Bolt Action in the Pacific

This is the M3 Half-track that came in the Island Assault box.

Really nice model but it would have been nice if it came with some extra crew members/passengers. But that’s something I could potentially add in the future!

So this is how my scatter terrain turned out! I’m super pleased with how they turned out.

The Geek Gaming Scenics base ready mix did most of the work.

These were so easy and I was able to compete them in a day. I will definitely be making some more!

(The larger concrete bunker piece is still a WIP).

With this weekend being completely free for me, I’ve decided to try my hand at scratch building some scatter terrain themed in the Pacific, taking Peleliu as my main inspiration.

I’m planning on making a centre piece with a concrete bunker, a log bunker on a 60mm base and then some smaller scatter pieces on 40mm and 30mm bases.

Here’s some photos of my first builds below.

I’ve used mdf bases, Geek Gaming compound mix for the earth formations and cocktail sticks ect for the logs. The concrete bunker is a plastic airfix one that I have had for YEARS!

This is my Japanese anti-tank gun, a Type 1 47mm.

Although not a huge calibre, these could be deadly against US armour. As they were relatively lightweight and manoeuvrable, the Japanese crews were able to roll their guns in and out of hiding places such as caves, take a shot and then disappear again!

I haven’t updated this projected in a while. So to remedy that, here is my MMG team for the Japanese…

A few pics to update the project!

I recently finished this Japanese medium mortar team.

Here’s a couple of pics of my marine medic, or corpsman, and his stretcher bearer.

Note that there are no visible markings to denote him as a medic, as allegedly Japanese snipers would target medics like they would an officer. So marine corpsman quickly learned to throw away or cover their red crosses…

This is my US marine sniper team.

For the sniper I wanted to use a different pose than the classic aiming down scope.

The spotter would also make a good forward observer.

Here is my US marine medium machine gun team!

Love the look of the water cooled Browning. I read recently that although the later air cooled models were lighter to carry, many marines preferred the old water cooled version as they were more effective at continuous fire.

Very helpful against a banzai charge…

Here’s my US marine 81mm medium mortar team.

There’s a lot of footage and photos of mortar and artillery crews with their shirts off due to the intense physical exertion they performed.

So its nice to see that reflected in these sculpts, especially as my marines are set on Peleliu where the temperature could reach around 40 degrees…

This is one of many US marines squads that I have painted up.

I think the Warlord plastics are one of my favourite kits, it has some really good realistic poses and were easy to kit bash with parts from other Warlord kits.

I also love their tattered uniforms, ripped up from hitting the dirt and scrambling over coral landscapes!

An update! 

Despite the lack of posts in this project, I have been very busy with adding to my Pacific collection. I have already finished, and began adding to, the Island Assault set…

So here’s some photos of my iconic US marine transport, the LT-4 AMTRAC. I decided to magnetise the ramp so it can be lowered just because I wanted to challenge myself with tiny magnets. It needs a coat of matte varnish then it will be ready for some island hopping!

I will be updating this project more regularly now as I have plenty of photos to share of both Marine and Japanese units…

Some more progress on my Island Assault box.

Spider holes! Love these little pieces, hoping to use some fun rules for them in games.

Update!

A few photos of the Chi-Ha Type 97 tank from the Island Assault box.

I was tempted to just paint it in an olive drab green which I’ve seen on some references of these tanks.  But the Japanese camouflage scheme is very interesting and unique, and I especially wanted to include the iconic yellow stripes – so I went for it!

Instead of the usual muddy weathering, I went for a more subtle dry, dusty look.

Overall, I’m really pleased with the outcome!

Hi all,

I’ve already posted a similar post to this with my US marine flame thrower.

Nevertheless, here is a marine firing a BAR that I modelled based off the attached photograph.

Finding inspiration from wartime photographs when building figures is something I really enjoy and find helpful in trying to create unique poses.

Just wanted to show some of my Japanese infantry with flags on their rifles. They were pretty fiddly to get on but it was worth it as I absolutely love the look, especially with a bit of weathering.

Here is also some photos of my Japanese officer charging with his sword in a grubby tunic!

Hi all,

I wanted to show off a few photos of a US marine with a flamethrower that I converted, based off the photograph used on the front cover of Nemesis.

The flamethrower was made using bits from various weapons such as an MP40 and Thompson. For the tank I used an old imperial guard flamethrower tank heavily filed down and with some extra details added. It’s not completely accurate but I’m happy with it!

Hi all,

Been meaning to update this for a while…

Just wanted to share some pics of some test models I did for my Japanese infantry!

I think the basing makes up for the quick and dirty paint scheme. For this I used “Base Ready: Fields of New Zealand” from Geek Gaming Scenics. I absolutely love it, I think it achieves a good arid coral look for setting such as Pelelui.

Not strictly hobby related but I just recently finished reading this absolutely fantastic book by Max Hastings.

It focuses in on the last year of the war and really opened my eyes to the reality of the war fought in the Pacific. He does a great job of including both the grand strategy and the experiences of the men on the ground.

The chapter about Russian invasion of Manchuria was particularly good. I had no idea of the scale of the operation and the battle of Hutou fortress (the last battle of the war) was something I’d never even heard of.

I couldn’t recommend this book enough!

So I have cracked open the Island Assault box and have got started on building the Japanese infantry!

I really like the some of the charging poses and I am pleased that most of the rifles have bayonets fixed. The officers samurai sword is also a great addition.

I am going to build the units in a similar way to what is suggested in the booklet included in the box with a HQ team, sniper team and two 10 man squads.