Japanese scout surveying the land

An interesting thing about this scout is his grass/reed camouflage jacket.These were often used as a "raincoat" by Japanese fishermen and farmers,but was taken and used by the military for it's camouflage potential.

Miniature Company-The Assault Group

Japanese scout taking a quick glance

An interesting note Japanese scouts is the often also acted in the role of snipers,but how the Japanese employed them tactically was different from their western counterparts.The Japanese when acting in the role of snipers were a form of rearguard were their primarily mission was to slow the advance of the enemy until eliminated, while western snipers often acted as hunters of a sort with mission objectives of hit and run with a get in and get out plan of action .

Miniature Company-The Assault Group

Japanese scout in the bush

Continuing on with the Japanese for the moment.So far,it's been fun experimenting with them as it's something different.I hope it's proving enjoying for some to see.I've now tried a darker green shirt and pants for a different combination and will continue to mix up the lighter and darker styles together.

Miniature Company-The Assault Group.

I'm back!

Hello folks,
I just returned from a 3 week vacation back home in Minnesota USA visiting family.All blog activities will resume shortly.I'm still not over the time change yet,but that will pass.
I'm itching to get painting soon(so much to do) and also curious as to what everyone has been up to.:-)
If your curious that's my home states flag and is often called "Land of the 10,000 lakes" as we have so darn many.It's a beautiful state and I enjoyed the visit,but it's always nice to be home again.

Cheers,
Christopher

This is my first Japanese WWII figure and it's made by the Assault Group(TAG) and they are quite some nice figures and paint up very nicely.I plan to use them for Iron Ivans "Red Sun,Red Death" rule set.

Helen(Tank Girl) got me interested in starting these guys with her wonderful Japanese.I really liked how she did them and so I used quite a few of her tips on uniforms(Thanks Helen!)and added a few things of my own.Just like Helen I prefer the Southern Theater of operations in the Pacific like New Guinea,Burma, Philippines, Singapore and similar places then the small islands campaigns which will result in my Japanese tending to include quite a bit of greenish tones and such.
First up is a Japanese scout armed with a Japanese made sub Machine gun the Typ 100.He has green pants and a khaki green shirt with some leaf camouflagelage added .I plan on working on various tones of khakiand green to give different looks as I believe they may have presented this appearance.
Miniature Company-The Assault Group

Cheers
Christopher

The Green Devils of Carentan(Fallschirmjäger in 15mm)

Hello folks this is the project that has had me busy for the past couple of weeks as they are very difficult to paint.I thought 28mm Fallschirmjäger were hard......well think again Ladies and Gentlemen!I spent quite a bit of time pulling my hair,gnashing my teeth and cursing enough to make Blackbeard blush!That said I am pleased with the end result and that in itself gives you more motivation to do some more.
These are 15mm Fallschirmjäger and are based on the same unit as my 28mm Fallschirmjäger only for Flames of War.So the background is exactly the same if you want to read again up on their history.
I also painted them similar and again took some artistic license by adding Luftwaffe blue pants and helmets here and there along with Splinter pattern,Marsh pattern and the standard German Field gray.However,this time I left off the Tropical pants.Some have gaiters and others do not as was typical of late war Fallschirmjäger units.
Some of you may have noticed I also painted up a weapons canister which by this time they were no longer doing active para jumps,but I included one as it both adds to the atmosphere of being Fallschirmäjer and for a sense of completeness. 
Of course I didn't take the highlights as far as my 28mm as they are quite a bit smaller,but I still did add some for depth.Painting the drops was quite tricky,but I'm happy how it turned out.I also experimented on the metal on the weapon's by painting it in a gun metal gray that I'm very happy with and will continue to do.I've gone a bit crazy with the pics and I hope you will forgive the indulgence,but it took me forever to do and I'm feeling a bit happy at the end result.I'll be adding more to this army later,but now I have to paint up a few 28mm Japanese I promised to do.
Note on the base:The pictures are a bit brighter then real life where the models blend in more.I did this to get get a better contrast between the ground and the figures.The result is a base that looks more reddish then it actually is,although it does have a brown reddish tinge to it just not as intense.Miniature Company-Battle Front

Cheers
Christopher

The Rising Sun

As you can see one of my upcoming projects will be Japanese related.I plan on doing the Japanese in WWII with an idea of basing them off the "Teishin Shudan" which were Japanese paratroopers.It's a rough outline and I need to do more research first before anything is completely decided.The time period will take place during and after the Philippines campaign where their uniform was basically the same as other Japanese infantry as they already discarded the paratroop look as their role became more as elite light infantry then as para's.
Some may be asking why Japanese WWII and the answer is threefold.The first is due to Helen Bachaus( http://tankgirl666.blogspot.com/)wonderful WWII Japanese which got my attention to this not often seen troop type.Some helpful hints would be nice Helen.:-) The second is the HBO series The Pacific which did a fine job of portraying the gritty reality of combat in this theater.Last but not least is TAG's offer of free miniatures to painters who will paint up some TAG miniatures and send the photo's in.With all three of these factors I just couldn't resist.As if that's hard to do.
For those following the German Fallschirmjäger in 28mm this is not a replacement project,but rather in addition to.I'm currently painting 15mm Fallschirnjäger while I'm waiting for ANGRIFF which is a DH supplement to figure out the platoon organization before continuing one with Fallschirmjäger in 28mm.Basically,just a short pause.The Japanese project will start small and I'll see how it goes if I want it to grow into something larger.

Cheers
Christopher