I have just finished reading the ebook version of this little tale.

Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth’s Palaeolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaced: Imperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travellers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travellers may have the means to get back, but they aren’t giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era. By the Publisher.

Sounds good doesn’t it. I thought so toImmediately before this I had just finished reading the children’s book “Biggles in Borneo” by WE Johns. The difference in technical expertise and writing skills was stark. W.E. Johns command of the English language and his artistry of the written word were far superior.

In addition the story of military time travel is not unique to literature and the Silver Screen. For example this is just a quick list I put together from memory:

• Army of Darkness (?);
• Yankee in King Arthur’s Court;
• Terra Nova;
• Star Trek First Contact;
• AL:ICE;
• Hero to the Rescue;
• Doomsday Recon;
• The Henry Gallant Saga Books;
• Earth 2.0: Worlds Collide;
• Wifed by the Warlord;
• Against All Odds;
• GI Samurai and its remake Samurai Commando Mission 1549 ;
• The Philadelphia Experiment;
• The Lost Battalion;
• Time Cop(?);
• Axis of Time;
• Guns of the South (?);
• Heavens Soldiers;
• Stargate:

The time travellers “FOB Bedrock”

Despite this the book is a good yarn. If you want something that is great fun to read in bed before going to sleep this more than fits the bill. If you yearn for Nobel prize winning literature I would go elsewhere.

The book is also excellent primary source material. Who wouldn’t love to punch up those arrogant Romans with modern GI’s? There is even a scene where a 5’4″ female Navy Sergeant beats up on a Neolithic warrior champion. Hooyah!

The best recommendation I can give is that I have purchased the sequel!

The second of four units of SNLF scouts.

I will continue to paint the remaining two by just using the colour on them that I am already using . This uses up the excess paint and saves time.

The Type 97 was a gas-operated, anti-tank rifle that was used by Japan during World War II.

Japanese Type 97 20mm ATR.

You will note that the team has a Boys Anti-tank Rifle rather than the Japanese Type 97. The reason is I didn’t have the appropriate model but did have excess of Japanese prone troops and British Boys ATR’s and appropriate arms. So the problem was solved without having forking out more than a “lobster”!

A huge amount of equipment was lost following the “Fall of Singapore” and would include a large cache of Boys ATR’s – at least that’s my story. Anyway the pedants can go and revolt!

The Type 97 fired a 20x125mm Cartridge at a rate of up to twelve rounds per minute. Its magazine capacity meanwhile was seven rounds to a box type magazine which was inserted into the top of the rifle. The muzzle velocity of the weapon was around 750 meters per second. However, the Type 97 had an extremely violent recoil, so caution was advised when firing.

The total length of the Type 97 was around 210 centimetres while the total weight was fifty kilograms, unloaded. To protect the users, a small gun shield was provided and placed in front of the barrel. Furthermore, the low silhouette of the weapon made the Type 97 an effective ambush weapon. 

The weapon could penetrate up to 30mm of armor at a range of up to 250 metres and 20mm at a range of 700 metres. This meant that although it could not penetrate medium tanks, it was still effective against light targets such as trucks, landing craft, light tanks, improvised pillboxes, etc. Considering that the weight of the weapon and accessories was over sixty-eight kilograms, several men were required for transport and setup took some time.

The information in this post was gained from the WW2 History Fandom

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had it’s own branches of infantry that were comparable to the US Marines. The infantry scouts of the SNLF would land in advance of proposed amphibious assaults and provided valuable information regarding defences, troops numbers etc.

In Bolt Action they are a small 3 man squad that can be up-armed to carrying an SMG,

They benefit from both the “forward observer” and “behind enemy lines” special rules.

More Japanese tomorrow.

The Type B’ grenadier infantry squad was composed of 16 men: an NCO (usually a corporal or Go-Cho) armed with a rifle or (rarely) a submachine gun, and 15 riflemen armed with Asikara Type 38 or 39 rifles. Additionally, three riflemen carried the famous knee mortar.

The normal organizational structure for a Grenadier Discharge section is as follows:

SECTION HQ:
Sergeant/Section Leader (Type 38 6.5mm Rifle)
3 x SQUADS EACH CONTAINING:
Corporal/Squad Leader (Type 14 8mm Pistol)
Pvt/Gunner (Type 14 8mm Pistol)
Pvt/Assistant Gunner (Type 38 6.5mm Rifle)
Type 89 Grenade Discharger
AMMO SQUAD:
2 x Pvts/Ammunition Carriers (Type 38 6.5mm Rifles)

3 x RIFLE SQUADS EACH CONTAINING:
Corporal/Section Leader (Type 38 6.5mm Rifle)
Pvt/LMG Gunner (Type 11 6.5mm Light Machine Gun)
11 x Privates (Type 38 6.5mm Rifles)

As with previous units I have made the Grenadier sections as flexible as possible. They of course have three Grenade teams, a LMG, a NCO with both rifle and SMG options, as well as having enough figures to equip them all with rifles. This makes for a total of 20 figures all of which cannot be used together.

3 Grenadier Figures

Actually known as the Type 89 Grenade Discharger, US troops nicknamed it the knee mortar as for a time it was thought that the weapon was fired by stabilizing it against the user’s leg. Although this probably could have been done in an emergency, this was not how the weapon was meant to be used and would probably end with significant damage to the knee!

LMG

Bugler – no effect in game terms but looks cool.

NCO’s with SMG and rifle

Flag bearer

Tomorrow a second Grenadier unit or with the addition of a Flamethrower an engineer unit.

Flamethrowers were assigned to engineering regiments within each Japanese infantry division. A typical engineering regiment would be equipped with between six and twenty flamethrowers, which were operated by a designated flamethrower company.

Type 93 Flamethrower

How did they work? Well according to the Australian War Memorial the “Type 93 flamethrower was one of the standard flamethrowers used by the Japanese army during the Second World War. It was introduced into military service in 1933 and was used by Japanese forces throughout the Asian and Pacific campaigns. The action consists of a pressure cock on the head of a pressure cylinder which is disconnected from the rest of the equipment before charging. When the tank is charged, the pressure cylinder is reconnected, the cock is opened, allowing pressure to be taken against a valve controlled by a flexible aflexible connecting link. Opening this valve allows pressure to to pass into the fuel tanks. By rotating the firing handle in a clockwise direction, fuel is forced through the metal pipe. Simultaneously the igniter head is actuated, automaticallly firing the fuel stream. When not in use the firing handle must be kept in the forward position, otherwise fuel escapes. The action of the igniter head is similar to that of a revolver. A magazine housed under the knurled collar, contains ten blank ballistite cartridges. When the firing lever is turned through 90 degrees the magazine is rotated, the striker released and the cartridge fired. Flash from the explosion ignited the fuel stream. A sfaety catch is provided for locking the lever in a fixed safe position. The Type 93 flamethrower is usually operated by one man and no special protective clothing is worn. Fuel capacity: 11.4 litres; Type of fuel: 50% Benzene/crude oil“.

Type 100 Flamethrower in use.

Tomorrow more Japanese.

Drew had just written some skirmish rules for Medieval Skirmish Games and we tried them out this Tuesday. After being locked out for 45 minutes while we were waiting for the Club to open we drowned our sorrows and set up a game.

The rules ran along quite well and gave a good game. Being the overly critical bunch of “buzzards” we are there we lots of suggestions along the vein of “these rules suck”, but I liked them and with a few tweaks will provide a great game.

My peasants entering a field to set fire to it. Unfortunately it was their field and they wouldn’t have a bar of it. I misread the rules and didn’t realise that only Sergeants can burn buildings and fields – drats!

My Armenian Knights and Arab Turco-poles advancing.

Crusaders sitting back on the hills.

Note the impassable terrain to the right!

Getting ready to charge.

Meanwhile Robbo Akbar’s Arabs were fighting over the Highland Cattle objectives (in the Holy Land?) – the Scots would think so!

The “very brave” Crusaders try to wipe out my peasants, but isn’t Karma a good thing as they hold on for four turns!

Meanwhile Robbo Akbar’s Turco-poles and peasants fight on……..just!

My Turco-poles charge some Crusader crossbows losing half to defensive fire and holding despite significant odds in my favour> What did I say about karma?

Those cattle a sure popular as the fight continues.

With the peasants revolting the Armenians and my General charge in to save the day. Doh – wrong day!

With the Arab units about to break everywhere we called it quits. We called it a moral victory as we still had those cattle!

The rules worked. The card activation was great as was the inclusion of a queen which was code for allowing players to conduct some dastardly deed. Great company, great fun, and plkenty of that impassable terrain. What more could you want?

The Japanese Type 97 sniper rifle with scope made the ideal sniper rifles because its long barrel and small calibre bullet it emitted very little muzzle flash, smoke, or noise.

This enabled the sniper to remain hidden and to continue to harass ans pin the enemy.

The sniper rifle was also provided with special ammunition with smokeless propellant was introduced and produced in spring 1937, following their experience with Chinese snipers.

In the Malaya and Burma campaigns they often dressed in native attire and would attack allied troops before dispersing back into the crowd.

An excellent YouTube video is worth having a look at.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have another infantry unit completed.

Yesterday showed the building destroyed today’s post shows them before they were destroyed.

These were bought to replace the paper buildings supplied in Batman Under Siege.

This is a great game but the building do need upgrading.

I was also hoping to use these and the ruined version for Battle Suit Alpha.

Over the next few days I hope to undercoat and paint them.

I had planned on painting more WW2 Japanese today but was a bit stale on them and decided to start working on some terrain instead.

I have had these mdf 6mm buildings to put together for some time. Not sure where they come from but I think they are a UK company. Who?

Clay Kitty Litter, sand and PVA glue have been used for the scatter terrain.

Tomorrow I will finish the other nine intact buildings. That is of course unless I change my mind again!