By Tom Burgess
The war in the Pacific has always held a special place for me. My Grandfather served in the US Army’s 81st Infantry Division there. I was very excited to see Battlefront turn its attention to the Far East with “Rising Sun” not only for Early War Manchuria gaming but also for later WW2 gaming in the Pacific.
So, I jumped on this opportunity to do a review of the Hohei Chutai JBX01 set offered by Battlefront.
The Hohei Chutai JBX01 set, like other Battlefront Infantry Company boxed sets includes the Company HQ and two full platoons. This totals 96 figures all of which were very well sculpted and cleanly cast. These work out to the two Company HQ teams and each of the platoons with a Command Team, nine Rifle Teams, and three Light Mortar teams.
I found these figures to be excellent in detail, but very different in style from what I’ve been accustomed to from Battlefront. These Japanese infantrymen seem to be a good bit more animated and dramatic in their poses. No “Sunday Parade” for these warriors! They are mostly in enthusiastic charge poses which, to me, helps to capture the “essence" of the Japanese soldier.
These figures were painted following he Japanese Army Painting Guide posted by Battlefront. Though they were not particularly hard to paint, this project took much longer than normal. The most difficult part of painting these is getting the flag on the 2IC flag looking right.
1st Platoon
2nd Platoon
2IC Command Team with "Regimental Banner"
Light Mortar Team
Rifle Team
Overall I’m really pleased with the JBX01 Hohei Chutai set. My only gripes are that I felt it should include anti-tank Nikuhaku teams even if that would have raised the cost a bit and we really need a decal sheet for that flag! It’s just so hard to paint and I’ve not seen many who have pulled it off well. So overall I recommend JBX01 Hohei Chutai.
This JBX01 set was provided by Battlefront.
Tom has been playing wargames since the late 70’s, and Flames of War since 2007. He maintains a gaming website www.battlevault.com for the BattleVault Gamers of Kentuckiana and posts and moderates WWPD as Iron-Tom.
