supporting the Kickstarter for it!  (and yes, I know it is already over its goal).

Lastly, the day would not be complete without some purchases from some of the vendors.  While most of the vendors had some top quality stuff I made my purchases from the Warlord Games booth, the Casemate Publishers booth, and from Eureka Miniatures.

From Warlord Games I picked up the Battle of Xilos expansion with special miniature for Beyond the Gates of Antares, the Boromite Gang Fighters and Work Gang for the same, another USMC kit for Bolt Action (more diorama projects) and the The Army Painter Strong Tone can for dipping.  From Casemate Publishers I purchased Team Yankee (been wanting it for a while) and Bretherton.  From Eureka Miniatures I picked up a modern USMC squad (14 figures as they have a radio operator with them).

Overall the convention was great fun and an enjoyable experience for my first wargaming convention.  I am looking forward to Fall In! this November!

GySgt Gifts: The Palm Tree

    A final post on the GySgt Gift series, and a little late as I had to dig photos off a couple of packed devices and find one of the kits that was packed away for the move as well.

    The trunk of the palm tree is a stick from the backyard in Okinawa.  It attaches to a thumb tack glued into the hole of the base of the diorama, allowing for easy removal for shipping but remaining sturdy enough for display.  The top of the trunk is rapped with twine to simulate the dead palm frond bases you find on all palm trees in Okinawa.

    The kit itself comes from the Japanese company Kamizukuri, who makes laser cut paper vegetation and buildings diorama kits for Japan's large plastic model enthusiast population.  Below is the front and back cover of the kit I used for this project, their jungle kit, as the 1/35 scale of the kit better suited the Warlord 28mm Bolt Action figures than the palm tree kit you will see further down.  The fern kit came with four different types of fern leaves, though I primarily used the ones on the right.  I used one kit for each gift.

 


















    Below is a palm tree kit's contents.  The palm tree kit comes with two sheets of laser cut paper leaves, one with 10 and one with 7 leaves (and 2 lizards).  They also include a white and black piece of paper (I have not figured out what those are used for, and 8 wire stems used to attach the leaves to the trunk of your plant/tree. The leaves are decently sturdy, even when painted (all kits come pre-colored as dead leaves), and hold their shape well once you bend them the way you want.  The leaves are attached to the sheets by a number of tabs that are easy to cut with a pen knife and with little worry of damaging the leaf.

    Also included is a direction sheet in Japanese, though it is easy enough to deduce from the pictures, at least the important parts.  

    Over-all the kits are nicely done, but they only come with the leaves and not the trunks.  They are a bit pricey as well: the jungle kits came in at 1234 yen each (about $11.21), and the palm tree kit was 1400 yen (about $12.72).  They make good kits for special diorama projects or displays for your miniatures when not using them but I would not use them for regularly used war-gaming terrain.

Gift 1: Bazooka and Machine Gun

    The final Marine is an anti-tank team member armed with the M9A1 Bazooka issued in June 1944 (the original M1 Bazooka was first used in North Africa in 1942). The weapon weighed 15.87lbs unloaded with a maximum range of 250 yards. As a back-up weapon he is armed with a Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol in his leather holster. He wears the P42 camouflage utility uniform, brown side out. On his olive drab webbing he has an army style canteen pouch, k-bar, first aid kit, and a Mk. II fragmentation hand grenade, commonly known as a “pineapple” grenade. On the ground is Bazooka ammunition pack and a M6A3 HEAT round. Each round weighed 3.4 pounds, traveled at 265 feet per second, and could penetrate up to 4 inches (102mm) of armor plating at 90 degrees. The miniature is based on gravel taken from Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridge where the 1 st Marine Division, to include 1st and 3rd Battalions 8th Marines, wiped out the remnants of the 62nd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army in the last major action by Marines on 21 June 1945.Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridge is the ridge line running east to west from Heiwasozonomori Park on the southern tip of the island; the gravel was collected in March 2016.

    The final Japanese soldier is a machine-gunner armed with a Type 99 light machine gun. The machine-gun fires 7.7x58mm Arisaka, the same round as used in the standard Type 99 infantry rifle. The gas operated machine-gun is fed through a 30 round box magazine on the top of the weapon and is capable of firing 700 rounds per minute at 2,400 feet per second. The weapon weighs a staggering 23 pounds and while the bayonet could be affixed it was rarely used. The machine-gun could also utilize a 2.5X telescopic sight with a 10 degree field of view on the right side of gun, allowing top marksmen to act as snipers and machine-gunners. The machine-gunner carries extra magazines in the large pouch on his left and also has an Imperial Japanese Navy style canteen (round) on his right. The miniature is based on sand from Okinawa’s Red 3 beach, where 1st Battalion 4th Marines came ashore on 1 April 1945.  Red 3 is just north of Blue 1 and runs north along Tori Station beach until hitting the coral wall at Red 2; the sand was collected in March 2016.

Gift 1: Riflemen

    This Marine rifleman is armed with the venerable .30 caliber M1 Garand, introduced the Marines during the battle for Guadalcanal and by mid-war was the main armament of the Corps. This Marine is also wearing HBT utilities, boondockers, and gaiters. His helmet is covered with reversible camouflage helmet cover, this time brown side out. 

    His poncho is also rolled brown side out and these two items were often the only two camouflage items remaining in use by the end of the war. On his back he wears only the top pack to which he has strapped his bayonet.  On his belt are his ammunition pouches and a canteen. The miniature is based on sand taken from Okinawa’s Blue 1 Beach, where 2nd Battalion 7th Marines came ashore on 1 April 1945. Blue 1 is located where the north camping area of Tori Station beach is and was collected in March 2016.

    This rifleman is armed with the Arisaka Type 99 (1939 model) rifle, a rugged bolt-action rifle with a five-round magazine. It fires a 7.7mm round at 2,400 feet per second and weighs 8.4 pounds. His Type 30 bayonet with the distinctive hooked quillion guard is affixed, likely in preparation for a banzai charge. On his head is a bare Type 90 helmet.

    Attached to his leather webbing in the rear is his first aid kit, bread bag, and Imperial Japanese Army style canteen. The miniature is based with sand from Okinawa’s Yellow 1 Beach, where 2nd Battalion 5th Marines came ashore on 1 April 2016. Yellow 1 is the public free beach just south of Tori Station and north of the Bishi River beach (Yellow 2).

Gift 1: Division Scout and NCO

    

    This division scout Marine is armed with the Thompson M1928A1 sub-machine gun. His magazine pocket contains 5 additional 20 round magazines. They were not widely used by front line units in the Pacific theater due to sounding similar to the Japanese 6.5mm light machine gun. The Marine wears the “frog” pattern camouflage two piece utility uniform green side out.

     On his olive drab webbing are two canteens (common practice after Guadalcanal) one army and one Marine Corps, and his first aid kit. He also wears leather boondockers and canvas gaiters, though his pant legs are rolled and not bloused.  The base of the miniature is sand from Okinawa’s Blue 2 Beach, where 1 st Battalion 7 th Marines came ashore. Blue 2 is the main Tori Station beach, in line with the circular reef, and was collected in March 2016.

    This non-commissioned officer is armed with a Type 98 kyuhachi-shiki gunto sword manufactured towards the end of the war, missing the second hanging point on the scabbard and with the scabbard made of wood and cheaper brass ornamentation. He wears an enlisted/ NCO cotton field cap on his head, and standard uniform in olive green throughout. On his right hip is the leather holster for his Type 14 Nambu 7x20mm semi-automatic pistol issued to non-commissioned officers beginning in 1927.

    The miniature is based on sand from Okinawa’s Red 2 Beach where elements of 1st Battalion and 3rd Battalion 4th Marines came ashore on 1 April 1945. Red 2 is located on the north end of Tori Station and the “beach” is enclosed on three sides by coral rock and has coral running all the way to the rock sea wall. The sand was collected in March 2016.

USMC Platoon

    So, finally finished assembling my USMC platoon just in time for the move.  All of them are now primed (there are about six in the photo that were not at this point as I had found them stashed away in the KR case).  They are now all stored safely in the KR case and ready for transport, I will be taking them on the plane with me as I have no idea when I will see my household goods next, two months at the earliest.

    Here we have the sniper team (just needs basing), the forward observer team, and the flame thrower team on the left.  The first four were painted while I was doing the miniatures for the GySgt Gifts as I had them built already.  On the right are two emplaced medium machine gun teams and a third medium machine gun team displacing to a new location.  All of these teams are now sticky tacked to 60mm bases for the move.

    In front is the Lt with the Plt Sgt and his shotgun. On the left we have two dog teams (only one will be used), a 60mm mortar team, and the bazooka team.  The mortar team is also now based on a 60mm base.  On the right is the fire support squad and in the back is the beautiful LVT-4 Buffalo AMTRAC.

    Lastly we have the maneuver squad and the assault squad.  Each squad is a squad leader and three fire-teams of three men, as I am going for historical accuracy with this build.  Each squad has two BARs (would be three but BA only allows 2).  Each squad also has one Marine armed with a Springfield M1903 rifle with a Layman No. 5A 5x scope.

    Looking forward to painting and getting these guys on the table but right now I am trying to get as many of my Japanese assembled prior to the move as possible.