IJA Special Operations Detachment Sitrukistan

[Mike Blake]

I am just starting to assemble the figures for a small IJA force to operate in my Back of Beyond set up. I have consulted the reference material here, in books,  where the basic uniform colour is generally described as khaki of a greenish or grey-green shade, but the colour plates in the sources do not, to me, reflect this, generally being a more mustard shade of khaki. I am wondering what colour to actually go for, in terms of any of the usual model paint ranges (Vallejo, Citadel, Foundry, Coat d'Armes etc).

Any advice greatfully received.

Thanks

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Sorry, I have no idea about colour, but your IJA force sounds very interesting. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[WarlordFish]

A khaki of a greenish or grey green shade? That reminds me of the IJNLF or SNLF uniforms adopted post 1932, which were not the traditional mustard shade of khaki worn by everyone else. I've never heard of these guys before, could you post up some more information on there? Perhaps cite your reference material? That could give better material to work with to figure out a paint for you.

[88D]

Pre 1934 uniforms would be a tan khaki colour ( not Vallejo Japanese uniform far too yellow) and starting in 1934 until 45 it would be the greenish khaki you are describing, unfortunately the only Japanese figures wearing the correct Bob period uniforms (ww1-manchurian incident) are the reaver miniatures ones which could charitably called rustic.

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E9%98%B2%E8%89%B2

[marianas_gamer]

I have wanted Japanese for quite a while. Black Army had a very small selection that looked right to me but they never answered my emails or shipped me minis. Mike however is probably more interested in that heretical giant scale of his 

[Mike Blake]

I should explain that Sitrukistan/Sitrucistan is our imagi-nation where most of the BoB fighting goes on, based roughly on Bukahra with elements from other states too.

This IJA SODS is my take on a force detached from the main IJA forces in China, to establish a Japanese presence in the country, cooperating/eliminating local forces as best suits IJ policy.

MG - It is indeed all in TOTS, which makes production a bit of a challenge (not to mention storage) but units are kept small and games are skirmishes not big battles.

Thanks for the link and photo 88D - excellent  - what would you actually suggest for the the tan khaki you mention as this is aimed at being pre 1934, c1918-30 say.

[88D]

Probably Vallejo green brown (mine seems to be a very yellowish khaki) and a basic khaki combination.

[trev]

Hi Mike,

The yellowish Khaki seems right although there is one pic in a greenish service uniform in the siberia thread below and a more biege Khaki recreation too.  So things probably varied.

Two threads that are hopefully useful with lots of related pics and info.

http://siberia-miniatures.ru/forum/showthread.php?fid=12&tid=106
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=102292

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Mike Blake]

Thanks everyone. It looks like, as usual, sources vary and the range of shades is...wide. I will experiment and choose one that looks 'right to me' -though it will of course displease some.

I confess compromising on the figures for the cavalry, as there are no mounted Japanese in 54mm so I have had to use some WWI British because they wear peaked caps. But the whole effect looked too British to me so I swapped heads with some Japanese infantry in the older style more up-right style and that has helped. The equipment is still too British - which I justified to myelf as the IJA SODS getting issued some WWI GB army surplus the Japanese government had bought cheap. Not wanting to waste it on good troops they sent it to the SODS... I am afraid I am taking some other liberties with details, like giving the cavalry green bases to their caps intead of red - another SODS distinction  . The officer wears a fur coat (greenstuff) and the old blue and red uniform underneath, a personal affectation - and I may even extend the red breeches to the men as it looks rather snazzy...sorry but it is an imagi-nation after all.

[trev]

Thanks everyone. It looks like, as usual, sources vary and the range of shades is...wide. I will experiment and choose one that looks 'right to me' -though it will of course displease some.

You may be needing this if anyone actually objects. 

[Mike Blake]

Indeed! Some people call it 'chess with a thousand pieces' - I call it 'playing with toy soldiers'. Don Featherstone

[Mike Blake]

This went very quiet but I have not been idle, indeed quite the reverse. We have played our first purely military game (as opposed to one involving archeologists/explorers/dinosaur bone hunters) and all really enjoyed it. Still doing the AAR but will post with some pics when done.

The IJA SODS had to be put aside to get two small forces ready for the game, a border clsh between Red and White as they moved to invade Sitrukistan. It was these two because they were the two factions I had got furthest with, so had the least to do to 'complete'.

However, in the after the game I went away on a short break and decided to take my IJA SODS support vehicles with me to at least put together, if not paint. These are all 'Lego-like' construction kits made by a couple of Chinese companies , bought on eBay.  How on earth they expect kids to make them I cannot image - some are so fiddly! On the bigger ie more bricks I would have at least 3 times when I went wrong and wanted to chuck them in the bin.

I assembled 6 Quan Guan kits (and I should explain I am being very flexible about the availability of weapons etc to the SODS so as to be able to squeeze in what is actually available! ) - M25 'Armoured  Vehicle' (Car), Type 95 Kurogane (jeep/partol car), Nissan 180 Truck (which came with a motorbike and sidecar combo), and Type 98 4T Mover Shi-Ke (tractor prime mover) with a Type 90 75mm Field Gun.

I have a 7th, a Type 89 I-Go (light tank) (really pushing the time envelope here...) but frutratingly there are pieces missing so that I could not finish it! I will be contacting the company in the hope I can get the missing bricks.

To prove artillery in addition to the T90 I also assembled a 155mm Field Howitzer 1917 (nice and heavy for the prime mover!), 75mm Field Gun 1897, and a 100mm Howitzer WZ 1814/19P. These are all by Cobi from their Historical Collection.

IMHO even unpainted they look good - and I can't wait  to get them sealed, primed and painted. I
am about to take some photos of the raw models and will post them here ASAP.

On the question of colour of uniforms (see above) thanks for all the ideas. I want these to look very different to the Chinese forces and so have gone for shades of khaki as far as possible from anything the latter might wear. As for the colour of the vehicles and artillery - any suggestions please?

The latter will no doubt be used by other forces to avoid having to make separate pieces for every army, so a colour which would facilitate that would be good. I have found a photo of a surviving Japanese piece which is an odd pinkiy-sand colour, which I really like but may be too pecularly Japanese, as I have not come across other nations kit in that colour.

[JBaumal]

I’m really looking forward to seeing your painted figs!