More Jungle Terrain

I have been working on some more of my jungle scenery. I made a large piece with a swamp in the middle. this ads a nice bit of variety as it is more open and allows figures to be laced on the base easily, but still maintaining the over grown jungle feel. It is the biggest base I have made so far. I was concerned about warping as it was so big. It warped a little bit, but not enough to be disastrous. 

I also made another piece of more fantasy/pulp/scifi terrain in the form of another giant mushroom. These mushrooms were resin ones I bought AGES ago (maybe as long ago as 1991) but are still available from Scotia Grendel (link).

Jungle Terrain Work In Progress

 I have not been idle the last few weeks. I have been making lots and lots of jungle terrain. Much of this is bits and pieces of old terrain re-based, and the rest is bits and bobs I bought from the pet shop or cheap home-wear houses like B+M and Poundland. This terrain will be very useful, as it can be used for Burma (Bolt Action), Africa (Congo or Force on Force) or even the Caribbean (Pirates or Freebooters Fate).  It could even be used for Scifi or fantasy too. 

There is lots more to follow. I plan to make more, including center pieces and more unusual pieces. 

Jungle Ruins from a Pet Shop!

Here are a couple of goldfish ornaments I bought form my local petshop- Pets at Home. The Buddha head I bought a while ago, but the ruins I only picked up this week. I think these will be great for any games of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Pulp City, or IHMN set in the jungle. Cheep, preprinted scenery is always welcome!

Here you can see my KKBB villain Ezekiel Maxwell and some of his henchmen as they inspect the ruins, searching for the Green Diamond he needs to build his latest dooms day device. 

Burma 1943: Bolt Action Battle Report

My son Charlie and I managed to get a game of Bolt Action in during the holidays. We kept things simple, about 500 pts each. I took the Japanese Imperial Army- with a couple of regular infantry section and a section of veteran jungle fighters backed up with a sniper and a MMG. Charlie took the British Chindits, with two infantry sections, a MMG and a mortar (all veterans).

The plot was a Chindit patrol had located a Japanese supply dump in a small village in the depths of the Burmese jungle, well behind the Japanese lines. The supply dump seemed lightly guarded, and so the lieutenant in charge of the patrol ordered a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the Chindits, at the time of the attack there was a squad of jungle fighters and an experienced sniper team making their way through the jungle back to the village to resupply. 

The attack got off well for the chindits, as their Vickers MMG opened up on the Japanese MMG in a sandbag redoubt, catching them napping and killing one of the crew. The Japanese scrambled for cover, and the jungle fighters took up positions along the tree-line to cover the approaches to the village. 

Meanwhile the Chindits advanced towards the village, using their fire and manoeuvre training to effectively suppress the Japanese as they advanced. The Chindit 3" mortar zeroed in on the squad taking cover in the village house- it seems that bamboo and woven palm leaves don't provide much cover against mortar shells.

The Japanese Jungle Fighters tried to slow the Chindits down, but they were outnumbered, and soon they began to fall to the relentless and accurate fire of the Chindits. 

The Japanese sniper took out a Chindit NCO as his squad advanced into the clearing around the village, but his squad pressed on relentlessly, spraying fire from their tommy guns and rifles to suppress the Japanese soldiers in the village. 
The Chindit lieutenant spotted the sniper and made his way around the flank, using what cover he could, until he was close enough to charge the sniper. 

The Japanese, seeing their position desperate, fixed bayonets and with a cry of "Banzai" they bravely charged the Chindits. The Chindits opened fire, scything down three of them as they ran across the open ground, then met the Japanese bayonets with their own Kurkri and machetes. Two of the Chindits died, but in the end they wiped the Japanese out. 

The Japanese officer was cut down in a hail of bullets as he prepared to follow his fellow soldiers into the charge, earning himself a honourable warriors death.

The Japanese sniper team and the remnants of the Japanese MMG team melted back into the jungle, abandoning the supply dump. They Chindits took what they needed and could carry, and burned the rest, before carrying out a force march through the dense jungle to be well clear of any counter attacks the Japanese Imperial Army might mount. It had been a text book raid for the British: using surprise, overwhelming fire power and manoeuvrability to overcome a numerically superior enemy. The Chindits had just seven men killed or wounded, and the Japanese had lost a whole platoon.

If this battle report  lacks drama or seemed like a white wash for the Brits then you can blames Charlie's fantastic dice rolling, which saw him gunning down my soldiers with ease, while my own inept rolling was barely more than a minor irritation to his Chindits. Chindits, being all veterans, are a solid and reliable force, and their ability for fire and manoeuvre is very effective. 

All in all, a great battle...thanks Charlie. 

Burma: Imperial Japanese Army

As promised- my Bolt Action Imperial Japanese Army is now finished- so I have completed my Chindit and Japanese forces in 12 months- no mean feat, especially given that I have taken a great dislike to painting Japanese.

These models are a mix of Bolt Action (Warlord Games) and The Assault Group. I reserve a special dislike of the Bolt Action Figures, which I found to be poorly cast, difficult to assemble (they have separate heads- lord knows why) , and badly sculpted- except the Jungle fighters, which where OK.

I would like to add a few soldiers to bulk up the command sections, and one of the infantry sections needs an MG, but on the whole here it is complete. 

Artillery FOO and Radio operator

Snipers!

HMG Team

Jungle Fighters

Light Mortar

Burma: Chindit Force Ready For Action

I began work on my 'Burma Campaign' at the beginning of the year- intending to build an a Chindit army and a Japanese army to play Bolt Action. I though it would only take a few months but then I got distracted by zombies and what have you- and so it has taken a bit longer than planned, but now I can finally say that the Chindist are finished( for now) and that the IJA will be finished before Christmas. Here they are...

 This is a 1000 PV force for Bolt Action. It is based on a Chindit force from 1943-44. There is s a mix of Stens and Thopmson SMG's, and the Boys ATR has been replaced with the PIAT. 

Here is my Platoon CO. He is wearing a cap instead of the more usual bush hat.

 Medical Officer. Not this one has taken to wearing a side arm- not really in keeping with the spirit of the Geneva Convention- but in Burma things got a bit nasty. 

A Chindit MMG crew

The Chindit Figures are from various sources- Warlord Games, Wargames Foundry and The Assault Group.

 I think the Officers might be Black Tree Designs, but I am not sure. 

I also painted some scenery- bunkers and rocks- I am not sure who made the bunkers- I bought/swapped them on Lead Adventure Forum.  I don't even know if they are made by the same manufacturer.  The rocks are by Total System Scenics and will be generic enough to work in the middle of a Burmese jungle, or Middlesex or even Middle Earth. I love generic terrain. 

Burma: Chindit Support Weapons

This is my entry for last weeks Lead Painters league. One of the great things about LPL is that it makes you paint stuff you have had hanging around for ages. These support weapons will be very useful for my Chindit army. They are a 3 inch mortar and a Vicker's HMG. Not easy to lug around the jungle, but very useful in battle. 

These miniatures are form The Assault Group. 

Burma: Chindit Patrol

The second round of Lead Painters League saw me finish off five more Chindits for my 1943 Burma campaign.  Again I have tried to up the ante a bit on the painting, and am quite pleased with the blending and highlighting on the cloth. By all accounts the Chindit's Jungle Green (JG) fatigues faded very quickly when they got into the humid jungle, and so I wanted to simulate that effect. 

These models are from all of manufactures of Chindits in 28mm (as far as I am aware). They are, from left to right, BAM, Foundry, TAG, BAM and BAM. Foundry are my favourite  but they only make them with SMGs, and according to the Bolt Action army lists in the Armies of Great Britain book Chindits only have 2 SMGs per section, so I need loads more with rifles. 

By the way- this round of Lead Painters League was a draw. so that is won one, drawn one so far. Looking good!

Burma: Some Chinidts

Just another quick post to show off a few of the Chindits I am currently working on for my WW2 Burma campaign for Bolt Action.

Work continues apace, with me having something like 40 models already finished. I have to pace myself a bit so I don’t get over fatigued painting uniforms (not one of my favourite things after spending too many years doing Imperial Guards for 40K).

 In fairness painting Chindits is a doddle compared to the Japanese, and if I could delegate the job of painting the Japanese army to someone else I would be able to churn out the Chindits in no time at all.

These figures are by Wargames Foundry and Warlord Games.

I estimate I need about 80 figures in total to complete a basic Japanese and a Chindit platoon for BA, so I guess I am about half way there. 

Burma: Japanese Support Weapons

Although it might seem a bit out of the blue, I have, for some time, been preparing to do a campaign set in Burma during World War 2. Most of the WW2 games I have seen are focused on Normandy, as if that was the sum total of WW2, but there were many other theatres of war. 

I picked Burma for a number of reasons. The first was pragmatic, because I was offered a chance to buy a lot of Chindits for next to nothing and I jumped at the chance because they were lovely models. I have to confess that when I bought them I had no idea what the Chindits even were. The more I read about the brave men who fought the Japanese in the jungles of Burma, the more I knew I wanted to honour them by painting a whole load of them. 

My Father-in-Law served in Burma, although as a RAF radio operator he was in the rear echelons  so was spared much of the hardship of the troops fighting in the jungle. Never the less, that personal connection with the campaign made me want to represent it even more.

Finally, I bought the Bolt Action rules, mostly to see if it would be any good for VBCW, and liked the look of the game. I have never really done a true historic wargame before, so I wanted to do it right- cue lots of reading around the topic and research- not least form the Ospray books. 

Now Mr Pulp Citizen, my regular gaming buddy, and I have always had an agreement we call "You paint it, and I will game it." meaning that if one of us is interested in a period or game, if we paint both sides in the conflict, then the other will game it. Now Pulp Citizen has little or no interest in historic gaming, WW2 or Burma, but in accordance to our agreement, he has consented to play the game when I get the figures  and scenery together. 

Here is a taster of the Japanese figures I have been painting, a MMG and a light mortar (or knee mortar to give it it's correct term). For the Japanese I will be using Bolt Action and West Wind. For the Chindist I will be using Wargames Foundry, Bolt Action and The Assault Group (TAG).