Last week, I wrote an article detailing how to create IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) infantry models wearing greatcoats and cold weather gear. Although most people don't usually think of Japanese forces wearing this kind of gear, they did so during their campaigns in China, Manchuria and Alaska. Soldiers wore mittens, gloves, coats, uniforms, hats and helmets to protect themselves from the elements.I wanted to create an army that looked original and was thematically linked to an era of a specific conflict. In this case, Japanese forces during the 1930s in China.
In the last article, I detailed how to combine the Warlord Games Japanese and Winter Soviet plastics to create basic greatcoat troops. One important element that I left out was the inclusion of some finer details. Like pouches and bags. This might seem pretty basic but it is the little details that make these troops become what they are supposed to be. Japanese soldiers.
Now, some of the historically minded of you will see that I have not matched the pouches exactly as they would on every infantry model. I know, I cheated. I ran out of pouches and ran out of time. That said, I got the results I wanted in the end. Soldiers that did not just look like more Soviet greatcoat models. I hope you will agree.
I also used a pile of metal Japanese bits from Warlord's expansive range to add variation to my troops and add officers and other specialist troops like flamethrowers and gun crews.
Next time, I will take a serious look at how I turned this pile of models into an effective and historically themed force for the Bolt Action tabletop.
'Til then...
Survivor of a thousand game systems, a thousand journeys and a thousand years,
Old Man Morin...
Is...
Well...
Salty and experienced.
