Tarawa - Geen Beach WWII 15mm

   Got a chance to play a good Tarawa scenario with the group at Mark's house for a Thursday night fight.  The focus was on the Marine landing at Green beach and their success.  Lots of surprises from the Japanese in bunkers and concealed positions.
   The Marines had amphibious landing craft that really kept them protected.  They also had some armor and close air support.  The air support turned out to be decisive.  Anything in the open was doomed. 
   The Japanese were able to pop from concealed positions and had machine guns, some anti tank guns, as well as snipers.  They were able to hold the initial Marine advances but could not reinforce any successes and eventually fought to the last.

Japanese underground at this point.

The start of the Marine landings. 

Marines coming ashore.



Early Japanese fire.

A real fight develops just inside the sea wall.

Lots of fire starting to come from the Japanese positions. 

Armor on the beach.

Watch out for strafing runs.  Took a real pounding from these.

Japanese sniper in the trees

Marines with support slugging it out for every inch of ground.

Japanese anti tank guns are the last line of defense.

 

First 3mm Samurai Skirmish

   I had a chance to lay out some troops for a little skirmish in a mountain pass.  It was a good chance to see what everything looked like altogether and test some of the special rules I want to use. 

  I'm thinking of adding some real punch to the Samurai stands.  Not only keeping them strong and with elite morale, but adding some additional penalties if engaging and losing to them in melee.

  I like the look of the huts.  I still have to work on some terrain features like fields and rice paddies. 

Village in a mountain pass with a Monastery on the hill top

Clan defends the village and pass

Invading clan approaches

Waiting for battle

 

First casualties and fall backs

3mm Samurai updates: Warrior Monks, Peasants, latest Daimyo

   I've completed about 40 stands of 3mm Samurai.  I wanted to post what I've done lately and some pics of my first play test. With this latest Daimyo and some odds and ends like peasants and warrior monks, I think I'm done for awhile, although I still have some lead left I will keep it to be able to react to future inspiration.

  First up were some Warrior Monks.  These are actually based on a couple different orders I found online.  One was very colorful and the other wore black with a sort of white cowl.  Hard to pick up in 3mm but historically based none the less.

Warrior Monks

   I also added some basic peasants to be used to augment any clan or just to be cannon fodder.


Peasants

   I finally finished my second Daimyo stand for one of my favorite clans.

   A new clan.  Based on a Takeda follower.

3mm Naps - French Imperial Guard

I finally started to add the Old Guard to my French contingent.  What better place to start with than the "Les Gros Freres", the Horse Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard.  Painted them much as they looked at Waterloo.

Russian WWII 15mm

   Started playing 15mm WWII so I had to bust out the Russian figs and vehicles.

Russian T-34, Infantry, and SU-100

    I experimented with the Plastic Soldier Company for my Heavy Weapons.  Basically you get 4 identical sprues in a pack.  Each sprue has 3 mortars of various sizes, a Maxim machine gun, and a couple anti tank rifle teams.  The value was great and the figs are good, if a little on the skinny side.  The only thing I took issue with was gluing on so many arms and heads in odd positions.  I don't have the patience for that anymore.

Heavy Weapons from Plastic Soldier Company

Back to 3mm Naps

I've been working on some ongoing projects and starting some new ones to take a break while putting the finishing touches on my Samurai armies. I got everything together for a Prussian Corps and tested out a Brigade of infantry.


Prussian Brigade

You can see one Line Regt in front with two Landwehr Regt's in the rear.  

Prussian Line Regt

Command

Landwehr