Banzai!

At a recent Penkridge wargames sale I picked up a bag of Scotia Japanese infantry on a whim. I've just got them finished. 

The pack was pretty limited in scope. There were plenty of infantrymen with rifles, five machine-gun teams with tripod mounted weapons and a similar number of officers.

I use four figures on a 20mm x 30mm base to represent rifle platoons for TacWWII, BKC or CWC so the pack gave me more than enough for a battalion...

Five MMGs seemed a bit much so I carved one to represent a 60mm light mortar. Mounting it on a 25mm square base helps it stand out from the MMGs and also potentially from any medium mortars I might acquire later (they'll go on 30mm squares).

Finally, I wanted a base to represent the battalion HQ. After building the rifle platoons I had an officer and a couple of riflemen going spare. One of the rifles was broken so I painted the remaining stump black to pass as an SMG. 

The remaining rifleman had his weapon replaced by a length of brass rod around which I glued a flag made from a small piece of nylon cut from the washing instructions tab on a tea towel!

I used an article from an old copy of Wargames Illustrated for Vallejo colour references, the important bits being: uniforms - Khaki Grey, helmets - Brown Violet, and boots - Mahogany Brown.

I've never wargamed the Far Eastern Theatre of WW2 but I'm tempted to one day have a go at the 1945 Manchurian campaign. In the meantime, all but the HQ can probably pass as Czechoslovak troops in 1948 as in 6mm scale the Japanese and Slovakian helmets aren't that different.