Steven’s Japanese Battalion for Crossfire

My WW2 Japanese are ready for duty in Crossfire. I went for a high priority Type ‘A’ Battalion. Then I added in all the support elements. So I’ve got a massively reinforced Leg Infantry Battalion. Weaker formations, i.e. battalions from a Type ‘B’ Division, Type ‘C’ Division, Mixed Infantry Brigade, or Independent Mixed Brigade, would have less than this.

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Order of Battle

As a reminder from Japanese Leg Battalion – Revised Organisation for Crossfire, Japanese infantry battalions had different orders of battle depending on which division or brigade they were from. The options are:

• High Priority ‘A’ (Ko) Division – reinforced and with additional assets missing from a normal Type ‘A’
• ‘A’ (Ko) Division – reinforced
• ‘B’ (Otsu) Division – standard
• ‘C’ (Hei) Division – special / garrison – weakened, peculiar to China
• Independent Infantry Brigade (1942-45)
• Independent Mixed Brigade (1942-45)

I’ve gone for massively reinforced high priority Type ‘A’ Leg Infantry Battalion. Because I’ve gone for all options, and because ‘A’ types are kind of a superset anyway, I can field all the options from Japanese Leg Battalion – Revised Organisation for Crossfire and Japanese Tank Hunter Teams in Crossfire.

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Getting ready

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The Box

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Battalion HQ

All my battalion commander (BC) are on bases 50mm x 50mm to distinguish them from company commanders. I fill up the extra space with more figures and the appropriate vehicle or supply element. I figure a Japanese battalion commander (BC) needs a flag and mules. The flag is from my WW2 Japanese Flags – Free Rising Sun Wargaming Flags for 15mm Scale.

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Battalion Heavy Weapons

70mm Type 92 Infantry Guns

A battalion can have 0 or 1 or 2 x FO for off-table 70mm Type 92 Infantry Guns. ‘A’ and ‘B’ Type battalions have 3. ‘C’ Type and those from Independent Mixed brigades have 2. Others none.

Of course I didn’t stop there. I got six 70mm Type 92 Infantry Guns.

37mm Type 94 Anti-tank guns

A battalion can have 0 or 1 or 3 x 37mm anti-tank guns with optional tow. ‘A’ and ‘B’ Type battalions have 3. Battalion from Independent Mixed brigades have 1. Others none. Of course I got four because they come in packs of two.

20mm Type 98 Anti-aircraft gun

I don’t have any 20mm cannon because I can’t find the models in 15mm. My assumption is this was the Type 98 AA machine cannon. Flames of War had the pack JP541 Type 98 20mm Anti-aircraft gun, but this pack is now out of stock.

Heavy Machine Gun

A battalion can have 0, 1, 2 or 3 HMG. ‘A’ and ‘C’ Type battalions have 3. Battalion from Independent Mixed brigades have 2. ‘B’ battalions and those from Independent Infantry Brigades had 1. Others none.

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Rifle Companies

Most battalions had 4 rifle companies. Those from Independent Mixed brigades have 3.

1st Rifle Company (ID J-1)

2nd Rifle Company (ID J-2)

3rd Rifle Company (ID J-3)

4th Rifle Company (ID J-4)

Company Commanders

The flags are from my WW2 Japanese Flags – Free Rising Sun Wargaming Flags for 15mm Scale.

Type 97 Anti-tank rifles

Only High priority ‘A’ Type battalions had anti-tank rifles. Others none. These were the Type 97 automatic cannon.

Tank Hunter Rifle Squad

I put one Tank Hunter Rifle Squad into each platoon. This is a normal Rifle Squad that also gets +1 in close combat against tanks.

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Tank Hunter Company

My fifth company is a Tank Hunter Company. Many of these units had mine laying capacibility so I count this company as Engineers (see Japanese Tank Hunter Teams in Crossfire). A Tank Hunter Engineer Squad is a normal Engineer Rifle Squad that also gets +1 in close combat against tanks. A Tank Hunter Engineer Assault Squad is a normal Assault Engineer Rifle Squad that also gets a bonus +1 in close combat against tanks. This bonus is additional so it gets a +1 in close combat against any stands and a total of +2 in close combat against tanks.

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Reconnaissance Platoon

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Artillery and Anti-tank Guns

47mm Type 1 Anti-Tank Gun Company

‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions had a anti-tank gun company in each infantry regiment.

Mountain and Field Artillery

‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions had a mountain artillery regiment

Two 75mm Type 38 Field Gun and two 75mm Type 41 Mountain Guns

Mortars

Heavy Artillery

‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions had field artillery

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Figures

The majority of figures are from Flames of War. I added in some from SkyTex – Command Decision – Japanese and Eureka Miniatures (UK) – Japanese to fill in gaps. If I did this again, I’d include more variants from these other supplies. I didn’t use Peter Pig – Japanese.

Flames of War

2 x JBX01 Hohei Chutai (Infantry Company)
1 x JP704 Hohei Machine-Gun Platoon
1 x JP706 Nikuhaku Teams
1 x JP707 Hohei Weapons Platoon
2 x JP501 Type 94 37mm Anti-tank Gun (2 guns)
1 x JP510 Type 1 47mm Gun (2 guns)
3 x JP560 Type 92 70mm Gun (2 guns)
1 x JP570 Type 38 75mm gun (2 guns)
1 x JP565 Type 41 75mm Infantry Gun (2 guns)
2 x JP705 Medium Mortar Platoon (2 tubes)
2 x JP005 Type 94 TK (2 per pack)
4 X JP051 Type 97 Chi-Ha
4 X JP056 Type 95 Ha-Go

Eureka Miniatures (UK) – Japanese

6 x Japanese infantry with Type 97 anti-tank rifle and No.2 (2 men)
6 x Japanese infantry in helmet with flamethrower, advancing (15mm)
9 x Japanese infantry with anti-tank weapon on pole, in kepi (15mm)

2 x Japanese infantry standard bearer in helmet advancing (15mm)
3 x Japanese infantry officer in helmet kneeling (15mm)
5 x Japanese infantry riding bicycle, in kepi (15mm)
5 x Japanese infantry riding bicycle, in helmet (15mm)

SkyTex – Command Decision – Japanese

1 x CD JI1 Infantry Command Figures (50 figures)
1 x CD JI4 L.M.G. Sections (50 figures)
1 x CD JI5 H.H.G Sections (50 figures)
1 x CD JS05 Light Mortars (10 figures)

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Credits

Martin Boulter from Silurian Wargames Limited painted the Japanese. He uses a style that is similar to the Black Undercoat Method of painting but uses more shades. For example on the flesh he uses a mid brown base layer then does highlights in flesh tones.

I based and flocked them. I used my Standard Base Sizes and Number of Figures in Crossfire. Basically a rifle squad has 3 figures on a 30mm x 30mm base.

I also made the WW2 Japanese Flags – Free Rising Sun Wargaming Flags for 15mm Scale.