Wednesday, July 17, 2013

What's next? Skirmish gaming?

fot the past few years I have resisted all efforts to get me involved in skirmish gaming- not my cup of tea. However, on our way back from the Gettysburg game Kent mentioned that we really should get into 28mm WWII. I have resisted up to now but alas the seed has been sown and my interest is increasing.

What to do?
Like many kids growing up in the 70s I had lots of Airfix 1:72nd scale figures. Some of my favourite sets were the Ghurkas, The Australians  (I always felt they were the best sculpts out of all the ranges) and Japanese.
 
I have no interest in FoW in the East feeling that the campaigns are in many ways better suited to platoon level actions and so 28mm skirmish gaming may be the way to go. So with that in mind I decided that the Far East was the ideal theatre for my dabble into 28mm skirmish gaming (no doubt I will use the very popular Bolt Action rules)- based partly on Kent saying he's keen to do Imperial Japanese. I blame the following two blogs for my final choice though:  Scrivlands and Ogilvie VC both of whom have some excellent miniatures and terrain for Far East inspired games.

I have two theatres I am interested in: New Guinea and Burma- the Aussies on the Kokoda Trail and the "Forgotten 14th". My interest in New Guinea being piqued by a couple of books: Fitzsimmon's Kokoda and  Craig Collie & Hajime Marutuni's The Path of Infinite Sorrow. The latter I found to be extremely interesting to get the campaign from the Japanese perspective but also because I lived for three years in Kochi on the island of Shikoku in Japan and it was from this prefecture that the Japanese 44th infantry regiment, that fought on the Kokoda Trail, came from so that is another link to the campaign for me. So doing Aussies for the Trail seemed to be a natural choice. For the 14th I have Spearhead General by Henry Maule which details some truly brutal fighting in Burma and has many more ideas for gaming scenarios.

Anyway time to get started- I have decided to use Assault Group 14th Army for the bulk of my starting force but will also have to make some jungle terrain too as I have absolutely nothing suitable! so last night I jumped onto E-Bay and tracked down some plastic aquarium plants to start my jungle foliage collection- the following looked perfect so I look forward to seeing them in the flesh so to speak.
I also tracked down three sets of the Airfix 1:72nd scale Jungle outpost to get the project started- the buildings will be the basis of a native village. 

 
All I need now is the rules and to order the infantry.

Craig
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10 comments:

  1. JamieJuly 17, 2013 at 7:57 PM

    I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it, Craig. I've enjoyed assembling my little collection of 28mm WW2 and have even (grudgingly) learned to see the fun in 'true line of sight' and no pre-measuring. It does make it more like Toy Soldiers, in a good sort of way.

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    1. Craig CJuly 17, 2013 at 10:13 PM

      You certainly have gathered a good amount of stuff over the last year or two for it. I look forward to testing it out.

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  2. UnknownJuly 17, 2013 at 8:33 PM

    Awesome Craig!
    I have a heap of 28mm Japs screaming paaaint me!
    The airfix kits make for perfect terrain.
    The lists for Bolt Action Japs are fun as, they really did well with the banzai theme.
    Pacific is sooo the way to go with 28mm WW2
    Have fun cleaning out the local pet shop of aquarium greenery! ;)
    I found it best to spray paint them lightly with khaki or British Armour (desert) to get rid of the plastic look

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    1. Craig CJuly 17, 2013 at 10:14 PM

      Thanks for the tip Andy-will give it a go. Once the Aussies/14th are done then I too will build a Japanese force.

      Delete
  3. bikewrenchJuly 17, 2013 at 9:54 PM

    Cool, the pacific is where it's at.
    The Assault Groups minis are pretty good too. I've got a few in my platoon.
    I want to do a jungle temple because I'm a dork.
    Bolt action can be fun! Don't look behind the curtain.

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    1. Craig CJuly 17, 2013 at 10:15 PM

      Agreed- a Burmese temple would be very, very cool!

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  4. BigRedBatJuly 17, 2013 at 9:57 PM

    I have a real problem with what I call the "S" word; I just can't abide a game with fewer than 4-500 minis on a table. I love a mass of well painted minis. I need therapy... ;-)

    Some of the old Airfix are very nice, though.

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    1. Craig CJuly 17, 2013 at 10:12 PM

      You and me both Simon if it doesn't have 4+ figures on a base it isn't gaming as far as I'm concerned. So I will need a lot of therapy.

      Funny thing is Kent had lots of 28mm WWII we never gamed with as we had no rules (and I had no interest in 28mm at that point)- maybe as my eyes deteriorate with age the scale needs to get bigger :)

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  5. BigRedBatJuly 17, 2013 at 10:21 PM

    I have some French Indo-China 20mm stuff, that comes close-ish to skirmish. They are 3-4 a base, though. ;-)

    I've not gamed with them for lack of rules, but am currently trying to write a set...

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  6. JamesJuly 18, 2013 at 8:18 AM

    Bolt Action is something I have gotten into in terms of skirmish games. It is seriously fun.

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