Blitzkrieg in the Far East Part One: Japan now available!

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Published today, and available to buy from the TooFatLardies shop, Blitzkrieg in the Far East 1: Japan is the sixth in the series of early war handbooks for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum. The handbook is 116 pages long and covers the Japanese army during the first phase of the War in the Pacific, December 1941 to June 1942, when its battle-hardened armies inflicted defeat after defeat on the Allies. 

Unlike the other titles so far in the series, the nature of Japan’s campaign of expansion means that the booklet is not divided into sections defined by the different types of division that fought, but into sections defined by the different geographical mini-campaigns: Malaya and Singapore, Burma, the Philippines, The Dutch East Indies and the South Seas. In effect, it is several theatre booklets rolled into one.  

There are a total of forty-eight different lists split as follows: 

  • Malaya & Singapore: 7 lists from 25th Army 

  • Thailand & Burma: 5 lists from 15th Army 

  • The Philippines: 16 lists from 14th Army 

  • Hong Kong: 1 list from 38th Division 

  • Borneo:  2 lists from 35th Brigade 

  • The Dutch East Indies: 15 lists from 16th Army 

  • The South Seas: 2 lists from the South Seas Detachment 

Finally, we have the usual ratings and armoury sections, and a note on air support. 

Although designed for IABSM, Blitzkrieg in the Far East: Japan contains a vast amount of information useful to gamers of other systems, and is really a must-buy for anyone interested in the early war period. 

Buy it here, now!

15mm Bamboo Houses from MiniWarfare

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About a month ago, I saw an ad. or a post or something from miniwarfare.com talking about their new range of 15mm mdf buildings for the Vietnam War.

Now I already have five or six large 15mm far east-type buildings from Sarissa Precision, but one can never have too much of a good thing, so e-mailed ‘Frank’ in China and placed an order, paying by PayPal. This may seem like a somewhat foolish thing to do, but the prices were very good, and I like to encourage new traders even if there’s the possibility that I was going to be conned!

Frank was very easy to deal with, very prompt in his replies, and, about a month after payment, in through the letterbox came my huts…and very nice they are too.

Stilted Bamboo House $9.50

They are also incredibly easy to build: each wall and its stilts come in one piece and slot through the base giving the hut an automatic stability lacking from separate-stilt versions. The detailing is lovely, and although the roofs are perhaps a bit artificial looking, I can always cover them with my patent green fur technique that makes my Sarissa huts stand out from…well, everywhere really!

Large bamboo house $7.50

I particularly like the way that the large and small bamboo houses have windows that you can prop open on a stick. I thought that these would be a nightmare to glue into place, but one end of the stick comes with a little wedge-y bit that hooks it onto the window sill beautifully enough to make a dab of superglue take hold without any problems at all. The shutter then glues to the side of the house and the top of the stick. Much to my surprise, I had no problems whatsoever with doing this.

Small bamboo house $5.00

The matting inside the doors and open windows are just a bit of hemp cut and glued onto the inside of the huts, again something very easy to do.

So miniwarfare.com gets a highly recommended from me, and I wish Frank every success in the future. I wonder if he’s planning to do a 15mm Russian church yet…

PS Do feel free to mention Vis Lardica if you do buy anything from them. Oh, in case you are wondering, I have no connection to Frank at all: this is just a genuine glowing review!

Sarissa Precision Ltd: Buildings for the Far East

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I've never been big into terrain.

I am never going to make any (far too much like hard, and messy, work) and in the past it's always seemed like a waste of money that could be spent on more soldiers. 

That, however, was before I got my wargaming room back after its sabbatical as a kids playroom, and before I moved this website to Squarespace. I'm having more games now, and the photos are easier to process and upload, and my existing terrain...well, it just isn't up to scratch any more.

Wooden huts for the Eastern Front from 4ground

I have had very good experiences with 4Ground's range of wooden huts for the Eastern Front, so I thought I'd see if I could get some more of that sort of thing, but this time for the Far East. 

A quick search of the web, and I found Sarissa Precision Ltd: a UK company that do a nice little range of laser-cut wood buildings just like 4Ground's.

They have six different village huts in their Far East range, so I bought one of each, and have spent the last few days putting them together: I love the smell of laser-cut wood in the mornings!

Once built, however, I felt they were slightly lacking something. Not in the models themselves, I hasten to add, they were lovely, just that the setting demanded something more.

So I have been very brave, and I have pimped them up!

First I've added a toupee of wool roving (whatever that is!) bought from the local Hobbeycraft to their roofs. This was quite difficult: it involved smearing white glue over the roofs, then carefully snipping off and sticking down layers of wool cording so they look a bit like some kind of vegetation. Don't ask me what sort of vegetation: just enjoy the look!

It didn't turn out just how I wanted it too.

Building One: Planked Style Village House - Low

Apparently you're supposed to be able to comb this stuff, and I had envisioned a sort of green thatch effect...whereas what I have achieved is more Boris Johnson! But I like it, and I think it will look good on the tabletop amongst the plastic palm trees and lichen.

Next, I thought that the empty holes for every door and window (on some of the huts: others have a wooden lattice effect) looked a bit odd.

Building Two: Small Village House

So back to Hobbeycraft and the purchase of a roll of hemp trimming. From this I have made crude blinds/curtains which actually round things off nicely. Flocked bases and the odd shutter finish things off: at least until I can buy some little pots and other household detritus with which to decorate the bases.

So a little bit of work to make them look super, but highly, highly recommended. Oh, and they cost £52.50 for the six, with only £2.50 p&p.

Here are the other four:

Building Three: Woven Palm Style Village House - Low

Building Five: Planked Style Village House

Building Four: Woven Palm Style Village House

Building Six: Small Village House - Low

A Small Village Somewhere In The Far East

Bloody Burma Redux

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Originally posted 26th November 2011

The next scenario pack updated for IABSM3 is "Bloody Burma". 

"Bloody Burma" contains an extensive history of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1941/2, accompanied by twenty-four unique, company-level scenarios designed for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” but easily adaptable to other systems. It includes attacks, counter-attacks, encounter battles, fighting retreats, ambushes, and even an attempt to rescue POW’s!

“Bloody Burma” begins gently with a couple of infantry-only actions in the jungles of southern Burma, but rapidly progresses to full scale combined arms warfare (infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft) on the plains and in the dense woods around Rangoon. Finally, the action moves to the high ground and river valleys to the north of Burma , as British, Indian and Chinese troops desperately try and hold off the rampaging Japanese for long enough to make their getaway!

Each scenario contains a background history, maps, a full game briefing, and a full briefing for each player. Simply print out the pages you need, unpack your figures, set up the table, and away you go! There's plenty of information given with each scenario, allowing easy conversion to other systems.

"Bloody Burma " contains the following scenarios: Operation Yacht; Kawkareik; Moulmein ; Paung; Kuzeik; Danyingon; The Yinon Road; Bilin; Pagoda Hill; Mokpalin; Payagyi; Pegu; Taukkyan; Pyuntaza; Henzada; Kyungon; Shwedaung; Kokkogwa; Myingun; Yenangyaung; Htuchaung; Kyaukse; Monywa; and Shwegyin.

Bloody Burma

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Originally posted 20th November 2006

The "Bloody Burma" scenario pack is now available!

You’ll be Banzai-ing with the best of them again this Christmas with "Bloody Burma": Robert Avery ’s latest pdf scenario booklet for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!”

"Bloody Burma" contains an extensive history of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1941/2, accompanied by twenty-four unique, company-level scenarios designed for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” but easily adaptable to other systems. It includes attacks, counter-attacks, encounter battles, fighting retreats, ambushes, and even an attempt to rescue POW’s!

“Bloody Burma” begins gently with a couple of infantry-only actions in the jungles of southern Burma, but rapidly progresses to full scale combined arms warfare (infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft) on the plains and in the dense woods around Rangoon. Finally, the action moves to the high ground and river valleys to the north of Burma, as British, Indian and Chinese troops desperately try and hold off the rampaging Japanese for long enough to make their getaway!

Each scenario contains a background history, maps, a full game briefing, and a full briefing for each player. Simply print out the pages you need, unpack your figures, set up the table, and away you go! There's plenty of information given with each scenario, allowing easy conversion to other systems.

"Bloody Burma " contains the following scenarios: Operation Yacht; Kawkareik; Moulmein ; Paung; Kuzeik; Danyingon; The Yinon Road; Bilin; Pagoda Hill; Mokpalin; Payagyi; Pegu; Taukkyan; Pyuntaza; Henzada; Kyungon; Shwedaung; Kokkogwa; Myingun; Yenangyaung; Htuchaung; Kyaukse; Monywa; and Shwegyin.