The PIAT was not a favoured, or often required, piece of equipment. Most Japanese tanks the Australians came across could be penetrated by the Boys anti-tank rifle and towards the end of the war the supply of American Bazookas were used instead of both.
At the Battle of Milne bay the Australians faced two Type 95 Ha-Go tanks at the defence of the KB Mission. The 61st Australian Battalion left behind their Boys anti-tank rifles and had great difficulty in dealing with the very light tanks.
I have decided to still make up a team although I hope to get a 3D printed version of a Boys ATR team down the track.
The Ordnance ML 3-inch mortar was the Australian standard mortar used by the Army from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, superseding the Stokes mortar, which had been the primary piece of artillery prior to its introduction. Initially handicapped by its short range compared to similar Second World War mortars, particularly those utilized by other Allied forces, advancements in design and improvements of the propellant charges, along with innovative techniques in deployment, enabled it to be used with great effect on the battlefield.
As the war progressed, the 3-inch mortar became integral to infantry support, providing crucial indirect fire capabilities that greatly enhanced the operational flexibility and effectiveness of Australian troops in various combat situations, allowing them to engage enemy positions from a safer distance while maintaining a high rate of fire.
3″ Mortar
Mortar Team Leader
Mortar Loader 1
Mortar Loader 2
More 54mm Australian teams over the next few days.
Today I have quickly painted these up so I might be able to get them on the tabletop this week.
The NCO leader is armed with a pistol and sword.
The two man Type 96 light Machine Gun team
Seven rifleman
I still have four more figures to paint up. I will do the leader will do some conversions with these to make another Light machine Gun Team and a Light Mortar team.
Good friend Drew told me last Tuesday that he had found a 1/32 scale Airfix Bamboo House. I was unaware that he intended to gift it to me. The box arrived Thursday when a few of us came together for a game.
The Bamboo House was originally released in 1973, and is shown above. The photo above is taken from the 10th edition catalogue of 1973. There have been eight editions prior to this re-release which I think was in 2014.
I couldn’t wait to put it together.
As kits go it was a very basic “clip together” one that only took a few minutes to put together.
The above shows the very basic interior.
I chose to make the roof as a separate piece so that figures could easily be placed within it.
Not designed for removal it was a bit flimsy so I added some “quick and dirty” roof struts made out of the sprues. This worked a treat.
Not only that there was an unboxed set of Airfix 1/32 scale WW2 Japanese.
There was also an unboxed 1/32 scale WW2 Australians
Here they are based and undercoated.
The figures are well detailed for their age.
They fit in very well size wise with the British Airfix figures that I have recently painted.
A duel on the balcony!
I will be giving these a priority over planned project!
The North west Mounted Police (doubling up as US marines with blood all over their shirts) attacked the boxer village.
The boxers in the village.
Unfortunately the blood ended up to be mostly their own.
TURN ONE
The North West Mounted Police after a disastrous turn 1
The attack went off to a poor start with the opening salvo from the boxer artillery taking four “troopers down.
The good leadership roll of five was negated by the fact that the leader was :brutal” which provided a -2 two to their pinning test, freezing them in place for next turn.
Ouch! Another four down from the shooting of the boxer regulars in the village!
The leader characteristics of the second infantry unit meant that they needed to desperately get into to close range to be able to fire.
Unfortunately the Police mounted troops did nothing and the Gatling gun froze as well rolling snake eyes” for its activation.
If that wasn’t enough the Boxer reinforcements poured onto to assist their besieged comrades. Oops! They are not comrades for another 40 odd years are they!
TURN 2
The second unit advance so that they could overcome the short nearsightedness of their leader. Now they could fire, but unfortunately there is only the “blind as a bat” leader is left.
The Boxer reinforcements move even closer. Why bother I say!
First two from the artillery fire runaway. They “of course” fail their pinning test.
More firing from the Boxer regulars sees two more casualties but this time the weakling leader does stop them from receiving more pins. Unfortunately this means they can only rally next turn and must stand there and cop it again.
TURN THREE
With the “Up and at em” characteristic, you guessed it the mounted Mounties ( I have always wanted to pen that) bravely but stupidly charge into the Boxer guns. Sounds familiar doesn’t it!
“Into the village of death” road the brave 8. With the same result. I wish I had forgotten my Cardigan! At least the antiquated Boxer artillery was destroyed by the might of the Gatling gun.
The Boxer reinforcements have almost arrived
To add salt to the wounds the Boxer “poor shots” kill two more” mounted leaving their leader on his own to “storm the barricade”
TURN FOUR
Rolling to rally from their pinning the first infantry unit rolls snakes eyes and yelled out “enough is enough you damned fool”.
Long range shooting from the Boxer reinforcement takes out two gunners.
The brave cavalry unit leader finally succumbs and rides home to that great fort in the sky.
TURN FIVE
The sole unit on the table bravely fights on but looses it last too final crew.
Just before the Boxer cavalry prepare to run them down from the rear.
“Stormed at with shot and shell. While horse and hero fell. They that had fought so well. Came through the jaws of Death.”
Quick work there, Dave! 🙂 They look really good and better for the palm trees dotted about.
See us old Gurus can still learn new tricks! “Fetch Guru Fetch”
I purchased three packets of these from Trounistro via Amazon They were ideal for a small copse of trees.
I was very pleased with these as the quality and price were superb. I used 40mm Poker Chips for bases.
Th three packets made up 33 bases, larger trees as singles and the rest in three’s.
The ones I used for the photos in post “20mm terrain for WW2 and Men Who Would Be Kings (3)” were made up on larger bases for dense jungle terrain and were not suitable for a village setting. I will just call the coconuts very large dates.
Thanks John for the pointer, the project is much improved as a result of your comment.
PS Comments are appreciated as they are all read, and help guide future projects.
