A different route for PTO 1941 - 1943 US Army (not USMC)

[Conquistador]

Okay, I am trying to do several completely contradictory    things here:

1) Avoid another 25+ mm project if possible (although my adobes might be proxy for Manila...  No... just say no.)

2) Down size my collection for retirement        

3) have some Japanese/US Army battles in the PTO early to mid-war era possibly - small battle or large skirmish      

Sooooo...

What about the dreaded "new scale" path (I don't think I can find these in my favorite 3 or 6 mm anyway...) of 15 mm?

If I stayed in non-urban battles could I pull this off in 15/18 mm?

I have no idea if this is remotely possible hence my asking here before searching (low battery on laptop anyway...)

Gracias,

Glenn

[Daeothar]

Good points all, Scurv has.

But, running the risk of being pedantic here, FoW is 15mm, so closer to 1/100 as opposed to 1/72.

Still; there IS a huge range of 1/72 vehicles out there, which matches up with the (growing in popularity) 20mm ranges, so perhaps that route might be interesting? It does mean yet another scale though...

[Daeothar]

So true...

[Conquistador]

Avoid FOW stuff then Glenn, bigger but cheaper works for everything except girls. 

 

    

Usually true, (OT Alert!) although my second wife was 350 plus (emphasis on plus) pounds and if she could have just not been so controlling of everything I think we could have worked things out.  I still hear from her at times and am glad she is a happy LDS stepmother of many kids.  For a rebound marriage it had more potential than most but  not enough reality in the relationship.

(Yelling at myself, not you guys and gals,)  BACK TO WARGAMES:

I had not thought of 1/72nd stuff.  Besides the many troops and vehicles I think you could crib in 1/76th or even 187th scale stuff if it didn't exist in 1/72nd.  I will search for Japanese and US Army (I suspect like in lead there will be many Marines and ETO Army troops...)

Right now I am holding off buying anything that doesn't complete a unit TO&E (even my dwarf figures) and have avoided a new scale/era/genre for multiple months.  We won't talk about the 4 KS/etc. earlier this summer I became involved in except to say it was  SF terrain, complete VSF infantry squads, VSF Heavy Weapons/Arty, and some gnomes for the wife.         

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

<snip>

Finally you are retiring. Apart from shooting the neighbourhood kids with a BB gun when they stray onto your lawn what are you going to do to fill all of that new free time up with?

<snip>

Xeriscaping makes it unlikely I will have a lawn (Rio Rancho allows a small (3' x 3' ?) plot of non-xeriscaped land in the baCK yard IIRC.)  

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

this onrushing retirement of yours is messing with your head dude.

In answer to your questions/comments

1: You are a minis collector, You have as much chance of not getting into another project as someone landing on the moon again in 3 years. Lot o talk but its never going to happen.

GLENN:  It's actually happening, I have less figures (even with some filling in buys) currently then last time this year.  And I mostly have been putting on Ebay the unpopular or $.999 special type figures.  There is hope

2: see comment one. Lead piles only grow never get smaller. Even if you sell off most of it it will just come back again in the form of new minis and new projects. There is no escape!

Glenn:  Space considerations will limit the size of the collection, I assure you!

3: Do it in 1/72 plastics cheap as chips and there is a massive range in that scale these days.
<snip>

Glenn:  Looking at these but there seem to be some real (posing, size, weapons, historical appearance) issues with each set from the reviews I read.

Finally you are retiring. Apart from shooting the neighbourhood kids with a BB gun when they stray onto your lawn what are you going to do to fill all of that new free time up with?

Glenn: Explore the USA, with wife, as health allows, make bead jewelry (my profitable addiction,) and learn Spanish (again, but this time I don't let it lapse into the state it is now.)

Look if you really want to cause yourself a conundrum then try dovetail all the new potential projects into as few minis as possible. You could do US vs Japan then also use the US guys to fight a zombie outbreak/ alien invasion that sort of thing.

Glenn: Pretty much what my adobe pueblo scenery allows me to do currently.

[fastolfrus]

Avoid FOW stuff then Glenn, bigger but cheaper works for everything except girls. 

But there isn't much Japanese stuff available in 15mm or 20mm.

I'd probably opt for 15mm on the grounds that it takes up a lot less space, for storage (especially terrain) and for gaming.
Avoid FoW - there are plenty of other rules. We play PBI locally, company sized infantry action on a table 4 foot square.
For figures, Peter Pig has Japanese that paint up nicely:
http://www.peterpig.co.uk/japanese.htm
but they only have USMC to oppose them, although they do have British 14th Army for fighting in Burma.

[Verderer]

Oh I dunno, SHQ has lovely ranges for 20mm Japanese AND Us Marines in infantry, and vehcles and cannon too. I feel they're greatly underappreciated.

EDIT: oh you didn't look for Marines, sorry.

[Conquistador]

Oh I dunno, SHQ has lovely ranges for 20mm Japanese AND Us Marines in infantry, and vehcles and cannon too. I feel they're greatly underappreciated.

EDIT: oh you didn't look for Marines, sorry.

No sweat.

I will just have to win the lottery and commission US Army PTO troops.  Oh, wait, I don't gamble...      

Gracias,

Glenn

[Conquistador]

Um, the SHQ pictures of the 1942-1944 US Infantry (not USMC) on the website are so blurry and out off focus it immediately turned me off - are there a websites with better pictures of  these?

Gracias,

Glenn

[Verderer]

Which ones you want - I might have some bags stashed aways someplace? For regular US infantry with parsons jacket etc, you can't beat AB figures - but they're not cheap. What sort of kit did they use in PTO?

[Conquistador]

I like the Osprey Men-at-Arms 342, The US Army in World War II (1) The Pacific:

Page 11 "... in 1938 this [blue denim fatigue pants, shirt and "Daisy Mae" hat] was changed to a  medium weight sage green cloth woven in Herringbonr twill (HBT) pattern... The green of the original HBTswas found to fade quickly in use to an unsightly light shade."

"... Flapped breast pockets and exposed blackened steel '13 star' (or sometimes plain plastic) buttons.  

M1942 first of four patterns
M1943 more common
     first version unpleated pockets
     next version had a pinched sort of pleat
     rare was the M1945? version

First pattern HBT trousers sideseam and two rear pockets of civilian style
Second (M1943) thigh cargo pockets and sideseam pockets but no rear ones
Last had pleated thigh cargo pockets

There was a HBT one-piece 'jumpsuit'  - designed to be worn loose over other clothing

Camo one piece versions came in 1943 in SW Pacific improved into a two piece suit in 1944

Most common jacket in CBI/North Pacific was various Versions of the 1941 Parsons (not called that at the time.)

Helmets started as the  M1917A1 'dishpan' then by mid-1942 the M1 steel pot was widely available.

web gear almost always included two canteens, a jungle aid pouch, and a firdt aid kit.  Also common were musette bags worn as packs.

Springfields were used until replaced by the Garand.

The M1936 web suspenders were very common and appear to have be very appreciated for attaching gear.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Mr.J]

20mm is definitely the way forward for WW2 and SHQ do make some very nice minis although this isn't always reflected very well on their site.

[Verderer]

Could you use the SHQ Marines with steel helmets? That is, without the helmet covers? I cant find any useful pics by googling Army in the PTO. But the SHQ US Army all have parsons jackets, so they're probably not very useful? Of course, none of the SHQ US troops have kettle helmets, as far as I can remember. Maybe headswaps from the British ranges?

[Conquistador]

Could you use the SHQ Marines with steel helmets? That is, without the helmet covers? I cant find any useful pics by googling Army in the PTO. But the SHQ US Army all have parsons jackets, so they're probably not very useful? Of course, none of the SHQ US troops have kettle helmets, as far as I can remember. Maybe headswaps from the British ranges?

Other than my Father's (only) history books - "Veteran's of Foreign Wars memorial edition Pictorial History of World War II Volume two The War in The Pacific" (1951) The Osprey is my 2nd best source.  He was USCG in WW 2.

Gracias,

Glenn