Gift 2: Assault Man and IJA NCO

    The final Marine is an assault man armed with the Winchester M12 trench shotgun in 12 gauge.  These shotguns were used extensively throughout the Pacific War to help clear out enemy bunkers and trench lines.  The second man in a flame thrower team was usually armed as such.  His shotgun shells are all metal, as was common during the time period.  He wears the P42 camouflage utility uniform, green side out with a forage cap.  

    On his olive drab webbing he has an army style canteen pouch, k-bar, and an M1936 “musette bag”.  In his right hand is a Mk. II fragmentation hand grenade, commonly known as a “pineapple” grenade.  The base of the miniature is sand from Okinawa’s Blue 2 Beach, where 1st Battalion 7th Marines came ashore.  Blue 2 is the main Tori Station beach, in line with the circular reef, and was collected in March 2016.

    The final Japanese soldier is a non-commissioned officer armed with a Type 100/44 submachine-gun.  The machine-gun fires an 8x22mm Nabu cartridge.  The blowback operated submachine-gun is fed through a 30 round detachable curved box magazine on the left side of the weapon and is capable of firing 800 rounds per minute at 1,100 feet per second.  With an effective range of 150 meters the weapon weighs 7.5lbs empty and 9.7lbs loaded.

    Attached to his leather webbing in the rear are his first aid kit, bread bag, and Imperial Japanese Army style canteen.  On his right side are the ammunition pouches for his weapon.  The miniature is based on sand from Okinawa’s Red 3 beach, where 1^st Battalion 4^th 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 2: 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 wears the “frog” pattern camouflage two piece utility uniform brown-side out, boondockers, and gaiters.  His helmet is covered with reversible camouflage helmet cover.

   

    Like the BAR man, he also wears the marching pack configuration of the M1941 pack system, though his web gear is in olive drab, which began to be issued in 1943.  On his belt are his ammunition pouches and an M1910 model  canteen (cross over straps with no drain hole).  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 are 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 2^nd Battalion 5^th 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).

KR Multi-Case Kaiser2 Review

  A break from the GySgt Gift posts as my KR Multi-Case came in today.  My wife got it for my birthday but the USPS lovely routing system sent it on the slow ship out of California and it took a month to get here.  The case looks phenomenal so far, tons of pockets for additional storage, and well constructed for securely transporting miniatures.  I got the Kaiser2, as I wanted to be able to carry two opposing armies and the case meets airline carry-on requirements.

  Here is the front of the case.  There are two flap pockets, the width of which match the "pocket" size Bolt Action rule books but can fit multiple books in each pocket.  Behind them are a zipper pocket for the whole front.  On the top you can see the carrying handle, nice and comfortable.  When I had the inside cases out my 36 lbs four year old climbed inside and had me zip him up.  I was able to pick up the case from just the handle with no issues or concerns of tearing.

  

On the left side are is another zipper pocket, capable of storing multiple full size rule books and the KR insignia on the side is actually a clear plastic pocket for placing an identification card in it from inside the zipper pocket.

  On the right side is a mesh pocket, currently holding the shoulder strap that can be attached for ease of travel.

  The back has an additional two zipper pockets for more storage.  As does the inside cover as seen below.

  The KR2 contains two multi-cases, thick, heavy duty card board boxes with plastic handles that hold the foam and miniatures.

  I had each case set-up the same and capable of carrying a good standard size (1500 pt) army with room to spare.

   The first tray is for individual miniatures.  Here I have a couple of Warlord Games' 28mm USMC from their Bolt Action line in various poses: the first three are standing, the next two are crouching and placed base down, and the last is prone Marine sans base.  They fit fairly snug and should have no issue during travel.

  The next level consists of two trays.  On the left is a 70mm deep pluck foam tray for vehicles and goes all the way to the bottom of the case.  In it is one of Warlord Games' resin LVT-4 Buffalo AMTRACs model for scale.  All the pluck foam trays are the same as the miniature trays, just without spots for miniatures removed.  It does require removal of the internal walls when the model is larger than one row.  On the right is a half miniature tray, this allows for a total of 75 individual miniatures per each of my cases.

  The last level is only on the right side and is a 30mm deep pluck foam tray for storing team based units (mortars, anti-tank rifles, machine-gun teams, etc).

  Each tray, pluck and individual miniature, has a 5mm base sheet on the bottom for the miniatures to sit on and provide additional protection between trays.

  Overall it appears to be a very well constructed product and I am relieved to have it for the upcoming move, after which I will provide some additional feedback.

Gift 2: Marine Raider and IJA Officer

  
  This 2^nd Raider Battalion Marine is from the 1942 Makin Island Raid.  For that raid, each Marine turned in a set of khaki service uniforms which were dyed black.  Most of the Mairnes wore black tennis shoes for the raid as well.  He is armed with a Thompson M1924A1 sub-machine gun and a number of hand grenades.  The Thompson utilized 20 round magazines.

  

  On his web gear is a canteen, document pouch, first aid kit, and the Collins No. 18 “Gung Ho” knife with a 9 inch blade.  The miniature is based on gravel taken from Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridge where the 1st 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.

  This officer is armed with a Type 94 kyuyon-shiki gunto sword manufactured since 1934, it has two hanging points on the scabbard which was made of metal and wood with brass mountings.  He wears an 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 and available for officers to purchase.

  
  On his back is a map case.  The miniature is based on sand from Okinawa’s Red 2 Beach where elements of 1^st Battalion and 3^rd Battalion 4^th 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.

Gift 2: BAR Gunner and Knee Mortarman

    
    The M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) provided the basis for squad firepower and in early 1944 squads were authorized 3 BARs per rifle squad.  M1936B BAR belt held two 20-round magazines in each of its six pockets.  The BAR’s bipod was sometimes removed to reduce weight.  This Marine is wearing the Herringbone Twill (HBT) two-piece uniform in sage green.  On his helmet he wears a reversible camouflage M-1 helmet cover in the “frog pattern”, green side out (four color).





     He carries a jungle first aid pouch on his belt next to his ammunition pouches.  The first aid pouch was issued after 1943 and contained a field dressing, insect repellent, iodine, petrolatum, a tourniquet, and Band-Aids.  On his back is the khaki M1941 pack system in the marching pack configuration (haversack, cartridge belt and entrenching tool – this was the normal assault configuration). The haversack contained rations, poncho, underwear, socks, mess kit, and a toilet kit.  The base of the miniature is sand from Iwo Jima’s Yellow 1 Beach, where 1st Battalion 23rd Marines came ashore.  Yellow 1 is located on the south-eastern side of Airfield 1, now over grown but still discernible in satellite imagery, and was collected in December 2005.

    

    This light mortar man is equipped with the Type 89 grenade launcher, commonly mistakenly called a “knee mortar”.  It fires 50mm grenades and were used for close-range support at the squad level.  On his head he wears the Type 92 (1932) helmet with camouflage netting that was widely worn throughout the Pacific Island Campaign.  He wears standard leg wrappings and leather split toe shoes.  

    
   
    On his back is slung the Arisaka Type 99 infantry rifle.  Attached to his leather webgear is an entrenching tool, first aid kit, bread bag, and Imperial Japanese Army style canteen.  The miniature is based on sand form Okinawa’s Yellow 2 Beach where 1st Battalion 5th Marines came ashore on 1 April 1945.  Yellow 2 is the public pay beach and Ganjyu Farm restaurant just north of Bishi River inlet south of Tori Station; the sand was collected in March 2016.

GySgt Gifts

    Here are two going away gifts I did for some fine SNCOs that were departing my unit.  Over the next several posts I will be showing each figure individually and share the background information I included about each one to the GySgt who received it.

Here is the first gift.

Here are two pictures of the second gift.

    While the layout is the same each miniature was chosen, crafted, and described for the individual GySgt based on their past history within the USMC.

Battlefield Research

    So living on Okinawa affords me the opportunity to both view and collect material from one of the actual battlefields in the Pacific War.  Back in March for my birthday we went out to the invasion beaches and walked them from Blue 2 up to Red 2 down to Yellow 2 and back.

    I was able to collect sand from each beach, though I do realize for most of those beaches, as they are along a current U.S. military installation, the sand is not likely the same.  Red 2 was a little tricky as the coral comes all the way up to the coral sea wall and there is only sand collected into the tide pools.  This sand is very clay like and fine, much different than the rest of the beaches.

    This weekend I went down south with the family and returned to Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridge, the site of the last major offensive actions by the Marines where elements of 1st Marine Division eliminated the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Army's 62nd Division.  The ridge is on the southern tip of the island and runs from Cape Kiyan north and then east until it comes back to the ocean as detailed by the red line.

    The eastern end has been turned into a really nice park with some beautiful views.

    It also has a  nice little playground, football field, and memorial forest while the southern road is filled with the local surfer's vehicles.

    This park is also the location to the Mayaa-Abu Gama where I collected some more dirt for basing material for future dioramas, or if I chose to do a memorial squad of IJA or 8th Marines.

    I also took a number of photographs of the local flora to help with terrain inspiration, though the areas north of Okinawa City are best as they were relatively untouched by the rain of steel the U.S. Navy dropped on the southern portion of the island.

   Earlier by the eastern lookout I snagged some of the sharp coral that makes up ridge and plan to use it for some similar tree topped outcroppings.

D-Day Firefight

For my first miniature painting in years I started with Warlord Games D-Day Firefight set for their WWII era Bolt Action rule set.  I have to say I was really impressed with the quality of the sculpts, the lack of flash, and the wide variety of poses and configurations available.  I (re)-learned a lot building and painting these.  As such there are variations from squad to squad and figure to figure as I tried different things out (paints, inks, tones, etc.).

Here first is the German squad.  I have not completed the Hanomag half-track that makes up the rest of the point value as I am waiting to get back to the States before I get an airbrush and compressor.

Next up are the two U.S. Army squads, as you can tell I went with two major paint schemes (and multiple smaller variations) as I tried out different looks and paints.

Last are the various HQ elements: a Bazooka Team, an Officer and his runner, and a Sniper Team.